August 24, 1988: The film Crossing Delancey premieres, based on the 1985 play by Susan Posner. It was directed by Joan Micklin Silver, who had previously directed a film titled Hester Street. Hester Street and Delancey Street are both on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the classic Jewish neighborhood of New York City.
It stars Amy Irving -- daughter of actress Priscilla Pointer and director Jules Irving -- as Isabel "Izzy" Grossman, whose apartment and place of employment, a bookstore, are both on the Upper West Side. I was working at a movie theater at the time, and the Jewish 1/4 of me fell for her hard. The other 3/4 of me only liked her as a friend, but still asked the question, "Steven Spielberg, how could you let a woman like this go?" (They were in the process of divorcing when the film was released.)
It also stars Peter Riegert as the guy Izzy should have, Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe as the guy she wants but shouldn't have, Sylvia Miles as the woman who tries to set her up with Riegert, Suzzy Roche (of the singing sisters The Roches, who provide the music for the film) as Izzy's best friend Marilyn, and Reizl Bozyk as Ida Kantor, Izzy's grandmother or "Bubbie."
Bozyk first acted in Yiddish theater in her native Poland at age 6 -- in 1920. She and her actor husband, Max Bozyk, were on tour in Argentina in 1939 when the Nazis invaded. Their son was left behind, and he was killed in World War II. They came to America in 1941, and for 30 years, she starred in the New York Yiddish theater on lower 2nd Avenue and in the Catskill Mountains' "Borscht Belt."
At age 74, Crossing Delancey was her first movie, and her first English role. Her second English role, and her first TV episode, was an episode of Law and Order. It was her last. She died in 1993, leaving behind a daughter, 4 grandchildren and a great-grandson. “Reizl” is the Yiddish form of “Rose." I have often joked that everybody in New York City, or with roots there, regardless of ethnicity, has, or had, an Aunt Rose -- myself included.
Bubbie's Old World/Lower East Side sphere and Izzy's New World/Upper West Side sphere make for a startling contrast, showing the progress of Jewish New Yorkers in just 2 generations -- and, as Bubbie points out, not completely for the better. For weeks after the film opened, there were still middle-aged and elderly Jewish people coming into the theater where I worked, laughing at what had become, by the Eighties, inside jokes. (There has got to be a Yiddish word that means "inside joke" but sounds funnier.)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was playing in the theater at the same time. While Kathleen Turner played the speaking voice of "toon" nightclub singer Jessica Rabbit, Amy Irving provided the singing voice.
In 2001, "Crossing Jordan" premiered on NBC, starring Jill Hennessey, to whom I also seriously attracted, as a very different kind of urban Northeasterner. But, in spite of the fact that her character's name was said about 20 times an episode -- although her father, played by Ken "White Shadow" Howard, pronounced it "JAH-din" in a Boston accent -- every time I tried to say the name of the show, it came out "Crossing Delancey."
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August 24, 1988 was a Wednesday. Actor Rupert Grint, known for playing Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, was born on this day.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at Yankee Stadium. John Candelaria had to leave the game with an injury in the 2nd inning. Scott Nielsen pitched most of the rest of the way. Dave Stewart started for the A's. The Yankees scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win it, including a home run by Ken Phelps. Yes, Seinfeld fans, that Ken Phelps. The winning run was Luis Aguayo, singled home by Rickey Henderson. So it was Cecilio Guante, who got the last out in the top of the 9th, who ended up as the winning pitcher, and former Yankee Gene Nelson as the losing pitcher.
* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium. Bob Ojeda started for the Mets, but they needed 2 runs in the top of the 8th to beat Orel Hershiser, and make a winning pitcher of Terry Leach. That season, the Mets went 11-1 against the Dodgers. Nevertheless, the Dodgers went on to beat the Mets in the National League Championship Series.
Candelaria was 13-7 at the time, and missed the rest of the season. The Yankees were then 4 games out of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division. They went 2-4 in his spot in the rotation the rest of the way, and finished 3 1/2 back, so his injury didn't make enough of a difference.
* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Mike Witt outpitched Roger Clemens. For all his achievements, Clemens never pitched a no-hitter. Witt did, 4 years before this, and it was a perfect game.
* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Seattle Mariners at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, with both games ending by a score of 4-3. Both games were also walkoff wins for the O's: Larry Sheets won the opener with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th, while Joe Orsulak won the nightcap with a sacrifice fly to score Ken Gerhart in the bottom of the 12th. Over the 2 games, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken each went 3-for-8 with an RBI. Murray also had a home run (which is how he got the RBI) and a walk.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-4 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Nolan Ryan and Greg Maddux started, but neither figured in the decision. Rafael Palmeiro led off the bottom of the 9th with a double, and was singled home with the winning run by Vance Law.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-2 with 2 walks, and Paul Molitor went 3-for-4 with a walk.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. George Brett went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk. Mike Schmidt did not play.
* And the Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
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