I ENTERTAINMENT - I GOING PLACES WEEK OF JULY 29-AUG. 4 SPECIAL EVENTS 0 TOLEDO ZOO 2700 Broadway, Toledo, pandas Le Le and Nan Nan, through August, admission. 419-726-3272. COMEDY BERKLEY COMEDY CASTLE 2593 Woodward, Berkley, Amazing Jonathan, today and Saturday; Tom Parks, Tuesday through Aug. 6, admission. 542-9900. HOLLY HOTEL 110 Battle Alley, Holly, Keith Ruff, Tim Butterfield, Al April, today and Saturday, admission. 634-1891. THEATER SHAW FESTIVAL ■ Adam Arkin, holding Melissa Kay, and Jayne Atkinson, appear as a Jewish family in NBC-TVs "A Year in the Life." Portrayals of Jewish men have changed from wimpy to real . long-held stereotypes of Jewish men as wimps and weaklings, images the networks perpetuated over the years n the feast or famine world of through broadly, sometimes crudely network television series, Jewish written parts. men — real Jewish men — don't These parts — usually guest- eat quiche: They eat bagels and starring roles — more often than not lox. depicted Jewish dads, uncles, zaydas They also plan family seders, talk and sons as simpering spineless fools, about their bar mitzvahs, celebrate more a role model for jellyfish than Chanukah, occasionally attend ser- young Jewish men. vices, talk about circumcisions, have But as the networks' new crop of the rabbi over to dinner, suffer from shows indicates, Jewish men need not guilt and, invariably, intermarry. be nerds anymore, nor must they be In a medium once better known the shlubby best buddy of the guy for its antipathy toward ethnicity, who wins the girl. Prime time has Jewish male characters are now flex- proven an ideal time and testing ing their muscles on such network ground for these characters to show shows as "thirtysomething," "Frank's once and for all that Jewish male Place," "A Year in the Life," "Cagney characters are their own men. and Lacey," "St. Elsewhere" and One who is leading television in "L.A. Law." this new direction is Joshua Brand, And in showing their strength, co-creator and executive producer of these characters are punching out NBC-TV's "A Year in the Life." This MICHAEL ELKIN Special to The Jewish News I weekly drama's ensemble cast fea- tures Adam Arkin as the Jewish Jim Eisenberg, whose wife (Jayne Atkin- son as Lindley Gardner Eisenberg) is a convert to Judaism. "One of the obvious reasons you're finding more Jewish men on series such as 'A Year in the Life' is that there are a lot of Jewish writers and producers in the business," says Brand, who is Jewish. "There are a lot of people like myself who are doing shows that are not fantasy-oriented, which allow for people to draw from their own per- sonal experiences." True, says television writer Dick Goldberg ("Kate and Allie"). "It is easier for program creators to start with themselves," he says. "Look, you write from your own backyard, and the preponderance of creators in Hollywood are Jewish." Theodore Bikel, longtime Jewish Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, "You Never Can Tell," and "Dangerous Corner," now through Oct. 15, "Hit the Deck," now through Oct. 16; "War and Peace," now through Sunday; "Peter Pan," now through Oct. 16; "Geneva," now through Sept. 24; "The Voysey Inheritance," now through Sept. 25; "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets," Wednesday through Aug. 28; admission. 416-468-2172. ATTIC THEATER 7339 Third Ave., Detroit, "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill," now through Aug. 11, admission. 875-8284. FISHER THEATER Fisher Bldg., Detroit, "Cats," now through Saturday, admission. 872-1000. AVON PLAYHOUSE Washington Rd., Rochester, "Ghosts," now through Sunday, admission. 375-9432. THEATER SHOWCASE Henry Ford Community College, Pagoda Room, "The Drunkard," now through Sunday, admission. 845-9634. OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE Smith Theater, 27055 Orchard Lake Rd., Farmington Hills, "Midwestern Memories," today, Aug. 5 and Aug. 13; "Alice and Wonderland," Thursday, Aug. 6, Aug. 13 and Aug. 19, admission. 471-7700. MUSIC BIRMINGHAM SUMMER CONCERT SERIES Continued on Page 68 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 59