Mickey Katz (June 15, 1909 – April 30, 1985) was an American comedian and musician who specialized in Jewish humour. He was the father of actor Joel Grey and grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey.
Katz was born Meyer Myron Katz on Sawtell Court in
Cleveland, Ohio, to a Jewish family. One of five children, Mickey and his
siblings contributed to the family finances by entering amateur musical
contests in the neighbourhood theatres and bringing the prize money home to
their parents. Even after graduating from high school, Mickey continued to
support his family with the money he earned from his music.
He began clarinet lessons at the age of 11, within two
months he started playing amateur nights. Shortly after high school, he worked
with a band in a local restaurant. He then toured with band leader Phil
Spitalny, playing clarinet and saxophone..While waiting at the train station to
leave on the tour, Katz met Grace Epstein, his future wife. He was seventeen
and she was fourteen. He married her three years later, in 1930.
He worked for Phil's brother Maurice in the early 1930s as a
pit musician at the State and Palace Theatres. In the summer he led his own
orchestra on the Goodtime entertaining passengers on Lake Erie excursions. He
later organized a novelty band "Mickey Katz and his Kittens."
Spike Jones, Kaye Ballard & Mickey Katz |
Katz eventually mentioned to Jones' RCA producers that he
had been working on his own parody tunes, combining popular tunes with Yiddish
lyrics and instrumentation. RCA decided to record Katz and released his first
single, "Haim Afn Range" backed with "Yiddish Square
Dance." It proved a surprise hit, selling over 30,000 copies in one month.
Mickey assembled a a band of his own, comprised of musicians
of the traditional European Jewish ' klezmer' style, including trumpet player,
Ziggy Elman, trumpeter Mannie Klein, trombonist Si Zentner; pianist-arranger
Nat Farber and drummer Sammy Weiss, and dubbed them the Kosher Jammers. The popularity of his RCA singles led Katz to organize a
road show, which he called "The Borscht Capades." Among the cast was
Katz' own son, who later became famous as Joel Grey. Ironically, one place the
show never appeared was the Borscht Belt itself.
Katz switched to Capitol Records in the early 1950s, and
remained with the label until he retired in the late 1960s. Most of his
material remained the same throughout his albums--Yiddish interpretations of
American tunes, rendered in Katz' heavily-inflected comic Jewish accent
("ecch-sent"). But he did play it straight for the album, Mickey Katz
Plays Music for Weddings, paying homage to the klezmer music he heard as a
child. He also recorded one straight comedy album, Mickey Katz at the U.N., and
The Katz Pajamas, a collection of fairy tales..
Katz sang primarily in pidgin Yiddish, and is largely
recognized as one of the fathers of American song parody paving the way for men
like Allan Sherman and Weird Al Yankovic. Like any good comedian, Katz made
some people uncomfortable, he was thought too ethnic by some of his generation,
and too much of a comedian by musical purists. Although Katz had his fans, not
everybody loved him. There were many radio stations that refused to play his
records, and several venues feared hiring him.
He starred in the Broadway shows "Hello, Solly!"
and "Borscht Capades" which he wrote to explain old Jewish theatre to
a modern audience. He styled it as a Catskill-type revue and introduced his
teenage son, Joel, who would later make his own mark on Broadway as Joel Grey.
With the Spike Jones' City Slickers, he appeared in the 1947 film "Ladies
Man". Katz and the Kosher Jammers appeared in the film "Thoroughly
Modern Millie" in 1967.
Through the 1970s, Katz continued to perform in the theatre
and on records. He published an autobiography, Papa Play for Me in 1977. He
died of kidney failure April 30, 1985, in Los Angeles, California at the age of
75
(Edited from Wikipedia. IMDb, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
and Spaceage Pop )
For “Mickey Katz & His Orchestra – Strictly Kosher
ReplyDelete– The Singles Collection 1950-1962” go here:
