"HILARIOUS!"

— Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE

"VICIOUSLY
FUNNY!"

— Janet Maslin, THE NEW YORK TIMES

ranked third on the list, "but
there's one positive aspect.
Because I'm an instrumentalist,
and these songs are so traditional
in melody, from a religious stand-
point I don't feel like I'm saying 'I
believe in this.'
"I'm trying to think it's about
spirit, togetherness and family;"
also :didn't feel the
he'::added.-
need to step' out and say, T11 do a
Chariukah song to show every-
body I'm Jewish.'"
Brickman grew up in Cleveland's
heavily Jewish suburb of Shaker
Heights where "my school was
even closed on Rosh Hashanah."
He expects to take a little teasing
from his family back home. But
Brickman and the others are not
the first Jewish artists to taste the
forbidden fruits of Christmas
music. After all, Irving Berlin was
"dreaming of a white Christmas" as
long ago as 1942.
But the numbers in this year's
bunch are unusual. Is this a sign of
mounting assimilation? Another
example of the versatility of the Jew-
ish genius? A mark of Jewish achieve-
ment in the American melting pot? A
fluke?
Who knows. Meanwhile, let's just
listen to the advice of Adam Sandler,
in his own recent holiday hit: "Put
on your yarmulke —it's time for
Chanukah."

"FUNNY
AND SMART!"

— Roger Ebert, SISKEL & EBERT.

"ONE OF THE
YEAR'S BEST
PICTURES!"

— Jeffrey Lyons, WNBC

"A TRIUMPH!"

— Gene Shalit, TODAY, NBC-TV

.

Woody Allen and Peter Falk star in "The
Sunshine Boys."

became the model in my mind for
what later would be The Sunshine

Boys."

The Sunshine Boys airs at 9 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 28, on CBS (Chan-
nel 62).

— Suzanne Chessler

HO? HO? HO?

Bubbie's turning in her grave ...
but Christians are flipping out this
holiday season with Christmas
albums recorded, composed and pro-
— Owen Alterman
duced by Jews.
In Entertainment Weekly's Dec. 5
list of the season's hottest Christ-
mas albums, Jewish artists perform
on six of the 35 hits — and three
of the top seven.
From all of the old favorites —
Neil Diamond (No. 28), Barbra
Streisand (No. 24), Kenny G (No.
4) and Michael Bolton (No. 7) —
to conductor Eugene Ormandy
(No. 26) and rising star Jim Brick-
man (No. 3), Jews are counted in
the list out of proportion to our
numbers.
Jews have long been over-repre-
sented among Nobel Prize winners
and United States senators. Now, it
seems, we are moving on to a new
frontier — Christmas music.
Even Mark Twain once marveled
at the Jew's "contributions to the
world's list of great names in litera-
ture, science, art," plus "finance,
medicine, and abstruse learning."
But could he have imagined this?
"It's a little bit strange," admits
Brickman, whose album The Gift is Irving Berlin: The Jew who started it all.

CAROLINE AARON
BOB BALABAN
BILLY CRYSTAL
MARIEL HEMINGWAY
ERIC LLOYD
DEMI MOORE
ROBIN WILLIAMS

WOODY ALLEN
RICHARD BENJAMIN
JUDY DAVIS
AMY IRVING
JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS
ELISABETH SHOE

KIRSTIE ALLEY
ERIC BOGOSIAN
HAZELLE GOODMAN
JULIE KAVNER
TORE? MAGUIRE
STANLEY TUCCI

• Deconstructing

sliageir

Harry Block wrote a bestseller about his best friends.
Now, his best friends are about to become his worst enemies.
A Fine Line Features Pe!ease Sweetland Films Pr:. cents
a Jean Doumanian Production "Deconstructing Harry" Casting In Juliet Taylor Costume Grasper Suzy Benzinger
:odor Susan E. Morse, A C.E Production Designe, Santo Loguasto Dint-, nt Photography Carlo DiPalma, a IC .
P9C . Co-Producer Richard Brick Co-Executive PraKers Jack Rollins Charles H. Joffe Letty Aronson
Executive Producer J.E. Beaucaire Produced by Jean Doumanian Written and Ovectei by Woody Allen

NOW STAR SOUTHFIELD
PLAYING

12 Mile Rd. between Northwestern Hwy. & Telegraph

(248) 372-2222

LANDMARK'S

Main Art

118 N. Main St. Royal Oak • (248) 542-0180

NO PASSES OR COUPONS ACCEPTED • WWW.fif.cOrn

WHERE TO GO!
WHAT TO DO!
WHOM TO SEE!

Find out in this week's

JN Entertainment

section.

12/2
1997

••85