Newspaper Page Text
Friday, June 9, 1972
(ECUMENISM IN TV
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
a »
Page Three
An ‘Ether’—Or Proposition
By George Friedman
JTA STAFF WRITKR
Seen any good religious pro
grams lately? New York Prot
estant leaders have weighed
local religious TV shows in the
balances and, finding them
wanting, want to improve them
with the possible aid of the
Catholic and Jewish sectors.
The Council of Churches of
the city of New York proposes
a “Metropolitan Media Minis
try.” Heretofore unpublicized, it
seeks to “assist the media
in . . . serv(ing) the religious
heeds of the community” and
establish a pattern of coopera
tion with all religious
groups . . . who have a concern
for religious broadcasti ng, ”
hopefully inspiring those in
other markets to go and do like
wise. The Rev. Reuben H.
Gums, executive secretary of the
Council’s Radio-TV Dept., told
this column it was “desirable
that (the project) be interreli
gious.’ He favors a united ecu
menical front, but Rabbi Fred
Hollander of the New York
Board of Rabbis, for one, doesn’t
answer his calls. “He’s a very
busy man,” notes the Rev. Gums
Jtutli enlic Crenel
atmoAplere
uiAine
JfataMtont 7 71
banquets - Parties - Catering
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MON. - SAT.
7 P.M - 1 A.M.
Serge Claire - Manager
523 6251 w ~
60 B Kenney's Alley
ureououri) inurra^
charitably, but with perhaps
dwindling faith and hope.
MANNA LIVE: And on the
heels of “Jesus Christ Super-
star” and “Godspell” and “Mass”
came “Hard Job Being God” (at
the Eidson, New York), a rock
musical chronicling the ancient
Jewish hegira. And the show
stirringly recounted the Egyp
tian serfdom (“Step right up
and buy a slave—think of all
the time you’ll save”), the
Commandments (“Stay out of
your neighbor’s bed when your
neighbor ain’t home but his old
lady is”) Moabite life (“Tribes,
tribes, so many tribes, each tribe
givin’ out different vibes”),
Poet-King David (“I only took
this job out of fear of what
somebody else might do ... I
hope they don’t destroy them
selves when I’m gone”), and the
Lord (“When you turn to war,
you’re on your own”).
And the rock was less acid
than pop. And Bob Yde’s stag
ing was simple and engaging.
And Tom Martel, whose score
was snappy most of the time,
saw that it was very good, and
took upon himself the title role.
And Gini Eastwood and Anne
Sarofeen were vibrantly voiced,
Stu Freedman expressive and
John Twomey sinuous, though
none could pronounce “L’
Chaim.” And the 90 minutes
flew by too fast. And the Old
Testament did liveth.
CATTY: Satire is personal.
One man’s Bunker is another
man’s bunkum. In “Fritz the
Cat” (Cinemation)—a feature-
length, and the first X-rated,
cartoon—the feline hero escapes
from two cops (pigs) who have
busted his pot orgy and hides
in an Orthodox shul. When the
cops crash the shul with guns
out and tangle in the aisle, the
rabbis and congregants (dogs)
pay no attention. Meanwhile, the
cat fritzes around with a girl
in the ladies’ room as her radio
■'anriourfees a Rogers-Dayan de
fense pact under which New
York and Los Angeles will be
“returned to the United States.”
Cat and girl are tossed out
while the congregants hora.
(Later, one cop finds himself
unexpectedly nude at a church
sermon.) Writer-director Ralph
Bakshi is less satiric than sa-
tyric, less erotic than erratic.
Rate it X-cessive.
LA MARCEL-LAISE: “Le
Chagrin et la Petie” (“The Sor-
&
Connie
d^netain •i
CMi
l J uou’re inui led. . .
For a few vionths, he was away while this place was
under different management. Now Ronnie is back
planning the fine cuisine for which he became
famoxes, supervising the unusual lunches and superb
dinners which made this the center for folks who
liked good food—and good eating. So come again
and enjoy, enjoy.
He's available too for the superlative catering of
weddings, banquets and those special occasions for
which that experience and imagination can make so
very special. Remember this standard of excellence.
—ADOLPH ROSENBERG
^COITZeRLanD
^ i louse
RESTAURANT- CATERERS - LOUNGE
OPEN 7 DAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS)
Catering For All Occasions
Eight Party Rooms or Off-Premises
Peachtree at 7th 874-3519
Ronnie Spetalnick, Owner
row and the Pity,” Cinema 5),
is a 4%-hour-long study of
Nazism in Clermont-Ferrand,
France. Directed by French
Jewish Marcel OphuLs, it’s com
posed largely of interviews
with 36 Frenchmen, Germans
and Britons, including ex-Prime
Minister Pierre Mendes-France,
who recalls his prison escape
and his run-ins with anti-Sem
itism; Dennis Rake, a homosex
ual actor who turned to spying
to prove his manhood; Helmuth
Tausend, who still treasures his
Wehrmacht medals; Christian de
la Maziere, a French rightist
who regrets joining the Waffen
SS; a beautician tortured by the
Nazis and Maurice Chevalier,
who denies collaborating with
the enemy. The film's length
may deter many, but many of
the interviewee’s insights are
well worth the effort.
OUT BY A NOSE: “He is
Jewish. You can tell that right
away; he has the name and the
face and even the mannerisms.
He has a pointed nose and his
eyes seem to dart everywhere
at once .... (S)o earnest, so
intense .... I felt sorry for
(him). He looked so pathetic.”
Not Julius Streicher patronizing
hLs Hebraic domestic, but De
troit sportswriter Joe Falls des
cribing Roger Kahn, author of
the baseball book “The Boys of
Summer,” in the April 15, 1972,
Sporting News.
Since the piece was sympath
etic, the columnist is probaibly
not consciously anti-Semitic; but
at the very least he’s egregious-
ly ignorant, at age 44, of the
stupidities and dangers of ster
eotypes “Professionally he de
clines and falls”—Dickens, “Our
Mutual Friend” As the Sporting
News is the “Bible” in its field,
call thus column its Apocrypha.
CREED ENCE: A piece here
on Irene Palasty Bartsch, Hun
garian-born star of prewar Ger
man productions of “No, No,
Nanette,” wrongly said actor
Hans Albers was Jewish. His
wife was. Mrs. Bartsch also re
ports that at her 500th per
formance as Nanette, composer
Vincent Youmans serenaded her
pianistically. And poured tea for
ttutu, no doubt.
Copyriyht 1972, JTA
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