study drama. He went on to perform
fact, Hymie's own personal angel.
coast to coast in regional theater.
After neaotiqtions between the two
Leaping to bigger arenas, Beim
angels, a deal is made. Hymie can
wound up on Broadway, appearing in
live, but he has only four months to
Inherit the Wind with Paul Muni and
find someone to take his place in
Melvyn Douglas, and in How Now,
heaven. Who shall Hymie choose?
Dow Jones with Tony Randall, in
Beim skillfully crafts the plot as
addition to other numerous Off- and
Hymie faces his moral dilemma.
Off Off-Broadway roles.
Although the main plot and char-
He also made the transition to
acters' names are fictitious, Beim's
television, landing parts on All My
parents, sister and relatives all are
Children, One Life to Live and
identifiable by anyone who knows
Saturday Night Live.
Beim. "All of the
His most recent appear-
characters and
ance on SNL was a few
the relationships
months ago, when
and many of the
Academy Award winner
incidents are
Gwyneth Paltrow host-
true," says Beim,
ed the show.
whose father, like
Although Beim vigor-
Hymie, owned a
ously pursued his acting
\_ tavern in New
/— Jersey.
career, he never gave up
writing.
"All the streets
In the near future,
and all the places
Giants of the Old
are real, too. It's
Testament, his collection
a record of places
of biblical plays, will be
and a life that no
published.
longer exists in
In the meantime, Beim
Newark. Back in
is busy concentrating
the '30s, '40s
Norman
Beim
Hymie and the
on
/— and '50s, Newark
"Writing it was
Angel.
had a large
Beims
first
novel
is
a
one
of
the most plea-
Jewish popula-
tribute
to
his
late
father.
surable
experiences in
tion. Of course,
my life," he says. It
what's fiction is
was a great release for
the angel,' says
me
going
back
to my youth. I hope
Beim, but yet, one doesn't know,
readers
will
be
entertained
and
for sure, does one?"
moved
as
well."
Beim's strong Jewish identity is
manifested throughout the novel.
— Alice Burdick Schweiger
Yiddish dialogue and expressions
often replace English ones; Yiddish,
in fact, was the primary language
spoken in the Beim household. "My
Sephardic Journey: Spain and the
parents were Polish Jews and spoke
Spanish. Jews;
Yiddish, and I spoke Yiddish before
La Rondinella;
English," Beim says.
Dorian
It was during his youth in Newark
Everyone knows that Columbus
that Beim developed an interest in
discovered America in 1492, but few
writing. "I wrote my first play when
remember the significance of that
I was 12, and we staged it in the syn-
date for another, more notorious
agogue," he recalls. After high school,
event: the expulsion of the
Beim majored in journalism at Ohio
Sephardim in Spain. It's peculiar that
State, where he remained for two
the ruling Christians could not do
years until he was drafted into the
what the former Moorish majority
U.S. Army. While stationed in
had done for centuries — live in
Germany, he received word that he
concord and tolerance with their
won an award for a one-act play That
neighbors. But the religious mania of
gave me the motivation to continue
the Inquisition invited a climate of
writing," says Beim, who after his mili-
absurd fear and intolerance.
tary stint moved to Philadelphia and
As the illuminating liner notes to
married his college sweetheart. They
this recital reveal, the Sephardim
met at Ohio State's Hillel.
scattered throughout Europe, the
As Beim pursued a playwrighting
Middle East and North Africa, with
career — he's written more than 50
most settling in the eastern
full-length plays in all — he was bit-
Mediterranean regions. That the
ten by the acting bug and began to
Sephardic culture has survived at all

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Detroit Jewish News

5/28
1999

75