COLORWORKS STUDIO OF INTERIOR DESIGN Happy Anniversary, Al How a popular waltz became a "Jewish" wedding number. ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR 0: Okay, call me a little wacky, but I'm in love with a cartoon char- acter. Some guys like sports, some like cars. I spend my free hours dreaming about Betty Boop. Natu- rally, though, I can't continue this relationship if she's not Jewish. Please, Tell Me Why, ease this aching heart and assure me my dream babe is an MOT. A: First of all, pal, where have Please join Us For Our Spring Fine Arts Event May 17th from 11-7 & May 18th from 11 8 - Featuring original serigraphs, lithographs, monoprints, canvases, and fine art glass by both national and international artists. Complimentary refreshments throughout the day. Stop by or call for a private showing. Sentimental "waves" can often be heard rolling at Jewish weddings. The Courtyard 32500 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills • 851-7540 111 mi■C■ Igr'S /25( WOODLAWN PLAYCENTERS TIMBERLODGE prices start at $599 .4111 MANY MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM & IN STOCK • Easy To Put Together • InstallationAvailable • • Portable So the Fun Goes With You • • Beautiful Yard Displays That You Can Play On • "Since 1946" LAPEER 1830 N. Lapeer (810) 667.6980 KING BROS. 1-800-438-8769 AUBURN HILLS 2391 Pontiac Rd. (810) 373.0734 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8-6, Sat. 8-5 LLJ LLJ CLOSET COMPANY) INC. CC LLJ LLJ 36 Foremost in Design, Installation and Service 626-5520 OatAt ,zseltolt Oaltelt amass I Q: It seems that at even , _I...A.', weddinu J attended in the 1950s and •1960s •the band played the "An- niversary Waltz." Is that snappy number a Jewish tune? A: Sort of, but not really. The music you heard was based on an 1880 waltz called "Valurile Dunarii," by the Ro- manian band leader Ion Ivanovici (1845-1902). Very soon after its introduction, the waltz became a favorite world- wide. In Europe, it often went by the German title "Veber den Wellen." American music lovers knew it as "The Waves of the Danube" or "Danube Waves." In 1946, the waltz went Hol- lywood. The music was re- worked, with words added by Al Jolson and Saul Chaplin, and introduced as "The An- niversary Song" in The Jolson Story, a hokey but successful film biography starring Larry Parks, singing with the dubbed- in voice of the real Jolson. (Ear- lier, Saul Chaplin had collaborated with Sammy Calm on the English words to "Beir Mir Bist Du Schoen.") Because of the movie's popu- larity, 'The Anniversary Song's" association with Jolson and its schmaltzy sentimentality, Jew- ish dance bands began playing it at weddings. The band leader would ask the parents or the grandparents of the wedding couple to take the dance floor and, as the band played, the older guests sighed and got misty-eyed while the young people gagged. Q. ouineoody told me the phrase "magic bullet" is of Jewish origin. What's the story behind the idiom? A: The phrase was coined by Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), pioneer and experimental genius in the application of chemistry to biolo- gy and science. Ehrlich was born in Strehlen, Germany (now Strzelin, Poland). In 1896, he became director of the Royal Institute for Serum Re- search, and three years later he was named director of the new In- stitute of Experimental Therapy in Frankfurt Am Main. In 1908, he shared the Nobel Prize for med- icine. Ehrlich's principal work was in histology and blood cytology, im- munity, chemotherapy, bacteriol- ogy, pharmacology and cancer research. He demonstrated the specific staining characteristics of granules in tissue cells and is re- garded as the founder of modern hematology. He created chemotherapy as a branch of pharmacology. His greatest chemotherapeutic achievement was his discovery of the synthetic arsenical compound arsphenamine, known commer- cially as Salvarsan or 606, the first successful medicine to treat syphilis. Ehrlich called Salvarsan the "magic bullet" to rid the world of the deadly disease. (Of course, today syphilis is treated princi- pally with penicillin.) Unlike many of his fellow con- temporary German Jews who sought professional advancement by abandoning Judaism, Ehrlich always took an active interest in Jewish affairs and was a Zionist. you been since political cor- rectness? "Babe?" Sure, she's just a cartoon character — she has feelings, too! Second, cartoon characters do not have religions. They are fictional characters and not real people, get it? Nonetheless, it may comfort you to know that Betty - — was should I say JM- create'-' a ew, namely Max leischer (1885-1972), also re- sponsible for Popeye. Incidentally, other Jews who have made significant contri- butions to the world of cartoons include: Al Capp (born Caplin) is the man behind Li'l Abner. Irwin Hasen created Dondi. Ted Key is responsible for Hazel. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel — who together dreamed up the man of steel himself, Super- man. Q: My wife and I were out the other evening for a thrilling trip to the grocery store. After visiting briefly with the lobsters and stop- ping to smell the various air fresh- eners, we meandered over to the ever-popular pancake-mix section. There, we discovered a box of Aunt Jemima, which I was surprised to hear is a Hebrew name. Is that true? A: Yes, except that the name in Hebrew is Yemima (a num- ber of old translations still spell the name with a J.) It is found in Job 42:14. Yemima was the first of Job's three daughters born to him after his travails. The name means "dove." Incidentally, Aunt Jemima's cousin in the rice business, Un- cle Ben, also has a Hebrew name. Benjamin is the English form of Binyamin, the youngest ofJacob's sons (Genesis 35:18.) Send questions to "Tell Me Why" c/o The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Rd., Smithfield, MI 48034 or send fax to 354-6069.