Jewish Family Service

LOOK MAGAZINE

When people come together,
anything can happen.

2015 Fall Program Highlights

Elaine May and Mike Nichols
crack up during recording.

Fall Fix Up

COURTESY OF THE EVERETT COLLECTION

COURTESY OF JUMER PRODUCTIONS, INC.

Over 500 volunteers helped seniors prepare
their homes for the winter months.

On the set of Charlie Wilson’s War

Dustin Hoffman (whom Nichols directed
in The Graduate) and producer Julian
Schlossberg

performing on stage and television in the
1950s. After deciding to go on her own
in 1961, May wrote a number of movies,
including A New Leaf and Heaven Can
Wait, and has continued to direct and act.
“What Mike had that was so great was
brains and a heart,” says Schlossberg. “He
was a really smart man with a lot of rach-
mones [pity].”
Schlossberg filmed his interview with
Nichols at the release of Charlie Wilson’s
War, a 2007 movie about a Congressman
trying to influence fighting factions in
Afghanistan. Nichols directed Tom Hanks
as the star.
“This interview has never been shown
before,” says Schlossberg, who is unrelated
to Edwin Schlossberg, the husband of
Caroline Kennedy. “I wanted to have it as
a record.
“I had been on the radio in New York
and syndicated throughout the United
States — but sadly not in Detroit, where I
used to visit an aunt and uncle [Bea and
Eddie Schaefer] at their home on Outer
Drive. I spent nine years [as host of Movie
Talk] interviewing people in show busi-
ness, and I said to Mike we really should
sit down and talk.
“Because he had done the radio show,
he knew I would not be asking him ‘got-
cha’ questions. When he passed away
in 2014 [at 83], I contacted people at
American Masters.”
Schlossberg did all the interviews for
the program, with the exception of com-
ments from the late comedian Robin
Williams, whom Nichols directed in the
Birdcage. The interview approach builds
on experience as an executive in movie

distribution and production of film, the-
ater and television projects.
“In the past, movies started out with
runs at a limited number of theaters, and
I played The Graduate at the Coronet
Theatre in New York City but didn’t know
Mike then,” Schlossberg recalls. “In the
1970s, he made The Fortune with Jack
Nicholson and Warren Beatty and got
involved choosing the theaters that would
play the film. I got a call from him [about
running it at the Coronet], and we met. I
saw the film, and we became friends.”
Schlossberg also became a fan.
“I have a few favorite movies — The
Graduate [about materialism], Silkwood
[about a whistleblower] and Carnal
Knowledge [about sexuality],” Schlossberg
says. “I’m still tipping my hat to the fact
that he could do Angels in America [about
AIDS] as a television special that won 11
Emmys.
“For theater, there were so many favor-
ites. The comedies — Barefoot in the
Park, The Odd Couple, Prisoner of Second
Avenue — were just terrific. He did a play
called Streamers [about the Vietnam War]
by David Rabe; at the end of the play, I
literally was unable to get out of my seat
because it was so powerful.”
The memories live on.
“Mike was so well read that it was nice
to talk to him on any kind of a subject,”
Schlossberg says of Nichols, who, between
the ages of 12 and 14, read every word
that Eugene O’Neill ever wrote.
“What I may have newly discovered,
he knew about. It was the pleasure of his
company that was so incredible.”

*

Goldberg Thanksgiving
Distribution

Over 131 Thanksgiving meals were assembled as
part of our Goldberg Thanksgiving Distribution.

“Thanks to you, our family was able to celebrate
the holiday with a great meal.”
-A thankful client

Adopt a Family

758 individuals were “adopted” for holiday gifts
during our Adopt a Family program.

“I call you family because only family buys for family.
Thank you so much for all the gifts.”
-An appreciative recipient

Almost 600 donors have contributed to
our Friends of the Family campaign.

You don’t have to wait until next fall to
help. 2016 may just be starting, but the
needs of the community never end.

To learn more about how you can help,
visit jfsdetroit.org or call 248.592.2339

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January 21 • 2016

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