Mickey Katz

Early life Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court in Cleveland, Ohio. He was one of five children born to Johanna (née Herzberg) and Menachem Katz. Mickey lost an older sister to diphtheria when he was about four years old. Even after graduating from high school, Mickey continued to support his family with the money he earned from his music.

Out of high school, Katz was hired by Phil Spitalny to go on a road tour. While waiting at the train station to leave, Katz met Grace Epstein, his future wife. He was seventeen and she was fourteen. Each of Katz's sons had two children. Joel fathered Jennifer Grey and Jim Grey, and Ronald fathered Randy Katz and Todd Katz. In 1977, Katz told the story of his life in a biography called Papa, Play for Me. He made excellent progress on the instrument, and quickly learned the saxophone as well.

Katz soon decided to make an English-Yiddish comedy record. Having written the lyrics to "Haim afen Range" (based on "Home on the Range") some years previously, he had it approved by RCA. He 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. The original run of 10,000 copies released in New York City sold out in three days, and RCA received orders for 25,000 more. Katz then went on to parody "Tico, Tico" as "Tickle, Tickle" and backed this new record with "Chloya", a parody of "Chloe". He then hired a manager in Los Angeles, and in 1947 performed in Boyle Heights, a largely Jewish and Mexican-American neighborhood. In Katz's words, he was a "double-ethnic smash."

Although Katz had his fans, not everybody loved him. There were many radio stations that refused to play his records, and several venues feared hiring him. In his biography, Katz recalls asking a radio station manager why he wouldn't play any of Katz's records:

I asked him why he wouldn't play my records. He said, "Because some of our listeners are offended." I asked, "Who, besides you?" He said, "I don't think that's any of your business." I answered, "I think it is my business because this is how I make a living. You play Italian records, you play Polish records--" He cut me off. "I will not play any record with Yiddish in it. Yiddish is the language of the ghetto." "My friend," I said, "Yiddish is the language of our forefathers." "I do not care to hear it." "Then why don't you play some of my instrumental records? They're some of the greatest music in the world, played by some of the greatest musicians in the world—Ziggy Elman, Mannie Klein, Nat Farber--" Again he cut me off mid-sentence. "There will be no Yiddish spoken, or Jewish music played, on this station."

Various Katz appearances Katz and his group can be seen in the movie Thoroughly Modern Millie accompanying Julie Andrews as she sings a Yiddish song at a Jewish wedding.

A number of famous Jewish musicians, including those with their own bands, recorded with him, including Mannie Klein, Ziggy Elman and Si Zentner.

Jazz musician Don Byron recorded a tribute to Mickey Katz in 1993, Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz.

The 2003 British movie Wondrous Oblivion featured Katz' "The Barber of Schlemiel" (a parody of The Barber of Seville) in a scene where the Jewish main character plays the record for his Jamaican neighbor.

Katz supplied the voice of the character Hop-a-Long Catskill on the Beany and Cecil cartoon series on ABC-TV in 1962. Catskill was a frog, and the role was a parody of the role of Chester on the television series Gunsmoke. His primary function, in the few episodes in which he appeared, was to serve bad coffee and provide even worse Yiddish/English puns.

Music In addition to his parodies, Katz created more traditional klezmer music. His 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. 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. Al Sack, the man who created the music for Katz's first two parodies, assembled these players for Katz and then helped him get Nat Farber to arrange the music.