FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS

by Dore Schary ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Dore Schary, the famous Hollywood producer and Broadway playwright, now tells all vis a vis Jewish immigrant life in Newark as it was experienced by him and members of his family just prior to and during World War II. Thus For Special Occasions is funny and folksy, like Harry Golden and Gertrute Berg, full of graduation-book sentiments (""It's better in life if first you say Oi then afterwards you learn to say Ah""), and the bustle and bathos of memory lane chronicles (Chicken Every Sunday, etc.). There's a success story (papa running away from old Russia, setting up a kosher catering in the new country, launching into real estate); a sob story (sister Fran dying of cancer); nostalgic niceties (sister Lil belting out Over There; Liberty Bonds, Rosh Hashanah, Spanish Flu), tempestuous or tender ""characters"" (Rabbi Brown with his Harvard accent and ""bombshell"" talk of Christ; mama with her good sense, good cheer and strudels), finally many, many how-stories (how young Dore learned to swim, to find God again, not be a shrimp). In short, a sunny and sincere, totally synthetic potpourri, full of the tears, laughter and fanciful innocence of yesteryear, bound to please the popular palate.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION