Just Who Is Austin Pendleton and Why I Am I So Excited to See Him

Wednesday night, for the third time in my life, I saw Austin Pendleton live. 

Some, perhaps many of you, are wondering, who is Austin Pendleton? 

He is an award winning actor, director and playwright. If you’ve seen the movie “My Cousin Vinny,” he played the hapless small town Southern lawyer first engaged to defend two young New Yorkers, played by Ralph Maccio and Stan Rothenstein, accused of murder. 

“Hapless” characterizes many of the roles the 82-year-old Pendleton has played throughout his career. Imagine Woody Allen without one-liners. 

The first time I saw him I was barely 15, sitting in the mezzanine of the Imperial Theatre in late 1964 or early 1965. He portrayed Motel the Tailor in the original Broadway cast of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Fast forward 45 years. As audience members milled about during intermission of a Playwrights Horizons performance, I walked over to shake the hand of a slightly older gentleman not arousing interest from any other theatergoer. As Gilda and our friends Ken and Jane looked on, I told him I had seen him in “Fiddler on the Roof.”Austin Pendleton was grateful for the recognition so many years later, both for his acting and for being recognized and remembered.

Fast forward another decade. Wednesday night at the Helen Hayes Theatre during intermission of “Between Riverside and Crazy,” directed by Pendleton, I walked up to him and related our last encounter. 

He smiled graciously. He asked my name. He said he remembered me. I’m not naive enough to believe that, though he did suggest that “Murray Forseter” is an unusual, unique name. 

His response struck a chord. Among my first year blog postings in 2012 was the story of the only day I cut classes in high school. That day, unknown to anyone in advance, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, and his Power Memorial teammates would scrimmage Erasmus Hall’s basketball team on a neutral court, the gym of my school, the Yeshivah of Flatbush. 

Power Memorial was the top parochial school basketball team in New York. Erasmus was the top ranked public school squad. Erasmus was coached by Bernie Kirsner. Bernie also coached the Flatbush team, so it was easy for him to arrange Flatbush as the neutral site for the faceoff. 

In the blog I wrote Bernie had a keen eye for evaluating player talent. He had rightfully ended my hope of playing for Flatbush. I was, and remained so throughout my basketball playing days, a lousy dribbler. He saw that right away. 

A few months after the blog story ran I received an email from Bernie Kirsner, then enjoying retirement in Florida. His daughter had forwarded the blog to him. 

When I asked how it was that he remembered me, he replied the same way Austin Pendleton did: “A name like Forseter is unique. It’s not like you were a Cohen or a Schwartz.”  

For Trump, Shades of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"

Tuesday was not a very good day for The Donald. It was, to cite the well-regarded children’s book about Alexander, a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.”

The denier-in-chief was denied once more by the citizens of Georgia. They rejected his hand-picked candidate, the superbly unqualified Herschel Walker, a chance to represent them. Though the Senate no longer is a legislative body admired for its soaring rhetoric and profound deliberations, Walker was perceived as someone who could barely speak cogently or truthfully. After days of casting ballots, voters denied Trump the opportunity to place his plantation Negro in the U.S. Senate.   

Meanwhile, up in New York, a Superior Court jury found one of Trump’s companies guilty on all 17 counts of illegally evading taxes through a scheme to compensate employees with perks, including free housing and cars, instead of salary as a ploy to incur lower income taxes. 

The verdict could lead to more charges, possibly including action against Trump himself. 

Another Meanwhile: In Washington, the House Select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol indicated it would likely recommend federal charges be filed against Trump henchmen, potentially even against the instigator- in-chief. 

A Third Meanwhile: The Special Prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland issued subpoenas to Trump operatives in three states (Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin) where the insurrectionist-in-chief sought to overthrow the will of the people that Joe Biden be their president. 

All in all, not the Super Tuesday the headline-seeker-in-chief expected. 

I, for one, cannot imagine living through a second Trump presidency. Yet, in a macabre, perverted way, I embrace the prospect of his running as the Republican Party’s 2024 nominee. I’m also tight with Kevin McCarthy becoming speaker of the House of Representatives with its wildcat members including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar. 

Why? Because it would put in stark relief how our citizens value America. If they choose Trump and his cadre of election deniers and blowhards they would sign onto following a cheat, a dissembler, a crybaby who has even advocated throwing out the Constitution so that he could be declared the 2020 victor and reinstalled in the White House. 

They would certify as kosher politicians who failed to forcefully defend the Constitution both in the aftermath of January 6 and Trump’s call for Constitution abrogation.    

If voters choose the Democratic Party nominee—regardless if it is Joe Biden seeking a second term or   another candidate—it would demonstrate their commitment to a government of laws and programs intended to benefit all, actions on infrastructure, prescription drug pricing, job creation, low unemployment, gun control, climate and environmental protection. 

