56 | DECEMBER 12 • 2024
J
N

NO GOOD DEED AND THE RED
JEWISH MUNCHKIN
No Good Deed is an eight-
episode Netflix comedy/drama
that premieres on Dec. 12. Ray
Romano and Lisa Kudrow,
61, co-star as the owners of a
fabulous 1920s Spanish-style
villa in Los Angeles. They are
empty nesters who decide to
sell their house.
Three different families make
a bid over the asking price.
All three families believe that
owning the house will solve
their personal problems. The
main supporting cast includes
Abbi Jacobson, 40, as Leslie
Fisher. Jacobson is best known
for co-starring in Broad City, a
Comedy Central show. (Linda
Lavin, 87, has a recurring role
as “Phyllis”)
No Good Deed was created
by Liz Feldman, 47, and she
oversees the production of the
series. Feldman co-wrote the
first and the eighth episode of
No Good Deed.
Feldman grew up in Brooklyn.
She once said she got the
showbiz “bug” after appearing
in her synagogue’s Purim play.
Feldman won four Daytime
Emmys (2006-2009) for her
scripts for the Ellen DeGeneres
talk show. She left Ellen in
2010 and went on to write for
many sit-coms. Her talent was
so admired that Netflix signed
a deal with Feldman to create
five new series. The first, Dead
to Me (2020-2022), a black
comedy-drama, got very good
reviews and it received several
Emmy nominations.
Here’s a 2022 Feldman quote
from the Hollywood Reporter. It
makes me think that No Good
Deed will be much deeper than
the average sitcom: “I don’t feel

like I have a choice not to be
politically active — as a Jewish
gay woman in 2022. I would
have to be unconscious to not
want to fight for my rights and
the rights of every human being
in this country. I’m a poster child
of who the right is afraid of on
some level — yet in my work,
I tend to be pretty subtle. In
my next show, I’m introducing
themes that feel more relevant
to what’s going on. But my
job is to entertain, first and
foremost. And sometimes
subtlety is the strongest form of
suggestion.” [Her “next” series
is No Good Deed.)

JEWISH MUNCHKIN
In my last column, I said I would
reveal a “virtually” unknown
Jewish actor who prominently
sang in the Wizard of Oz. Here
goes: Under the name Jackie
Gerlich (1925-1960), he was
one of the three members of
the Munchkin “Lollipop Guild”
who danced and sang a short
song welcoming Dorothy to
Munchkin Land. Just about
everyone remembers: “We’re
the members of the Lollipop
Guild … and we welcome you to
Munchkin Land!”
The three Lollipop Guild

singers don’t have character
names. But the three wore
identical costumes in different
colors and Oz fans often call
them by the color they wore:
Gerlich was in red clothes, and
he stood on the left as you look
at the Guild members.
The Munchkin Land song and
all the other Wizard songs were
written by two great Jewish
songwriters: E. Y. Harburg and
Harold Arlen. Bert Lahr, who
played the Cowardly Lion, was
the only Jewish actor with a big
part in Wizard.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled
on Wikipedia’s list of the
Munchkins in the 1939 Wizard
film. I saw a Munchkin entry
for Jackie Gerlich, and he had
a separate “page” Wiki bio.
His name, I thought, could be
Jewish, and this Wiki article said
he left Austria in 1936. Together,
these clues made me think he
was Jewish. Wiki was silent
about that.
I found an article about
Gerlich and his Jewish family on
the website of the Leo Baeck
(Jewish) Institute in New York. It
was mostly about Jackie’s
family. The primary source for
the article were interviews
with Dave Fox, Jackie’s older

brother. Sadly, I just learned that
the Baeck Institute doesn’t post
interview transcripts online. You
have to read them in person.
So, I can’t provide, now, all the
info that Fox gave about his
brother.
However, Dianne Ritchey,
an archivist, did review the
transcripts and her Leo Baeck
article (2022) is a good
starting place. Jackie’s parents,
Abraham Fox and Regina Fox
(Ryfka, nee Gerlich), owned a
small grocery in Vienna. They
had three sons: Dave (born in
1917), Jakob (born about 1920),
and Jackie, born 1925 (who was
a little person).
Jackie was the first to leave
Vienna. Leo Singer, a Jewish
impresario, combed Europe for
“body proportional” little people
who could look good as they
danced and sang in his troupe,
“Singer’s Midgets.” In 1936, he
recruited Jackie, then 10, and
took him to America.
As you can tell, this story
is getting long. So, please,
read my next column for the
conclusion (as I know it now)
on Jackie Gerlich’s life and a
brief note about Harry Monty,
another Jewish Munchkin.

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

IDOMINICK

Abbi Jacobson
Jackie Gerlich

OZ WIKI FANDOM

Lisa Kudrow

MAKOTO2007