{"id":1008,"date":"2018-01-09T16:21:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T16:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/lifelongexchange\/?p=1008"},"modified":"2018-01-09T16:21:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T16:21:19","slug":"the-time-sholem-aleichem-almost-ended-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.fau.edu\/lifelongexchange\/2018\/01\/09\/the-time-sholem-aleichem-almost-ended-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"THE TIME SHOLEM ALEICHEM ALMOST ENDED MY LIFE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Kurt F. Stone, D.D.<\/p><\/div>\n

The first live theatre I recall attending was a performance of \u201cThe World of Sholem Aleichem,\u201d nearly 65 years ago.\u00a0 I was absolutely mesmerized by what was transpiring on stage, and fell in love with both his characters and the actors – especially Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Sam Levene and Lee Grant – who brought his \u201cworld\u201d to life. I remember returning home and heading straight for our library, only to discover that -Eureka! \u2013 we actually had a copy of the book upon which the play was based.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I read just about everything Sholem Aleichem (Solomon Rabinowitz) had written, and eventually began developing a one-man show in which I portrayed \u201cthe Jewish Mark Twain\u201d to the best of my tragicomic ability.\u00a0 Before too long, I found myself performing a couple of times a month, always tweaking and (hopefully) improving my one-man show.<\/p>\n

By the early 1980s, I had appeared as Sholem Aleichem a couple of hundred times everywhere from California and Mississippi to Sydney, Tel Aviv and London.\u00a0 Then, one day, shortly after relocating to South Florida, I appeared in Plantation.\u00a0 After the show, an elegant, wonderfully turned-out woman of about 75 came up to me and told me how much she had enjoyed the performance.\u00a0 I smiled, thanked her, and started to return to the green room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long have you been performing as Sholem Aleichem?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, about 12 or 13 years,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how many performances would you say you\u2019ve done in all that time?\u201d she queried.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh!\u201d I thought, \u201cperhaps she wants to hire me.\u201d\u00a0 I was about to hand her my agent\u2019s card when she then asked, \u201cAnd, on average, how much do you get for a performance \u2013 minus travel expenses?\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing a quick bit of mental math, I came up with a figure that even impressed me ever so slightly.\u00a0 I awaited her next question, which I assumed would be about future availability.<\/p>\n

Boy, was I ever wrong.\u00a0 For what she said next almost caused me to drop dead on the spot from myocardial infarction:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me that you owe me (and here she named a price well beyond my means) for use of the name and image of Sholem Aleichem.\u201d\u00a0 She looked serious. I felt a pounding in my chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow is that possible?\u201d I asked weakly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never asked my permission!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, it dawned on me: the women I was talking to had to be Sholem Aleichem\u2019s sole surviving heir, the writer Bel Kaufman.\u00a0 She must have read my mind and recognized when I figured out who she was, because at precisely that moment, she got an elfin twinkle in her eye.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Kaufman, I presume?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed!\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI really had you going, didn\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou almost killed me,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow would you like to help spend zayde\u2019s gelt (Yiddish for \u201cgrandpa\u2019s money\u201d)?<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was broke when he died,\u201d I responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was,\u201d Bel said.\u00a0 \u201cBut in the more than 60 years since his death, he\u2019s become a millionaire due to royalties.\u00a0 Would you like to join the advisory board of the Sholem Aleichem Foundation and help spend it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t answer \u201cOf Course!\u201d quickly enough. Bel and I went out to lunch . . . then dinner . . . then lunch the next day.\u00a0 And when she got back to New York, she had the Foundation stationary remade . . . it now included my name.<\/p>\n

Bel died a mere three years ago . . . at age 103.\u00a0 She was the last person who actually knew Sholem Aleichem in life . . . and saved me \u2013 her father\u2019s imitator \u2013 from suffering a severe cardiac event.<\/p>\n

Oh, how I miss Bel . . .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kurt F. Stone, D.D.
\nAn Evening with Sholem Aleichem: A One-Man Performance
\nTuesday, January 16, 2018, 7 \u2013 9 p.m.
\nTo register, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first live theatre I recall attending was a performance of \u201cThe World of Sholem Aleichem,\u201d nearly 65 years ago.\u00a0 I was absolutely mesmerized by what was transpiring on stage, and fell in love with both his characters and the…<\/span><\/p>\n

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