Arts&Culture
Carl Reiner/courtesy of Film Forum Benny once hosted a gala ball at the automat, handing every celebrity a roll of nickels as they walked into the establishment in their formalwear. Hurwitz self-financed and shot the film over a decade, which accounts for the many interviewees who appear posthumously — not just Reiner and Ginsburg, but culture of Horn & Hardart, the company former Secretary of State (and Yiddish-speaking son of the behind the restaurants in Manhattan and Philadelphia that promised, under a Bronx) Colin Powell and, somewhat dated slogan, “Less Work For significantly, John W. Romas, the former vice president of Mother.” The food was served through engineering for Horn & Hardsmall, coin-operated glass doors. art. Romas describes how he The chain’s low prices and unique Mel Brooks at the Automat in New York in the 1950s helped design and build the service model helped it thrive during the Great Depression and into the 1960s, coin-operated contraptions that brought film, that coffee would prove to be Horn & Hardart’s downfall, as the company forth the bargain delicacies. attracting scores of downtown lunchlost money on every cup yet refused Also appearing is the Jewish chairgoers. to raise its prices for years. Faced with man and former CEO of Starbucks, Hurwitz, a former talent booker for competition from savvier cheap-coffee Howard Schultz, who notes that his Seattle’s Jewish Community Center, purveyors like Chock Full o’ Nuts, a chain took a lot of inspiration from the calls in a cavalry of New York Jews to mass exodus of customers to the subrestaurants. “I always had the automat reminisce about the joys of waiter-less urbs, and a growing perception that its in my mind’s eye,” he explains. “How dining. establishments were becoming gatherdo you create that level of theatre, Brooks and his late friend and coming spots for homeless people and drug edy partner Carl Reiner both sheepishly excitement, surprise and delight?” (Schultz, whose employees are engaged addicts, the automat withered throughadmit that their go-to order was the out the ’70s and ’80s until closing its last in a growing unionization effort, is abham-and-cheese sandwich. Ruth Bader sent during the segment of the film that remaining store in 1991. Ginsburg says she believes that the eatToday, signs of the restaurant’s infludiscusses a failed union drive by Horn ery attracted a unique and democratic ence are cropping up once again in & Hardart employees.) cross section of America because it did modern establishments, from self-pour But the highlight of the film is unnot require anyone to speak English in taprooms to a new automated dumpling questionably Brooks and his song, order to eat. Jewish actor Elliott Gould shop in Manhattan. Perhaps the automat celebrating a time when you could get also waxes nostalgic. and its silver dolphin spout could make great coffee poured out of a spigot for a Archival footage recalls how the famously frugal Jewish entertainer Jack nickel. Ironically, according to Hurwitz’s a comeback.
Mel Brooks sings ode to the automat in a new doc about famed Philly/New York eatery By Andrew Lapin New York Jewish Week If you never experienced a meal at an automat — an innovative “automated restaurant” that was once a fixture of mid-century New York City and Philadelphia — then allow iconic Jewish comedian Mel Brooks to explain: “There was nothing like the coffee at the automat Its aroma and its flavor were supreme From a silver dolphin spout The coffee poured right out Not to mention, at the end, a little spurt of cream.” At the Automat, Brooks’ original song celebrating the joys of this unique type of restaurant — particularly its five-cent coffee — plays over the end credits of The Automat, a new film that the funnyman describes as a “meshuginah documentary” about the eateries. The playful, nostalgic film by director Lisa Hurwitz charts the history and The Automat opens Friday, April 1 at The Neon, 130 E. Fifth St., Dayton. For movie times, go to neonmovies.com.
Every Family has a Story... Meet the O’Sheas, a cash-strapped, Irish-Catholic family just trying to get through 1973—a time when public ridicule in a close-knit parish was the ultimate nightmare. As 19-year-old Linda O’Shea tries to recount the most turbulent day of her life, her family keeps interrupting, insisting on telling their side of the incident that almost tarnished their reputation forever. All “Holy Hell” and hysteria break loose in this nostalgic, heartwarming comedy you won’t soon forget!
April 14 – May 1, 2022 by Katie Forgette
// directed by Margarett Perry
Performed LIVE at the Loft Theatre in Downtown Dayton
Order Tickets Now! HumanRaceTheatre.org // (937) 228-3630
THE HUMAN RACE THEATRE COMPANY // LOFT THEATRE // 126 N. Main Street | Suite 300 | Dayton, Ohio 45402-1766
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • APRIL 2022
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