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Traveling ★★★
with the Stars
by Tim Boxer
NEW YORK—JOEY BISHOP is back in New York for Ihe first time
since playing the Copacabana 18 years ago. He’s filling in for Mickey
Rooney as co-star with Ann Miller in the smash musical “Sugar Babies”
while Mick is away four weeks making a TV movie “Leave ’em Laughing”
for CBS April 10.
He's'making his first B'way appearance now, at age 63, because he
doesn’t want to disappoint his two little
grandsons, he told me at the Mayflower
Hotel.
“When they’re older they’re going to ask,
‘What did you do in show business? 1 I’ll say 1
made movies, 1 was on television, 1 worked
night clubs. They’ll say, ‘Were you ever on
Broadway? If 1 say no they’ll stop talking to
me."
It’s ironical that Joey should make his first
B’way appearance in the burlesque genre.
That’s how he started out in the business—
working in a burlesque theater in
Philadelphia.
He was born Joseph Gottlieb, the
youngest of five kids in the Bronx. “For a
while I held the record—smallest baby born
in the hospital. I weighed 2 pound 13 ounces.
“There was no such thing in thosadays as
leaving the baby in the hospital—due to economics. We lived on the fifth
floor. An Italian lady on the floor below told my mother, ‘You take him,
bundle him up, put him out on the fire escape and put milk in his mouth.’
That was February, that’s pretty good weather! They tell me my mother
brought me back to the hospital three months later and they did not
believe it was the same child.”
When Joey was three months old, his family moved to Philadelphia
where he had Orthodox upbringing.
“When I worked the night clubs, my mother would bring her own
plate, her own fork, a can of Bumble Bee salmon. That's how she would
eat during the show.
“It’s really very difficult to keep kosher if you’re in show business and.
you’re on the road. Howcould l adhere to the strictly Orthodox kosher
rules? Where will I eat? When will I eat? How much Bumble Bee can you
eat?
Pesach, Yom Kippur 1 observe—I owe that much to G-d.”
After doing a stint as a charter member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack in
Las Vegas (with Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford), such
movies as “Deep Six," “The Naked and the Dead," “Ocean’s Eleven,”
“Valley of the Dolls," and a sit com TV series with Mario Thomas and
then his own TV talk show, Joey returned to work at a Philly night spot.
“I don't know if it’s so good working in your home town," he observed
at the time. “You work for years toacheive stardom, then you walk down
the street and someone says, ‘Hey’ It’s Joey Gottlieb!’"
He appeared at the Copa with Sinatra. He opened the show, then
walked upstairs to his room, passing Sinatra who was walking down the
stairs. “How was the crowd?” Of Blue Eyes asked. “They were great for
me," Joey said. “I don’t know how they’ll be for you though."
Joey’s son Larry, now 33, was part of an improvisational group
during high school called The Session, which also included Richard
Dreyfuss and Rob Reiner. Larry also was in the TV movie
“Condominium" and guested on “Chips."
In January Joey celebrated his 40th anniversary with his wife Sylvia.
“We would have divorced years ago," he quipped, “but neither of us
wanted custody of the kid."
He mentioned other Hollywood marriages that have endured: Bob
Hope, Jack Benny, George Burns, Danny Thomas, Jan Murray. “For
some reason, comedians stay together longer. You hear actors getting
divorced. Why is that? I think it’s very indicative of Jewish people to
maintain a sense of humor in all forms of adversity—even marriage!
“So if you’re married to someone, not necessarily a comedian, but
with a sense of humor, you will manage to survive a lot of the adversity |
you normally would not without a sense of humor. Humor is kind of I
philosophy that will make surviving less troublesome, less of an effort.”
He met Sylvia in a night club in Miami. She was a Catholic girl from
Oak Park, HI. And she converted to Judiasm. Larry had his Bar Mitzva
in Engelwood, N.J. Although Joey’s never been to Israel, his wife’s been
there twice. They both plan to celebrate their wedding anniversary next
year in the Holy Land.
And the name Bishop? How does that come to a Gottlieb ?
“Okay," Joey answered. “In South Philly there was a black kid
named Len Bishop. His father had a half-ton pickup truck. When we had
to go to auditions, we didn’t have carfare or anything. This kid said he
would drive us to our auditions if we would use the name Bishop. That
was 1938, the year the Bishop Boys were bom as a trio."
Joey and his two friends played night clubs around Philadelphia until I
the others were drafted. He continued the comedy act alone and became '
famous as Joey Bishop. • ■ •
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PAGE It THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE February 20, 1981