Fran Drescher. Photo: AJN file
LEXI LANDSMAN
FRAN Drescher put the awk in New Yawk. She made big hair and shawt skirts popular, and created a lovable Jewish television character -– The Nanny’s Fran Fine -– whose nasal whine burst through television screens worldwide in the 1990s.
With one of the most famous authentic voices in Hollywood – “cause who could make this accent up?” -– Drescher is a fawce to be reckoned with.
She’s got a vivacious personality to match her voluminous hair, an enviable shoe collection (she bought 20 pairs of Uboot Ugg boots while Down Under this month) and a dog she calls Queen Esther.
She’s multitalented -– an award-winning television actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer -– and she’s also the founder of the Cancer Schmancer Foundation.
When I list these glowing attributes, I almost expect to hear her respond with something Fran Fine would say, like: “Oh stop … wait … go on – hahaha!”
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Kristallnacht
AJN STAFF
IN late 1938 an elderly Aboriginal man named William Cooper delivered a letter of protest to the German consulate in Melbourne over the persecution of the Jews on Kristallnacht.
He was one of very few voices of protest -– nationally and internationally – against the rise of Nazism.
A documentary program about William Cooper (1861–1941) and his passionate advocacy for human rights titled One Blood will be broadcast during ABC Radio National’s Awaye! program on December 5 at 6pm.
Freelance producer Jessica Noske-Turner has produced the documentary after being inspired by the spirit and humanity of Cooper, who lived at Cummeragunga, the former Aboriginal mission station on the Murray River in Victoria.
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Don Lane with fans at Sydney’s Berger Centre. Photo: AJN file
AJN STAFF
AROUND 800 fans packed into the South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club today to take part in a public memorial for entertainer Don Lane who died last month of a dementia-related illness, aged 75.
On stage at the League Club, linked to Lane’s beloved Rabbitohs, the star-studded tribute was led by his son PJ, and featured reminiscences from Lane’s A-list friends, including Bert Newton, Rhonda Burchmore, Helen Reddy, Toni Lamond, Tony Pantano and Mike McColl Jones.
Fans had begun gathering at the venue from 6.45am and were admitted free, but were asked to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association of NSW.
Lane’s former wife Jayne Ambrose thanked his supporters for attending and distributed copies of his autobiography.
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AJN STAFF
JEWISH entertainer and Australian TV icon Don Lane has died after a long battle with illness. He was 75.
Diagnosed with dementia in 2005, Lane had been living in a Sydney nursing home up before his death on Thursday.
Lane was best known for his long-running variety show The Don Lane Show, which ran for 13 years between 1970 and 1983 and netted the performer 10 Logie awards. He attracted some of the biggest stars of the time, including David Bowie, Sammy Davis Junior and comic pioneer Phyllis Diller.
After being discovered by Nine Network producer John Collins at the Copacabana Nightclub in Hawaii where he was a performer and singer, Lane went on to work alongside Australian comedy royalty in Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton.
Lane met Newton for the first time on the first episode of The Don Lane Show and the pair became great friends and one of the best-loved double acts in Australian TV history.
Born in New York in 1933, Lane became a nightclub performer in the 1950s and appeared briefly on the Ed Sullivan Show. He was drafted to the US army, where he did two tours entertaining troops. Read the full story
Comedian John Safran
Comedian John Safran’s new series, Race Relations, screens on the ABC-TV on Wednesday, October 21 at 9.30pm. What do you think of the show? Send us your comments.
INTERVIEW BY ADAM KAMIEN
The Australian Family Association has described your new show John Safran’s Race Relations as the lowest point in the history of Australian television. Do you court controversy?
The thing that’s funny to me about the Family Association and the Herald Sun getting angry is that with my work – not just this series – I’m not even talking to them. My style is I’ve got this audience and I try to wind that audience up. It’s not like Michael Moore who has his audience and then tries to rile up the enemies of his audience. I just want to say to the Herald Sun and the Family Association “seriously, I’m so not trying to annoy you”, but it’s like I’ve inadvertently annoyed them or something.
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John Safran … new TV series.
ADAM KAMIEN
COMEDIAN John Safran’s new show has caused a public outcry, even though its debut on ABC TV is still days away.
The Australian Family Association last week hit out at the show, John Safran’s Race Relations, describing it as “filth”.
In episode one of the series, in which Safran explores interracial attraction, the former Yeshivah College student donates sperm at a Palestinian sperm bank while looking at a picture of US President Barack Obama.
He also steals women’s underwear to perform “sniff tests”. In a later episode, Safran is crucified as part of a religious ritual in the Philippines.
But the scene that will likely generate the most controversy in the Jewish community involves Safran going to his mother’s grave, with a shovel and a Kabbalah prayer book to discover what she thinks of him marrying a non-Jew.
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WASHINGTON — Actor Sacha Baron Cohen will guest star as an Israeli tour guide on an episode of The Simpsons.
Cohen, famed for his Borat and Bruno characters, will provide the voice for an angry but funny guide who meets the Simpsons clan on a church-led trip to the Holy Land, according to the Hollywood Insider.
The episode is titled “The Greatest Story Ever D’ohed” and is scheduled to screen on Palm Sunday in the US (March 28).
“It’ll be a show that all faiths can come together and be offended by,” joked Simpsons executive producer Al Jean.
JTA
