ENTERTAINMENT I
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Mountain Jack's
Is Back !
We're re-opening on Monday, December 12, 1988
Just in time for the holidays.
Our newly remodeled restaurant is complete, featuring
• additional seating
• lighter, more comfortable dining environment
• The Best Prime Rib in Town
• Fast Lunches, $5 and under, Monday-Friday
• $9.95 Prime Time Dining — Sun.-Thurs.
Come see our new look. Join us today for lunch or dinner.
Dinner
Lunch
Mon.-Thurs., 5 p.m.-10 p.m.
Mon.-Fri., 11:15 a.m.-2:15 p.m.
Fri. & Sat., 5 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
Sunday, Noon to 10 p.m.
PRIME RIB • CHOICE STEAKS
26855 Greenfield Road Southfield 557.0570
Restaurant
Featuring
Special Holiday Cuisine
Continued from preceding page
producer, Steven Bochco, was
a college colleague.
Unlike some actors who
have built a reputation based
on a single character and fear
the career claustrophobia
that could come with its fame,
Weiz admits, "I have no
qualms talking about Belker.
Without that character, I
wouldn't be doing this play
now."
Weitz brightens as we talk
again of his entry into acting
so many years back. "It was
the most natural fun ex-
perience," he says. He shrugs
a bit. "I no longer feel that
way. Now it's just hard work."
It is the honesty one expects
from an actor whose por-
trayals are so clean and pure;
his is art without additives.
Weitz admits, however, to an
occasional junk food of a role
that clogs up his credits.
"Mama's Boy," a short-lived
television series, was one of
them. "It was poorly written,"
he says matter-of-factly.
"Nancy Walker and I," he
says of his co-star from last
season's comedy, "both had
the same idea for the show —
dealing honestly with a
40-year-old living with his
mother."
He grimaces at the memory
of the show, with its abortive
laughs and stillborn scripts.
It was total nonsense, he says.
It was not a show to do his
own momma proud —
although she is proud of her
son. After all, how could she
not forget the pride that must
have come when her son, as
Belker, used to phone his
momma every show?
Those feelings ring true to-
day. "My mother thinks I'm
nicer to her now," says Weitz,
cracking a grin. "I am nicer."
What he has to say about
his former self is not so nice.
He used to be a real creap,
says Weitz. "I was not happy
with who I was. But there is
something about being on a
hit TV show that forces you to
be nicer or worse."
Come & Experience
Our Beautiful
Holiday Island Setting.
Gift Certificates make a
wonderful holiday surprise!
Belker To Broadway
,
Weitz has been able to
make his wife happy too. "My
wife thinks I'm a romantic,
although I'm hard-pressed to
think of myself like that," he
says.
"I've never fallen in love
easily — only twice in my life.
The rest has been all surface.
I have a basic mistrust of peo-
ple — it takes a long time to
get to know people."
And Weitz takes his time.
During the long-run on "Hill
Street," Weitz made some
long-lasting friendships. He
didn't go out of his way,
however, to cast about for bud-
dies in the cast.
"Just because you work
with people doesn't mean you
have to be their best friend,"
he says.
But he may be the best of
best friends for those he
befriends. There is a commit-
ment, a courage that seems to
radiate from Weitz, much like
his Johnny. While his stage
character's drive stems from
losing, Weitz's is based on
winning out.
Not that there haven't been
losses. Weitz is involved as
honorary chairman for the
National PTA Drug and
Alcohol Abuse Prevention
Program because "I lost lots
of friends when I was
younger" due to substance
abuse. Those friends, he
laments, "could have done
something important in their
lives."
Indeed, Weitz is an impor-
tant role model for those
youngsters whose vision is
drugged with the false hopes
of pills and liquor. "I was a
kid once," says the actor, "and
our future lies in the children
of today."
Weitz's future, he admits,
does not lie in directing. He
helmed a Los Angeles produc-
tion of the play Creeps last
year. "It was too hard," says
Weitz. "I don't like taking
responsibility for the whole
product. I don't know if I have
the temperament to be a good
director?'
142 E. WALLED LAKE DRIVE
WALLED LAKE, MICH.
'Sam And Itkeh' Play
Comes To Jewish Center
SUPER BREAKFAST SPECIALS
2 EGGS
ANY STYLE
WITH
BAGEL, TOAST OR
ROLL & JELLY
Mon: Fri. 7 a.m..ii a.m.
2 EGGS
ANY STYLE
BACON OR SAUSAGE,S
HASH BROWNS
BAGEL, TOAST OR
ROLL & JELLY
ORCHARD FAMILY RESTAURANT
72
20894 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD
AT 14 IN K-MART SHOPPING CENTER
6393 FARMINGTON ROAD
NORTH OF MAPLE ON EAST SIDE
626-0318
626-3722
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1988
WE'RE ArA
OUT
FOR
BLOOD.
GIVE BLOOD
+ American Red Cross
The Jewish Ensemble
Theatre brings a Detroit
premier Sam and Itkeh by
Jack LaZebnik to the
Maple/Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center for 10 perfor-
mances, Jan. 18 through 29,
starring Detroit actors Robert
Grossman and Evelyn
Orbach.
The story takes up the lives
of a couple in their 70s, Sam
and Itkeh, who have moved to
Arizona from Jefferson (a ci-
ty inspired by Jackson),
Michigan. Itkeh dreams of
her past in Russia, her
journey on the ship to
America, her stay at Ellis
Island, then in Detroit, and
Jefferson; all the while, she
regrets the loss of her lover,
Nicholas. Her husband, Sam,
finally cannot endure her
distractions and makes plans
to leave, to return to
Jefferson.
In her dreams, Itkeh con-