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128

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991

An Opening Act
Leads To Marriage

RITA CHARLESTON

Special to The Jewish News

T

hey are clearly not the
Romeo and Juliet of
the '90s.
Roseanne Barr, a Jewish
girl from Mormon-dominated
Salt Lake City, Utah, and
Protestant-born Tom Arnold,
a sometime stand-up comic
from Ottumwa, Iowa, have
made more headlines over
their unusual life-style than
their unending love.
But at long last, after
scathing headlines and con-
troversial encounters with
everyone from newspaper
photographers to those forced
to listen to the comedienne's
rendition of the national an-
them at a recent baseball
game, the couple has seem-
ingly settled down.
She has taken her
bridegroom's last name pro-
fessionally, and he has con-
verted to Judaism, his bride's
religion. Just last June, the
new Roseanne Arnold and
her hubby renewed their mar-
riage vows in a Jewish
ceremony.
"I'm kind of a spiritual per-
son but I've never really.
followed religion since I was
a kid," says Mr. Arnold. "I've
always been interested in the
Jewish religion, and the fact
that Rosey is Jewish and her
kids are Jewish made me
think that the whole family
should be involved. So I
studied for nine months and
converted recently!'
So now Ms. Barr, — Arnold
— and her bridegroom, a vir-
tual unknown comic before
meeting and marrying his
popular bride, who stars in
her own highly-successful TV
sitcom, are set to live happi-
ly ever after in a palatial
home in Brentwood, Calif.,
and a 700-acre spread near
the little town in Iowa where
Mr. Arnold was born 32 years
ago.
One of six children, Mr. Ar-
nold graduated from high
school and landed a job at a
meatpacking plant where he
worked for nearly three years
while attending a communi-
ty college at night. But, want-
ing to transfer to the Univer-
sity of Iowa and lacking the
tuition, he came up with
what he calls "a great plan."
"I needed to raise money to
continue my education, so I
decided to walk twenty-five
miles from Albia, Iowa, to Ot-
tumwa in nineteen degree
weather wearing nothing but

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Arnold

satin boxer shorts and tennis
shoes."
The plan not only ended up
with Mr. Arnold raising
$2,500 from pledges, but it
also put him in the public eye.
His story was covered by
everybody from the New York
Times to "Good Morning
America" to the National

Enquirer.
His good fortune realized,
Mr. Arnold began attending
the university, where he

But at long last .. .
the couple has
seemingly settled
down.

started to allow his funny side
to come out, performing at
open-mike nights at local
comedy clubs.
By the summer of 1983, he
decided to move to Min-
neapolis to give comedy an
honest and professional try.
Although he had to take a
day job stacking liquor car-
tons at a pub to subsidize his
career, one important thing
did happen that same year.
He met Ms. Barr for the first
time. During one appearance,
Mr. Arnold became her open-
ing act. She was already mar-
ried, but the two comics
became fast friends.

"Rosey and I were real good
friends first," says Mr. Arnold,
"and I definitely think a mar-
riage between good friends
works best because we had a
really solid base to our rela-
tionship as we got to know
each other better and better.

I saw her through her mar-
riage and she saw me through
several relationships. We both
knew the inside scoop on each
other. We also have many
things in common, which is
another plus. If I was a
woman, I'd be just like her.
We're kind of like twins. We
have the same sense of humor
and we are both really pas-
sionate people, sometimes too
passionate. But we're also dif-
ferent in the ways a man
should be different than a
woman, so that's really nice,
too."
Mr. Arnold insists the two
also have a very supportive,
positive relationship. "I feel
at total peace with myself,
because this is the first time
I've ever had someone who ac-
cepts me and loves me for who
I really am!'
Business-wise, he adds, the
two have just finished making
their first movie together, a
romantic comedy called
Backfield in Motion, set to air
on ABC-TV this fall.
There are several other
joint projects in the works, he
suggests, including the possi-
ble formation of a rock 'n' roll
band, a tour, perhaps the cut-
ting of a record album and, of
course, the continuation of
their popular TV show.
"We'll just have to wait and
see what comes next," he says.
"Meanwhile, I'm a very lucky
guy. Rosey and I are both very
happy and we know we have
a good future ahead of us. It
was a lot of work getting to
this point but it's all been
worth it." 0