The OJC the Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1994-05-26

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THE
; The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
V Serving Columbus and the Central Ohio    i" t > <t„
,   , /Jewish Community since 1622 g     ''1    ' (t?^i
-N/A
VOLUME 72 ..
NUMBER 21
-/MAY ,26.. 1994
16 SIVAN 5754 :
if- ■"*   « *.    J
Clinton nominee for
high court seen as
sharing Jewish concerns
'• page!2
Gm Jews anxious j
aboutthefature ;     ,   ^
page 3
Progranwning begins fot
New American Outreach
. /..*. ...-;' -,., '        :     page 6 \
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page 6
Meuser-BuschFoundation
donates $10,000 to Campaign \
page 9
EARLY DEADLINE
\ The'deadline /or the June 2 issue of the OJC'iS noon
ojrt,Xh%?day)M%y26. ^     , ,   ,   , /
-/'>fhe*O.IG office wilT be closed on Memorial Dav.
Mondu\ Mi, M)
■■■■■ In The Chronicle mmmm
At The JCC 14,15
Bowling  1G
Calendar 4
Community , fi-8
Federation 9
Fifty Years Ago 4
Front Page  2
1   In The News .'.. 10
Lifecycle 10,11
Marketplace j...... -, < 13
New Generation..... .., ,10
Synagogues ,, „ 42
Viewpoint ..» » 3.4
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PROFILE
Joel Grcj/'s return to his Ohio 'roots'
to benefit Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center
By Dorothy Countryman
Award-winning actor Joel
Grey will be featured in "A
Gala Cabaret" Sunday, June
19, at Capital University's
Mees Auditorium. The 7 p.ra.
performance benefits scholarship and service programs at
the Leo Yassenoff Jewish
Community Center.
Grey's program will feature
show tunes and a collection of
his personal favorites by composers Billy Joel, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin
and Randy Newman, "The
audience is also very much a
part of the performance," he
- said, '■•ic-' .,<." • ;-<'y r.'.' >,.■: 2.-..N
A native of Cleveland, Grey
was born April 11, 1932. He
began performing at the age of
9 and made appearances with
his,father, comedian Mickey
Katz, beginning in the mid-
19408. Kate was known for bis
work in, the Yiddish vaudeville productions of the
"Borscht Capades."   ,   ^.,
V " '"      '  ' '    '  , L
After Grey graduated from
high school in Cleveland, his
family lived in California for a
while. Then he moved on to
New York, where he still lives.
He is proud of his hometown
and enjoys returning for regular visits. He believes both the
city, and the state of Ohio are
underrated. "Ohio is really a
beautiful American state," he
said in a recent interview,
"full of variety and physical
beauty."
Grey was spotted by Eddie
Cantor and appeared on his
television show. That spot
propelled him' into appearances in film, beginning in
.'1952, "and,he continued-to
work on stage. He enjoys the
electricity generated by a live
audience and continues to
work on stage as often as possible. He performed for cruise
ship audiences last year, which
allowed him to travel (another
of his passions), and visited
China, Japan, India and the
South Seas on the way.
At 62, Grey is not ready to
retire. "There's a lot out there
to work for," he said, noting
that he has yet to find "a really
good movie character with a
beginning, a middle and an
end," and that there's always
the perfect musical that hasn't
been written yet. Not being a
writer himself, he has to wait
for those perfect' parts, but
sometimes they just come to
him.
One of those was the role of
M.C in Cabaret. He was offered the role by creator Hal
Prince in 1966 and in 1967 he
won a Tony Award for his performance. In the 1972 film
version, he picked up an Oscar
for the part. In the 1986 stage
revival, with Prince and many
ofthe original company, Grey
netted a Drama Desk nomination for best actor in a musical.
A second Tony nomination
came from bis performance as
George M. Cohan in the 1969
musical George M; a third for
Goodtime Charley in 1975
and the fourth for The Grand
Tour in 1979. His film credits
included Man on a Swing, The
Seven Percent Solution and
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. As busy as he is, Grey
said it's important to "be passionate about other things;
other arts, people, travel. I'm
very interested in life," he
said. While he doesn't plan to
retire, "maybe I'll do something different." He'd like to
have time to take some classes
in painting. "Who knows," he
said, "maybe I don't have the
gift for.it, but I'd like to try."
Although he is renowned for
his work and recognized all
ovflr the world, Grey is very
aware ofthe attitudes of those
who still can't accept him, He
says he meets prejudice all the
time. "There are people who
are afraid of Jews, people who
hate Jews, and there are Jews
weOHIY pg.4