I ENTERTAINMENT
31646 Northwestern Hwy., West of Middlebelt, Farmington Hills
85 5-4600
$ o o FF
I
ANY LARGE PIZZA I
or LARGE ANTIPASTO
or LARGE GREEK SALAD I
•Coupon Must Be Presented When Ordering
• Not Good With Any Other Discounts or Coupons
• Expires 5.31-90
JN
1•11•111
BAKED CHICKEN
DINNER $495
CHOICE OF SOUP OR SALAD
DELI and RESTAURANT
I SHIVA DINNERS & PARTY TRAYS ... Free Delivery
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner ... Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
352-4940
21754 W. 11 MILE AT LAHSER • HARVARD ROW Fax: 352-9393
Contemporary American Cuisine
Dinner 4 p.m.
Lunch 11 a.m.
Entertainment Tuesday Thru Saturday
HEARTBEAT
Banquet Facilities
Available
TOP OF TROY BLDG.
Concourse
755
W. Big Beaver at 1.75
362-1262
HURRAY FOR I•696!
12 OZ, FRESH BROILED WHITEFISH
THE FINEST BONELESS WHITEFISH FILLET MONEY CAN BUY!
WITH PURCHASE OF SECOND WHITEFISH AT $5.50
INCLUDES: Soup or Sald (tossed or Greek), Potato or Spaghetti, Bread Basket, Dessert
(strawberry cheesecake, rice pudding, jello or ice cream) and Hot Coffee or Hot Tea.
DINE-IN
R A LTO
ON
FAMILY
RESTAURANT
OPEN 7 DAYS
22740 WOODWARD AVE. Just South of 9 Mile • Ferndale
THE GREATEST VALUES IN TOWN
ARE UNDER THE BIG RED AWNING
I
544-7933
Sammy Davis Jr. Recalled
As A Very Committed Jew
Special to The Jewish News
ammy Davis Jr., who
died last week in Los
Angeles at age 64, had
his first contact with Jews
during his boyhood in New
York, when he fell in love
with the Yiddish theater of
the 1930s.
"They didn't bother me
down there," the legendary
black entertainer re-
membered later. "Although
I couldn't understand a
word, I would just laugh and
cry along with the rest of the
audience."
He returned more seri-
ously to Judaism in the late
1950s, when he studied with
Rabbi Max Nussbaum at
Temple Israel of Hollywood,
and then underwent a con-
version ceremony in Las
Vegas. It was no snap deci-
sion. As he explained in an
interview 20 years later,
after much reading and soul-
searching following an auto
crash that cost him an eye,
"I concluded that Judaism
was essential to my sur-
vival."
In Jewish literature, he
said, "I found strength and
dignity. I wanted to know
how a people could survive
for so many years, being
constantly persecuted. I
wanted to know what gave
them that inner strength,
and when I found out, I
found peace in it."
The conversion of the
short, one-eyed black enter-
tainer led to a string of jokes
and anecdotes, which
redoubled when Davis mar-
ried the Swedish film beauty
May Britt.
Rabbi William Kramer,
who officiated at the
ceremony at Davis' home,
has retained a photo of the
wedding party, which in-
cluded Frank Sinatra and
Peter Lawford.
There were some cruel
remarks about the Jewish
"nigger," but most of the
jokes were more affec-
tionate, such as the one at-
tributed to Britt. When it
became public that she
would marry the enter-
tainer, she was asked if her
parents back home had ex-
pressed any objection to the
match. "Why should they?"
she responded. "There is no
anti-Semitism in Sweden."
Tom Tugend is a free-lance
writer from Los Angeles.
78
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1990
that he would spend the en-
tire time in a synagogue.
"All right," Goldwyn
Finally agreed. "But I'll
check up on you. I hope I'll
be able to recognize you in
shul."
TOM TUGEND
❑
Readers Theater
Staged At JCC
The late Sammy Davis Jr.
Britt was converted at
Temple Israel and, if
anything, took her new faith
even more seriously than did
her husband.
Ruth Nussbaum, widow of
Rabbi Nussbaum, re-
members going shopping
with Britt to prepare for a
full-fledged seder at the
Davis home. Even after her
divorce from Davis, Britt
used to drive 80 miles three
times a week to Temple
Israel to make sure the
couple's adopted son, Mark,
received his bar mitzvah
lessons, Mrs. Nussbaum
said.
In later years, Davis
visited Dachau and admitted
that he became as prejudiced
against Germans as some
whites are against blacks. In
a visit to Israel, he expressed
his delight at encountering
so many dark-skinned Jews.
When Fiddler on the Roof
became a musical hit, there
was talk of mounting an all-
black version and Davis was
asked whether he would ac-
cept the role of Tevye. He
declined, saying, "There has
to be respect for certain
things, and a black Tevye
would be stretching it too
far."
After a while, the jokes
about Davis' Jewishness
stopped as his friends real-
ized how committed the
entertainer was to his faith.
An example is seen in
Davis' face-off with the
imperious movie mogul
Samuel Goldwyn. When
Goldwyn insisted on filming
through the High Holy
Days, Davis asked for 24
hours off. Goldwyn scoffed at
the request but relented
when Davis assured him
The final performance of
the Spring Series of Readers
Theater will take place 4 p.m.
June 3 in the Aaron DeRoy
Theater of the Jewish Corn-
munity Center's Maple-
Drake building. The show
will be preceded by a com-
plimentary wine bar at 3:15
p.m.
This performance will in-
chide works by Wendy
Wasserstein and Nora
Ephron. The program will be
highlighted by a presentation
of Ruth Whitman's The
Testing of Hanna Senesh.
The ensemble for this pro-
duction includes Joyce Feur-
ring, Henrietta Hermelin,
Evelyn Orbach, Stacie Passon
and Ceci Orman-Stone. Ar-
tistic Director, Yolanda
Fleicher, will serve as host of
the program.
At Readers Theater, local
actors bring to life treasures
of Jewish literature without
the use of props or scenery.
Readers Theater is under
the sponsorship of the In-
stitute for Retired Profes-
sionals at the Jewish Com-
munity Center and supported
by an endowment from the
Sadie and Irwin Cohn Fund
for Visiting Scholars and
Artists-in-Residence.
There is a charge. A limited
number of tickets are
available at both J.C.C.
buildings. For information,
call Readers Theater,
967-4030.
JNF Will Air
On Cable TV
The Jewish National Fund
will air a weekly half-hour
cable television program,
"The JNF Jewish Entertain-
ment Show," 1 p.m. each Sun-
day on National Jewish
Television and will be seen in
155 cities nationwide. Local
listings should be checked for
the channel.
Stuart Paskow, JNF direc-
tor of communications, ex-
plained that the program will
include extensive interviews
with JNF and Israeli govern-
ment officials, a weekly
message from Dr. Samuel I.
Cohen, and films.