May 20, 2013 Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man? Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting May 13, 2013 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer? Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche May 10, 2013 Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon May 8, 2013 Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges 'Garbage man' in cells could extend life Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility May 6, 2013 Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal May 3, 2013 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert May 1, 2013 Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be April 29, 2013 Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots? Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie April 26, 2013 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen? Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver) The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead April 24, 2013 Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret Top Muslim cleric boycotts inter-faith dialogue conference attended by 'Jews' Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication? Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot April 22, 2013 Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear Hagel, on maiden Middle East visit, arrives in Israel bearing gifts and promises US man departing country arrested on terror charges Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel

Jewish World Review March 13, 2009 / 17 Adar 5769 An Hour and a Half with Sid Caesar By Greg Crosby http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I spent an hour and a half with Sid Caesar. And you're thinking "Big deal, millions of Americans spent an hour and a half with Sid Caesar every single Saturday night watching "Your Show of Shows" on NBC." True, but I spent an hour and half with Sid Caesar last Thursday afternoon at his home. Just Sid Caesar, a friend of his, and me. We talked about his shows, his writers, his fellow performers, and comedy in general. Sid Caesar gave me an hour and a half. It was ninety minutes that I'll never forget. I've worked at comedy writing most of my life, so a visit with a comedy giant like Sid Caesar was like going to Mecca for me (hmmm… perhaps that's an inappropriate expression since both Caesar and I are Jewish guys. Okay, it was like going to the Carnegie Deli). I have adored him all my life, in fact I wrote in last week's column how watching Sid Caesar on television taught me what funny was all about. Life is full of surprises. Here I was schlepping along in my own little existence, doing what I do in my own little corner of the world, when out of a clear blue sky I get a message to call a man. I call him, and he turns out to be Sid Caesar's friend and fellow performer Lee Delano. "Would you be interested in an interview with Sid Caesar?" Wow. The next thing I know, a few days later I'm in Lee's car going to Sid Caesar's House. As the car winds through the canyon I think about all those great comedy sketches that cracked me up as a kid and continue to make me laugh every time I watch them: the spoof on "This is Your Life," the Italian cobbler and his apprentice, the Bavarian clock. "Your Show of Shows" was the beginning of it all. Television comedy as we know it started with this show. Sit coms, TV sketch comedy, movie spoofs, highbrow satire, pop culture send ups - it all started with "Your Show of Shows." Following that show Sid did a one hour show called, appropriately, "Caesar's Hour." Caesar Writers for both shows included what has now become known as probably the greatest collection of comedy writers in history; Mel Tolken, Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil and Danny Simon, Gary Belkin, Larry Gelbart, and Woody Allen. Sid's shows ran from 1950 until May 1957. Every week for 39 weeks a year the shows were broadcast live in front of a studio audience and 60 million Americans. A brand new 90 minute show every single week. Done without retakes. And done without cue cards - Sid didn't like using them. He said it loused up the believability of the actors because instead of making eye contact with each other, the actors wind up looking at the cue cards off to the side. Sid Caesar has always been a dedicated comedian, using both comedy and pathos in his portrayals. An excellent saxophonist, he applied his musical sense of rhythm and timing to his comedy. Careful preparation, able to think fast on his feet, and impeccable timing were all important elements to Sid's comedy. His foreign language double-talk is legendary - and no one can do it better than Sid. But there is one ingredient that he possesses that can't be learned: his natural born humor. Sid has the gift of comedy within him. He's a funny man, that's all. His reactions are naturally funny; he walks funny, he even thinks funny. It's in his eyes, his gestures, his entire being. As they say, "you either got it, or you ain't got it." Sid Caesar most definitely got it. Even at age 86 Sid Caesar is sharp as a tack. His memory is flawless, his sense of humor as wonderful as ever. And when he relates a gag or story, his comedy timing is letter-perfect. I mention to him how he has always been a hero of mine and he smiles and thanks me. Imagine that. Sid Caesar thanking ME. It dawns on me that I am in the presence of the last of the great comedians of the 20th Century. I sit down in front of him and begin talking. As I ask my questions he