Word: schlemiels
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...Hero (NBC), out of the same shop and mold as last season's hit, Get Smart. Richard Mulligan is cast as an actor who is cast as an actor in a TV western series. In real life he is a suburban dude and a sort of all-round schlemiel. Between (and sometimes during) takes, he is horse-shy, allergic to sagebrush, and as rugged as Mr. Peepers. But the sight gags are inventive, and the dialogue is literate. The only other situation comedy worth a twirl is That Girl (ABC), a sort of My Sister Eileen, starring Danny Thomas...
...moment at the end of the book when he manages to summon enough strength to tell his cleaning woman to sweep the kitchen. Other literary "heroes" are fall guys, incipient madmen, badgered Everymen, victims. Their motto, says Daniel Aaron, professor of English at Smith, seems to be, "Call me schlemiel." In more mundane life, there is much revulsion against the pose, if not the reality, of heroism. "Ya wanna be a hero?" is a mockery, not a compliment...
This year's show had a medieval setting, hardly original but workable enough. One Knight's Stand concerned a schlemiel of a knight named Weritas (hmmph!), who was seeking the hand of fair Tupel' Aura. Her sisters advise against the union because of Weritas' ineptitude, and a group of witches object for totally obscure reasons. The plot was flimsy, but generally unobtrusive. In the second act however, the girls tried to interject a peace "message" concerning senseless bloodshed on the jousting field. They would have had to underplay it far more than they did for it not to seem...
Harvey Middleman, Fireman. "Why shouldn't you feel guilty? Aren't you a normal American man?" asks Family Counselor Hermione Gingold. Thereby hangs the tale, and perhaps the whole significance, of Harvey Middleman-fireman, husband, father, and suburban schlemiel. His home, job, wife and children are all lovely in their way, but Harvey (Eugene Troobnick) detests taking out the garbage-for him the symbol of drab conformity. One day he carries a lissome blonde (Patricia Harty) from a burning brownstone. "I'm Harvey," he says hoarsely. "I'm Lois," she whispers, stirring in his arms. They...
...schlemiel who wrote that article on "The New American Jew" had some chutzpah...