Yes, there is some risk that Trump would be able to hoodwink swing voters in battleground states (I am not naive enough to believe solidly red state voters have enough intelligence to finally pierce his facade of caring for them).  

I am willing to take that risk so that we might finally put the egotist-in-chief out to political pasture once and for all.  

Lessons From Camp Siegfried

Can it happen here?

Gilda and I caught the final performance of “Camp Siegfried” at Second Stage Theater Sunday. It’s a provocative, disturbing play set in 1938 at a summer camp for German, or rather, would-be Hitler youths in Yaphank, Long Island. 

Don’t think for a moment this was a playwright’s creation. Such a camp truly existed, an extension of the German American Bund seeking to mold maleable minds to thoughts of Aryan superiority (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/25/theater/bess-wohl-camp-siegfried.html?smid=em-share). 

The camp prospered in the 1930s, closing only after America joined the Allies in the war to defeat the Axis Powers in Germany, Italy and Japan. 

Perhaps the most powerful line of the play comes near the end when the young female lead relates to her boyfriend a conversation she had with a doctor. 

“Anyone can fall into anything really. Anyone can be seduced,” the doctor told her. 

It’s too late for me to recommend the play. Yet it’s warning that, as in the 1930s, seductive forces are at play throughout our country is unmistakeable. We are witnessing an unimaginable surge of racist, homophobic and antisemitic activity by individuals including public figures, alt-right groups and government entities and officials. 

Camp Siegfried elevated bias, planting or reinforcing parental beliefs of discrimination in pliable minds of a younger generation.

Truth is, I spent my summers in the 1950s-1960s in Jewish camps that were just as dedicated as Camp Siegfried in pursuit of indoctrinating campers, not to an ideology of superiority and discrimination but rather to the values of Judaism and Zionism. No doubt, there were some who distilled the message differently. They were transformed into bigoted, egotistical ideologues. 

They were the exception, though recent actions in Israel would suggest discrimination by Jews may be becoming more common, even against fellow tribesmen who do not share their level of religious observance. 

2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the film “Cabaret,”considered by many one of Hollywood’s best. Through the interplay of characters the audience sees the transformation of German society into Nazi extremism.

A pivotal scene near the end of “Caberet” is of a blond youth singing in a beer garden about the future belonging to him. He is dressed in the uniform of the Nazi Youth. Those listening to him, it is gradually revealed, are similarly garbed in Nazi attire. 

To accommodate another couple, Gilda and I reluctantly went to an Octoberfest beer garden in Queens in 1977. Sitting at a long picnic table, nursing our beers as Germanic music played, we were stunned when the music stopped and the crowd enthusiastically shouted, “Heil.” But what was truly chilling was the smiling, nodding heads staring at us from nearby tables. In my lifetime before and since I have never felt so obviously Jewish. And out of place. We quickly departed.

Perhaps, most probably because I am Jewish, as are most of my friends, and we are mostly septuagenarians or older, we are keenly aware of Naziism and World War II. We did not require metaphors, science fiction shoot-em ups, to learn about the dangers of fascism, totalitarianism, and mass killings of innocents. The Holocaust was made part of our intimate education. 

I wonder, how much do generations later than mine know about World War II, how easy it has become to manipulate masses into hating, how susceptible our government has become to leaders who lie, repeatedly lie,  through their own words and deeds, aided by a complicit media that values revenue more than truth? 

Antisemitism is but one of the scourges affecting America and the rest of the world. Never completely eradicated, it was thought to be on the wane a decade ago. How naive we have been shown to be.

Listen to Senior Rabbi Steve Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple of LosAngeles deliver a short commentary on that unfortunate reality during Sunday’s “CBS Sunday Morning” (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rabbi-steve-leder-on-free-speech-and-anti-semitism/).

 

Thoughts You Might Have Missed

Liberal columnist Maureen Dowd every year around Thanksgiving gives her brother an opportunity to use her space in The New York Times to express his conservative views. I’m not that ecumenical. 

I don’t have to be. My sister Lee is as, or even more, liberal than I. She follows more left-wing sites than I do, so, in case you, too, have not signed onto them, herewith are some of her recent repostings that you might not have seen:

“Georgia voters, Hershel (sic) Walker LIVES in Texas because he doesn’t want to pay GA state income taxes. Is that really who you want to represent you in DC? He won’t support your state with his tax money, but wants you to pay him a Senators (sic) salary.” —The Other 98%

“Republican Newt Gingrich on Joe Biden: ‘Republicans must learn to quit underestimating this President. 

‘Conservatives’ hostility to the Biden administration on our terms tends to blind us to just how effective Biden has been.

‘Biden’s team had one of the best first term off-year elections in history.’

“Damn. Even Biden’s enemies can’t deny he gets shit done.” —The Other 98%

“Ron DeSantis is just as bad, if not worse, than Trump.

