Mickey Katz was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 and musician who specialized in Jewish humor. He was the father of actor Joel Grey

Joel Grey

Joel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret. He has won the Academy Award, Tony Award and Golden Globe Award...

 and grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Elise Grey is an American actress. Her first major roles came in the 1984 war film Red Dawn and the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1987 she starred as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the hit film Dirty Dancing for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In the early 1990s, Grey...

.

Family

Mickey Katz was born Meyer Myron Katz to Menachem and Johanna (Herzberg) Katz on Sawtelle Court in Cleveland, Ohio. Although originally one of five children, Mickey lost an older sister to diphtheria when he was about four years old. Mickey's father provided for the family by working as a tailor, but money was always tight in the Katz family. As children Mickey and his siblings contributed to the family's finances by entering amateur musical contests in the neighborhood theaters and bringing the prize money home to their parents. Even after graduating high school Mickey continued to support his family with the money he earned from his music.

Out of high school Katz was hired by Phil Spitalny to go on a road tour. While waiting at the train station to leave, Katz met Grace Epstein, his future wife. He was seventeen and she was fourteen. In 1930, at the age of 20, Katz married Grace Epstein. They had two sons, Joel Grey

Joel Grey

Joel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret. He has won the Academy Award, Tony Award and Golden Globe Award...

 and Ronald. Each of Katz's sons had two children. Joel fathered Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Elise Grey is an American actress. Her first major roles came in the 1984 war film Red Dawn and the 1986 comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1987 she starred as Frances "Baby" Houseman in the hit film Dirty Dancing for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe. In the early 1990s, Grey...

 and Jim Grey, and Ronald fathered Randy Katz and Todd Katz. In 1977 Katz told the story of his life in a biography called Papa Play for Me.

Finding the Clarinet

One evening when Katz was eleven his father took him to a concert at the Talmud Torah

Talmud Torah

Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of public primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures , and the Talmud...

, where Katz heard a clarinet solo. On the way home Katz told his father that he wanted to play the clarinet. However, expecting his father to pay for a clarinet and lessons was out of the question. The next day Katz asked the bandmaster of the local high school for a school clarinet, and within a few days he received an old and dusty clarinet. The next step was to find a way to pay for clarinet lessons. Katz went to his Uncle Sam and offered to clean his tailor shop if he would pay for the lessons. His uncle agreed, and soon Katz was studying under Joseph Narovec. Katz excelled with the clarinet, and he quickly learned to play saxophone, too.

Starting His Career

Fresh out of high school, Katz scored a gig playing clarinet and sax for Phil Spitalny and went on a road tour with his band. After the tour Katz played in Doc Whipple's big band at the Golden Pheasant Chinese Restaurant for about a year, at which point he left and joined Angelo Vitale's band at the Park Theater. Deciding to try his luck in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Katz left Cleveland in 1929. Initially Katz had a hard time finding work, and he bopped around from one small, unsuccessful job to the next. Finally Katz ran into Ed Fishman, a man he knew from Cleveland, who helped him find a job playing in Howard Phillip's orchestra at the Manger Hotel. After he married in 1930, though, this job disappeared, and he was forced to live with Grace in her uncle's home.

Katz was soon saved from this situation when he received a phone call from Jack Spector, a friend back in Cleveland. A spot for a clarinet and sax player had recently opened up in Maurice Spitalny's band at the Loew's State Theater, and Spector had recommended Katz. Katz moved Grace back to Cleveland and played with Spitalny until the leader left Loew's Theater in 1932. Katz continued to play at the Loew's Theater for another year, then rejoined Spitalny at the RKO Palace Theater and played there until the Musicians Union in Cleveland went on strike in 1935. Unfortunately for Katz, the union lost the strike since movie theaters were becoming more common and theaters did not need musicians any more. Once again Katz needed to find a job.

Katz soon found work playing for vacationers as they sailed around Lake Erie on the excursion boat Goodtime. This gig lasted every summer from 1935 to 1939. During the off season Katz found what work he could playing at various one-night gigs. When the Goodtime went out of business in 1939 Katz moved on to take a position as bandleader and MC at the Ohio Villa gambling palace.

Katz goes to war

In 1942 Katz was hired as bandleader at the Alpine Village theater-restaurant in Cleveland. He was subsequently drafted, but received a 4-F classification on the Selective Service System

Selective Service System

The Selective Service System is a means by which the United States government maintains information on those potentially subject to military conscription. Most male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of...

 and was released from military duty after his preliminary physical was completed. Katz found other ways to help, though. Back at the Alpine Village he began to sell war bonds after the shows, bringing in US$25,000 to $30,000 a week for the U.S. government. He also played for servicemen at the USO canteen at Cleveland's St. John's Cathedral. Then, in 1945, Katz took his six-man comedy and band group (Mickey Katz and His Krazy Kittens) on a USO tour to Europe with Betty Hutton

Betty Hutton

Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...

. For this trip Katz was made a temporary officer. This is the closest Katz ever came to military service.

