Thursday, June 21, 2007

Trivia Tidbit

I happened to read this obituary yesterday. Note the paragraph highlighted in color. It was just last week that I wrote a post about Pale Male and linked to information about him and his sweetheart.

Lola Wasserstein, mother of playwright Wendy Wasserstein, dies

The Associated Press
June 20, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lola Wasserstein, an inspiration for many of the characters in the works of her daughter, playwright Wendy Wasserstein, has died. She was 89.

Wasserstein died of natural causes on Saturday at her Manhattan apartment, another daughter, Georgette Levis, said Tuesday.

"She was an inspiration to all of us," said Levis.

Lola Wasserstein was a model for the character of Tasha Blumberg in "Isn't It Romantic," an untraditional Jewish mother who takes dance classes and wears skirts over black leotards.
She also inspired the mother character in "The Sisters Rosensweig," as well as the off-stage mother of character Holly Kaplan in "Uncommon Women and Others," who urges her daughter to find a boyfriend.

Wendy Wasserstein died last year. Another daughter, Sandra Meyer, a prominent marketing executive, died in 1998. Levis is owner of the Wilburton Inn in Manchester, Vermont.

Wasserstein was an avid dancer who took classes in jazz and modern well into her 80s, her family said.

"She was very tiny; she was 4-foot-8-inches (1.4-meter). But she never realized that because she was so dynamic," said Levis.

Born Lola Schleiffer in Poland, Wasserstein came to the United States in 1931. She was married to Morris Wasserstein, an inventor and businessman who died in 2003.

Wasserstein is also survived by her son, Bruce Wasserstein, a Wall Street deal maker, who was instrumental in saving the nest of two red-tailed hawks on the ledge of his Fifth Avenue apartment building. The hawks are widely known as Pale Male and Lola -- the latter in honor of Lola Wasserstein.

Levis said the family planned a private funeral, and a "Lola party" next week for extended family and friends "where we'll sing `Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.'"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow! pathetic

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Very sad, dear Pearl....But what an inspirational woman....Amazing, really! I love that they named Pale Male's mate after her...! Very fitting, I'd say.

I hpe you don't mind if I post the pictures of the lovely presents you sent me....Please let me know if you do, and I certainly won't do that! I've been extremely tired and not on the net hardly at all for days....But I planned to put up a new post possibly tomorrow and wanted to include your lovely gifts.

Watched "Almost Peaceful" today....a very french film, isn't it? I liked it a lot!

Ben C. said...

From the little I know I've come to realize that most of what's written in the newspapers is based on imagination.

Lola (from Pale Male and Lola) was *not* named after the person you mention. The hawk was originally named Lolita after the Nabokov character because this Red-tailed Hawk had light eyes signifying a young hawk. We changed it to Lola because the name Lolita didn't reflect well on Pale Male who is no Humbert Humbert.

torontopearl said...

LS: What a blogging name you've picked for yourself. "Wow...pathetic." :)

Old Lady: I also thought "very fitting" until I read the comment below yours!

Ben C.: thanks for visiting. How interesting. And I think you burst my bubble with the "truth."

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Oh My My My...! Well, he is so correct about not believing everythibg you read in the papers or magazines or on The Net, sad to say.....!