The ‘revenge of the fired’ could fill a book—and does

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on September 14, 2006

Annabelle Gurwitch and her book, "Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed," which includes the pink-slipped memories of folks like Robert Reich, Felicity Huffman and Bill Maher.

A Man for All Seasonings

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on June 1, 2006

Like many baby-boomers today, I sometimes feel older than Keith Richards up a palm tree. So when Irv and Eddie, my better elders, invite me to go out with them, I tag along, if only to combat creepy self-pity.

A Man Walks Into a Hospital and . . .

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on October 28, 2004

Irving Brecher, 91-year-old wannabe-stand-up comic, is nervous. The Doctors Emeritus Society of Cedars-Sinai is at the buffet in the Harvey Morse room, a conference hall where the old practitioners gather every month to hear specialists on subjects like pain control. Sometimes a marine biologist will discuss Darwin.

Schizophrenia With a Dash of Schmaltz

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on October 16, 2003

When Iris Rainer Dart's cousin was diagnosed with schizophrenia decades ago, the illness sent shockwaves through her Jewish family. "They were from the shtetl and superstitious," said Dart, 59, the best-selling author of 1985's "Beaches." "They thought that the illness was a curse, that the parents must have done something wrong and that it was perhaps contagious."

Dart's cousin was spoken of in hushed tones and kept behind closed doors, a fate that haunted the author.

Lunch at Langer’s With Eddie and Irv

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on July 31, 2003

e Fridays, if I'm lucky, I get to eat pastrami with Irv and Eddie at Langer's, the great old delicatessen on Seventh and Alvarado streets across from MacArthur Park. Irv and Eddie are in their 80s, so the fight over the check begins before they even order anything.

No Buddy Quite Like Him

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on July 24, 2003

The "Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor" includes 14 pages of jokes on death, so when Buddy Hackett passed away in Malibu at 78 on June 30, the chapel at Hillside Memorial Park was packed with every comedy icon that hadn't booked an out-of-town Fourth of July gig.

Golden-Aged Tell-All

By Hank Rosenfeld
Published on March 1, 2001

The scene: Avenue of the Stars, Century City.

The characters: A few older men in a Park Hyatt suite.

The action: They kibbitz

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is here from Atlanta to interview Golden Age Hollywood figures for an oral history, the Turner Classic Movies Archive Project. TCM's goal is to get all available witnesses to tell their cinematic stories. The project is modeled after the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.