I Love Paul Newman's Irish Eyes and (Excuse me for Being Blunt) His Old-Fashioned Jewish Morality

Paul Newman was a good man. He was a great man. He really tried to do the right thing--and he succeeded. He was also drop-dead gorgeous in a totally unique way. His appeal to me is a wonderful blend of Irish beauty and charm and Jewish moralism. I also have another non-PC theory--when two ethnic groups combine into one individual, great beauty is frequently the result. Paul Newman's Irish eyes sparkled and smiled with intelligence. Nobody has ever seen such a thrilling combination of a slightly hooked nose and those eyes, those eyes, those smiling Irish eyes.

I saw him once at a Yale Drama School party for Joseph Heller and couldn't look anywhere else.

Speaking of gorgeous mixes of ethnic groups ,look at 99 percent of those I like to call our golden people--the people of this country whose parents are (what we call) white which is really washed-out beige and (what we call black) which is really dark brown. I've seen parents on weird tv reality shows who are obese and ugly--one white and one black--and then there are their children who glimmer and shine like pure gold.

It's trivializing just to speak of Paul Newman in terms of his one-in-a-trillion beauty. He was a great man. His charitable contributions were in the high hundreds of millions and were not paraded around for publicity as are those of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
Unlike nearly all Hollywood stars, he was a singular and devoted husband. As a Jewish woman, I'd like claim that a bit for our half.

Long live Paul Newman on big eerily magic movie screens forever.

Comments

[NoelAnn]

Susan, Your article is very sweet - and being Irish I'd like to claim Paul for my tribe too. The problem is that he actuallly was of German and Hungarian descent. Though he certainly had an affinity for Eire.
Peace.

[Bearangaria]

My grandmother whenever visiting, was ensconced in my room.
At 15 I had placed a sizzling poster of Mr. Newman on
the wall behind my bedroom door.
I said good night to him every night
and he said...well... never mind.
On her next visit Grama toddled to my room with
bulging cases and prepared to make herself at home.
Moments later there was a high pitched cry of alarm and
the family ran towards it. There was Grama, in her slip,
holding her dress up, clutching her chest, staring at my
breathtaking PN poster.
"Oh my," she said, "...I thought...Well...He's certainly
quite... authentic...isn't he?"
My mother and I solemnly agreed.
Grama declined to have the poster removed.
"Too much fuss."... was what she said.

[Manila]

They use that publicity to to bring awareness to social issues and to motivate & inspire the public to get involved. The public is aware of less than 10% of their humanitarian work. They don't just donate money or attend fundraisers, they travel to those countries to distribute aid to hospitals, orphanridges,
build aid facilities, interact with the government to bring forth change & progress, and etc. It is sick of
you to dismiss all of their hard work and passionate efforts as image building. Newman, back when he was Hollywood's Golden Boy, also got alot of media attention and acclaim for his charity work but he didn't get mocked because his personal life was not misportrayed and his reputation didn't get wrongly destroyed. He used publicity when it was necessary for the same purposes: to bring awareness, motivate, and inspire. They are geuinely devoted and compassionate just like Paul was.
Brad is the Paul Newman of our time. He is good, honest, and real. He is man of character, ethics, and integrity. He would have a found a kindred spirit in Paul Newman. The figure you are hating is not the real Brad but a tabloid caricature. Only a minority did not get brainwashed against him by the misportrayal.

[PumaJ]

Susan, I'm not sure where you get the idea that Paul Newman had any Irish beauty. Though I must agree with you that he was indeed a beautiful man inside and out. But the Irish angle?

Mr. Newman's father was Jewish of probable Ashkenazi ethnicity. Mr. Newman's mother was Catholic of Slovakian ethnicity from the old Kingdom of Hungary, now a part of Slovakia.

Mr. Newman was the consummate actor in all of his roles. In his personal life, he and his wife Joanne Woodward did all that they could to live and practice the Jewish philosophies of Tzedakah and Tikkun Olam.

May our memories of Mr. Newman be a blessing.

[suec03]

But if his father was Jewish (probably of some European ancestry) and his mother was Slovakian, where did he get the Irish eyes?

He will be greatly missed as a great actor, great humanitarian, great American and great citizen of the world. In the tribute running this morning on MSNBC, they included his work on disarmament.

Greatest sympathy to his family for their loss--and for ours. Sleep well, Paul Newman. What a mensch! (A person of integrity and honor).