schedule to Sunday to Friday," says
Gold with pride. "They rearranged the
schedule so I could get off early Friday
afternoons."
He knows one could easily get
wrapped up in the mishegas of Holly-
wood and Vine, but Gold opts for
tefillin instead.
Not that Gold isn't anticipating
tsuris. Not everyone will see eye to eye
with the concept of his new show:
"You're the One" focuses on a mixed
marriage - a Southern belle (Cynthia
Geary) married to Gold's Jewish boy,
Mark Weitz.
Chicken soup with grits and ham?
"Let me say immediately, I don't rec-
ognize mixed marriages, I don't con-
done them - I am playing a charac-
ter.
"In real life, I am married to a won-
derful Jewish girl," he says of Sacha. "I
am just playing a role."
Part of Gold knows he's in for
problems. "I'm expecting to get heat.
I'm already getting it from relatives:
Why are you marrying a shiksa?'''
His answer: It's a living - and a
good one at that. Indeed, adds Gold, the
TV chemistry between him and Geary (
Shelly Tambo on "Northern Exposure")
would melt a Bunsen burner.
Not that it's all a marriage made in
heaven; having "mixed" relatives can
cause wedded blitz.
Indeed, Gold's TV father-in-law
wouldn't know a tallit from a toll
booth. "It's not that he's a bigot - he
just doesn't understand," says Gold.
The series should help others
understand what it means to be Jew-
ish.
"We're exploring it more than a lot
of other shows" with Jewish characters,
he says.
For Gold, there is a major silver lin-
ing in all this - the show's focus
allows for self-exploration, too. "I'm
such a proud Jew and I get to repre-
sent my people on TV in a good
light," he says. "Believe me, I'm not
going to embarrass us. It's good for
others to see more Jewish leading men
in sitcoms."
"It bothers me," he says, "when
other shows with obvious Jewish chr-
acters don't identify them as such."
He is annoyed at "Mad About
You."
"Paul Reiser is great; he's my men-
tor," says Gold of the show's star and
co-creator. "But they always gloss
over the issue of his being Jewish.
That bothers me. At least on `Sein-
feld,' Jerry has talked about being
Jewish."
4/24
1998
When talk turns to comedy, Gold
can laugh off early setbacks. After all,
this is something he's always wanted to
do.
When other teens were concerned
with opening lines on dates, Gold had
dates at comedy clubs with lines form-
ing at the door. "I started doing stand-
up at 17, all through college," he says.
The payoff for the economics major at
Boston University was that by the
time he earned his degree, he had
already graduated to the big time,
doing Showtime TV appearances and
appearing at the Montreal Comedy
Festival.
Today, his love of the art drives him
on. Maybe it's inherited. "My father
[Sid] always had a love of show busi-
ness," Gold says. "When he was in
college, he produced plays for the
school - Al Pacino was in one of
them.
"My father would invest in Broad-
way musicals," he says, although one
show Dad didn't invest in was Fiddler
on the Roof which makes his son hit
the roof.
In real life, a
Jewish wife.
"That is why I grew up in the
Bronx and not Scarsdale," says Gold
with a chuckle.
But his dad's interest grew into a
second career. "After he retired as a
teacher and principal, he became a tal-
ent manager, working with a number
of people now on Broadway," says
Gold.
So it all worked out for his dad,
just like Gold knows it will work out
for him.
"It was always the other guy getting
the part," he says of angst-filled audi-
tions. "Now it's the other guy that can
say that."
While Gold says he wasn't ready for
success when he first appeared on the
short-lived satire "She-TV," he's ready
now
And he's ready with an answer for
those who complain that "You're the
One" should have featured two Jewish
married characters instead of one.
"I promise," says Gold, "I promise
in my next sitcom, I'll marry a Jew."
"You're the One" airs 9:30 p.m.
Sundays on WDWB-TV, Channel
20. Check your local listings.
Crossword Puzzle by Kathi Handler
2
1
4
3
6
5
17
16
ill
21 111111
20
24
23
33
36
35
55
43
44
58
59
50
. 56 111111
60
61
63
64 III
Across
1. Comedian Murray
4. Greenberg tools
8. Author Yael
13. Before
14. Richard Tucker spe-
cialty
15. Lock
16. Lauder products
18. Ben Yehuda street
19. Digits
20. Broke the eighth
22. Sleeper for servants
24. Five of Moses
25. Lox starters
28. Rothschild action
29. Made aliyah
30. Shape
31. Switch positions
32. Rainbows
33. Hubs for Tsahal
34. Catastrophe pro-
Allen
ducer,
36. Asher's second
38. Villain
40. Merkavahs
42. American Mossad?
45. Esau
46. Gad's son
47. Sid Caesar's " of
Shows"
48. Orthodox minyan
49. Omri and Saul
50. Wallenberg
51. Birthplace to Amos
27
52 1111
51
54
26
say
42
111
49
48
III
47
46
45
12
37
40 ill
38
53
30
32
34
U 25
III
29
31
11
18
19
28
10
1111
15 III
13
22
9
8
7
III
III
52. Hamsa
53. Hebrew ancestor
56. Tops
60. Said Kol Nidre
61. Alephbet member
62. Prophesize
63. Mother to line of
Judah
64. Name on towel
65. Chazzer
Down
1. Jewish American
Princess
of Spain
2. Golden
3. Industrialist (2 wds)
4. Alias Joyce Brothers
5. Uzis
6. Gelilah act
7. Haircare guy
8. Monty Hall special-
ties
9. Israeli city
10. Rickles hope
11. Exist
12. Biblical fishing
device
15. Prepare Lox
17. Sukkot decoration?
21. Crumbs at Tashlich
22. Zeigfeld's nickname
23. Nimoy casually
24. Bookstore Mogul
25. New month
26. Solomon's find
62
65
27. Mems (Eng.)
29. "Friend" to Mon-
tand
30. Air Org.
32. Possess
33. Terrorist target
35. Offering often
37. Mt Hermon activi-
ty
38. Tsitsit site
39. Lemon drink
41. Tales (Hebrew)
43. Usurious instru-
ment
44. Leather punch
46. Did Masada
47. Negev plenty
49. Torah crown (Heb)
50. Noah's forecast
51. Actress Louise
52. Shema starter
53. Used his tuches
54. Arkia stat
55. Bathsheba to
Solomon
57. Pastrami on
58. "Joys of Yiddish"
Rosten
59. Portion (abv)
For the Crossword
answers, please turn to
Page 158.