Youngman keynotes at Purim Spectacular

A crowd of 300 people filled Irvine Auditorium Wednesday night to celebrate the Jewish holiday Purim and hear comedian Henny Youngman's 50 year-old line, "Take my wife . . . please!" The occasion was the annual "Purim Spectacular," sponsored by Lubavitch House and hosted by both Youngman and Mark the Shark of WMMR-FM radio. Rabbi Menachim Schmidt, the executive director of the Lubavitch House, began the celebration with a reading of the Megillah in Hebrew. The audience stamped its feet, hooted and twirled "graggers" whenever the "evil name" of Haman, who persecuted the Jews in ancient Persia, was mentioned. Next, members of the audience, some of them donned in masks, costumes and face paint, danced in the aisles to the music of the Baal Shem Tov Band, an 11-piece Chassidic rock band. "It was funny watching a rabbi with a long beard playing the electric guitar," said Engineering sophomore Billy Goldstein. "It was kind of like a Jewish ZZ-Top." Known as the "King of the One Liners," Henny Youngman made jokes about everything from Zsa Zsa Gabor to his mother-in-law and Philadelphia. Many of his jokes were told while he played tunes on his fiddle. "Youngman is the epitome of clean and joyful and wonderful Jewish humor," said Barbara Levin, a Center City resident. "He is what Jewish humor should represent." Richard Korn, a student from Thomas Jefferson University, was wearing a British policeman's hat to the Purim celebration. His favorite part of Youngman's performance was that Youngman did "the wife joke without being rude about it." Youngman ended his performance with the song, "All I want is an audience -- like you," and received a standing ovation. This event was followed by a "Purim Party" at Houston Hall. Money raised by this event will be used to help rebuild Tel Aviv after Iraqi Scud attacks. Representatives from fraternities Zeta Beta Tau and Pi Kappa Alpha also presented donations.

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