37 Facts About Mickey Katz

Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz was an American musician and comedian.

Mickey Katz was the father of actor Joel Grey and paternal grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey.

Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court in Cleveland, Ohio, to a Jewish family.

Mickey Katz was one of five children born to Johanna and Menachem Katz.

Mickey Katz lost an older sister to diphtheria when he was about four years old.

Out of high school, Mickey Katz was hired by Phil Spitalny to go on a road tour.

In 1977, Mickey Katz told the story of his life in a biography called Papa, Play for Me.

One evening when Mickey Katz was eleven, his father took him to a concert at the Talmud Torah.

The next day, Mickey Katz asked the bandmaster of the local high school for a school clarinet, and within a few days he received an old and dusty clarinet.

Mickey Katz went to his Uncle Sam and offered to clean his tailor shop if he would pay for the lessons.

Mickey Katz's uncle agreed, and soon Katz was studying under Joseph Narovec.

Mickey Katz made excellent progress on the instrument, and quickly learned the saxophone as well.

Fresh out of high school, Mickey Katz landed a gig playing clarinet and sax for Phil Spitalny and went on a road tour with his band.

Mickey Katz had a hard time finding work at first, and bopped around from one small, unsuccessful job to the next.

Mickey Katz finally ran into Ed Fishman, whom he knew from Cleveland and who helped him find a job playing in Howard Phillips' orchestra at the Manger Hotel.

Mickey Katz was saved from this situation when he received a phone call from Jack Spector, a friend back in Cleveland.

Mickey Katz moved back to Cleveland with Grace and played with Spitalny until the leader left Loew's Theater in 1932.

Mickey Katz continued to play there for another year, then rejoined Spitalny at the RKO Palace Theater and played there until the Cleveland musicians' local in Cleveland went on strike in 1935.

In 1942, Mickey Katz was hired as bandleader at the Alpine Village theater-restaurant in Cleveland.

Mickey Katz was drafted, but was classified 4-F classification by the Selective Service System and released from his military obligation after failing his preinduction physical.

Mickey Katz found other ways to help the war effort, though.

Mickey Katz played for servicemen at the USO canteen at Cleveland's St John's Cathedral.

In 1946, the national jukebox convention was to be held in Cleveland, and Mickey Katz was asked to conduct for it.

Mickey Katz quickly wrote another song for the flip side, "Yiddish Square Dance", and had his friend Al Sack sketch out the melody for it and set "Haim afen Range" to music as well.

Mickey Katz then hired a manager in Los Angeles, and in 1947 performed in Boyle Heights, a largely Jewish and Mexican-American neighborhood.

Not one to let others get him down, though, Mickey Katz continued to create parodies until 1957 and continued to perform off and on until his death.

In 1948, Mickey Katz produced the English-Yiddish stage revue Borscht Capades, co-starring with his son Joel Grey.

From 1951 to 1956, Mickey Katz operated as a disc jockey for the Los Angeles radio station KABC while going on occasional road tours and playing engagements at the Bandbox nightclub.

In 1952 Mickey Katz did some shows for the United Jewish Appeal.

In 1953, Mickey Katz decided to play Las Vegas, and after a successful start at the Frontier, he returned to Las Vegas for four more years.

In 1955, Mickey Katz played a brief engagement at Harrah's, located at Lake Tahoe.

In 1958, Mickey Katz finally played the Catskills, an area where most of his peers made their start.

Finally, at the end of his career, Mickey Katz began playing the Florida condominium circuit, often playing two shows a night.

Mickey Katz supplied the voice of the character Hop-a-Long Catskill on the Beany and Cecil cartoon series on ABC-TV in 1962.

Mickey Katz's songs have been compiled onto CDs, including Mish Mosh, The Most Mishige, Mickey Katz Greatest Shticks, and Simcha Time: Music for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and Brisses.

Mickey Katz played with many musicians throughout the years, but he initially performed his parodies with Mannie Klein on trumpet, Sammy Weiss on drums, Benny Gill on violin, Si Zentner on trombone, and Wally Wechsler on piano.

Mickey Katz died of kidney failure in Los Angeles, California in 1985, at the age of 75.