Black holidays
Lewis Black, 61, the “Curmudgeon of Comedy,” is the star of the History Channel special “Surviving the Holidays.” (Airs Monday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m.) All the major holidays between and including Thanksgiving and New Year’s are covered. Along the way, Black explains why the Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving; interviews turkeys on a farm; plays a department store Santa; and covers the “sport” of Major League Driedel (MLD).
Last Chanukah, cameras followed Black as he went to a New York club where the MLD games are held — paraphrasing one description: “Drunken Jewish hipsters and hipster wannabes pit their dreidel-spinning skills against each other as they vie for the coveted crystal dreidel trophy and a shot at Chanukah immortality unseen since the days the Maccabees whupped Hellenist ass.”
Speaking of the Lions, a former Lions player, Dallas Cowboys offensive guard Kyle Kosier, 30, has been “revealed” as Jewish. Kosier, who also played for the 49ers from 2002 to 2004, recently spoke to a Texas paper about the Cowboys’ new defensive end, San Francisco–raised Igor Olshansky. The two discovered their mutual Jewish roots in training camp and Kosier said, “Kind of cool to have a teammate share the same faith that I have.” The Jewish Sports Review newsletter followed up and found out that Kosier’s mother is Jewish (father isn’t) and that Kyle is basically secular.
New flicks
Opening Friday, Nov. 20 is “New Moon,” a sequel to the mega-hit vampire film “Twilight.” In “New Moon,” teenager Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated when her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), suddenly leaves town. Nikki Reed, 21, returns as Rosalie Hale, a Cullen family member who dislikes Bella.
“Precious,” which won the Grand Jury award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, is the story of an obese, abused 16-year-old girl who overcomes incredible adversity. She’s aided by some caring people, including a dowdy Jewish welfare caseworker (Mariah Carey). The film is currently playing at several theaters around the Bay Area.
Tube notes
The Week magazine recently published a list of the top 10 most controversial moments in the 40-year history of “Sesame Street.” Making the list was “the death of Mr. Hooper.” A gruff grocer with a warm heart, Mr. Cooper was an original “Sesame Street” character. Surveys of child viewers ranked him their favorite live (as opposed to puppet) “Sesame” character.
Brooklyn-raised actor Will Lee played Mr. Hooper, one of the many Jewish roles he played during his long career. In a 1978 Christmas Eve “Sesame Street” special, Mr. Hooper wishes the character Bob a merry Christmas, and Bob wishes Mr. Hooper a happy Chanukah.
Lee died in December 1982 at age 74. Some months later, “Sesame Street” aired an episode that dealt with the issue of death in a way most, if not all, parents found appropriate for children.
“The Real Wyatt Earp,” a biography of the famous Western lawman, runs on the History Channel on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 9 p.m. (encore at 1:00 a.m. Monday, Nov. 23). It will cover Wyatt’s relationship with San Francisco–raised Josie Marcus, his Jewish common-law wife from 1881 until Wyatt’s death at age 80 in 1929. Marcus died in 1944, age 83, and her remains and Wyatt’s remains were interred in the Marcus family plot in Hills of Eternity Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery in Colma.
In the ’50s, when Wyatt’s gravesite was “discovered,” there were jokes about whether Earp converted to Judaism (he didn’t). The best one: “It should have been called the shootout at the Oy Vey Corral.”