The Frisco Kid (1979)
What’s Up Doc (1972)
didn’t know that Ford’s mother was
Jewish as they began filming. He start-
ed to explain a Jewish custom to Ford
and Ford quickly interrupted him with
“I know, I know.” John Wayne was the
first choice for the Ford role, but the
producers couldn’t pay what he asked.
Wayne could have been a better choice
— his legendary Western tough-guy
“aura” would have been very funny as a
counterpoint to Wilder’s meek, green-
horn rabbi. Ford now has legendary
status, but back then he had made just
one big movie — Star Wars.
KNOCKED UP (2007) marked the
arrival of a new wave of GenX/millen-
nial Jewish comedic actors and writers
with a little different sensibility. Judd
Apatow laid the groundwork for this
film with his first film, The 40-Year-
Old Virgin, a hit that featured charming
pathos with some raunchy (but often
funny) buddy talk. That balance of
touching and raunchy was perfected in
Knocked Up. Like Virgin, there was also
a love story in the mix.
As in Diner, we have a group of
guys schmoozing and often comically
insulting each other. Unlike 1959, they
also get high. Like Diner, virtually
all the guys are revealed to be Jewish
near the end (see hospital scene).
All are played by real-life Jews: Seth
Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill and
Jay Baruchel. The first three went on
to write and star in comedies that have
a similar DNA (like Forgetting Sarah
Marshall).
The interesting coda is that the
“Apatow-esque” romantic comedy
(well-written raunchy male buddy
movie) has been taken up by women
writers and it’s been morphed into
successful female buddy movies
(like Trainwreck by the Jewish Amy
Schumer, now 37).
Loving Leah (2009)
Radio Days (1987)
MONKEY BUSINESS: THE
ADVENTURES OF CURIOUS
GEORGE’S CREATORS (2017). This
wonderfully made documentary tells
the story of Hans Rey (1898-1977) and
his wife, Margret Waldstein Rey (1906-
1996). The Reys were both born into
cultured, upper-middle class German
Jewish families and became famous in
the 1950s as the creators of best-selling
children’s books about Curious George,
a monkey. Hans was the illustrator and
Margret the main writer. A series of
very unlikely events allowed them to
escape the Nazis to America, in 1941,
with just one thing of value: the manu-
script of the first George book.
The film masterfully interweaves
interviews, photos, home movies and
George-like animation segments to tell
their story.
RADIO DAYS (1987). This and Crimes
and Misdemeanors are Woody Allen’s
most Jewish films. But unlike the dark
Crimes, Radio Days is sweet and consis-
tently funny. It follows a working-class
Brooklyn Jewish family from 1940 to
New Year’s Eve, 1943-44. Allen (unseen)
narrates as “Joe,” an adult looking back
to these years when he was a young boy.
A subplot covers the rise from obscurity
of a waitress who becomes a radio star.
The large cast includes (Jewish
actors) Seth Green as Young Joe,
Michael Tucker as Joe’s father, and Julie
Kavner as Joe’s mother. The voice of a
then-unknown Larry David is heard
as a Jewish Communist neighbor who
loudly refuses Joe’s uncle’s request that
he turn down his radio on Yom Kippur.
WHAT’S UP DOC? (1972). Barbra
Streisand, 76, has become such an icon
that it’s hard to remember (or if you are
young, know) that she could do zany
comedy and be sexy while doing it.
Streisand is perfect as a wacky
woman who seems to be interfering
with a scientist’s (Ryan O’Neal) work,
but actually ends up helping him. Lots
of laughs, some romance and funny
chase scenes. The late great Madeline
Kahn co-stars.
TV OFFERINGS
CAR 54: Yiddish theater star Molly
Picon played Yente, the matchmaker, in
Fiddler. My mother thought that Picon
was usually too schmaltzy and I agree
with Mom. Still, she was perfectly cast
as a little old Jewish lady in New York
City who refused to leave her apartment
in two episodes of the early ’60s sitcom
Car 54, Where Are You? These episodes
are amazingly Jewish and very funny.
Series co-star Joe E. Lewis (Officer
Toody) was Jewish, too, as was the late
Charlotte Rae (Sylvia Schnauser).
LOVING LEAH (2009) was a
Hallmark Hall of Fame film that aired
on CBS. More than 500,000 people
have already viewed a blurry ver-
sion on YouTube (it’s that good). A
high-quality copy is now on YouTube
(free) and I can recommend it without
reservations.
Short synopsis: Lauren Ambrose (Six
Feet Under) plays the young childless
wife of a young Chasidic rabbi who
suddenly dies. The rabbi’s brother
(Adam Kaufman) is a secular heart
doctor. At the last minute, he balks at
participating in the traditional cere-
mony in which he, in effect, denies
his brother’s existence and, therefore,
doesn’t have to marry his widow.
Instead, he enters into what he and
the widow believe will be a paper
marriage that will suit both their
needs. Enough with the spoilers —
just watch it! ■
jn
December 20 • 2018
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