ENTERTAINMENT

Actor Joel Grey Talks
Of Yiddishkeit And Family

MICHAEL ELKIN

Special to the Jewish News

W

hat good is sitting
alone in your room,
says Joel Grey,
when you can come hear the
music play.
Especially, notes the elfin
Cabaret star, when that
music is filled with the kib-
bitzing and clowning of the
late Mickey Katz.
Of course, the ever colorful
Mr. Grey boasts a certain
bias about Mr. Katz, whose
tongue-in-cheek tuneful
takeoffs of standard hits still
hit home some 40 years after
they were first recorded.
While others called
Mickey Katz king of the cut-
ups and a musical
meshuganer, Joel Grey simp-
ly called him "Dad."
The award-winning Mr.
Grey, whose bio brims with
Broadway, film and TV ac-
complishments, is consider-
ing presenting parts of his
past on stage in a national
tour.
The first half of the pro-
gram would be made up of
Mr. Grey's extensive
Broadway repertoire, in-
cluding numbers from
Cabaret, George MI and Stop

the World, I Want to Get Off.
Joel Grey will bring his
dad's loony lyrics to life in
the second half.
The performance is Mr.
Grey's way of saying
"wilkommen" back to a
bonanza of Borscht Belt
shtick that still elicits
chuckles. Frontiersman
Davey Crockett couldn't
hold a raccoon cap to the
legacy of Mr. Katz' Delancey
St. pioneer "Duvid Crockett."
And what human being
wouldn't be amused by the
bouncy "The Baby, the Bub-
ba and You"?
But it took an outsider to
bring Mr. Grey back to the
"good ole days" when a pickle
was a nickel a shtickel and
Borscht Belt broadside hit it
right on the nose with every
Catskill Tam, Dick and
Harry.
"About a year ago, I read
in the New York Times
about this klezmer musician
named Don Byron, who was
performing some of my dad's
music," recalls Mr. Grey.
"I knew nothing about the
concert or him so I went
down to hear Byron play."

Michael Elkin is the enter-
tainment editor of the Jewish
Exponent in Philadelphia.

Joel Grey:
One of many faces.

It was obvious that Mr.
Katz' cultural hijinks hadn't
played out totally. The New
York club was crowded with
those who clamored for more
and more of Mr. Katz' kib-
bitzing.
Mr. Grey eventually joined
Byron on stage as a guest
performer at Michael's Pub.
"I realized," says Mr.
Grey, "that a lot of people
love my father's work."
Including Mr. Grey, of
course, who claims he
"always includes some of
Dad's stuff in my act."
Shades of his father, Joel
Grey is a magna-cum-
comedy graduate of the
Borscht Belt circuit too,
where he entertained with a
heimish sense of humor ear-
ly on in his career before
discovering life could be a

Cabaret.
In 1967, that much-
honored Broadway musical
about pre-war Berlin cap-
tured critical and commer-
cial acclaim for the spritely
performer. It also earned
him star status: Mr. Grey
won a Tony Award and
Oscar in the film version for
his characterization of the
cackling demented master of
ceremonies.
Today, Joel Grey is ac-
knowledged as a master of
myriad media. In film, he
earned accolades for his role
as a mystical Oriental in
Remo Williams: The Adven-
ture Begins.
Mr. Grey graced the Lin-
coln Center stage in the
1981 New York City Opera
production of Kurt Weill's
Silverlake.
He directed Anthony
Quinn in a 1986 national
revival of Zorba, and por-
trayed an angel in the con-
cluding episode of "Dallas,"

the long running TV soap
saga about urbane cowboys.
With a tip of the six-gallon
hat to his father's legacy of
Yiddishkeit and yuks, Joel
Grey feels at home on the
range performing Mr. Katz's
songs at the Academy.
Make that "Haim Afen
Range," another recording
in the Katz collection.
"After the Byron concerts,
I started to look at all these
lyrics in a 'scholarly' way,"
recalls Mr. Grey of his
father's work. "They have a
lot to say about what goes on
in America, about what's
important to Jews."
What -they said then apply
now in a society stressing
assimilation. "His songs
urge people to forget and not
worry about being
greenhorns," says Mr. Grey.
"The message is, 'Have a
good time! Enjoy your differ-
ences!' "
Obviously, Joel Grey feels
different about doing his
dad's work than he did early
in his career. While he per-
formed with his father on
stage in the "Borscht Belt
Capades" while still a
youngster, Joel Katz chang-
ed his name to Grey to stress
a different career.
As he told a reporter for
the New York Times just
when Cabaret was earning
bravos on Broadway: "I was
some sort of a celebrity at 10
in Cleveland, Ohio. I learned
to look for recognition at
much too early an age, and I
got it at much too early an
age."
Mr. Grey went on to note
that he "left home at 18,
changed my name because I
wanted to perform, but not
in direct competition with
my dad."
He realized even then that
"my ideas about . what I
wanted to do might be as
valid and important —
maybe even more valid and
important — than a parent's
or an agent's."
Certainly, applause is its
own validation. And Joel
Grey has earned the public's
stamp of approval.
Not everybody approves of
what Mr. Grey is doing in
his revival of Mickey Katz's
recordings, however. "The
only people who have been
negative over the idea,"
notes Mr. Grey, "seem to be
those Jews who are uncom-
fortable with the richness of
Jewish humor."
There is nothing funny in
such self-hatred, says the
performer. ❑

MAY SPECIAL

BROILED SHRIMP AND
SCALLOP BROCHETTE

$8.95

Served With:
Lemon-Parsley Butter
Soup Dujour
Rice Pilaf
Fresh Vegetable
Bread Basket
Chocolate Mousse Torte

West Bloomfield

Oak Park

Bingham Farms

Orchard Lake Rd., south of 15

Greenfield north of 10

Telegraph Between 12 & 13

737-3890

967-3999

645-5288

Special Valid Through 5/31/91

itiltSMY4( 1.

6407 ORCHARD LAKE RD, WEST BLOOMFIELD
ORCHARD MALL-ORCHARD LAKE RD & MAPLE

851-6400

ORIENTAL
and
CONTINENTAL
CUISINE

ae%

FREE ENTREE

WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANOTHER ENTREE
EQUAL OR GREATER VALUE
MONDAY THRU THURSDAY

• Dining Room Only
• Lobster Excluded
• Not Valid With Any Other coupons

15% Gratuity Added On
Total Amount Of Bill Before Discount. •

Expires 6-6-91 JN1

YOUR HOST: DAVID LUM

NINO'
RISTORANTE

RATED 4 STARS

By MOLLY ABRAHAM

Detroit Free Press
Restaurant Critic

"A Gourmet Dining Expe-
rience On A Shoestring
Budget!"
— SANDRA SILFVEN

Detroit News Restaurant Critic

NOW FEATURING OUR NEW

AUTHENTIC ENOTECA

(Wine Library)

WITH OVER 40 CHOICE WINES BY THE GLASS
HOMEMADE

• FRESH PASTAS • ITALIAN SPECIALTIES • PROVIMI VEAL
• CHICKEN • LAMB • BEEF • FRESH SEAFOOD
Serving Lunch and Dinner 7 Days
Mon.:Thurs. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-12 Mid.
Sat. 12 noon-12 Mid., Sun. 12 noon-9 p.m.

14 MILE ROAD

NINO'S

13 MILE ROAD

O

12 MILE ROAD

1-696 L

0 o
2
5

ci

15015
13 MILE RD.,

West Of Hayes
Warren
1-696 1 293-2800

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

75