Thank you Neil and Josh for your reminiscences. Yes, they were characteristic Art. He mentioned having some incredibly talented young people working for him at B’nai B’rith, with far more talent than the paltry pay would suggest. (He had some heated behind-the-scenes arguments trying to fix that, with very mixed results.)
I recall one story where he received a direct mail letter addressed to Mr. B. Nay Brith, from some right-wing Christian organization. The letter went on to warn about the secular threats to the Brith family. Of all the stuff that went wayward over the years, that’s among the ones I regret misplacing.
Art still had it almost to the end, even as his dementia progressed. About three years ago he fell and broke a leg, requiring a month or two in skilled nursing for rehab. My mother was living in skilled at the time, and used to be the enforcer for physical therapy, going where staff members feared to tread (meaning right up into to Art’s face.) He would fight the staff, but listen to Joan.
At a care conference meeting the young guy (I think about 25 or so) who ran physical therapy said Art was fighting the rehab program. He also noted that Art seemed to have a sense of humor, and would say funny things once in a while. Joan told him that Art had been a comedy writer, and wrote for Edie Adams, George Gobel, and Garry Moore, among others. Then she explained who Adams, Gobel and Moore were in the entertainment firmament.
The physical therapist thought he could motivate Art by telling a joke, “So I told him a joke and he just sat there, staring at me blankly. Then in a monotone he said, ‘Your delivery needs work.’’
Joan and I agreed that at age 88 1/2 with dementia he delivered one of his best lines.
