Maureen Lipman pays homage to late husband Jack Rosenthal
Tsitsit Jewish Fringe Festival hosts six speakers and a full audience at JW3 for 'Tea With Jack'
Louisa Walters is Features Editor at the Jewish News and specialises in food and travel writing
Much-missed husband, father and friend Jack Rosenthal was remembered by some of those close to him, to mark 20 years since his death, at a special afternoon at JW3 last weekend.
Jack’s wife Maureen Lipman and their daughter Amy Rosenthal were joined by author Colin Shindler, lyricist Don Black (who wrote the lyrics for Barmitzvah Boy), songwriter Geoff Morrow and publisher Jeremy Robson, (who published Jack’s autobiography) at Tea with Jack, as part of the Tsitsit Fringe Festival.
Maureen and Jack were married in 1974 and had “30 very happy years,” said Maureen, before he sadly passed away from melanoma in 2004 aged 72.
Maureen opened the afternoon with a reading from perhaps his most famous work, Barmitzvah Boy, and then each speaker offered their own reflections. Don Black talked about Jack’s time spent working with Barbra Streisand on the film Yentl and Maureen added that Barbra had wanted her name on the credits as the sole writer (but the producer insisted otherwise). Maureen explained that her role in Coronation Street is in part in homage to Jack (he wrote 129 early episodes).
The audience was treated to clips from his TV, film and theatre work including beloved classics such as The Evacuees, Barmitzvah Boy and The Knowledge.
The afternoon closed out with an amusing if somewhat risqué story from Maureen, who said that Jack kept his sense of humour right to the end of this life. “Jack was in the North London Hospice. One afternoon Colin Shindler called me and said he wanted to go and see him to tell him that he loved him. That evening I went to see Jack. He was very frail and breathing through an oxygen mask. ‘Did Colin come and see you?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Did he tell you that he loves you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What did you say? ‘I didn’t say anything. We had sex and then he went home.'”
The biggest laugh of the afternoon, however, came from her quip about Jewish Alzheimer’s: “When you forget everything except a grudge.”
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