Katz Hits His Stride

In 1946 the national jukebox convention was to be held in Cleveland, and Katz was asked to conduct for it. While there, he met Spike Jones, and a week later Jones asked Katz to join him in Hollywood. Katz played with Jones for a year, but he never felt he was paid enough, so he left Jones in 1947.

Katz soon decided to create an English-Yiddish comedy record. Having written the lyrics to Haim afen Range years ago, Katz received approval from RCA

RCA

RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

. He quickly wrote another song for the flip side, Yiddish Square Dance and had his friend Al Sack sketch out the melody for it, as well as create a musical background for Haim afen Range. The original run of 10,000 copies released in New York City sold in three days, and RCA received orders for 25,000 more. Katz then went on to parodize Tico, Tico with Tickle, Tickle, and backed his new record with Chloya, a parody of Chloe. At this point Katz hired a manager in Los Angeles, and in 1947 he performed in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights, a largely Jewish- and Mexican-American neighborhood. In Katz's words, he was a "double-ethnic smash."

Katz Receives Some Opposition

Despite Katz's appeal with particular groups, there were many who did not like his music. Most of these people were affronted by the way he emphasized Jewish differences, convinced that his antics would help perpetuate Jewish stereotypes. In "The Yiddish are coming" Josh Kun sums up the atmosphere of the time with the following: "As historian Howard Sachar has noted, the prevailing attitude after World War II was a fear that anything that promoted a "separate identity as Jews...would somehow lend credence to Hitler's racial theories.""

Although Katz had his fans, not everybody loved him. There were many radio stations that refused to play his records, and several venues feared hiring him. In his biography, Katz recalls asking a radio station manager why he wouldn't play any of Katz's records. Here an excerpt of their exchange:

I asked him why he wouldn't play my records. He said, "Because some of our listeners are offended."

I asked, "Who, besides you?"

He said, "I don't think that's any of your business."

I answered, "I think it is my business because this is how I make a living. You play Italian records, you play Polish records--"

He cut me off. "I will not play any record with Yiddish in it. Yiddish is the language of the ghetto."

"My friend," I said, "Yiddish is the language of our forefathers."

"I do not care to hear it."

"Then why don't you play some of my instrumental records? They're some of the greatest music in the world, played by some of the greatest musicians in the world-Ziggy Elman, Mannie Klein, Nat Farber--"

Again he cut me off mid-sentence. "There will be no Yiddish spoken, or Jewish music played, on this station."

Katz Continues On

Not one to let others get him down, though, Katz continued to create parodies until 1957 and performed through the late 1970s. In 1948 Katz produced the English-Yiddish stage revue Borscht Capades, co-starring with his son Joel Grey. The show did well until it went to Broadway. Right before Borscht Capades opened, an almost identical show, called Bagels and Yocks opened up down the street. In competition with each other for such a small, particular audience, both shows ending up failing.

From 1951 to 1956 Katz operated as a disc jockey for the Los Angeles radio station KABC while going on occasional road tours and playing engagements at the Bandbox nightclub. In 1952 Katz also did some shows for the United Jewish Appeal. In the same year he joined the California Friars Club and proceeded to conduct at their major functions for the next 25 years. In 1953 Katz decided to play Las Vegas, and after a successful start at the Frontier, he returned to Las Vegas for four more years.

In 1955 Katz played a brief engagement at Harrah's, located at Lake Tahoe. The following year he became a Continental Kitten and played in Europe and Australia. In 1958 Katz finally played the Catskills, an area where most of his peers made their start. Unfortunately for Katz, the booking office that hired him was determined to make as much money off of him as possible, and he ended up with a packed schedule, playing "anything north of Atlantic City." In 1961 Katz went on a tour through South Africa, playing in cities that included Cape Town, Johannesburg, Benoni, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, and Muizenberg. Finally, at the end of his career, Katz began playing the Florida condominium circuit, often playing two shows a night.

Katz' Style of Music

Katz was largely a jazz musician. All of his parodies have a distinct klezmer

Klezmer

Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...

 flavor, though, either throughout the entire piece or as a brief "break" in the middle of the song.

Katz's Parodies

Mickey Katz emphasized Jewishness during a time when most people wanted to pretend that Jewish ethnic differences didn't exist. The Holocaust

The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

 left many people afraid of the potential consequences of delineating differences between those who were Jewish and those who were not. Many Jews ended up distancing themselves from things that would designate them as Jewish. Katz, on the other hand, reveled in the unique identity of Jewish Americans. He created parodies with Yiddish lyrics, sang in a Yiddish accent, and included a klezmer

Klezmer

Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...

 "break" halfway through each song. His particular style allowed him to make fun of America's most popular, traditional, and stereotypical songs while at the same time providing an inside joke for his Yiddish-speaking audience. The cleverness of his work lies in his ability to make fun of both sides, Jewish and stereotypical American. The obvious manner in which he enjoyed performing his songs seems to communicate a desire to appreciate differences and laugh at the blatant stereotypes we create about others and ourselves. Whatever his purpose, his parodies paved the way for artists like Allen Sherman and "Weird Al" Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

.

