I Should Have Spoken Up
By Michael Kaufman
Last weekend my daughter Gahlia and I went to an audition at the Newburgh Actors Studio. The waiting room was full of people of all ages, each hoping to land a spot as an extra in a movie being filmed in the area. Gahlia recognized an older woman who had appeared in a community theater production of Mame at her high school, The Storm King School in Cornwall. Then Gahlia made a big mistake.
She said hello.
The woman took Gahlia’s greeting as an opportunity to engage in a loud, flamboyant, and boastful rant that began with her family ties to Storm King (she said her family founded the place) and ended with a disgusting anti-Semitic joke. In between she offered views on everything from “women’s lib” to affirmative action. “I was against women’s lib,” she announced. “Equal pay for equal work is fine but I don’t want some four-foot little girl coming to my house to rescue me from a fire.” Neither did she want any non-white firefighters who only got into the fire department because the entrance exam had been “dumbed down.” Several people murmured their agreement.
And then she told of a recent encounter with a Hasidic Jew who she said was soliciting funds “for some charity of theirs.” She said the man was wearing a big diamond ring so he was “obviously not in any need of funds.” She said she told the man she would not give him a penny, after which he invoked the Holocaust in an attempt to enlist her sympathy. But she wasn’t buying it.
“Can you imagine? I mean, it’s been 60 years….Get over it already!”
My brain was still reeling from this remark when she said the man told her, “You WASPs don’t understand….” At this point I decided she was making the story up, which is most likely the case as it was the perfect setup for the nasty little joke that followed.
“I told him, ‘What do you mean I don’t understand. My uncle died at Auschwitz.’”
“Your uncle was Jewish?”
“No! He fell out of a guard tower.” That got a few laughs, although the main reaction was uncomfortable silence, including my own.
I had wanted to object to her comments several times during her spiel but I kept quiet because I didn’t want to make a scene that might jeopardize Gahlia’s and my chances of getting parts in the movie. In hindsight I was wrong. I should have told her that her joke wasn’t funny. I should have asked her how she would feel if half the world population of WASPs had been placed in concentration camps, beaten, starved, worked or gassed to death, maybe people in her own family…. and some ignorant blowhard said to her, “It’s been 60 years….Get over it already!” I’m sorry I didn’t.
The good news is that Gahlia and I both made the cut and may end up being seen, albeit for just a few seconds, in Return, starring Linda Cardellini, Michael Shannon and Tim Blake Nelson. Cardellini plays a woman who returns home from war to her husband (portrayed by Shannon) and kids in a small town and struggles to readjust. Nelson plays an older war vet who befriends her. The movie is written and directed by Liza Johnson, a former fellow at the Sundance Institute. Meredith Vieira, television reporter and host, is executive producer.
The audition was my first visit to the Newburgh Actors Studio (“A Little Taste of Manhattan in the Hudson Valley”), which presents live theater offerings at 784 Broadway, Newburgh. The place is indeed reminiscent of the Manhattan theater scene and is well worth a visit. The current offering is I’m Not Rappaport by Herb Gardiner. At this writing remaining performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, October 8 – 9 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 10 at 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 ($18 for students and seniors). For information or reservations, call 845-569-8593.
Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.
Tags: Michael Kaufman
October 7th, 2010 at 8:16 am
You were a coward and set a very bad example for your daughter. And your article is a pathetic plug for your own ego. Shameful! Since you aspire to be an actor, you should have made a SCENE. A BIG ONE. How did you explain all this to your daughter?
October 7th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Yes, you should have spoken up. As a young child, I visited Poland in 1937 with my mother. Dad could not come because he had to make a living. We went to see his family. we spent over a month with his brother, 2 sisters and their husbands and his mother ( my grandma). After spending the summer with them, we returned to the U.S.
We NEVER saw them again. They disappeared from the face of the earth. Victims of the Nazi monster. I still have a picture of them that sits on my bedroom dresser. Let us hope and pray that another holocaust does not ever strike us again.
October 7th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
To Jo Galante Cicale: I apologized to my daughter for setting a bad example. We had a good talk about it later. I did not mean for the post to be a plug for my ego. I’m sorry you saw it as such…and a pathetic one at that. I hope it will encourage others to speak up if they find themselves in similar circumstances… and that I will as well.
To David Diness: Thank you for sharing the painful memory of your family’s loss. Yes, I should have spoken up and yes, let us hope and pray that another holocaust does not strike us or any human beings ever again.