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The Merchant of VINO

KRAMER page R55

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Conve4f &Al Wales la
Thei4 Ca4tooneia and qAtiends

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4 Veiut cilealilut and cliappit
NEW 20741R

TROY
689-0900
4050 Rochester
Wattles/Rochester

SOUTHFIELD
354-6505
29525 N.W. Hwy.
Betw. 12 & 13 Mile

BIRMINGHAM
433-3000
254 W. Maple
Wabeek Bldg.

And Our 2 New Locations... The Merchant of Vino Warehouse

ANN ARBOR
769-0900
7789 Plymouth Rd.
North Campus

ROYAL OAK
546-7770
126 N. Main St.
Near 11 Mile

Johnny and Pete Ginopolis
and the employees of

0" as Ova'

27815 Middlebelt at 12 Mile • Farmington Hills

851-8222

Heartily Wish
Their Customers, Friends
And The Entire Community

A VERY HEALTHY
AND HAPPY
NEW YEAR

DYSAUTONOMIA

auct

JOSEPH'S

"PLACE FOR STEAK"

Wishes It's
Customers and Friends
Good Health, Prosperity
and happiness
In The New Year

56

No child should be denied
correct diagnosis and proper
treatment . Support the
Dysautonomia Foundation.

Dysautonomia Foundation Inc.

2555 Twelve Mile Road, Berkley 399 ,6750

3000 Town Center, Suite 1500,
Southfield, MI 48075 (313) 350-3333 ,

"Seinfeld" for serving as
Kramer's inspiration.
How much money? "Let's
just say I have enough
money now for the rest of my
life — unless I want to buy
food."
Ever the comedian,
Kramer is writing Kramer
Speaks, which offers his
philosophy of life and con-
cerns. "It's a self-help book,"
he says. Pause. "I'm hoping
to help myself to a lot of
royalities."
The TV character is com-
edy royalty these days.
Richards' portrayal has been
called one of the greatest in
the history of the medium.
It's well done, says
Kramer —although don't
count on him to go slip-
sliding across floors like
Richards' character does.
And when it comes to hair,
Kramer's stylish and gray
"do" is a cut above the
character's.
Make that a cut below; the
character's hair rises high
atop the head like a missile
awaiting liftoff. "And I'm
not into '50s clothes," says
Kramer with a smile over
his TV doppelganger's dorky
but somehow cool wardrobe.
"He's a cartoon, an exag-
geration of me," says
Kramer. But Larry David
"got the essence of me."
In essence, : _that must
mean that the TV character
is Jewish, too. "Well, I am,"
says Kenny, kvelling over
the attention he and the
character are getting.
It was a legendary Jewish
comedian who inspired the
real Kramer to get into
comedy. "Lenny Bruce put
his Judaism out front," says
Kramer admiringly.
"He used a lot of Yiddish
expressions in his act and
that got me to learn what
they meant. I was always
going up to my grandmother
and asking her about them."
Kramer turned to another
legend for advice. "I used to
play percussion at Jewish
hotels in the Catskills,"
recalls Kramer of his
younger days, "and would
see Jackie Mason perform
maybe 50 times a summer.
He was a big influence."
Mason was invariably nice
and helpful, Kramer says, "a
real gentleman."
Comedy helped early on
when life was no laughing
matter. "My father was
killed in World War II on my
mother's birthday," he says.
"I was raised by my mother
and grandmother. Comedy
was my "answer" to lifting
the gray cloud hanging over
his head.
There have been some

clouds since — a failed mar-
riage in the '70s, for example
— but silver linings are
easier to find these days.
To relive his past, Kramer
has only to turn on a TV.
Watching "Seinfeld" some-
times is akin to life on
reruns. One episode, in
which George discovers a so-
called cure for baldness, was
based on fact. "I still have
the video of Larry putting
that stuff on his head,"
laughs Kramer.
And, like TV's Kramer,
Kenny enjoys the company
of women. Make that
woman. The single parent
and proud papa of a pre-med
student ("I told her to study
comedy, too, so she could
always have something to
fall back on," he jokes) is in a
monogamous relationship
that makes him very happy
these days.
Conversely, Kramer plays
the field. "Kramer loves
women — all kinds of wo-
men," says Kenny of
Richards' character. "The

Kramer is winning
in other ways
these days.

fact that a woman would be
a lesbian wouldn't be a tur-
noff. He would know that
underneath beats the heart
of a raging bisexual."
With Kramer all the rage
these days, Kenny Kramer
hopes to get more attention
for his projects, such as a
screenplay and a one-act
play, as well as Kramer
Speaks.
Kramer has no say in
"Seinfeld" scripts, however.
Indeed, the one script he at-
tempted to write for the
series didn't sell.
But Kramer is winning in
other ways these days —
much like his Emmy-
nominated alter ego.
"Kramer in his own way
comes up with solutions in
life," says Kramer of
Kramer.
"He wins by whatever
means possible — as long as
they're nonviolent lent
means and don't hurt
anybody."
And that, says Kenny
Kramer, grabbing his golf
club and taking an imag-
inary thwack, is a good way
to score in life. ❑

The tzadik is the foundation
of the world . . . No revela-
tion is possible except
through him.
—Rabbi Abraham Malach