Mickey Katz

Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz (June 15, 1909 – April 30, 1985) was an American musician and comedian. He was the father of actor Joel Grey and paternal grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey.

Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court in Cleveland, Ohio. He was one of five children born to Johanna (née Herzberg) and Menachem Katz. Mickey lost an older sister to diphtheria when he was about four years old. Menachem supported the family as a tailor, but money was always tight in the Katz family. As children, Mickey and his siblings contributed to the family finances by entering amateur musical contests in the neighborhood theaters and bringing the prize money home to their parents. Even after graduating from high school, Mickey continued to support his family with the money he earned from his music.

Out of high school, Katz was hired by Phil Spitalny to go on a road tour. While waiting at the train station to leave, Katz met Grace Epstein, his future wife. He was seventeen and she was fourteen. He married her three years later, in 1930. They had two sons, Joel Grey and Ronald. Each of Katz's sons had two children. Joel fathered Jennifer Grey and Jim Grey, and Ronald fathered Randy Katz and Todd Katz. In 1977, Katz told the story of his life in a biography called Papa, Play for Me.

One evening when Katz was eleven, his father took him to a concert at the Talmud Torah. A clarinet solo was on the program. On the way home, Katz told him he wanted to play the clarinet. However, for his father to pay for an instrument and lessons were out of the question. The next day, Katz asked the bandmaster of the local high school for a school clarinet, and within a few days he received an old and dusty clarinet. The next step was to find a way to pay for clarinet lessons. Katz went to his uncle Sam and offered to clean his tailor shop if he would pay for the lessons. His uncle agreed, and soon Katz was studying under Joseph Narovec. He made excellent progress on the instrument, and quickly learned the saxophone as well.

Fresh out of high school, Katz landed a gig playing clarinet and sax for Phil Spitalny and went on a road tour with his band. After the tour, Katz played in Doc Whipple's big band at the Golden Pheasant Chinese Restaurant for about a year, at which point he left and joined Angelo Vitale's band at the Park Theater. Deciding to try his luck in New York City, Katz left Cleveland in 1929. He had a hard time finding work at first, and bopped around from one small, unsuccessful job to the next. He finally ran into Ed Fishman, whom he knew from Cleveland and who helped him find a job playing in Howard Phillips' orchestra at the Manger Hotel. However, the job ended in 1930, after his marriage, and the couple had no choice but to go to live in Grace's uncle's home.

Katz was soon saved from this situation when he received a phone call from Jack Spector, a friend back in Cleveland. A spot for a clarinet and sax player had recently opened up in Maurice Spitalny's band at the Loew's State Theater, and Spector had recommended Katz. Katz moved back to Cleveland with Grace and played with Spitalny until the leader left Loew's Theater in 1932. Katz continued to play there for another year, then rejoined Spitalny at the RKO Palace Theater and played there until the Cleveland musicians' local in Cleveland went on strike in 1935. Unfortunately for Katz, the union lost the strike, since movie theaters were becoming more common and theaters no longer needed live musicians, and he was out of a job once again.

Nevertheless, he soon found work playing for vacationers as they sailed around Lake Erie on the excursion boat Goodtime. This gig lasted every summer from 1935 to 1939. During the off-season, Katz found what work he could playing various one-night gigs. When the Goodtime went out of business in 1939, he moved on to a position as bandleader and MC at the Ohio Villa gambling palace.

In 1942, Katz was hired as bandleader at the Alpine Village theater-restaurant in Cleveland. He was subsequently drafted, but was classified 4-F classification by the Selective Service System and released from his military obligation after failing his preinduction physical. He found other ways to help the war effort, though. Back at the Alpine Village he began to sell war bonds after the shows, bringing in US$25,000 to $30,000 a week for the U.S. government. He also played for servicemen at the USO canteen at Cleveland's St. John's Cathedral. Then, in 1945, he took his six-man comedy and band group (Mickey Katz and His Krazy Kittens) on a USO tour of Europe with movie star Betty Hutton. For this trip Katz was made a temporary officer; it was the closest he ever came to serving in the military.