Arts & Entertainment

About

Freakonomics Show

An engaging
speaker, Levitt will
give Metro Detroiters
a crash course in
"Freakonomics"
in a 9 a.m. lec-
ture Thursday,
April 26, in Wayne
State University's
Community Arts
Auditorium on central campus. The event
is free and open to the public. Seating
is limited. RSVP online at www.wayne.
edu/levittspeech . Parking, maps and event
information will be available once you
register. For more information, call (313)
577-0300.

The Wall Street Journal has said, "If
Indiana Jones were an economist, he'd be
Steven Levitt."
The University of Chicago-based profes-
sor, whose novel methods of "data min-
ing" and inquisitive approach have led to
thought-provoking and fresh insights on a
wide range of subjects more conventional
economists have labeled as immeasurable,
is the recipient of the American Economic
Association's prestigious John Bates Clark
Medal given to the country's best econo-
mist under age 40.
Levitt also is the co-author, with jour-
nalist Stephen Dubner, of the 2005 run-
away nonfiction bestseller Freakonomics:
A Rogue Economist Explores the
All Andrews
Hidden Side of Everything. Among
its revelations: linkages between school-
With approximately 75-100 million
teachers and sumo
records sold and 113 charted
wrestlers and between
Billboard hits, the Andrews Sisters
crack cocaine and nylon
are one of the most popular female
stockings.
vocal groups in the history of pop-
The economist also
ular music. Laverne, Maxene and
answers puzzling ques-
Patty reached the height of their
tions, such as why drug
success in the 1940s, entertaining
dealers often live with
American audiences at home and
their mothers, and
U.S. soldiers abroad during World
topples commonly held
War II with harmonic toe-tappers
notions, finding through
like "Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy"
statistical analyses that
and "Don't Sit Under the Apple
Steven D. Levitt
children who are read
Tree."
to daily and have limited opportunities to
The trio had its first big success with
watch TV are not more academically suc-
"Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn" (translated from
cessful.
the Yiddish as "To Me You Are Beautiful")

I

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

TV Tribute

The annual TV Land Awards on cable
station TV Land are fun: a lighthearted
romp with some humor, a few enter-
taining TV clips and you get to see how
well yesteryear's TV
stars have aged. The
show airs 9 p.m.
Sunday, April 22,
with a rebroadcast at
11 p.m.
This year, TV
Land is honoring
The Brady Bunch
Sherwood
and Taxi. Also being
Schwartz
honored are the late

Lucille Ball and the
blockbuster 1977
miniseries Roots.
While The Brady
Bunch had no Jewish
stars, it had a Jewish
creator: Sherwood
Schwartz, now 90.
James L.
Taxi, on the other
Brooks
hand, not only had a
Jewish co-creator, James L. Brooks,
but three starring Jewish actors: Judd
Hirsch as Alex Rieger, Carol Kane
as Simka Gravas and the late Andy
Kaufman as Latka Gravas. (Big fans of
the show know that Alex was identified
as a Jewish character in a couple of
episodes.)
Hirsch, who won two Emmys for

Antiques
ith an Attitude MICH IGAN

'

in 1938; the record sold
350,000 copies and held
the Billboard No. 1 slot
for five weeks.
"Bay Mir" was writ-
ten by Jewish composer
Sholom Secunda and
his lyricist Jacob Jacobs
in 1932 for a Yiddish
operetta by Abraham
Bloom called I Would If I Could. The
trio had attempted to sell the show to
Hollywood with no success, and even
Eddie Cantor originally turned it down
(though he later featured the song on his
show).
With no prospects in sight, Secunda and
Jacobs sold the full rights to the song to a
publisher for the grand sum of $30. Two
months later, the Andrews Sisters recorded
a newly adapted English-language version
of the song, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn
and Saul Chaplin — the only Yiddish that
remained was the title of the song.
(When the copyright expired in 1961
reverting ownership to Secunda and
Jacobs, the composer, who was always
more interested in his symphonic music,
was able to renegotiate for the full per-
centage of composer's royalties.)
Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester
presents a tribute to the Andrews Sisters,
featuring more than 20 of their most pop-
ular songs, April 25-May 20 in a produc-
tion called Sisters of Swing: The Story of
the Andrews Sisters, conceived and written
by Beth Gilleland and Bob Beverage. Call

Best Actor in a Comedy for Taxi and
now is starring in the CBS series
Num3ers, will be at the awards show,
along with Taxi co-stars Danny DeVito,
Jeff Conway and Tony Danza. I expect
Devito's real-life Jewish wife, actress
Rhea Perlman, who played DeVito's
girlfriend in a number of Taxi episodes,
will be there, too.

Jewish Genius

Walter Isaacson

nEINI

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42

Albert Einstein's
life and genius con-
tinue to fascinate
the general public
and the scientific
community.
A just released
biography,

1

for show times. Tickets are $22-$38. (248)
377-3300.

Impressionist Images

While many famous artists are best
known for the type of art they create —
van Gogh's landscapes or Warhol's pop art,
for example — they often have other sides
less well known. Impressionist Auguste-
Pierre Renoir is one such artist. Famous
for his sensual portraits and vibrant still-
ides, Renoir was also an innovative land-
scape painter.
"Let Him Remain a Landscape Painter"
— a phrase uttered about Renoir by fel-
low artist and friend Edgar Degas — is
the title of the Detroit Institute of Arts'
annual Dr. Coleman A. Mopper Memorial
Lecture on Sunday, April 29, at 2 p.m. Dr.
Colin B. Bailey, chief curator of the Frick
Collection in New York City, will discuss
Renoir's landscape paintings, an impor-
tant part of his work that many people
are not familiar with. The talk is free with
museum admission.
The Dr. Coleman Mopper Memorial
Lecture was established in 1997 in
memory of Dr. Coleman Mopper. He
and his wife, Shirley, both members of
Detroit's Jewish community, were found-
ing members of the DIA auxiliary Visiting
Committee for European Sculpture and
Decorative Arts, and Shirley carries on her
husband's legacy today with her volunteer
work with the museum.
DIA admission is a donation; $4 for

Einstein: His Life
and Universe, by
Walter Isaacson,
draws on a previ-
ously unreleased
trove of Einstein
letters and has an
incredible advance
Albert Einstein
printing of 500,000
copies. This month,
the author has been invited to appear
on virtually all the major talk shows.
In the April 5 issue of Time maga-
zine, Isaacson provides a really lucid
exposition of Einstein's evolving reli-
gious beliefs in his essay, "Einstein
and Faith." Einstein's belief in God,
Isaacson explains, didn't conform to
any mainstream religious doctrine but

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April 19 • 2007