Monday, July 10, 2006

O.J. SIMPSON, NOT A JEW: Forget for one moment the ridiculous premise of this Salon essay, which argues that from the late '60s through the late '70s there were many "cool" Jewish celebrities, whereas now there are none (some examples of cool Jews include Randy Newman, Spock, and Sammy Davis Jr., three people I might now think are cool, but never used the term to describe back on the playground). How does one write about "cool" Jews of the '70s without mentioning the very person who made the term "cool," well, "cool"? To quote someone the author deems uncool, the great chronicler of famous Jews himself, Adam Sandler: "Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli/ Bowser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzerelli." Yes, you're entire premise is celebrity Jews were cooler in the 70s and you fail to mention Henry Winkler.

Even if you agree with the author's premise that we live in an age of no cool Jews, hope in on the horizon in the form of Shia LaBeouf, Liev Schreiber, and Adrien Brody, who Salon deems are part of a list of personalities who could usher in the rebirth of Jewish cool.

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