Today’s Jewish Birthday

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Victor Borge

One routine involved adding a number to any word containing the sound of a number, so, for example, “wonderful” became “twoderful” and “anyone for tennis?” became “any two for elevennis?”  Another shtick was reading books aloud, making special sound effects to indicate punctuation. [SDJW staff report]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Isaac Asimov

The family immigrated to the United States in 1923 and owned candy stores, where, as youngsters, Isaac, his sister Manya, and brother, Stanley, all worked. The stores stocked science fiction magazines and newspapers, perhaps accounting for Isaac becoming a science fiction writer and Stanley a vice president of Long Island Newsday. [SD Jewish World staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: J. D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye, featuring the adventures of the cynical Holden Caulfield, was greeted enthusiastically by literary reviewers and by high school teachers, but in other parts of the country, it was denounced as smut because of Salinger’s frequent use of such words as “goddamn,” bastard,” “Chrissakes.”[SDJW Staff report]

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