A

Funny
Young

Man

At 90, Henny's still
going strong.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

What does the comedy of Henny Youngman
have in common with the comedy of Andrew
Dice Clay?
Nothing to speak of anymore. When
Clay's act -inflamed crowds of women just a few years
ago, the senior humorist got fired up enough to write an
editorial for the New York Times.
"I took it upon myself to give him hell," said Young-
man, who will be the headliner at Congregation Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses' dinner/dance Sunday. "I think
comedians can be funny without being dirty, and I want-
ed to tip him off. I thought he could be a good comedi-
an, but he needed to show respect."
The 90-year-old jokester continues to live out the
strength of his own advice, which has brought him
through successful decades in vaudeville, radio, televi-
sion, live concerts and even the movies. Youngman, who
played himself in Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas, holds
fast to his trademarks — a fiddle that punctuates his
jokes and a string of one-liners dominated by the best-
known: "Take my wife, please."
"I was on 'The Kate Smith Show' in the late '30s, and
my wife came backstage with seven ladies from Hadas-
sah," he reminisced. "I was getting ready to go on and
said to the usher, 'Take my wife, please,' meaning take
her into the audience. People overheard that, liked it and
the phrase stuck." His wife never objected. "She was very
happy," the comedian said of Sadie, who died eight years
ago. "I made a good living with that line."
Youngman, a violin student throughout his youth, be-
came a comedy fan at the same time he kept getting sus-
pended from school for being too much of a cutup. Out
on his own, he would watch vaudeville shows, building
on the funny routines he admired. Early entertainment
work placed him in a band, where he often stepped away
from being a musician and into the role of comic.

LLJ

94

After the band broke up, Youngman made humor the
core of his act. He worked at synagogue parties and in
the Catskills before going on "The Kate Smith Show,"
where he had a string of writers. Their jokes remain part
of his repertoire, which features about 200 jokes in a 45
minute monologue.

`More than 65 years ago, from his wife Sadie and seven of her Hadassah girl pals, came Henny Youngman's trademark "Take my wife, please."

"I just got back from a pleasure trip," says the man
dubbed King of the One-Liners by a popular columnist.
"Took my mother-in-law to the airport." Then there's a
question: "Did you know things are so bad the Mafia laid
off 10 percent of their hitmen?"
Behind his standup is the belief that any situation can
be turned around for a laugh. Ethnic humor for him
means taking any joke and changing the names of the
people in it. Youngman, who consistently found club work,
recently has brought his humor to TV commercials, sell-
ing travel plans, hotels and root beer on the backs of one-
liners. Glad to do that, he advises young comics to take
whatever bookings they are offered, so long as they're
decent. "Don't turn down work," he tells them. "Try to
negotiate out of a low fee, but then take the money when
you can get it. If a guy wants to give you his money, that's
pretty good.
"Sometimes people can get big heads in their careers
and turn down jobs, but they'll find they don't get them
back the next day. The idea is not to be cocky."
Youngman, who lives in New York, spends most af-
ternoons lunching with friends at the Friars Club and
many evenings going on to live shows. Explaining that
looking at the funny side of things comes naturally to
him, Youngman has fun recalling backstage humor. An
ongoing gag has to do with a business card he gives out.

When he asks others if they'd like to see his "pride and

joy," it turns out to be a card with pictures of the dish-
washing liquids Pride and Joy.
"Jerry Lewis always liked the Pride and Joy bit when
we played Las Vegas," Youngman reminisced. "rd plant

those cards all over his dressing room. Whatever he
touched — a trumpet or his underwear — had a card.
"When Jerry was in town last year to star in Damn Yan-
kees, the first thing I did was send over Pride and Joy
cards for his dressing room. He loved it."
Youngman is proud of his real-life pride and joys. Son
Gary is a film editor and director in California, where he
lives with his wife, Barbara, who just became a lawyer
at age 50, and their two children. Daughter Marilyn, a
widow, is retired from photography work in New York.
"I'm looking forward to my grandson's bar mitzvah in
two years," Youngman said. "I hope I can make it. I feel
good now, and my doctor gave me a good report." 1=1

`El The Cultural Commission of Congregation Beth
Abraham Hillel Moses presents "Just For the Fun of
It," starring Henny Youngman and featuring . Cantor
Ben-Zion Lanxner, the Hora Aviv Dancers and the Bill
Meyer's Orchestra. The evening begins at 6 p.m. Sun-
day, Aug. 4, and includes live entertainment, dinner
and dancing. Tickets are $35 for members and min-
memoers. Call (810) 851-6880 to make reservations.

