I don't know about you all, but the first person I think of when talking about famous daughters who are Black, White and Jewish, is Rebecca Walker, daughter of scribe, Alice Walker. Probably because Walker's first memoir is actually titled, Black, White and Jewish.
But there is another child with a famous parent, who is also Black, White and Jewish... and she's funny. I'm talking about Rain Pryor, the daughter of comedian Richard Pryor and a Jewish mother. As is expected of Hollywood tots, Rain Pryor penned a tell-all memoir, Jokes My Father Never Taught Me, but it is her award-winning stage show performances where she really explores her mixed heritage. "Fried Chicken & Latkes" was her first show about her childhood and now she's performing, "Pryor Experirence" which kind of picks up where Fried Chicken & Latkes left off. A brief description of the Pryor Experience:
"Rain Pryor [performs] a jazz inspired cabaret featuring her signature comedic interludes. Pryor brings a sharp wit to fundamental questions of race, faith, and identity. Her work draws upon her experience growing up in Beverly Hills as the daughter of a prototypical Jewish mother and the legendary African American comedian Richard Pryor, whose unflinching humor and tumultuous lifestyle brought joy and turmoil to the family. In The Pryor Experience, Rain satirically reworks her take on Jewish and African American culture, while delving more deeply into her relationship with her father and newly born daughter, Lotus Marie."
Rain Pryor will be performing in Philadelphia this weekend (Sat & Sun.)at the Painted Bride Theater. If you can't make it or don't live in the area, check out Pryor's website for her tour schedule.
Peace!
5 comments:
ME, Thanks for all this good lovin'! It's going to be one hectic weekend for me with Miss Rain in town, but she's absolutely fabulous and an incredible performer. Grab your hubby and make it a date on me. Shoot me an email and let me know if you can use two free tickets.
I love Rain. I wish I could have seen her this weekend. Maybe she will come to DC.
Thanks for the link to her website. I'll def see if she's coming to Denver!
1) I remember in America, in the deep south, at Publix we went to get some of our food in the ethnic foods section. Our c. 4 year old daughter at that point had a South-East Asian look & suddenly got a visual on South-East Asian girl her age & they played out a soundless pantomime w/each other. We were there for the kosher food, I imagine they were there for the SE Asian food, but they locked onto each other. 2) When our touch & go premature SON was finally out of his incubator, Dr. Solomon brought an Indian doctor to consult w/my Yemenite wife who he was sure was INDIAN. So my wife propped up in bed & bubbled out to Dr. Solomon, "so when is the BRIS???" She used the Yiddish term instead of the Yemenite Jewish "berith." His eyebrows went up & the Indian doctor bowed out. 3)I used to rehearse lines in the elevator for what I could say to Rain Pryor in a ten second ride that might take her to a very different place. We now live in Jerusalem which is so cosmopolitan, we are in constant celebration of our different appearances, tastes, languages, textures, dislikes, pain and love. Lots & lots of love to soothe our pain & separation & return & loneliness from the rest of humanity. 4) One night at the Western Wall I met a group of young Canadian Jews who'd flown in from "The March of the Living" experience in Auschwitz. There's nothing like that to emotionally grind a person to raw blood & bones. I began to speak to the boys in English, asking them about why they felt connected. One guy said the Bible/Torah said the land was ours. I said the Bible/Torah told them to wear white fringes on the corner of their garments. They became very intrigued & the WHOLE group of c.35 surrounded me. Their guides tried to stop us, but the boys wanted to talk. Then they pushed a black guy very close to me & asked me, what do you say about "him?" "Tell me about him," I asked. His mother is Jewish & his father is a black gentile. I said "he is one of us" & w/my black hat & jacket & long beard I kissed & deeply embraced the shaking young man & the whole group all embraced us & we cried & cried because we've so lost our way & want to return to be one. We need to feel one again.
1) I remember in America, in the deep south, at Publix we went to get some of our food in the ethnic foods section. Our c. 4 year old daughter at that point had a South-East Asian look & suddenly got a visual on South-East Asian girl her age & they played out a soundless pantomime w/each other. We were there for the kosher food, I imagine they were there for the SE Asian food, but they locked onto each other. 2) When our touch & go premature SON was finally out of his incubator, Dr. Solomon brought an Indian doctor to consult w/my Yemenite wife who he was sure was INDIAN. So my wife propped up in bed & bubbled out to Dr. Solomon, "so when is the BRIS???" She used the Yiddish term instead of the Yemenite Jewish "berith." His eyebrows went up & the Indian doctor bowed out. 3)I used to rehearse lines in the elevator for what I could say to Rain Pryor in a ten second ride that might take her to a very different place. We now live in Jerusalem which is so cosmopolitan, we are in constant celebration of our different appearances, tastes, languages, textures, dislikes, pain and love. Lots & lots of love to soothe our pain & separation & return & loneliness from the rest of humanity. 4) One night at the Western Wall I met a group of young Canadian Jews who'd flown in from "The March of the Living" experience in Auschwitz. There's nothing like that to emotionally grind a person to raw blood & bones. I began to speak to the boys in English, asking them about why they felt connected. One guy said the Bible/Torah said the land was ours. I said the Bible/Torah told them to wear white fringes on the corner of their garments. They became very intrigued & the WHOLE group of c.35 surrounded me. Their guides tried to stop us, but the boys wanted to talk. Then they pushed a black guy very close to me & asked me, what do you say about "him?" "Tell me about him," I asked. His mother is Jewish & his father is a black gentile. I said "he is one of us" & w/my black hat & jacket & long beard I kissed & deeply embraced the shaking young man & the whole group all embraced us & we cried & cried because we've so lost our way & want to return to be one. We need to feel one again.
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