MOVIES t r The Sunset Gang' To Feature Yiddish 10 Mile at Southfield Road 559-4230 LINDA BROCKMAN Special to The Jewish News and it's entire staff H Extends Best Wishes For A Joyous And Healthy NEW YEAR Meet me at sundown and watch me trim the price. Jack and Gary Cochran and The Staff Of Beau Jacks Food & Spirits Wish Their Friends and Customers A Healthy and Happy New Year 4108 W. Maple • Birmingham, MI • 1 block W. of Telegraph • 626-2630 Italian and More . . . One Of The East Side's Finest! DAN T • Fresh Fish Daily • Best Steaks Anywhere • Veal • Chicken • Pasta Specials Nightly Banquet Room Available For 25-75 People DANTES IS JUST NORTH OF 1-696 Reservations Now Being Taken FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 21. 1990 These specials are served Monday through Friday 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. & Saturday from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Shrimp and Artichoke Fettuccine Grilled Herb Chicken Nantucket Cape Scallops 5 Fresh Fish Selections and other culinary treats! RESTORANTE 17689 Masonic (13.1/2 Mile Road) at Groesbeck Fraser 296.5413 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS 140 Sunset Special Dinners From $9.75 chardeq's eRab 5498 Crooks Road (at the Northfield Hilton) Troy, Michigan 48098 (313) 879-2060 CLASSIFIEDS GET RESULTS! Call The Jewish News 354-6060 ow could anyone doubt that Rhoda Morgenstern's father did not know a bissele Yiddish? Harold Gould, who is re- membered most for his por- trayal of Rhoda's pop in the '70s, does know only a little of the mama-loshen, but you would never know it to hear him speak his part in a new film. The Sunset Gang, a new movie for Public Television's American Playhouse series to air in the spring, recently filmed in Fort Lauderdale. The setting is a south Florida condo, where a group of retired folks decide to revive the fading language of Yiddish by putting on a play. "I feel an intimacy with the Yiddish language, even though I can't speak it," Mr. Gould said. The actor, in his late 60s, is a little pickier about the roles he accepts these days. He said he liked this story for two reasons: he was glad to see the return of Yiddish and he liked having a romantic lead. During the course of the play Mr. Gould's married character becomes roman- tically interested in a mar- ried woman, who is also in- volved, in the play. "Romances are not usually about people in their 60s," Mr. Gould said. Just hearing many of the Yiddish words brought back memories of his childhood and of his grandparents. Although he said Yiddish was not spoken frequently in his home, he knew "my parents spoke Yiddish to their parents. It felt right. When I hear it, my body says, `Umm, I want to speak it.' " "He's so good, I can't believe he wasn't brought up with it," said Hindi Dia- mond, Mr. Gould's Yiddish coach, who believes Yiddish will always have a place in the world, especially since many young people are returning to their roots. Mr. Gould remembers Yiddish entertainers who had a large role in bringing Yiddish words into the ver- Linda Brockman is a staff writer for the Miami Jewish Tribune. nacular. "Jewish actors who were struggling to make it brought their Jewishness with them. If they had all gone into the clothing busi- ness, it would have been different. But instead, many Jews took Yiddish into the media, stage and theater." For Mr. Gould, acting started with King Ahasuerus. After Mr. Gould played the part in a Hebrew school Purim play, he got hooked. "My family tried to discourage me. My mother told me that acting wasn't an honorable profession." But Mr. Gould received his masters and doctorate in theater arts at Cornell Uni- versity in Ithaca, N.Y., and went on to teach drama there and at UCLA and Stanford University. However, he couldn't escape his desire to work on the stage. At 37, he performed his stage debut in The Increased Difficulty of Concentration. His other stage perfor- mances include I'm Not Rappaport, Freud, and House of Blue Leaves. Although Sunset Gang is a film, Mr. Gould said he likes to perform in plays at least once a year. "I definitely feel more at home on the stage. Stage is more satisfying, more creative, more challenging. There is space for growth and in- volvement." His movies include The Sting, The Front Page and Silent Movie. He also played a Jewish delicatessen owner in the short-lived TV show "Singer and Son," and can be seen periodically on "Golden Girls." His most re- cent TV movie was Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry, in which Mr. Gould again played the romantic lead op- posite Katherine Hepburn. The story is about a romance between a Jewish man and a gentile woman. In Sunset Gang, Doris Roberts plays Mr. Gould's wife and Tresa Hughes plays his love interest. Ms. Hughes and Mr. Gould are both disillusioned with their marriages and find they have more in common with each other than with their spouses. Although the story con- tains Yiddish, Mr. Gould be- lieves it will appeal to a wide audience. "It is about rela- tionships. It will hit home to any group. ❑