Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Red Buttons Gives NY Alumni Award to Fyvush Finkel

At the New York Alumni Association in 1998, Red Buttons presented an award to Fyvush Finkel in recognition of his many years on the Yiddish and Broadway stages.

During the evening, Buttons showed off his Hebrew and Yiddish (actually Japanese) singing abilities. 

Finkel entertained the crowd with a solo performance of Tradition and If I Were a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof. He also sang I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore from Gigi.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Throwback Thursday Nostalgia Special: The Origin of "Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long"

In May 2002 Red Buttons delivered a tribute to Milton Berle at a memorial service for the great comedian at the Friars Club in New York City. The tribute was in the form of a song that got Berle started in his show business career. 

In 1932 Berle co-wrote a parody on a song that was very popular that year, Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long.

Here's the original, played and sung by Louis Armstrong.


Here's Buttons singing the parody the way Berle wrote it in 1932:


The most played version of the song is the one recorded by Barbra Streisand in her Color Me Barbra album in 1966: 


Allan Sherman also recorded it in 1966:


Diana Ross and the Supremes performed the song on TV in 1969:


And who do we have to credit for this? Uncle Miltie, for whom this parody was just a small episode at the start of his long comedy career. 

But the question that remains is "Who was Sam?"

According to Barry Popik, editor of The Big Apple website,

"Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long" (1932) is probably most familiar to audiences from singer Barbra Streisand. Comedian/singer Joe E. Lewis earlier had popularized the song.

The "Sam" in the song is not identified (one of the songwriters was named Sam), but it is probably Samuel Beckenstein, who ran a popular fabric and clothing store at 130 Orchard Street. Social Security Death Index records show a Samuel Beckenstein, born 5 June 1893 and who died December 1968.

The song does not specifically mention "New York City," and for that reason it was probably left out of Nancy Groce's book of New York City songs. However, the song breathes the atmosphere of the Jewish Lower East Side.

http://www.lyricmania.com/l3967
You made the coat and vest fit the best
You made the lining nice and strong
But Sam, you made the pants too long

You made the peak lapel look so swell
So who am I to say you're wrong?
But Sam, you made the pants too long

Enjoy!

#Throwback Thursday   #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Red Buttons Standup at Chabad Telethon

Red Buttons, the comedian who became known at celebrity roasts for his "never got a dinner" speech, appeared on a Chabad telethon in 2009.

He had the audience laughing when he performed a variation on the speech, listing famous Jews since the beginning of time who never did a show for Chabad.

At the Telethon, he was introduced by Jan Murray, whom we profiled yesterday as one of the great Jewish Comedians.

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 Comedians: Red Buttons Delivers a Funny Toast at a Frank Sinatra Dinner

Red Buttons was born Aaron Chwatt on February 5, 1919, in New York City, to Jewish immigrants on New York City's Lower East Side.
  
He became a performer after winning an amateur contest at age 12. Six years later he was a singing bellboy in a Bronx tavern. His stage name came from the red buttons on his bellboy uniform. 

A talented and versatile performer of stage, screen, and television, Buttons was equally at home in dramatic or comedic roles, but it was as a burlesque comedian working in the Catskills Mountains that he first made a name for himself. Buttons appeared in plays on Broadway and in movies. 

In 1952, the red-haired comedian starred in the CBS television series The Red Buttons Show. Extremely popular during its first season -- Buttons' distinctive theme song in which he'd clap his hands together as if in prayer and sing, "Ho Ho! He He! Ha Ha! Strange things are happening!" was a sort of hit amongst American kids -- it was a blend of variety acts and a weekly sitcom. The show declined in popularity its second season and was canceled, then picked up by NBC the following year where it ran in different formats until 1955. 

Buttons' career went into decline, but he made a comeback playing a love-struck American soldier who defies the racist policies of the U.S. military and marries a Japanese woman in the tragic film Sayonara in 1957.

In later years, Buttons was in demand as a participant in toasts and roasts of other actors, singers, and comedians. Here's a funny toast that he delivered a dinner to honor Frank Sinatra.

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.)

Flashback to 2003: Red Buttons Toasts Sid Caesar at His 80th Birthday Party

Our tribute to Sid Caesar yesterday was one of the most viewed posts since Jewish Humor Central started in 2009. We had requests for more about Sid and we're glad to share some more videos today and in the days to come.

On Sept 20th, 2003 The Friars Club celebrated Sid Caesar's 80th birthday by throwing him a party at their Beverly Hills headquarters. 

One of the many celebrities honoring Sid was Red Buttons, and the audience never stopped laughing. Sid doesn't actually appear in this video, but the love and affection for him are evident in Red Buttons' remarks and in the audience reaction.

Comedians appearing in Friars Club and other industry toasts let us see them in a different light, as themselves rather than the characters they play in front of audiences. Here's a look at the comedy of Red Buttons from a different angle.

Buttons tosses in a few Yiddishisms, Jewish references, and a few off-color jokes. But that's par for the course at these Friars Club roasts and toasts for comedians, where most of the roasters, their subjects, and the audience are members of the Tribe. 

He is introduced by Norm Crosby, another Jewish comedian known as the master of malapropisms. Buttons tells Crosby "Your father was my idol when I was growing up," making a funny reference to Bing Crosby who of course was not related to Norm. Then he hums a few bars of what we would expect to be one of Bing Crosby's songs. But what he actually hums is the beginning of the Yiddish classic Mein Shtetele Belz.


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.)