https://www.upload.ee/files/10099104/Mickey_Katz-Singles1950-1962.rar.html
Disc 1
1. THE WEDDING SAMBA
2. MUSIC! MUSIC! MUSIC!
3. THERE'S A HOLE IN THE IRON CURTAIN
4. THE BARBER OF SCHLEMIEL
5. HAPPY PAY-OFF DAY (Happy Pay Day)
6. YIDDISH MULE TRAIN
7. THE BABY, THE BUBBE AND YOU (Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo)
8. TIGER RAG (Instrumental)
9. DOODLE-DOODLE-DOO
10. GESHRAY DE VILDE KOCHKE (The Cry Of The Wild Goose)
11. BAGEL CALL RAG (Bugle Call Rag)
12. SHE'LL BE COMING ROUND THE CATSKILLS (She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain)
13. BORSCHT RIDERS IN THE SKY (Ghost Riders In The Sky)
14. COME ON-A MY HOUSE
15. SOUND OFF
16. NATURE BOCHER (Nature Boy)
17. SIN (It's No Sin)
18. HERRING BOATS (Shrimp Boats)
19. THE LITTLE WHITE KNISH THAT CRIED (The Little White Cloud That Cried)
20. I'M A SCHLEMIEL OF FORTUNE (Wheel Of Fortune)
21. KISS OF MEYER (Kiss Of Fire)
22. SCHVITZBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
23. A SCHMO IS A SCHMO (A Guy Is A Guy)
24. DOWNTOWN STRUTTERS BALL (Darktown Strutters Ball)
25. SHLEPPIN' MY BABY BACK HOME (Walkin' My Baby Back Home)
26. PATCHA-ME (Botch-A-Me)
27. FEET UP, PAT HIM ON THE PIPICK (Feet Up, Pat Him On The Po-Po)
28. YOU BELONG TO ME?
Disc 2
1. DON'T LET THE SCHMALTZ GET IN YOUR EYES (Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes)
2. WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME
3. THAT PICKLE IN THE WINDOW (How Much Is That Doggie In The Window)
4. WILD CORSETS (Wild Horses)
5. HAIM AFEN RANGE (Home On The Range)
6. TICKLE KITZEL (Tico Tico)
7. THAT'S MORRIS (That's Amore)
8. CES-TZI-BON (C'est Si Bon)
9. PAISACH IN PORTUGAL (April In Portugal)
10. THE FAMILY DANCED
11. HERMENDEL'S KOCH-A-LEIN (Hernando's Hideaway)
12. KENEH HORA
13. YIDDISHE MAMBO
14. DUVID CROCKETT (The Ballad Of Davy Crockett)
15. TWEEDLEE-DEE
16. ROISELLE FROM TEXAS (The Yellow Rose Of Texas)
17. SWEET AND GENTLE
18. SIXTEEN TONS
19. FRAILACH JAMBOREE
20. HEY! JEALOUS LOVER
21. THE LITVAK SQUARE DANCE (Instrumental)
22. YOU'RE A DOITY DOG (Hound Dog)
23. K'NOCK AROUND THE CLOCK (We're Gonna Rock Around The Clock)
24. NUDNIK, THE FLYING SCHISSEL
25. THE POIPLE KISHKE EATER (The Purple People Eater)
26. KNISH DOCTOR (Witch Doctor)
27. WHERE IS MY PANTS? (Where Is Your Heart?)
28. THE CHALLE TWIST
Mickey Katz has been poorly represented on CD for far too long, but this Jasmine double is most comprehensive Katz anthology anyone could wish for. The interest in the indigenous Jewish music known as Klezmer continues to grow, with new bands springing up all the time and festivals all over the world that attract young and old fans alike.Most Klezmer fans of today - both the young ones and the old ones - willingly acknowledge Mickey Katz as a foundation musician who did so much to take the music beyond its natural audience.
All of Mickey's lampoons of classic 1950s pop hits are included in 'Strictly Kosher', as well as a number of traditional-style instrumentals featuring the fine 'Jewish Jazz' musicians who made up Mickey's band, the Kosher-Jammers. Guaranteed to also appeal to fans of celebrated musical satirists such as Spike Jones - of whose City Slickers band Mickey was previously a member - Katz' fellow Jones alumnus Red Ingle, and the King Of International Lampoon Stan Freberg.
Beautifully remastered from the best available sources, and featuring as much music as could fit onto two CDs. (Jasmine notes)
A big thank you to Mijas @ ACM2 blog for original post.