By Mark D. Zimmerman
MELVILLE, New York — The great Gene Wilder, star of such wonderful movies as Blazing Saddles, The Producers, The Frisco Kid, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and Young Frankenstein, passed away last week. How did Wilder describe the role of Judaism in his life?
A. I’m not at all religious, although I am certainly Jewish–which, to me, means that my mother showed up at my Hebrew school in the afternoon and brought me a piece of kugel or a bialy so I wouldn’t starve before dinner.
B. I’m not at all religious, although I am certainly Jewish–which, to me, means that my parents stopped talking to me when I married my first wife, who wasn’t Jewish, and continued not to talk to me when I married my second wife, who also wasn’t Jewish (though they did speak to my wives.) Only when I married my third wife, Gilda, who of course was Jewish, did my parents finally start speaking to me again.
C. Of course, The Producers was brilliantly written by Mel Brooks. But I did contribute a few lines, including when my character, Leo Bloom, said: “I’m hysterical! I’m having hysterics. I’m hysterical. I can’t stop when I get like this. I can’t stop. I’m hysterical. Oh my god. Ah-la-la-la.” That basically summed up my world view on being Jewish.
D. I’m not at all religious, although I am certainly Jewish–which, to me, means that my father, who came from a shtetl in Poland would sing niggunim on Friday night. So my Judaism was just a feeling I got from that music. I can still hear him now. “Ay, di di di die die die.” “Bum diddy dum dum bim bum bum bum.” “Oy yoy, oy. Yoy diddly doy.” “Oompa loompa doom-pa-dee doo.”
E. I’m not at all religious, although I am certainly Jewish–which, to me, means that my parents hugged and kissed me a lot as I was growing up.
Link to answer: http://rrrjewishtrivia.com/answers/gene-wilder-zl-answer.html.
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Zimmerman is the author of the Rashi, Rambam and Ramalamadingdong series of Jewish trivia e-books. Learn more at http://www.rrrjewishtrivia.com . Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)