Long-lost play resurrected for Jewish arts festival

By: PATRICIA MORRIS BUCKLEY - For the North County Times | Wednesday, May 26, 2004 1:14 PM PDT ∞

Sometimes, the story behind a play is almost more exciting than the drama onstage. That's the case of "Mendel, Inc.," a play that will get its first reading in 68 years next week at North Coast Repertory Theatre as part of the Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Performing Arts Festival.

"The story behind this is really extraordinary," said Todd Salovey, who directs both the festival and the reading June 2. "I'm amazed just telling you."

At last year's festival, after a reading of a play by Yale Strom, someone introduced Salovey to Noel Freedman. It turned out that Freedman's father, David Freedman, had been a major comedy writer in the '30s. He wrote for Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice and Florenz Ziegfield and at one time had three shows running concurrently on Broadway.

"But now, he's completely forgotten," said Salovey. "His play, 'Mendel, Inc.,' was, at that time, the longest-running show on Broadway. Yet his work is completely unproduced now."

The reason for this obscurity is the playwright's early death. Freedman had taken Cantor to court for not paying for the material Freedman had written. While on the witness stand, Freedman had a massive heart attack. He died later that night, leaving behind a wife, four young children (Noel, the second child, was 14 at the time) and a huge gambling debt.

Today, the 82-year-old Noel Freedman is the endowed chair of Judaic Studies at UC San Diego in La Jolla. He keeps several of his father's books in print and has dreamed of a production of his father's play, including one that he and his brother completed after his father's death.

"My father died just as his career was beginning to flourish," said Freedman. "They're saying that if we can get enough of an audience and the play is sufficiently entertaining, they might be able to put on a complete production."

According to Salovey, that's a real possibility. He sees the play as a major work in theater that's been uncovered.

"This is classic vaudeville," he said. "It's filled with the same schtick we would see later in 'I Love Lucy' and 'The Honeymooners.'"

The story follows a bumbling inventor who lives with his long-suffering wife and their children on New York City's Lower East Side in 1929. Then he invents a gadget that cleans the house and it works.

"It's filled with interesting issues in a funny play," said Salovey. "I actually think that it could be a hit show at the theater. This is a playwright at the top of his craft. It doesn't have the refinement of a Kaufman and Hart, but I don't think people have seen anything like it."

Best of all, the story about this play's re-emergence has a happy ending.

"It's wonderful for Noel, a man in his 80s, to see his father's work staged," said Salovey. "That's really something."

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Starring in the production as the lead character, Mendel, is David Ellenstein, artistic director of North Coast Repertory Theatre. Playing his wife is Del Mar-based theater critic Pat Launer. Also featured in the reading are Debbi Davis, Peter Van Norden, Bernard Baldan, Barbara Cole, Steve Lipinsky, Ari Lerver and Dimiter Maranov.

The reading is one of eight events in the 11th annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Performing Arts Festival, which is produced by San Diego Repertory Theatre. The festival opened with a program of cantorial songs on May 9 and continues through June 16. Other festival events include:

* Teatro Punto Y Coma presents: "The Confession" ---- This world premiere play with music by Robert Moutal, performed in English by San Diego's only Latino Jewish theater company, is a zany comedy about a man with a big secret; 9 p.m. June 5; 2 p.m. June 6; 8 p.m. June 8 and 9; Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego; $20.

* "Celebration Learning! Then, Now and Always." San Diego Agency for Jewish Education presents this gourmet reception featuring a Kosher menu served in a Del Mar home where Jewish artists and musicians will entertain in every room; 5:30 p.m. June 6; call for directions and tickets; (858) 268-9200.

* "Sephardic Soul of Flamenco." Spanish guitar virtuoso Adam Del Monte and his flamenco dancer wife, Lila, trace the Jewish heritage of traditional flamenco music; 7 p.m. June 7; North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach; $18.

* "Israel in Music and Song." The Shining Stars of Mexico City and Elay Shir perform "Songs of a People," a music and theater performance that spans the history of the state of Israel through its music; 7 p.m. June 13; Lyceum Theatre; $20.

* "Klezmer Summit." Alexander Gourevitch and the Freilechs, Yale Strom with Three Fiddlers, Daniel Hoffman and Myla Wingard, and the Shining Stars of Mexico City perform popular Yiddish songs; 7 p.m. June 14; Lyceum Theatre; $20.

* "Klezmer on Fish Street." A screening of Yale Strom's award-winning new film about a young American klezmer band that travels to Poland and discovers the country's current revival of interest in Jewish music and culture; 7 p.m. June 16; Lyceum Theatre; $10.

For information on any of these events, call (619) 544-1000.

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