Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs
Staff Notebook
"THE PLAY IS THE THING"
William Shakespeare's words resonate in the works of Jewish playwrights
and screenwriters whose offerings were staged before America. Their
social consciousness, wit and eloquence, poetry and spirited sense of theater
have helped place contemporary national stagecraft at world center.
Future columns will raise the curtain on Oscar award winning Patty
Chayefsky, author of screenland's Marty and The Bachelor Party. As well
as on Betty Comden and lifetime partner Adolph Green who wrote the
book for On the Town and for Singing in the Rain, perhaps the greatest
musical ever filmed. Broadway's marquees have for generations flashed the
names of theatrical giants such as Elmer Rice, Clifford Odets, George S.
Kaufman and Moss Hart. For the moment we meet:
LILLIAN HELLMAN
(1905 - 84) b. New Orleans, LA Many critics
have hailed her as the most accomplished and
provocative playwright of her time--a chronicler
of psychological aberrations, hypocrisy and greed.
Her more than a dozen gripping and biting dramas
argued for moral responsibility and integrity in
public and private life. The highly controversial
The Children's Hour (1934) ran in New York for
691 performances. Dealing with lesbianism, the play was banned in
England but instantly made her reputation. Equally popular and also
adapted for successful screen productions were The Little Foxes (1939),
depicting a reactionary Southern family, and Watch on the Rhine (1941), a
poignant and powerful anti-Nazi drama. Twice winning the New York
Drama Critics Award for best play of the year, the courageous victim of the
McCarthy era witch-hunt was portrayed by Jane Fonda in the 1977 hit
movie, Julia.
•
ARTHUR MILLER
(1915-) b. New York City Considered by some
as a peer to Tennessee Williams and Eugene
O'Neill, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright first
received critical attention with All My Sons
(1947), the tragedy of a manufacturer who
knowingly produced defective war materials. The
debut of The Death of a Salesman two years later
won lasting international fame as one of the most
important post-Second World War plays. The story of an unexceptional
American ruined by empty values also reflects Miller's frequent themes: the
insecurities of modem life, guilt and failed ideals. Such occur in some of
his other memorable works including The Crucible (1953), A View from the
Bridge (1955) and The Price (1968). Toward the end of his brief, turbulent
second marriage to actress Marilyn Monroe (who converted to Judaism
before they were wed) he wrote an original screenplay, The Misfits (1961),
in which she made her final film appearance.
NEIL SIMON
(1927-) b. New York City No playwright in
recent history has repeatedly composed more stage
hits, successful TV and film adaptations and
original screenplays. Collecting a Pulitzer Prize
and several Tony awards, he has favored suburban
settings and childhood flashbacks for his
outpouring of witty and sometimes bitter-sweet
productions. Before his first Broadway play, the
long-run Come Blow Your Horn (1961)--co-written with his brother Danny-
-Simon created TV comedy material for Sid Caesar, Red Buttons, Jackie
Gleason, Garry Moore and Phil Silvers. He has consistently cast a
whimsical but tolerant look at the incongruities of everyday life, as in
Barefoot in the Park (1963), The Odd Couple (1965) and Plaza Suite
(1968). Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985) and
Broadway Bound (1986) comprise an acclaimed autobiographical trilogy of
plays. Among his best known screenplays are The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
and The Goodbye Girl (1977)
- Saul Stadtmauer
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8/17
2001
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COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field & Harriet F. Siden, Chairpersons
Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org
Novi Graves
Won't Be Touched
N
o matter what happens to the
boundaries of Oakland Hills
Memorial Gardens Cemetery
across from Twelve Oaks Mall, graves in
the Jewish section will not be affected.
The Novi City Council voted to
widen 12 Mile Road, east of Novi Road,
on the cemetery boundaries. However,
objections from community members
caused the matter to be referred to
Oakland County Circuit Court.
If the widening goes ahead as
planned, the graves of 20 people and
numerous pets must be moved.
However, said Don Confer, Oakland
Hills Memorial Gardens manager, the
cemetery's Jewish section is located
securely away from any roads.
Known as the B'nai Israel Cemetery,
the section was opened in 1989, and
now contains about 500 graves,
Confer said.
— Diana Lieberman
Smile Into
Second Base
7
he B'nai B'rith softball league's
annual championship games
this Sunday will take on a
more professional air — on television.
Steve and D.D. Fisher of AAA
Productions in Oak Park will tape the
championship for future airing on at
least four cable television stations in
metropolitan Detroit.
The game will be part of the Fishers'
"B'nai B'rith Presents" series.
B'nai B'rith sports chairman Marry
Melton says Bloch Lodge and
Brotherhood III will square off at 8:30
a.m. Sunday at Drake Sports Park in
West Bloomfield for the right to face
Brotherhood II in the 9:40 a.m.
championship game. The winner of
the 8:30 game needs two victories
against Brotherhood II to win the
double-elimination tournament.
Brotherhood I, last year's champion,
has already been eliminated. Eight
teams, comprised of several hundred
B'nai B'rith members, competed in
the league this summer.
— Alan Hitsky
Same Cooking,
New Cook
A
fret nearly 40 years, the family-
owned Sperber's Kosher
Catering will see its kitchen and
its business run by a non-family member.
"The plans are to merge Meyer S.
Cohen Catering into Sperber's," says
Alan Linker, owner of Sperber's, the
in-house caterer at Congregations Beth
Ahm and B'nai Moshe.
After 12 years with the business,
Linker and his wife and three daugh-
ters will move to Boca Raton, Fla.,
where he will pursue a career "in the
financial field."
"Meyer was chosen because I have
full faith that he will continue the
long Sperber tradition of being easy-
going and heimish [informal, unpre-
tentious]," Linker says.
"This is like a shiduch [march].
Mayer's catering skills and personality
fit with mine."
Cohen, who owns the Soup Bowl
Deli in the Oak Park Jewish Center and
the Inline Grill in the West Bloomfield
JCC, is also the caterer at Young Israel
of Southfield and the meat caterer at the
JCC. The merger will take place at the
end of December, with the business name
remaining Sperber's Kosher Catering. ❑ I
— Shelli Liebman Dorfman