“Don’t be fooled by his ability to form complete sentences.” —The Other 98%

“The two richest men on the planet are laying off workers before Christmas. And you thought Scrooge was fiction.” —The Other 98%

“Elon Musk Wealth

2012: $2 billion

2022: $221 billion

“Jeff Bezos Wealth

2012: $18 billion

2022: $134 billion

“Warren Buffett Wealth

2012: $44 billion

2022: $101 billion

“Federal Minimum Wage

2009: $7.25 an hour

2022: $7.25 an hour

“5 words: Tax billionaires out of existence” —Warren Gunnels cited on More Perfect Union

“I have become more radical in the last 5 years than in all my days at college, law school, and 41 years of practicing law. They say one gets more conservative as they get older, and I say, not if you’re paying attention.” — SandaBlueDeux, Juris Doctor

“When rich CEOs brag about how many hours they work, remember that they have servants who clean their house, cook their meals, and do their shopping.

“When you have to do these things for yourself, it doesn’t count as ‘working,’ mysteriously.” — The Other 98%

“Now would be a good time to stop worshipping billionaires.” — Robert Reich

“Great leaders are not the best at everything. They find people who are the best at different things and get them all on the same team.” — The Real Fire Officer

“The gunman was stopped by two unarmed men in a gay club. He was firing and they fought him, they saved countless lives. They weren’t police. Just citizens tired of this and refusing to let their friends die. Courage under fire. Peak bravery.

“Wish they had been in Uvalde.” — @TitusNation

“Gay People aren’t shooting up straight night clubs.

“Black people aren’t shooting up white grocery stores.

“Latinos aren’t shooting up Walmarts.

“Jewish people aren’t shooting up Christian churches.

“The violence is coming from one demographic: Alt-right radicalized men.” — Leslie007 on Occupy Democrats

“If selling a gay couple a wedding cake means a ‘Christian’ baker participated in their marriage, does selling a gun to a murderer mean a ‘Christian’ gun store owner participated in the murder?” — Occupy Democrats

 

A Luncheon to Remember at El Quijote

Did you see “CBS Sunday Morning” this past Sunday? Specifically, did you catch its profile of the revival underway at the historic 140-year-old Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street in Manhattan? No matter. Here’s a link to the video report: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/inside-nycs-famed-chelsea-hotel/

Once home, or passing residence, to luminaries including Andy Warhol, Mark Twain, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Sarah Bernhardt, Jack Kerouac, Jackson Pollack, and Leonard Cohen, the Chelsea is a landmark of history.

I never stayed at the Chelsea but I had one of my most memorable meals under its wing, at El Quijote, the Spanish restaurant housed along the hotel’s western street facade. The eatery’s neon red nameplate sign is visible at the beginning of the video. 

The year was 1988. For reasons too painful, too disturbing, to explain at this moment, my employer (Lebhar-Friedman) chose to close down in January the edition of Chain Store Age of which I was the editor and publisher. It would be 10 months before I was reassigned to another edition of Chain Store Age as editor and associate publisher, eventually named publisher until I retired in July 2009.

During those 10 months I was essentially mothballed but kept busy starting and writing a newsletter, Restaurant Personnel Management. Aside from keeping me on the payroll until a suitable executive position opened up, I also had the exquisite task of finding ways to spend $20,000 in American Express credits.

You see, during the last year of my defunct magazine’s existence, we bartered ad space for a line of American Express credit. By the time we closed the books at the end of January we had just over $20,000 in money owed us. 

I wandered over to my business manager and offered the AmEx credit card. Accounting had no way of accounting for this money so I was told to spend it on my newsletter and other corporate expenses, one of which became a luncheon with my art director Milton, production director Stan, and head of maintenance Dominic. 

Milton had recently turned 62, Stan soon to be 57, Dominic of undetermined comparable age, who, like Milt and Stan, had decades-long service with Lebhar-Friedman. I was the youngster of the group, a mere 40 years old, just 11 years with the company. More than just inviting my friendship, they also welcomed the credit card in my wallet. 

We cabbed down to El Quijote around noon. We started with some liquid libation. Having never been to the restaurant we asked our waiter for a recommendation. He suggested a specialty of the house—shrimp in green sauce. Four orders, por favor, señor. 

It might be hyperbole, but never to my memory have I enjoyed a more delicious luncheon meal. Baskets of fresh bread soaked up the garlic-infused green sauce. We kept drinking. We had dessert.

All the while Milt, Stan and Dom regaled me with stories of past and some present L-F employees. Finally, around 3 pm, we determined it would be judicious to return to the office at 425 Park Avenue, not that any of us were in any form or shape to do any work for the rest of the afternoon.

El Quijote no longer serves lunch. I’ve been back just once, with Gilda years ago. The shrimp in green sauce, while good, did not match my memory. 

