So a rabbi, Dr. Ruth and Jerry Springer walk into a room … It sounds like the lead-up to a punch line, but in fact it’s the lineup for this year’s St. Louis Jewish Book Festival, November 2 to 12. The event’s 30th anniversary promises to be a memorable one. “Hopefully there will be something for everyone’s tastes,” says festival organizer Marcia Evers Levy. She’s not kidding. This year’s lineup includes a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Sex and the City’s Evan Handler, a retro night and a performance by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. And kicking it all off: Springer himself. So can we expect flying chairs and odd love triangles? No, Evers Levy assures us it will be kosher.
Who first suggested inviting Jerry Springer? I’d been thinking about him for a couple years. He’s a multidimensional personality. He’s obviously Jewish, the son of Holocaust survivors. And there were things I didn’t know about him: for instance, that he worked on Robert Kennedy’s campaign; he, of course, was mayor of Cincinnati; and he had a regular talk show that replaced The Phil Donahue Show before it kind of became this crazy show.
Have you heard him speak about his Jewish ancestry before? I heard him tell a story that his dad always kept a car in their garage that was ready to go—it always had a full tank of gas and supplies so that if there was ever an emergency, they could escape. His father could never get away from the horrors he lived through.
So you think we’ll see Springer’s more serious side? I think he has a lot to offer. I hope that people will give him this opportunity and look past the crazy business, because there’s just so much else in his personality.
WANNA GO?
What: St. Louis Jewish Book Festival
Where: St. Louis Jewish Community Center,
2 Millstone Campus Drive
When: November 2–12
Cost: $60 for festival; $35 for keynote speech
Contact: 314-442-3299, stljewishbookfestival.org
