Eric wanted to see where Mickey was born, and where Mickey\u2019s wife grew up, and maybe where Mickey\u2019s father\u2019s tailor shop had been.\u00a0 I said to Eric, \u201cI\u2019m not a filmmaker — and I don\u2019t want to tell you what to do — but if you want another opinion, I don\u2019t think you should show every place Mickey took a shit.\u201d<\/p>\n
We went to the old Euclid Avenue Temple (now Liberty Hill Baptist Church), where Mickey was married in 1930.\u00a0 Eric — teasing me — filmed the men’s room and said, \u201cThis is where Mickey urinated after his wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
For one thing, nobody has ever heard of Mickey Katz!\u00a0 Mickey is not LeBron, or Superman, or Pekar, or Bob Hope. (All local boys.)\u00a0 Katz was Joel Grey\u2019s father and Jennifer Grey\u2019s grandfather.<\/p>\n Eric and I went to Glenville, an inner-city neighborhood where Mickey spent his teenage years. We found the Glenville Hall of Fame. Mickey didn\u2019t have a plaque.<\/p>\n One aspect<\/strong><\/span> of Eric\u2019s movie — my guess here — is, why doesn\u2019t Mickey have a plaque of some sort — a street, a \u201cMickey Katz Way\u201d — in his hometown?<\/p>\n Eric drove all the way from Maryland to film that sign.\u00a0 I hope the movie, <\/a>minus the urinal, happens.<\/p>\n![\"mickey](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/mickey-katz-1959.jpg\")
<\/a>Eric asked<\/strong><\/span> why Katz (1909-1985) isn\u2019t more acclaimed in his hometown.<\/p>\n![\"mickey](\"http:\/\/www.yiddishecup.com\/blog\/home\/yiddis6\/public_html\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/mickey-katz-298x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Eric found Mickey\u2019s birthplace near E. 51 and Woodland by the Ohio Food terminal.\u00a0 Sawtell Court — the actual street where Mickey was born — doesn\u2019t exist anymore. It\u2019s a grassy field. Eric drew a sign, \u201cBirthplace of Mickey Katz 1909,\u201d and put it on a fence.<\/p>\n