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A Personal Footnote
In Civil Rights Legacy
layboy and the Making of the Good Life in
Modern America credits Hugh
Hefner with opening the floodgates of rampant permissibility and
launching an era of sexual liberation. Elizabeth Fraterrigo,
assistant professor of history at Loyola University Chicago, devotes
all of one sentence to the most crucial contribution Hef made to
society. She writes that the Playboy Clubs "provided a setting for
black entertainers to cross the color line, helping to get their
start performers such as comedian Dick Gregory." Actually, Hef
accomplished more than that. By hiring Greg for a one-night stand
Dick Gregory and Tim Boxer at the Chicago
Playboy Club, 1961 |
at
the Chicago club in 1961, Hef gave me the opportunity to loft Greg
into orbit by publicizing his gig in all the local papers. As Greg’s
personal aide and publicist, I was able to blast him into overnight
success from the launching pad of the Chicago Playboy Club. Black
standup comedians were not welcome in the top-tier white supper
clubs. My constant, intensive barrage of publicity for Dick Gregory
opened the doors of the white showbiz establishment to black standup
comedians for the first time in the annals of American culture. This
was a significant turning point in the civil rights revolution,
little known by the public but acknowledged to me privately by Timmie Rogers, Nipsey Russell and Bill Cosby.
(Oxford University Press, 295 pages,
$29.95
Amazon.com Price: $25.60)
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And You Thought You Knew
Your Bible From Beginning
HE
ZOHAR, the quintessential
document of Jewish mysticism, made its appearance in Aramaic as
Sefer HaZohar (Book of Radiance) at the end of the 13th
century in Castile, Spain. Traditionally Jews ere discouraged from
delving into the secrets of Kabbalah until they’ve reached the age
of 40. Being an esoteric interpretation of the Torah, it goes
without saying that one must be well versed in the Five Books of
Moses.
Funded by the Pritzker Family
Philanthropic Fund, an intensive English translation and commentary
of The Zohar is in progress by Daniel C. Matt who spent four years
on this project in Jerusalem. He served as professor of Jewish
spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and
taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
Thus far Stanford University Press has
published five volumes of a projected ten-volume set. It’s taking a
long time because, among other reasons, "the Zohar is notoriously
obscure—perhaps the most difficult Jewish classic to translate,"
Matt says.
Raising questions is a time-honored
tradition in the Talmud, and the Zohar too thrives in discovery:
"This verse has been discussed, but come and see." Without questions
there are no discussions.
The initial words of the Bible leads to
amazing insight. The English version states, "In the beginning God
created..." You understood that the verse is talking about the
beginning of the world. Not so. The original Hebrew reads,
bereshit bara Elohim, "In the beginning created God…" alluding
to a more primal beginning.
The mystics explain that Infinity has ten
sefirot (emanations). There is the sefirah of Beginning or Wisdom,
and the sefirah of Elohim or Understanding. The opening
verse, With beginning it created Elohim, should be understood
thus: With Wisdom it (Ein Sof, Infinity) emanated
Understanding.
"God, it turns out, is the object of the
verse, not the subject! The ultimate divine reality, Ein Sof
[Eternity], transcends and explodes our comfortable conception of
‘God.’ The Zohar dares us to confront this reality, as it transforms
the familiar story of Creation into divine biography." Does Madonna
know this?
Come and see The Zohar, Pritzker
Edition, Stanford University Press, 5 volumes thus far, about 500
pages each, $49.95
Amazon.com Price: $32.97)
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Jerusalem In All Its Beauty
ARELY
has a photographer captured the soul of a holy city as Marcelo
Bendahan. Born in Spain and now living in Amsterdam, Bendahan spent
several months roaming the streets and alleys of Jerusalem to
produce
Jerusalem Always, an
astounding photo album that is a sacred testament to three faiths.
His aim in this lavishly illustrated
volume, he says, was not show the tourist sites that you find in
guidebooks but to convey the awesome atmosphere of a place where
"history rubs shoulders with modernity."
Bendahan’s stunning images are writ large
on every page, but there is room for illuminating text contributed
by American-born Heidi J. Gleit. She is we’ll versed in her adopted
country, having served as Tel Aviv correspondent for the Jerusalem
Post and house writer for the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliyah,
and currently editor of Eretz, a history/culture magazine of Israel.
(Maestro Books, large format, 176 pages,
140 color images, $50.00
Amazon.com Price: $36.50)
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Page Turners
Hundred Years, A Million Laughs
by 15 Minutes Magazine comedy columnist Barry Dougherty is the
authorized history of the Friars Club. As editor of the club’s
Epistle magazine, speechwriter for innumerable comedians, author
of several books about the Friars, Dougherty is well positioned to
unscramble the inside dope on this den of America’s greatest
laughmakers. Ever since its founding in 1904, the monastery (as its
club house is known on E. 55th Street in Manhattan) has
been the home and dining hall of a century’s worth of legendary
entertainers. Of course the Friars are known all over the planet for
their outrageously lewd roasts. Dougherty recalls all the major
roasts with such notables burnt to a comedy crisp: Barbra Streisand,
Ed Sullivan, Tom Jones, Don Rickles, Hugh Hefner and many others.