Milton and I still see each other several times a year, COVID permitting. He’ll be 97, Saturday. Several of his paintings adorn our home. My favorite is a self-portrait hanging in our living room. I tell him and everyone that asks about him that in his black crewneck sweater he looks like a Portuguese fisherman.  

After retirement Stan moved to Lafayette, Calif., to be closer to his son and daughter and their families. He liked nothing more than driving his grandchildren around. He passed away earlier this year. He was 91. 

Dominic died first. Before he retired he gave me some Lebhar-Friedman memorabilia—a chair and bronze pole lamp from Arnold D. Friedman’s office and a 32-inch bronze Chain Store Age nameplate from the old offices at 2 Park Avenue. It is a featured memento on our living room bookshelves. 

 

Reactionary Forces at Play, in Israel as Well

Fear of a growing acceptance and embrace of antisemitism is roiling Jews the world over and others who believe in the values of liberal (small “l”) democracy. It is happening on every inhabitable continent. 

Meanwhile, in what has often been described as the sole democracy in the Mideast amid a desert of autocratic rule by potentates and corrupt extremists, Israel is plunging into cultish religious and nationalistic fanaticism that has Jews throughout the world wincing in disbelief. 

Benjamin Netanyahu’s narrow comeback return to the prime minister’s office hinged on his links to religious conservatives and militant extremists personified by Itamar Ben-Gvir, a once scorned anti-Arab right wing radical now in line to be the Minister of National Security.

Built into the DNA of most Jews who follow politics and world events is an alarmist gene. Centuries, nay, millennia, of oppression have infused a healthy skepticism of even the most benevolent regime. The grandeur of Moorish Spain, the drawing rooms of Vienna, the economic pinnacles of Germany were no match for the antisemitism unleashed by kings, queens and dictators. 

So Jews concentrate on the headlines of the day, keeping track of cracks in liberal democracies and deep crevices in totalitarian regimes. 

Only now the inspection has become introspection. Consider the  headlines from one day—November 28—in the online version of Haaretz, a left-wing Israeli news outlet, to realize that reactionary forces are at play in Israel, as well: 

“Netanyahu’s party aims to close Israel’s public broadcaster

“Ben-Gvir wants to change Temple Mount status quo. This time Netanyahu may let him.

“Israeli student attacked by solder in Hebron sent to five days’ house arrest

“Israeli army employs closed military-zones to rein in Palestinians, left-wing activists

“Israel is approaching the gravest constitutional crisis in its history

“‘Most antisemitic police in the world” Ben-Gvir’s chief of staff’s long feud with police

“Gantz accuses Ben-Gvir of establishing a private militia that ‘may cost human lives’

“Ben-Gvir will bring out the worst of Israel’s police

“New Powers in far-right hands: Israel’s national security ministry, explained

“Netanyahu gives unprecedented power to extremist fighting LGBTQ ‘deviants’

“Four Netanyahu supporters charged with harassing witnesses in corruption trial

“Now it’s undeniable. Even for the GOP: Trump is legitimizing antisemitism

“Talk is cheap. So are women’s lives in Arab and Muslim Societies

“Meeting the greatest Turkish director of our time in a tent in the Israeli desert

“Israel believes chance of a new Iran nuclear deal ‘near zero’ due to Russia aid

“‘I’m the first queer rapper in Hebrew’”

“Israeli Druze soldiers arrested for allegedly throwing explosive at Palestinian home

“The Army of Occupation has been occupied

“The night Jewish fanatics tried to bomb the Knesset”

OMG! Is this really the nation that was supposed to be a light unto others? 

Escaping Big Oil's Stranglehold

 Filled my new car up with gas today after traveling 311.7 miles since the initial fill-up last Friday. Took 6.9 gallons, which comes to 45.2 miles per gallon.

Not bad, but nothing near the 133.7 MPGe from my first stop at a gas station. You see, my one-month-old car is a Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid. Most days, I drive fewer than 40 miles tooling around town. I almost exclusively rely on battery power for those jaunts.

It was only after traveling to Massachusetts over the Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate the holiday, and more importantly our grandson Finley’s bar-mitzvah, that the gas engine kicked in full time. From the day I drove off the car dealership lot to last Friday, I logged 1,016 miles of battery and gas-engine power before topping off the tank with 7.6 gallons for a whopping 133.7 MPGe (miles per gasoline gallon equivalent). 

Now, the colder it gets the less likely it will be that battery power alone will propel my Escape. Running the heater and other accessories drains the battery. Still, the prospect of fewer donations to Big Oil is comforting.

After each day’s trips around town I plug the Escape into a standard 120 volt socket in the garage. Replenishing the battery can take as long as 11 hours if it is fully discharged, a process during which I am usually asleep.  

Gilda’s car, a 2013 Ford C-Max, is a hybrid and averages 43.7 MPG. In our own small way we are trying to save the planet.