COFFEE LADY page R51

559-4230

10 Mile at Southfield Road

and it's entire staff

Extends Best Wishes
For A Joyous And
Healthy

NEW YEAR

Management and Employees

Sincerely offer International Greetings
For The Fulfillment of Wishes In Good Health & Happiness
On This

anal

5755

• Amy% tomik

%IN walesoi 4%1N

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

al;Zei*Nor.

1 J a

May the New Year Bring
To All Our Friends
Health,
and Family
Joy, Prosperity
and Everything
Good in Life

FUNG LIM'S RESTAURANT, INC.

8410 W. NINE MILE RD.
OAK PARK
544-1021

1994

E Joe Vicari
Aldo Ottaviani
And The Staff of
faano

je

ITALIAN

Wish Their
Customers &
Friends
A Happy and
Healthy
New Year

1096 E. 14 Mile Road
Between Mound and Van Dyke

268-3200

j

son? "Mike's mannerisms,"
marvels his mother-in-law. 'They
astound me."
She has to hand it to him. "He
does things with his hands —just
like me. If someone cut off my
hands, I wouldn't be able to
speak."
Linda Richman speaks quite
a bit to Ms. Ruzan, who reacted
to the characterization with some
changes in her own look. "If you'll
notice, I wear pink nail polish, no
red — anymore," she says.
There is more than a hair of a
difference between the two. "That
hairdo Mike has," which looks
like the perfect hiding place for a
dozen or so bagles, "was very
close to what I wore," says Ms.
Ruzan.
Until when? "Until he start-
ed doing his character, and I
changed it. When you see your-
self in the mirror" — especially
one shared by millions of viewers
— "you say, What've I done?"
Whatever it is, Linda Ruzan is
not complaining. She has a win-
ning business as well as wonder-
ful relationship with her
daughter and son-in-law.
Indeed, daughter Robin is the
cream in her coffee. "Robin and I
talk on the phone at least three
times a day," she says. "She calls
me when she gets up first thing
in the morning. And we say good-
night to each other. And then we
talk somewhere in the middle of
the day."
One thing, says Ms. Ruzan,
she is not a meddling mom. "I am
a Jewish mother in the best sense
of the word — a caring mother.
But I don't interfere. rve done my
life, done things my way. Let her
find her own way, make her own
mistakes," says Ms. Ruzan.
Make no mistake, says Linda
Ruzan, life hasn't been one
gourmet blend. If she had it to do
over again, "I wouldn't have mar-
ried at age 19," says Ms. Ruzan,
divorced after 30 years of mar-
riage.
But the marriage produced
two major blessings, says Ms.
Ruzan of her two children, Robin,
30, and Jordan, a writer who died
four years ago in a car crash at
the age of 29.
The last four years have been
laden with happiness and tears.
"I'll tell you what this Linda
Richman has done for me," says
Ms. Ruzan. "I walk around with
a smile on my face. Mike created
the character at a time when I
needed to laugh.
"The tears came from my son;
the laughter from my son-in-law."
And a lot of love came from her
non-Jewish mishpachah . "I was
farklempt from them," she says of
their first meeting some years
back.
"As soon as they saw me, they
said they love me. Why? Because
Mike loves me.
"They are the most haimishe
people rve ever met."

Well, maybe they do have some
competition. People who like peo-
ple haven't lived until they've met
Barbra Streisand, says Ms.
Ruzan. When it comes to being a
mensch, nobody does it buttah.
"When I first met Mike, he had
on this leather jacket which I told
him was soft like buttah," says Ms.
Ruzan.
Mr. Myers melted at the pro-
nunication. Years later, he put the
same word in Linda Richman's
mouth whenever she refers to her
idol, Barbra Streisand (as in "She
has a voice like buttah.")
Want to get on Linda Ruzan's
good side? Buttah her up about
Streisand. am so glad that I am
on this planet the same time as
she," says Ms. Ruzan, who thinks
the world of Streisand.
"She can do everything. I love
this lady."
Indeed, one of Stresiand's al-
bums is playing in the background
during our chat as Linda Ruzan
waxes lyrical over the star. "She
is a kind, compassionate, caring
human being. The first time I met
her"— through the graces of My-
ers — "I thought my heart would
fail."
What did fail, recalls Ms.
Ruzan, was speech. "I was at a

Wherever she goes,
Linda Ruzan hears
Yiddish being
spoken more and
more.

rare loss for words," she notes. "I
felt I must be dreaming."
Ms. Streisand was a dream to
talk to. "We talked about children
and shopping— just like I do with
my friends," says Ms. Ruzan.
Linda Ruzan was mightily im-
pressed with the star's inner —
and outer — beauty. 'The first
thing I thought when I saw her
was, 'God, she's beautiful!'"
Life has been beautiful too. But
Linda Ruzan has her head on
straight in these heady times,
even with talk of a major film be-
ing based on the Richman char-
acter.
(This is more than coffee talk
— it's a reality with Myers and
Robin serving as the movie's pro-
ducers.)
One sign of celebrity is being
asked for an autograph, which
Ms. Ruzan has experienced. "I
don't get it. Why?"
Without question, Linda Ruzan
doesn't take the newfound celebri-
ty seriously. "It's fun," she says.
But give credit where credit is
due, she says of her son-in-law,
"an absolute creative genius, a
bowl of kindness."
Ms. Ruzan may be bowled over
by Mr. Myers' talents, but she re-
mains down-to-earth in her Man-
hattan high-rise. Famous? "rm