graciously answers each one in detail (and I'm sure he's heard them all nine hundred times). He speaks highly of the people in his life that helped him get his start; Max Liebman, producer of "Your Show of Shows," Pat Weaver, the head of NBC, co-stars Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris and his wonderful writing team. Of Imogene, Howie, and Carl he says, "We worked together like a well oiled machine." That they did. He spoke of learning comedy from his older brother Dave and how they would invent sketches as kids spoofing the then popular airplane pictures like Test Pilot and Wings. He told me how he learned to double-talk in every language from working at his father's luncheonette, going from table to table and listening to the distinctive ethnic speech patterns of the patrons. He got so he could mimic the sounds of almost any language. Of course Sid couldn't really speak any of those languages, it was all gibberish, but when he did it, it sounded right. His eyes sparkle when I mention one of my favorite routines of his. He laughs easily and falls into the character himself, remembering the lines perfectly. All at once I find myself a one-man audience for a man who used to do this same thing in front of 60 million viewers. Now Sid Caesar is performing just for me and I'm in heaven. I laugh just as I did as a little kid sitting in front of the TV. At one point I asked him if there was a movie that he turned down and now looking back, wished he had made. As it turns out, there was. It was the film version of the stage hit, "Born Yesterday" starring opposite Judy Holiday. Sid was offered the role of Harry Brock, the part that eventually went to Broderick Crawford. Sid had to turn it down because doing the weekly show at the time was so strenuous that any attempt to squeeze a filming schedule in would have just been too much, even for someone with Sid Caesar's stamina. Boy, what a loss that was. Sid would have been perfect in that part. I tell him that he made Broderick Crawford a star because he turned down the part. "Yeah, sure," he says with a smile. Although Caesar's shows were the most creative and consistently funny programs on the air, they never got into wide syndication after their initial runs and I don't now why. "I Love Lucy" is known throughout the world today because it has been appearing in reruns for more than fifty years. Jackie Gleason's "The Honeymooners" shows up everywhere, all the time. Not so for Sid Caesar. And that's really too bad. Too bad for all of us, but especially too bad for the generations who came after me who have never seen those marvelously creative shows. Most of the sketches are timeless. They absolutely hold up. Fortunately, some of the sketches have been put together in compilation boxed sets which are available through sidcaesar.com so thankfully we can still see some of them. I only wish all of them were available and that they could be seen on television on a regular basis again. Asked if he had any advice for young comics he said, "Do something believable." That's it. That was the essence of Sid's characters and sketches for me; they were always believable - always rooted in real life. The one motto that Sid stressed to me more than once during our time together was, "It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it." Indeed. And when Sid did it, the way that he did it was always believable and most definitely funny. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here. Greg Crosby Archives © 2008, Greg Crosby

Arnold Ahlert  Mitch Albom  Jay Ambrose  Michael Barone  Barrywood  Lori Borgman  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Richard Z. Chesnoff  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  Christine Flowers  Frank J. Gaffney  Bernie Goldberg  Jonah Goldberg  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Argus Hamilton  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Ron Hart  Nat Hentoff  A. Barton Hinkle  Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  Jack Kelly  Ch. Krauthammer  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  Ann McFeatters  Dale McFeatters  Dana Milbank  Jeanne Moos  Dick Morris  Jim Mullen  Deroy Murdock  Judge A. Napolitano  Bill O'Reilly  Clarence Page  Kathleen Parker  Star Parker  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Sharon Randall  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Heather Robinson  Debra J. Saunders  Martin Schram  Greg Schwem  Culture Shlock  David Shribman  Roger Simon  Lenore Skenazy  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Ben Stein  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Dan Thomasson  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Byron York  ZeitGeist  Mort Zuckerman  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Baloo   Lisa Benson  Chip Bok  Dry Bones  John Branch  John Cole  J. D. Crowe  Matt Davies  John Deering  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Mallard Fillmore  Glenn Foden  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Walt Handelsman  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holbert  David Horsey  Lee Judge  Steve Kelley  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Jimmy Margulies  Jack Ohman  Michael Ramirez  Rob Rogers  Drew Sheneman  Kevin Siers  Jeff Stahler  Scott Stantis  Danna Summers  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters   Dan Wasserman  Tech Q&A  Mr. Know-It-All  Ask Doctor K  Richard Lederer  Frugal Living  On Nutrition  Bookmark These  Bruce Williams