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About Benny Goodman's "Jewishness" -
His sister told me, several years ago, that one of her big
disappointments was that when Benny became famous he basically left his
family and his heritage behind him. His wife, from a very prominent
Protestant New York family, just didn't want to (or he didn't want them to)
associate with his 'greenhorn' family in Chicago. She said that she and the
family always resented the 'shikse' who stole their famous (and rich) brother
- and he hardly ever saw her children - his nieces and nephews. But,
nevertheless, she always supported him and relished in his success, albeit
from afar. Mrs. Winsberg, who looked just like her famous brother, was a
font of information, but wouldn't allow me to go forward with my plan to have
her interviewed by music magazines, etc. She is, I fear, no longer with us.
Ralph Wilder
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