JUNE 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 9
LONG BEACH’S CITY SLICKER
this is a test. There is going to be a
big loss the rest of your life.” It took
a long time to work through. The
finishing part of working through
it was doing 700 Sundays all those
years later with the strength of my
mother and my brothers. That is one
of the things I will always feel bad
about. I wish he could have seen our
kids, our wives, our successes for all
of us. It would have made him so
proud, but I think when you carry
that spirit in your heart it is a way of
them knowing it, if that makes any
sense.
Can you tell us a little bit about
your dad? He was a simple man. He
did concerts on the Lower East Side
at Central Plaza in the big ballroom
for 15 years until his death. With the
rise of swing, and the modern jazz of
Miles, Monk, Dizzy and Coltrane,
the Central Plaza was one of the only
places these original Dixieland artists
could come and jam. That building is
now part of New York University’s
Dance Theater. Two years ago, the
dean of the Tisch School of the Arts
and my family renamed it The Jack
Crystal Theater. That was really an
emotional day for us.
Do you still have family and friends
in Long Beach? My brothers live
there. My nieces and nephews are
there. My great nieces and nephews
are there.
Can you tell us about your
contributions to Long Beach after
Sandy? My brother had four feet of
water in his house and my nephew
had to evacuate. My wife Janice
and I dedicated ourselves to helping
rebuild the city. We raised a lot of
money. We worked with U.S. Sen.
Chuck Schumer in replacing trees
in the city that were destroyed by
the seawater. There were 2,500 trees
we planted and we raised well over a
million dollars. We have been very
proud to be able to get Long Beach
back on its feet. I love the city. I love
the people there. With the help of
Nancy Lieberman, a Hall of Fame
basketball star and Olympian, we
dedicated these two basketball
courts that bear my name and
Janice’s. It is a great feeling to be
able to give back all that you can in
a town that gave me so much.
What are some career highlights?
The HBO show, Midnight Train to
Moscow. I was the first American
comedian to perform in the
Soviet Union. The show was about
finding my roots and reuniting
my family. We found 30 relatives
there, which we didn’t know, and
that was profound for me. They
looked like my relatives from
the living room. It was just by
chance that they didn’t get out
but, my grandmother got out. So
here I was 12,000 miles away in
Moscow in this beautiful theater
and I had all these relatives in the
audience. So, in some ways, it was
like I was back in the living room
and the feeling was joyous for me,
because I didn’t even know they
were alive until I got there and we
found them. It was an incredible
experience.
Do you still hear “You Look
Mahvelous” after all these years?
Yes. It still happens. I flew back from
New York a couple of days ago and
COVER STORY
the flight attendant said, “You look
mahvelous.” It is still out there. With
YouTube and everything streaming
you can still find it. I loved Fernando
because it was improvised, nothing
was written, so I did not know
where the conversation would go. It
was spontaneous and dangerous to
do on live television.
Does it seem more challenging
to be a comic then it used to be?
Everyone is a little touchy and with
the levels of political correctness
the lines are getting blurred for
me. I think the level of characters
that I sadly could not do today, like
Sammy Davis Jr. or any person of
color, is terrible. Why not? They
are character pieces to me. These
are people I grew up loving and
knowing, so if it is real, why does
it make people so angry? You say
something, and someone throws
out the word “racist!” That is sad to
me on a comedy landscape. I think
all comics feel that way.
What are your plans for Father’s Day?
My sons-in-law and I try and get to a
Dodgers game or some type of baseball
something. It is always a joy to spend it
with these boys and my daughters. It
is a day everyone comes over. For me
the perfect day is being happy with my
kids and grandchildren and looking
around and going, “You know, we did
pretty good.”
Billy Crystal and his wife, Janice, are celebrating their 48th
anniversary in June.
Billy Crystal has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.