I want to see my movies in Pikesville...

“My father never lived to see his dream come true of an all-Yiddish-speaking Canada.” - David Steinberg



“Anytime a person goes into a delicatessen and orders pastrami on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies.” - Milton Berle

“I was raised in the Jewish tradition, taught never to marry a Gentile woman, shave on Saturday and most especially never to shave a Gentile woman on Saturday”. - Woody Allen


I want to see certain movies in my old neighborhood. It’s not a nostalgic thing; it’s a very practical experience to see Jewish themed movies in a Jewish neighborhood.

I always remember in 1974 I saw “Blazing Saddles” in Kansas City. It was a great movie and no, not a particularly Jewish movie.

But, when Mel Brooks says, as the Indian Chief, "Shvartses! (Blacks!) (To Indian raising tomahawk): No, no, zayt nisht meshuge! (Don't be crazy!) (Raising arms to the heavens in stereotypical Indian pose): Loz im geyn! (Let him go!) Cop a walk, it's alright. Abi gezint! (As long as you're healthy!) Take off! (To other Indians): Hosti gezen in dayne lebn? (Have you ever seen such a thing?) They darker than us...", I cried! I screamed! I suddenly realized in the eerie silence that I was the only person in the movie who got the joke!

I have no idea if it’s better to see “Moonstruck” in an Italian neighborhood, or even the “Godfather”, but parts of these films and others will play better in their home territory.

Again, I was the lone Jew when I saw “Sleeper” in 1973. In the scene where they are trying to emulate Woody Allen’s early home life memories, they say in the family tableau, “Stop whining and eat your shiksa!” (This being a non-Jewish female and misused in this context) I screamed! I laughed! I was deafened by the silence. Someone else needs to be there with me to laugh! I felt foolish when it wasn’t necessary.

I saw 1969’s Goodbye Columbus in the “hood” as described. The wedding scene was so real, it was like so many of the weddings I had attended. It was perfect, and was understood by the whole audience.

Crossing Delancy is a wonderful valentine about Jewish Americans in Manhattan. I saw this one with the same kind of ethnic audience that would understand. For that’s why they attended.

All of this was brought to mind by my attendance last weekend of the film, “Barney’s Version”. I loved the book by Mordecai Richler. It is a Canadian story, and I saw it in a Canadian theater. However, it’s a Jewish story, and the wedding scene in this movie is the best! I screamed in this film, there is so much humor as well as sadness, but it was a scream. But, as I mentioned, I was one of very few screamers! They just didn’t get it!

This does not mean that you can only eat Chinese food if you are Chinese or anything silly thing like that, I’m just saying that for me, I like to laugh and cry with the group. I need to see my Jewish themed movies in Pikesville, MD, or somewhere that I won’t be that lonely face in the crowd.

“Even if you are Catholic, if you live in New York you're Jewish. If you live in Butte, Montana, you are going to be goyish even if you are Jewish.” - Lenny Bruce