ENTERTAINMENT N ORMAN S R•E•S•T•A•U•R•A•N•T•S 29110 Franklin Road Southfield, Michigan 48034 WISH ALL THEIR CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY ON THE NEW YEAR NORM'S DINER NIFTY NORMAN'S 30685 W. 12 Mile Farmington Hills 442-2531 1402 S. Commerce Rd. Walled Lake 624-6660 NORM'S OYSTER BAR 29110 Franklin Rd. Southfield 357-4442 SALVATORE SCALLOPINI SALVATORE SCALLOPINI • Southfield' • West Bloomfield • 29110 Franklin 357-8877 2750 Haggerty Rd. 960-0570 NORMAN'S ETON STREET STATION 245 S. Eton Street Birmingham 647-7774 The Zawideh Family Wishes It's Friends & Customers A Healthy and Happy New Year I Wishing All Our Customers and Friends A Healthy & Happy New Year NEW H ELLAS CAFE 583 MONROE uisite service. The Kingsley Inn f the traditional, distinctive u've come to expect from your home or offic 961-5544 Now — breast cancer has no place to hide in Michigan. Call us. ETY R' lif AMERICAN SOCI CANCE 138 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1991 A Writing Force Janis Hirsch says her Jewish upbringing has helped her succeed as a Hollywood writer. STEVE K. WALZ Special to The Jewish News I t's a long way from the drudgery of pampering petty television and movie stars on public rela- tions junkets to having the same performers fawn over you because the tables have turned. But that's what happened to Janis Hirsch. The one-time New York entertainment public rela- tions executive chucked her career in 1982. She moved to Los Angeles to try her hand at prime-time television comedy writing. After several minor suc- cesses — "Square Pegs" with Sarah Jessica Parker and "Love, Sidney" featur- ing Tony Randall — Ms. Hirsch hooked up with the production team responsible for ABC's "Anything But Love," the comedy starring Richard Lewis and Jamie Lee Curtis. In the two years since she joined the company, based on the 20th Century Fox lot in Beverly Hills, the 40-year- old writer has risen to co- executive producer of the series. And, she's been given the green light by rival CBS to create for the fall televi- sion season a comedy pilot utilizing the talents of Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds. Ms. Hirsch is sitting on pins and needles waiting to see if either show will have a spot on the ABC or CBS fall slate, which is to be an- nounced. No matter what the result, she said she's grateful for what she's ac- complished in television so far. "I still don't believe I am becoming a force in Hollywood, where writers are usually anonymous tal- ents," Ms. Hirsch said. "It's so amazing when you con- sider that I'm actually doing this in a place where it never snows either." Many of television's top comedies have Jewish writers. And Ms. Hirsch is certain there's a correlation between the Jewish experi- ence and writing for a hit prime time comedy. "Growing up in Trenton (N.J.), I remember going to Steve K Walz writes from New York. different shuls to see my grandparents or other mem- bers of the family," she recalled. "And the thing I recall most were the laughs and fun that I had." "I mean that's where I got my Jewish point-of-view of things. It all goes back to family and relatives," she added. "All Jewish families have this amazing cast of characters in our own per- sonal history. I'm a writer and a Jew and I can't separate them." Speaking of amazing families, Ms. Hirsch is one of the few people in Hollywood to work with the talented "All Jewish families have this amazing cast of characters in our own personal history." Janis Hirsch and beautiful off-spring of two legendary Hollywood inter-marriages. Jamie Lee Curtis is the product of the union between Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Carrie Fisher is the daughter of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. "The lineage is startingly similar isn't it?" remarked Ms. Hirsch. "Debbie Reynolds may not be Jewish, but she uses more Yiddish than me and has admitted that her daughter Carrie is so Jewish-oriented, that Debbie has told me, `Maybe I didn't have a good marriage, but I had a great mother-in-law!' " Ms. Curtis is much more physical in her approach to acting than Ms. Fisher, ac- cording to Ms. Hirsch. "While Jamie will make up her mind and be physical about something, Carrie will think about three things and then write about it," Ms. Hirsch said. But "both wo- men have lots of angst and guilt. "I'd love to have Carrie in front of the camera with her mom, but Carrie has become a 'cottage industry' in Hollywood — not because of her work as Princess Leia (in Star Wars) but because she's such a talented, prolific writer, Ms. Hirsch said. "So she'll help me write the pro- gram."