MRS. WASHINGTON AND HOROWITZ, TOO

A heartwarmer on the way to heartburn—in a sucrose sequel to Denker's Horowitz and Mrs. Washington (1979) that has that tower of selfless dedication, black Mrs. W., leading that adorable, grouchy Jewish guy out of depression and into love. Samuel Horowitz, retired from his Manhattan paper-and-twine business and widowed for six years, is in a funk: he's not needed anymore in the firm, his old buddies are gone, and these days his only pleasure in life comes in the outings with Mrs. Washington— the top-sergeant therapist who restored him after his stroke. Reading Horowitz's depression, Mrs. W. steers him gently into volunteering at a local hospital where alcohol- and drug-addicted newborns need special care in holding and feeding. After a false start—when Horowitz angrily argues with little Molly Mendelsohn (she's his age—and the plot is on autopilot from here on) about baby-wrapping techniques—he'll become so involved that, illegally, he traces a mite to its home to check on its care. This causes dismissal, but it's Molly Mendelsohn who organizes a volunteer protest. It all ends with combined love, love, love—friends and Molly and Samuel's kids are finally unified—that's as big as a moon over Manhattan. Nice-as-pie billboard characters (except for some professor types urging bilingual education, which gives Sam/Denker a chance to shoot from the hip), streams of sentiment, and—though the volunteer work with newborns is an interesting, valuable subject- -overladen with a sticky sweetness that would drive Miss Daisy crazy.