You Don't Have to Be Jewish explained

You Don't Have to Be Jewish
Type:	studio
Artist:	Various
Cover:	You Don't Have to Be Jewish.jpg
Recorded:	14 June 1964
Genre:	Comedy
Producer:	Bob Booker George Foster

You Don't Have to be Jewish is a 1965 comedy album written by Bob Booker and George Foster, the team behind the 1962 comedy album The First Family.^[1]

Production

The album features Lou Jacobi, Betty Walker, Jack Gilford, Joe Silver, Jackie Kannon, Bob McFadden, Frank Gallop, and Arlene Golonka,^[2] in a variety of roles, mostly Jewish, performing a mixture of jokes and comedy sketches. The album was recorded with a live audience, as the cast performed a script, like a radio play.^[3]

Reception

The album was highly successful, with syndicated columnist Walter Winchell calling the album "the No. 1 seller in Suburbia" and noting that as a popular gift "it has replaced the fountain pen at Bar Mitzvahs."^[4]

Sequel

A sequel, When You're in Love, the Whole World is Jewish, largely reunited the original cast but replaced the unavailable Golonka with her roommate,^[5] Valerie Harper.^[6]

Name

"You Don't Have to be Jewish to love Levy's" was an advertising campaign for Levy's rye bread that began in 1961 and ran through the 1970s.^[7]

Notes and References

1. William D. Laffler. "What's new in records: famed Tijuana Brass given 'Jewish' takeoff" (review of Al Tijuana and His Jewish Brass), Simpson's Leader-Times, October 8, 1966, page 1, 4 TV section: under the direction of Bob Booker and George Foster, the pair responsible for the success of the phenomenal "First Family" and "You Don't have to be Jewish" albums.
2. Marvin Randolph. "'Jewish' sketch made in '65, 'Tiger Rag' in 1918," Sun-Sentinel, October 6, 1996, page 3F.
3. Web site: "The Reading of the Will" and "The Housewarming" - Two Classic Comedy Gems From Our Favorite Album . 31 December 2022 . Jewish Humor Central . August 5, 2015 . Kustanowitz . Al .
4. Walter Winchell. "Walter Winchell in New York," High Point Enterprise, October 22, 1965, page 7A.
5. Web site: Molseed . Megan . 'The Andy Griffith Show' Star Lived with Valerie Harper, Put 'Rhoda' Actor on Fast Track to Success . Outsider . 30 December 2022 . 12 October 2021.
6. Web site: Kustanowitz . Al . Comedy Flashback: Greetings from Miami Beach . Jewish Humor Central . 31 December 2022 . February 8, 2015 . When You're in Love the Whole World is Jewish.
7. News: Judy Protas, Writer of Slogan for Levy’s Real Jewish Rye, Dies at 91 . Margalit Fox . January 12, 2014 . The New York Times . A22 .