schedule, playing "anything north of Atlantic City." In 1961, Katz went on a tour of South Africa, playing in cities including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Benoni, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, and Muizenberg. Finally, at the end of his career, Katz began playing the Florida condominium circuit, often playing two shows a night. Musical style Katz was largely a jazz musician. All of his parodies have a distinct klezmer flavor, either throughout the entire piece or as a brief "break" in the middle of the song. His songs often lampooned both Jewish and American culture. Various Katz appearances Katz and his group can be seen in the movie Thoroughly Modern Millie accompanying Julie Andrews as she sings a Yiddish song at a Jewish wedding. A number of famous Jewish musicians, including those with their own bands, recorded with him, including Mannie Klein, Ziggy Elman and Si Zentner. Jazz musician Don Byron recorded a tribute to Mickey Katz in 1993, Don Byron Plays The Music of Mickey Katz. The 2003 British movie Wondrous Oblivion featured Katz' "The Barber of Schlemiel" (a parody of The Barber of Seville) in a scene where the Jewish main character plays the record for his Jamaican neighbor. Katz supplied the voice of the character Hop-a-Long Catskill on the Beany and Cecil cartoon series on ABC-TV in 1962. Catskill was a frog, and the role was a parody of the role of Chester on the television series Gunsmoke. His primary function, in the few episodes in which he appeared, was to serve bad coffee and provide even worse Yiddish/English puns. Music In addition to his parodies, Katz created more traditional klezmer music. His songs have been compiled onto CDs, including Mish Mosh, The Most Mishige, Mickey Katz Greatest Shticks, and Simcha Time: Music for Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, and Brisses. Katz played with many musicians throughout the years, but he initially performed his parodies with Mannie Klein on trumpet, Sammy Weiss on drums, Benny Gill on violin, Si Zentner on trombone, and Wally Wechsler on piano. Al Sack, the man who created the music for Katz's first two parodies, assembled these players for Katz and then helped him get Nat Farber to arrange the music. Death Katz died of kidney failure in Los Angeles, California in 1985, at the age of 75. Further reading Katz, Mickey. Nonzense on Who's Whoo end Wat's Wat, Illustrations Bernard Schmittke (74 pages). Spear &