I’m chuckling as I’m writing. (Emmis
Books, 182 pages, $30)
 The New York Times: The Complete Front
Pages 1851-2009 is an
astounding collection that will have you coming back to these pages
time and again to relive historic occasions in your lifetime as well
as learn history in the making over the past 150 years. You have
selected front pages of the past. But this coffee table book comes
with three DVDs containing all 55,000 front pages. A great resource
for any history buff or student. (Black Dog & Leventhal, 476
pages, $60.00
Amazon.com Price: $37.80)
 The New Book of Soups
is full of mouthwatering illustrations (by ace food photographer Ben
Fink) that will inspire your productivity over sizzling pots and
pans on your oven. And no wonder. The book is full of recipes for
soups of every variety created by the chefs at the famed Culinary
Institute of America. They offer more than 160 recipes for broths,
purees and stews to suit every mood and menu. The very first chapter
starts off with soup basics, covering the main ingredients,
thickness, consistency, cooling and storing. (Lebhar-Friedman,
250 pages, $35.00
Amazon.com Price: $23.10)
 Legends in the Kitchen: Celebrity Recipes
for a Cause , compiled by
Linda F. Radke and Mrs. Howard (Judy) Keel, offers recipes from
Larry Hagman, Andy Williams, James Garner, Victoria Principal and
many others. Even though she’s Italian, Ruth Buzzi goes nuts over
cheese blintzes. Not to be outdone, Stephanie Powers favors
pierogie. Debbie Reynolds swears by cheese enchiladas—in the
tradition of her mother and grandmother who were from El Paso. In
the soup category you’ll savor Burt Reynolds’ beef stew. Betty Ford
goes one further: beef stew with walnuts. Andy Williams contributes
a chicken soup made with Manischewitz vegetable soup mix. A portion
of the proceeds goes to the Motion Picture & TV Fund Foundation.
(Five Star Publications, softcover, 148 pages,
$17.95
Amazon.com Price: $14.00)
Jack & Walter: The Films of Lemmon &
Matthau is a wonderful
story by Ben Costello of the last great comedy team of the 20th
century. Walter was born in New York to Jewish parents Melas and
Rose Matthow. Jack was born John Uhler Lemmon III in an elevator of
the hospital in Newton, Mass. Both joined up to make 11 memorable
movies, first The Fortune Cookie and last The Odd Couple
II. Costello has created a highly readable book, with large
pictures on almost every page. (Five Star Publications, hardback,
165 pages, $31.95
Amazon.com Price: $24.28)
 The Basic Book of Digital Photography
is your answer if you bought your first camera and are now looking
for simple instruction (which you don’t always get from your user’s
manual). Tom Grimm and wife Michele Grimm, travel photographers for
30 years, gives a comprehensive guide on shooting and sharing
digital pictures. Profusely illustrated, the book covers every
aspect of digital imaging, including choosing a camera, composing a
picture, using editing software, creating slideshows on your TV, and
much more. Valuable set of instructions. (Plume, soft cover, 400
illustrative photos, 528 pages, $24.00
Amazon.com Price: $18.00)
 Digital Art Revolution
is an essential guide if you’re at all interested in tweaking your
images and creating fine art with Photoshop. Scott Ligon,
coordinator of the digital foundation curriculum at the Cleveland
Institute of Art and a top digital artist, explains in such simple
clear language that’s a joy to jump right into Photoshop and start
creating. Ligon gives us the best short introduction to Photoshop I
have seen. This is an excellent book from which to learn to make art
through photography. It’s a joy and pleasure to study with him.
(Watson-Guptill, soft cover, 256 pages,
$29.99
Amazon.com Price: $19.79)
 College in a Nutskull
is LOL from front cover ("Inductive reasoning usually involves
electricity" to back cover ("Most people are either straight, gay or
thespian"). Professor Anders Henriksson has compiled a bookful of
witty (and insane) statements and definitions by college students in
the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This is an opportunity,
he says, to visit a world remarkably different from the reality we
think we inhabit. We send our children to college to become smarter
than we, and what do they learn? From their exams and term papers:
"The Nicene Creed required everyone to be nice to each other. A
priori knowledge is things that you have already prioritized.
Ontology is the study of onts and their moral meaning. Eggmont Freud
discovered sex. Henry V is about a king named Richard III. Pontious
Pilot was an official in the Roman air force. President Lincoln was
shot in his Ford. The Incas were a group of peaceful vegetarians
whose only slight weakness was the off human sacrifice." Get this
book to keep up with the next generation of geniuses. (Workman,
soft cover, 136 pages,
Amazon.com Price: $8.95)
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