sh Finkel:
Road Warrior

MICHAEL ELKIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

H

ow do you get from Second
Avenue to Broadway?
First, you make a left at
Hard Work Hill, then a right
onto Mazel Tov Boulevard.
Or, just ask Fyvush Finkel.
The delightful, deep-voiced dybbuk of
an actor — surely there are Jewish imps
in his soul, poking and prodding, to
cause such a mischievous mien — has
made the trip many times.
Fyvush, watch out for the potholes.
No problem, says the actor. From the
Yiddish theater to the mainstream Eng-
lish-speaking stage, Fyvush Finkel has
proved quite the road warrior.
But then, in building a 65-year career
— "I started at the age of 9" — he has
been street savvy.
"Thank God," he says, "all I had to do
was take a little walk."
Along the road, he approached life as
if it were a good corned beef sandwich:
a little wry, lots of meat and no pickle
he couldn't get out of.
_ Speaking of which ... "I still love to go
to Second Avenue, over to the Second
Avenue Deli, and then, I walk off what
I ate."
He has a longer walk these days.
Fyvush Finkel — From Second Avenue
to Broadway was recently on stage for
a two-week run at the John Houseman
Theatre on New York's 42nd St.
This is no Finkel's Follies — no, that
was the last off-Broadway show he did
a few years back.
"Here, I do songs from the Yiddish
theater the first act; then, after inter-
mission, I tell stories from my Broadway
experiences and sing from Broadway
shows," he says in a sweet singsong
style.
cy)
Fyvush Finkel is his own best judge
when it comes to what works in his ca-
LU
w reer. It was the role as a lawyer, how-
= ever, that catapulted him to the forefront
`L) of TV-character fame.
"They still call me Douglas," he says
-' of fans who stop him on the street for
1 = brief talks about his years as wily Doug
c) Wambaugh, the wise and off-the-wall
i=
u '- T, Jewish. lawyer of Rome, Wis., in "Pick-
cm et Fences."

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SO

Michael Elkin is the entertainment editor
of the Jewish Exponent in
Philadelphia.

That TV series opened a flood-
gate of possibilities for Mr.
Finkel, one of which is an in-the-
works comedy, written by
"Fences" creator David E. Kel-
ley and co-starring _"Fences"
friend Ray Walston.
As he prepared to take the
New York stage, Fyvush Finkel
took a step back and marveled
at a life bathed in footlights
and awash in awards.
One of those was an Emmy
for playing Wambaugh.
"I knell almost every day,
knowing how I was able to
help change the image of
Jews on TV [into a positive],"
he says.
He was well aware of the
negatives. Imagine, he sniffs,
"Fifty-five years ago, when
I wanted to work on the
English stage, I was told,
`Maybe if you fix your nose.'"
Honk if you like the way
you are, Finkel reasoned.
"I didn't change my nose;
I didn't change my name
either," as was suggested
by an agent.
But he has helped
change the way Jews are
portrayed on TV, says the
actor proudly.
"Douglas is a man with
a lot of heart. It doesn't
matter if you paid him or
not, he'd take the case."
Mr. Finkel makes a
case for the talents of his
colleagues on the
Houseman stage. Won-
derful musicians, he
notes of conductor Ian
Finkel and the Finkel
Orchestra.
"I have a real fa-
ther's pride," he says
of son Ian and grandson
Abott, in the orchestra.
Fyvush Finkel also sheps nachus from
the Jewish work he has done recently,
including an appearance before the Jew-
ish Federation of Greater Philadelphia,
a starring role in the Itzhak Perlman
documentary, In the Fiddler's House,
and a voiceover for last month's "Ru-
grats" TV Chanukah special.

"You.know," says the intriguing Fyvush
Finkel, "Jewish life is interesting."
And so is his show, a pure treat: "It's
laughter, music — a real heimish par-
ty.
"And, you know," says Mr. Finkel flat-
ly, "you can't get any better than that." 0

Fyvush Finkel:
Comedic showman.