this Yom Kippur I mourn…
Yom Kippur always puts me in a reflective mood about how quickly life passes and about those who have died this year. Last month, I was affected much more than I thought I would be by the deaths of two non-Jewish celebrities, and I think their lives say a lot about this country at its best.
As just about everyone knows by now, John Ritter died suddenly in September. No, I wasn’t a huge fan of “Three’s Company,” but I did very much like his series “Hooperman,” which was set in San Francisco.
Actor Larry Miller, writing in the Weekly Standard said, “I liked him an awful lot, but I wasn’t alone. Everyone liked John Ritter, everyone who ever met him, from toll collectors to studio heads…. There’s an old Jewish saying, that every man’s heaven or hell is determined by what people say about him after he dies. I think that’s a good way to put it, and in John’s case, it means he’s sitting on the highest cloud there is. ”
Ritter could not be “less Jewish” — in a certain way. His father (country singer Tex Ritter) and his mother were Protestants from rural Texas. But American culture has an amazing way of bringing people together and Tex’s biggest hit, “High Noon,” was written by Russian Jewish immigrant Dimitri Tiomkin. John grew up a huge fan of Jerry Lewis, and modeled his physical comedy after him.
His best friends were Henry Winkler and director Peter Bogdanovich, the sons of Jews who fled Germany and Austria, respectively, in the 1930s. Winkler, appropriately, gave a moving tribute to Ritter at the Emmys.
Johnny Cash, who also died last month, was a religious Christian who reached out to every group of people, including those in need like Native Americans and prisoners. He stayed true to his country roots but would not be confined by them. His biggest hit, “A Boy Named Sue,” was written by his Jewish pal, the late Shel Silverstein. He befriended Bob Dylan, sang with him and had him as an early guest on his TV show — introducing him to traditional country audiences. Like John Ritter, he was a fundamentally decent man just about everyone liked.
In a time when the passions of hate are stirred again — in a time in which some people want to make political or financial hay from the intra-American or worldwide “culture wars” — I mourn the death of these men.
P.S. A couple of days after I finished this item, I came across a statement by the Israeli Consulate in New York: “The State of Israel would like to express its condolences to the family of the late Johnny Cash, an American icon and true friend of Israel…. A frequent guest [the singer went to the Holy Land to produce an album and a documentary], Johnny Cash was loved by Israelis and his music will live on in the pubs, cafes and hearts of a grateful nation.”
a lighter note
Well, I can accept all the politicians coming out of the closet with their “Jewish roots.” However, I was dazed by actor Tab Hunter’s revelation, in a recent issue of The New York Times, that his father was Jewish. For the benefit of younger readers, Tab Hunter was the ’50s epitome of the ‘uber-Aryan’ blond beach-boy type. His name, of course, was made up. It was part of the ’50s thing of giving “studly” names to hunky actors — think Rock Hudson. Hunter had some good roles into the mid-’60s, but he was a pretty stiff actor. When his looks faded, so did his career. In the ’80s, he announced he was gay and appeared in campy roles in a couple of John Waters’ movies.
Like Sen. John Kerry, Hunter is not very Jewish. His father abused his mother and she left him when Tab was a small child. Tab never saw him again and wasn’t raised Jewish. Still, it’s a shocker. So, what next? Jennifer Lopez announcing that she is the love child of the wayward son of a Chassidic rebbe? Oy, if J-Lo becomes Jew-Lo, I may just plotz.
Nate Bloom is the Oakland-based editor of www.Jewhoo.com.