By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — Dear Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington, Can you guys maybe start to leave Anne Frank out of your comedy routines? Okay, some of your fans are laughing, but I’m not: why did the Holocaust diarist become a subject for mirth? Yes, that Anne Frank, the teenage girl who [...]
By Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD — If you were to guess Sarah Treem’s age by her looks alone, you’d probably say, “Not a day over 21.” If you were to guess her age by the quantity and quality of her output and accomplishments, you’d probably say, “Forty-one. Maybe even 51.” What does Sarah Treem say? [...]
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — He was tall, lean, and carried a grim humanity about him. James Arness, handpicked by John Wayne (who had better things to do in 1955), portrayed the signature Marshal Dillon, with dryness and few speeches, for twenty years. Gunsmoke was longest-running network television drama in history and Arness [...]
By Danny Bloom CHIAYI, Taiwan– I recently sat down on the internet— and in internet time – asked Los Angeles writer Racelle Rosett a few questions by email about her published short stories on Jewish life. Among her published gems are “Moving Waters,” Levi” and “Shomer.” (Our edited “conversation” follows below. Rosett is an award-winning [...]
By Steve Hofstetter NEW YORK–I imagine it’s much more difficult to be a Jew on Christmas than it is to be a Christian on Hanukah. You don’t find many Hanukah specials about families getting stranded in an airport learning the true meaning of the menorah. But if there were lots of Hanukah specials, I’d be [...]
By Steve Hofstetter NEW YORK–They prepare you to share your home. They prepare you to share your family. They do not prepare you to share your television. It might not seem crucial to read the TV shows that someone lists on their profile. But be it a prospective spouse on JDate, a friend on Facebook [...]
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – For a moment, my daughter and grandson looked at me as if I were Dan Brown revealing not the secrets of the Da Vinci Code, but the hidden messages in the Harry Potter code. I had told them that author J.K. Rowling had put herself into the Harry [...]
Park Ranger Tracey Walker ____________________________________________________ By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Tracey Walker, the chief ranger at Mission Trails Regional Park, has a special reason for mourning the passing of actor Gene Barry, who died Wednesday at age 90. One of Barry’s most famous television roles was as the dapper, gold-cane carrying, western lawman and gambler [...]
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Some actors shy from the roles that made them famous. I remember, for example, how Henry Winkler practically growled at reporters at a United Jewish Federation event who wanted to talk about his role as Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli on television’s Happy Days. Not so with actor Armin Shimerman. He said he knows that [...]
