The Great Jewish Entertainers: "Let's Make a Deal" Host Monty Hall Reflects on Yiddish in Hollywood

Our series on The Great Jewish Comedians has blossomed into a lecture that's now one of the most popular on our lecture circuit. We're adding new comedians to it and it's scheduled to become a 90 minute program at Florida Atlantic University in March 2019.

Meanwhile we're working on a new series called The Great Jewish Entertainers, going beyond comedy to all forms of entertainment. Today we're profiling Monte Halparin, who you might recognize as Monty Hall, host of the 1970s TV game show Let's Make a Deal.

Hall, who was born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1921 to Orthodox Jewish parents, celebrated his 96th birthday last week. In 2014 he was interviewed as part of the Wexler Oral History Project at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. 

In the interview, he speaks about his surprise and joy at finding fluent Yiddish speakers in Hollywood, including the great Danny Kaye and non-Jewish stars like James Cagney and Burt Lancaster.

Here's the interview, followed by a Throwback Thursday bonus -- a short clip from Let's Make a Deal that's more than 40 years old.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.





#Throwback Thursday   #TBT