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As the Borsht Belt turns~ Soap opera stars play the Catskills! by Allan Sugarman On the weekend of April 15, 1977, two nugor cultural and social forces met for the first time. It may not go down ia history with the First Zionist Congress or the Potsdam Conference, but to some people in this country it was more significant than any of the above. On that weekend, ten major soap opera stars came to the Borscht Belt, to the Granit Hotel in Kerhonkson, New York, to meet their fans for a Soap Opera Festival. More than 40,000,000 people watch soap operas every week* day of the year. On any given day, the viewing audience of a single soap opera exceeds the combined audiences of “Fiddler of the Roof," “My Fair Lady" and “Sound of Music” for their entire Broadway runs. Watching the “soaps” is more than an in cidental pastime for one out of five people in the United States; it is a collective state of "hookedness." Schedules are re arranged, car-pools are re shuffled, piano lessons are re scheduled just so viewers won’t have to miss their favorite daytime drama. Why would a Soap Opera Festival decide to go to the watering hole of the Catskills? Because there are fans there, hundreds of them who were so thrilled to meet the stars who have been entering their homes on a daily basis for up to 26 years. It was as exciting for these fans to meet the stars as it would be for others to meet ... i the likes of Muham mad Ali, Elisabeth Taylor, or Ikavdil, a great rebbe. There is that fasci nation, that curiosi ty, that magic that makes most people want to see in the flesh the personali ties who appear either in the movies or on television. Item: Mr. and Mrs. Morris Schwarts are in their mid-70’s. They are both retired; they have two sons, one living in Tucson, the other in South Carolina. They are alone. Their day con sists of breakfast, lunch and watching soap operas. Their only family is the Hughes family on “As the World Turns.” The Schwarts’s came up to the "L'Chaim — to Life" on air Granit Hotel to meet Eileen Fulton who plays Lisa Hughes Coiman and to invite her to their modest Brooklyn home. I was there when the pair met the star. They touched her hand, kissed her and told her in an accent that has not quite disappeared that they loved her. Item: Jeffrey David Pomerants, who portrays Dr. Peter Jansenn on “One Life to Live” was an active member of the Jewish community in Niles, Illinois. Jef frey lifted his wine cup high that Fri day night and re cited the Ktddush tor all those hundreds in the dining room. Many fans came up to him after dinner and said that they did not realise that he was even Jewish. These fans were thrilled to know that this top soap opera per sonality, who is seen by over 10 million people a day, was one of their own. Item: Michael Levin, who por trays Jack Fenelli on “Ryan’s Hope” found himself deep in conversation with a patron of the hotel discussing, not the show’s story-line, but which Hagaddah he used for the Seder. Item:The beautiful Jacquie Courtney, who portrays Pat Kendall on “One Life to Live,” has chosen as her serious hobby, when she is not on the studio set, the study of Hebrew. Her dream is to visit Israel, but she will not go until she has mastered the language that is truly foreign to her. A torn copy of "Ha-Sefer” is on her dressing room table. She told a group of fans who were standing with her near the volley-ball court of her plans. They walked away shaking their heads in disbelief. The hundreds of people who were at the Granit Hotel and the millions of others who read about the Soap Opera Festival in Newsweek or watched the CBS- TV’s recent “Magazine” show came away with one simple con clusion: The soap opera stars reflect the image of society. They reflect the happiness, the tragedy, the hopes and the fulfillment of each one of us. JffrbhDicMt “L’Chaim — To Life,” a series of broadcasts exploring various aspects of Jewish life in America and Israel, will be featured each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on WSB Radio (750) as the summertime replacement for the NBC “Eter nal Light” series. Presented by WSB Radio in cooperation with the Southeastern Office of the Anti- Defamation League of B'nai B’rith, the Beries is hosted by WSB’s Aubrey Morris and FRED’S Delicatessen & KOSHER Meats 1403 North Highland Avt 876-1029 OUR MOTTO: BUY BIG - SAVE BIG FILL YOUR FREEZERS STOCK UP NOW FOR THE HOLIDAYS THEY ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER Valid Only Week of Aug. 1 WiCHOPS 35 ' $ 1 89 , b In hotel Rax — * 10 Cut To Order Whole or Halt U.S. Choice e WHOLE MU 51 49 Hanging WL * 16 Lean OMOM 0fff •ft Excellent tor Broiling and Kabobe Stuart Lewengrub, Southeastern Regional ADL director. Upcoming programs in the series are: July SI, Freedom of the Press in Israel and America; August 7, Israel After Auschwitz; August 21, Christians and Jews in Israel; August 28, Teaching About Minorities; September 4, The Zionist Dnam; September 11, Democracy in Israel; September 18, Israel’s Fiddler on the Roof; September 25, Preferential Treatment for Minorities; and October 2, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Judaism. \ L .///f -v STEVE TINTER APPOINTED BY NEW ENGLAND LIFE’S ATLANTA-ASHER AGENCY Steve Tlnter Gene Asher, C.L.U., is pleased to announce that Steve Tinter has been appointed a representative of the Atlanta- Asher Agency of New England Lids. Steve ia a native of Atlanta and an alumnus of Georgia State University. The Atlanta-Asher Agency 235 Peachtree St., N.E. Telephone: 688-2000 \ Wouldn’t Ke Kosher. Fteachtree Plaza, designed by architect John Portman, is the only hotel in Atlanta with a completely kosher kitchen. 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