Random Katz Appearances

Katz and his group can be seen in the movie Thoroughly Modern Millie

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Thoroughly Modern Millie is a 1967 American musical film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris focuses on a naive young woman who finds herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on marrying her wealthy boss.The...

 accompanying Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews

Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

 as she sings a Yiddish song at a Jewish wedding.

A number of famous Jewish musicians, including those with their own bands have recorded with him including Manny Klein

Manny Klein

Manny Klein was a jazz trumpeter most associated with swing.He began with Paul Whiteman in 1928 and was active throughout the 1930s playing with several major bands of the era including the Dorseys and Benny Goodman. In 1937, he moved to California and worked with Frank Trumbauer's orchestra...

, Ziggy Elman

Ziggy Elman

Harry Aaron Finkelman , better known by the stage name Ziggy Elman, was an American jazz trumpeter most associated with Benny Goodman, though he also led his own Ziggy Elman and His Orchestra....

 and Si Zentner

Si Zentner

Simon H. "Si" Zentner was an American jazz bandleader.Zentner played piano from age four and picked up trombone a few years later. He attended college for music and had intended to pursue a career in classical music, but became more interested in pop music after recording with Andre Kostelanetz...

.

Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 musician Don Byron

Don Byron

Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....

 recorded a tribute to Mickey Katz in 1993 entitled Don Byron Plays The Music of Mickey Katz.

The 2003 British movie Wondrous Oblivion

Wondrous Oblivion

Wondrous Oblivion is a 2003 British film directed and written by Paul Morrison and produced by Jonny Persey.Set in suburban south London in 1960, several themes run through the film, though the main storyline concerns the friendship between a young boy, David Wiseman who is the son of European...

 featured Katz' "The Barber of Schlemiel" (a parody of The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...

) in a scene where the Jewish main character played the record for his Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n neighbor.

Katz supplied the voice of the character Hop-a-Long Catskill on the Beany and Cecil

Beany and Cecil

Beany and Cecil was an animated cartoon series created by Bob Clampett, who had previously worked for Warner Bros.. As a puppet show entitled Time for Beany, it originally aired in 1949, with the animated series first appearing in Matty's Funday Funnies in 1959, later renamed Matty's Funnies with...

 cartoon series on ABC-TV

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 in 1962. Catskill was a frog, and the role was a parody of the role of Chester on the television series Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

. His primary function, in the few episodes in which he appeared, was to serve bad coffee and provide even worse Yiddish/English puns.

Music

Katz is most well-known for his parodies, but he created more traditional klezmer music as well. His songs have been compiled onto CDs, including Mish Mosh, The Most Mishige, Mickey Katz Greatest Shticks, and Simcha Time: Music for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and Brisses. Katz played with many musicians throughout the years, but he initially performed his parodies with Mannie Klein on trumpet, Sammy Weiss on drums, Benny Gill on violin, Si Zentner on trombone, and Wally Wechsler on piano. Al Sack, the man who created the music for Katz's first two parodies, assembled these players for Katz and then helped him get Nat Farber to arrange the music.

The following are some of Mickey Katz's parodies and the original songs on which he based these parodies.

Mickey Katz Greatest Shticks

1. Duvid Crockett - The Legend of Davy Crockett
2. Knish Doctor - Witch Doctor
3. I'm a Schlemiel of Fortune - Wheel of Fortune
4. Borscht Riders in the Sky - Ghost Riders in the Sky
5. Old Black Smidgick - Old Black Magic
6. She'll Be Coming 'Round the Katzkills - She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain
7. Barber of Schlemiel - Barber of Seville
8. Yiddish Mule Train - Mule Train
9. That Pickle in the Window (How Much Is) - (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?
10. Sixteen Tons - Sixteen Tons
11. It's a Michaye in Hawaiye - Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Ha-Wai)
12. Sound Off - Duckworth Chant
13. Where Is My Pants? - Where is My Heart?
14. Bagel Call Rag - Bugle Call Rag
15. The Poiple Kishke Eater - The Purple People Eater
16. Geshray of DeVilde Kotchke - Cry of the Wild Goose

Translations

Sixteen Tons

Oh, I went to woyk in a delicatessen

Far draysik toler [for $30] and plenty to fresn [gorge]

The balebast [head cook] promised me a real gedila [glory/honor]

Instead of gedila I catched me a kila [hernia]

Sixteen tons all kinds smooked fishes

Latkes, blintzes, un heyse [hot] knishes

O Lordy nem es shnell [take me quickly] to the promised land

A fayer afn bus zol er vein farbrent [a fire on the boss may he get burned up!]

You load sixteen tons of lekakh [cake] un tagl

Herring mislines [fish intestines] stuffed heldzl and beygl

Genig tsu shlepn [enough to shlep] just like a ferd [horse]

Hert zikh tsu tsu mir mentshn [Listen to me people]

Es teyg in dred [It's good for nothing!]

External links