Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Eddie Cantor Sings "My Wife is on a Diet" in 1930

Eddie Cantor sings "My Wife Is on a Diet" in the 1930 short subject Getting a Ticket. He's been pulled over by a cop and tells the man he's Eddie Cantor. Eddie has no identification with him, so naturally to prove who he is, he sings a song.

In the song, Cantor details the hardship of having to eat grapefruit every day.

"No gravy and potatoes, just lettuce and tomatoes..." Not much has changed in the last 90 years.

Enjoy! 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

 

#Throwback Thursday     #TBT

The Great Jewish Entertainers: Ventriloquist Rickie Layne and Velvel

Rickie Layne (1924-2006) was born Richard Israel Cohen in Brooklyn. He was an actor and entertainer, but he was best known for his ventriloquism. In 2002 he received the Askins Award for lifetime achievement from the International Ventriloquist Association.

Layne began entertaining at age 9 doing impersonations of Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, and other stars but his act took on a new twist after an uncle gave him a ventriloquist's dummy.

Nat 'King' Cole was so impressed with Layne and his dummy Velvel that he urged Ed Sullivan to put the act on his popular Sunday night variety show and if Layne bombed, Cole said he would appear on the show himself at no charge. Layne went on to appear in 48 of Sullivan's shows.

Layne's dummy was originally named Willie, but while performing in the Catskills, he gave the dummy a Yiddish accent and changed his name to Velvel.

Here's a rare video clip of Ricky Layne and Velvel kibitzing with Ed Sullivan in 1956 (Velvel always called him "Solomon."

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THEPLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 

The Great Jewish Entertainers: Mel Blanc, Man of a Thousand Voices

We have been posting video clips of the great Jewish comedians and the great Jewish entertainers. We came across a video clip that tells the story of Mel Blanc, the voice of most of the Warner Brothers cartoon characters. Since there's no category of the great Jewish cartoon voices (Mel was unique) we're putting him in the entertainment category.

After beginning his over-60-year career performing in radio, he became known for his work in animation as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and most of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoons during the golden age of American animation.

He later voiced characters for Hanna-Barbera's television cartoons, including Barney Rubble on The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons. During the golden age of radio, Blanc also frequently performed on the programs of comedians from the era, including Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Burns and Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, and Judy Canova.

Blanc died in 1989 and his Yahrzeit is coming up on July 10. Blanc's will stated his desire to have the inscription on his gravestone read, "That's all folks", the catchphrase that was the hallmark of Blanc's character, Porky Pig. 

This clip will take you back to the days when Blanc voiced so many cartoon characters.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

The Great Jewish Entertainers: Hermione Gingold - "I Remember it Well"

Continuing our series on The Great Jewish Entertainers, we're heading "across the pond" to  reminisce about one of our favorite British character actresses, Hermione Gingold.

Watching the movie musical Gigi, we especially enjoyed I Remember it Well, the spoken/sung repartee between Gingold and Maurice Chevalier.

According to Wikipedia, Gingold was born in London to a prosperous Vienna-born Jewish stockbroker James Gingold and his wife, Kate, who came from a "well-to-do Jewish family". Although she was descended from the celebrated Solomon Sulzer, a famous synagogue cantor and Jewish liturgical composer in Vienna, Gingold grew up with no particular religious beliefs.
 
After a successful career in England as a child actress, Gingold later established herself on the stage as an adult, playing in comedy, drama, radio, and revue.  From the early 1950s Gingold lived and made her career mostly in the U.S. where she played formidable elderly characters in such films and stage musicals as Gigi (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), The Music Man (1962) and A Little Night Music (1973).

Here is the memorable I Remember it Well number with Chevalier. Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

The Great Jewish Entertainers: Bert Parks - "There She is...Miss America"

We were vacationing in Atlantic City, New Jersey a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't help noticing a bronze statue at the entrance to the Sheraton Convention Center Hotel. The statue, on a pedestal, showed a man in a tuxedo holding an outstretched crown. 

Of course, it could only be Bert Parks, who was synonymous with Atlantic City for 24 years when he hosted the annual Miss America Pageant each September.

Parks was born Bertram Jacobson in Atlanta, Georgia in 1914 to Aaron Jacobson, a Jewish merchant who had immigrated to the United States in 1900 from Latvia and his wife Hattie (Spiegel) Jacobson, the daughter of immigrants from Austria-Hungary.

Bess Myerson was the first and only Jewish-American and the first Miss New York to win the Miss America Pageant as Miss America 1945. This year the 97th Miss America Competition will return to Atlantic City's historic Boardwalk Hall on Sunday, September 10 from 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM on the ABC Television Network. 

Parks, who died in 1992, hosted his last Miss America Pageant in 1979. He was fired and replaced by a succession of 17 other hosts because the pageant organizers wanted to appeal to a younger audience. But he will always be associated with the pageant and remembered for his song There She is, Miss America, that he sang each year as the newly crowned beauty queen walked down the runway. Here is a video from the 1977 pageant to bring back memories of his performances.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

The Great Jewish Entertainers: "Let's Make a Deal" Host Monty Hall Reflects on Yiddish in Hollywood

Our series on The Great Jewish Comedians has blossomed into a lecture that's now one of the most popular on our lecture circuit. We're adding new comedians to it and it's scheduled to become a 90 minute program at Florida Atlantic University in March 2019.

Meanwhile we're working on a new series called The Great Jewish Entertainers, going beyond comedy to all forms of entertainment. Today we're profiling Monte Halparin, who you might recognize as Monty Hall, host of the 1970s TV game show Let's Make a Deal.

Hall, who was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1921 to Orthodox Jewish parents, celebrated his 96th birthday last week. In 2014 he was interviewed as part of the Wexler Oral History Project at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. 

In the interview, he speaks about his surprise and joy at finding fluent Yiddish speakers in Hollywood, including the great Danny Kaye and non-Jewish stars like James Cagney and Burt Lancaster.

Here's the interview, followed by a Throwback Thursday bonus -- a short clip from Let's Make a Deal that's more than 40 years old.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.





#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

The Great Jewish Entertainers: Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica Rascals

Borrah Minevitch, born Boruch Minewitz in Kiev, Ukraine, was a notable harmonica player, actor, and leader of his group The Harmonica Rascals.

The Harmonica Rascals, an ensemble of approximately ten pieces, recorded for Brunswick Records in 1933, and later for Decca Records where Minevitch hired Richard Hayman as an arranger for the Rascals. (Hayman later worked as an arranger for MGM and the Boston Pops Orchestra.)

In 1923, Minevitch sold the rights to his work on the chromatic harmonica to Hohner for one million dollars and the company subsequently made a successful "Borrah Minevitch" line of harmonicas. He spent the rest of his career as a music hall performer, comedy film actor, impresario, film financier, and film distributor.

Here is a scene with Minevitch and the Rascals from One in a Million, a 1936 American film which marked the Hollywood debut of Sonja Henie. It features footage from the 1936 Winter Olympic Games.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.