Jackie Mason notwithstanding, Jewish (and other) ethnic jokes - hilarious, often in bad taste - were no longer kosher. But readers who laughed uneasily in 1959 when Philip Roth satirized suburban, nouveau-riche Jews in ''Goodbye, Columbus'' turned venomous 10 years later when he served up the saintly Jewish mother as monster in ''Portnoy's Complaint.'' The tide had turned. Borscht belt comedians, who specialized in roasting their Jewish brethren, were constrained only in keeping their ribald jokes clean enough for a family audience. Fields tormented children and made fun of the blind, when Mae West leered suggestively at Cary Grant and Harpo Marx ripped up a book because he couldn't read. Once upon a time, before political correctness, audiences roared when W.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |