ai

`Monday Night Mayhem'

Reviled and revered Cosell remembered in cable movie.

Cosell embraced Ali,
but it worked both ways:
Cosell owed most of his
reputation to his exclusive
he late Howard
interviews with the
Cosell craved
champ. The on-air parry-
the spotlight.
ing between the New York
Wherever he is,
Jew and the black man
he's probably puffing on a
from Louisville — who,
cigar and savoring his
for all their fame, both
return to the public eye —
were outsiders — today
while bitterly critiquing
seems like one of the
every perceived slight and
underappreciated chapters
misquote.
in the history of black-
In Michael Mann's cur-
John Turturro stars
Jewish
relations.
rent film, Ali, the Jewish
as Howard Cosell in
Now comes Monday
sportscaster (who was born
TNT's 'Monday Night
Night Mayhem, a Turner
Howard Cohen) is present-
Mayhem."
Network Television movie
ed as one of the few white
about the genesis and iconic status of
people who understood and accepted
ABC's long-running foray into prime-
outspoken black Muslim and heavy-
time pro football that may be as close
weight champion Muhammad Ali in
as we get to a Howard Cosell
the 1960s.
biopic. It premieres 9 p.m.
Played by Jon Voight as a
Monday, Jan. 14, on TNT
man whose outsized ego was
The enjoyably shallow movie
matched by a compassion that
the public rarely glimpsed, Cosell sided briskly covers some 15 years, from ABC's
acquisition of the TV rights to Monday
with Ali when the boxing establish-
Night
Football in 1969 through Cosell's
ment stripped him of his crown and
departure
from the show in 1983.
the government sought to imprison
Interestingly,
the core of the film is the
him for refusing induction into the
tension between Cosell's unwavering
U.S. Army.

MICHAEL FOX
Special to the Jewish News

T

:&„

2001 Michigan
Press Association
"Newspaper
of the Year"
award winner!

Play By Play By Play

Marathon of 23 short productions is an all-day adventure.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

L

ook for two Jewish characters
in the Heartlande Theatre
Company's short-play
marathon, Play by Play, which
runs noon-midnight Saturday, Jan. 12,
at the Performance Network in Ann
Arbor. Myron Stein of Southfield has
written them into Boot Scootin' Buddies,
one of 23 new plays being introduced.
"My play is about two Jewish men in
a country-western bar," says Stein, who
works as a teacher and counselor at
Christian schools and is a member of
Beth Shalom in Oak Park. "The line
dancing represents life, and the play is
an affirmation of life."
Stein, who has taken writing classes at

41

'

1/11
2002

58

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Wayne State University and the
University of Michigan, has been affiliat-
ed with Heartlande for almost two years.
His current work is a sequel to Louie's
One and Only, which was staged for
Heartlande's last play marathon. The
new piece will be performed at 1 p.m.
and 6:30 p.m.
"I'm working on turning this into a
full-length play," says Stein, who also has
written a children's play performed at
Cass Technical High School in Detroit
and children's stories appearing in liter-
ary publications.
Heartlande, an outgrowth of the
Actors Studio of Detroit, sponsors work-
shops, readings of new scripts and new
script development programs in addition
to producing contemporary and original
plays.