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Traveling ★★★
with the Stars
by Tim Boxer
NEW YORK—CLAIRE BARRY is still raving about her trip to
Israel. Last time she was there was in 1973 with her late sister Myrna. The
Barry Sisters were called to entertain the troops during the Yom Kippur
War.
“When I went back this time,” she said, “the change was fantastic. 1
was absolutely in awe. I couldn’t believe the country’s only 33 years old."
She went to entertain Russian immigrants.
Claire and Myrna went to Moscow and
Leningrad in 1960 when Ed Sullivan took a
group on a cultural exchange for the State
Dept. The Russians never forgot the
enchanting sounds of the Barry Sisters.
“Our Yiddish albums had been smuggled
into the country,” Claire said. “At least they
were exposed to a little Yiddishkeit. We were
surprised to learn that the Russian Jews
were familiar with our songs.
“The impresario who arranged my tour to
Israel this year was only IS in I960, but he
remembers seeing me and Myrna in
Moscow. He is Victor Shulman. He came
here from Russia five years ago. He recently
took over a hotel in Southampton and will
reopen it as a summer resort for Russian
Jews here.”
The Barry Sisters have been singing since Claire was 9 and Myrna
7. They started as the Begelman Sisters. They changed their name
when they went on the Molly Picon radio show on WMCA in 1941.
“We looked in the phone book and found Barry. It had a nice feel to it.
Various organizations kept asking for the Begelman Sisters. They didn’t
want the Barry Sisters, until we convinced them we were the same.”
With Myrna’s death in 1976, Claire went ahead with a solo career.
And she is flourishing. During Passover she'll appear at the Concord
Hotel in the Catskills.
* * *
AT THE FRIARS CLUB salute to the Songwriters Hall of Fame,
held at the Sheraton Centre, 1 sat with Sally and Nat Lefkowitz. Nat has
been with the William Morris talent agency for half a century and is now
its chairman emeritus.
“Nat booked the first talent at Radio City Music Hall when it opened
50 years ago,” Sally said. “We got married a few months before, and I
went to the opening in my wedding gown."
Charles Strouse, who wrote “Those Were The Days” theme song for
the TV show “All in the Family,” said his father was a Friars member.
“When Dad first introduced me to Walter Goldstein (executive director
of the club), he asked Walter not to let me become a songwriter.”
Today Charles is the composer of the Broadway success “Annie.” He
and Sammy Davis wrote “Bojangles," about Bill Robinson whose
grandfather was a slave. “Bill’s grandmother told him to get an education,
not to become a dancer," Charles said “*Dancing is for fools and slaves,’
she said. Curiously he remained illiterate and became a dancer."
Many songwriters came out of the Lower East Side: Irving Berlin from
Monroe St., Gershwin from Second Avenue, Sammy Cahn from
Madison St. Mitch Parish, however was born in Shreveport, La., but
came to Cherry St. at age five. So he’s a Lower East Sider—not a trace of
a Southern accent.
But he’s written songs about the South, such as “Stars Fell On
Alabama," and “Let’s Build a Stairway to the Stars."
“Sometimes,” Mitch said, “people tell me they got married because of
this song. You know, I detect a note of hostility in them."
* * *
TO WOMB IT MAY CONCERN: Insanity is hereditary you get it
from your kids.
I learned that after I returned a second time from the heirport
(otherwise known as the maternity ward) with another baby boy.
Yaher Koach to Martin Levinson of Forest Hills, N.Y., who suggests:
“We ought to have a new child labor law—to prevent children from
making their parents labor so hard.”
As it was Shabbos, the mohel was unable to try out a new invention —
an electric knife called Bris-Quik.
Fan Mail: “Did you hear about little Leibele ofChelm? At his bris, the
mohel did such a fine job, the people called him back for an encore!" (E.
Kitograd, Commack, N Y.)
In New York they set their sights a little higher. Seymour Kleinman
reports that his son gifted him with a grandson The announcement read:
“F.laine and David Kleinman announce the birth of their first son, Dr.
Adam Galen Kleinman ”
Paul Zim already has a shiddach lined up for my David, but only if he
grow up to be a doctor. He’s already 7 weeks old maybe 1 should
call up Einstein School of Medicine?
Martin Ragaway of L A has a friend who discovered a foolproof
method for putting his baby to sleep. “I pitch him in the air repeatedly,"
the friend said. “How could that put him to sleep?" Martin asked. “We
have very low ceilings," he said.
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PAGE 11 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE March 26, 1982