Elliott Raisen turns 90 in grandiose style
By DEAN M. SHAPIRO, Special to the CCJN
The air was festive and the crowd was exuberant at Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation’s social hall on the evening of April 28 as Elliott Raisen celebrated his 90th birthday vaudeville-style.
Elliott Raisen at his 90th birthday celebration. (Photo by Alan Smason)
It was a showcase of singing, dancing and poetic tributes paid to a well-known, well-loved arts patron and longtime Israeli dance instructor who, when asked how it feels to be 90, replied, “Same as it did at 40.”
A familiar presence at cultural and social events in and around the New Orleans area for many years, with his long black hair tied back in a ponytail and his distinctive Bronx accent, the man everyone knew simply as “Elliott” was the focal point of the event. Surrounded by his siblings, adult children, grandchildren and his wife of 68 years, Sandy, he was clearly reveling in the joyous occasion.
Standing at the microphone in front of a long “Happy 90th Birthday” banner stretched the length of the stage behind him, Elliott recounted many of the landmark events that occurred during the nine-plus decades of his life. An estimated 200 people from all over the local area and even some from out-of-state listened in awe to his stories, applauding at the appropriate moments.
Bon Operatit! members perform the Verdi “Anvil Chorus” with honoree Elliott Raisen at right. (Photo by Alan Smason)
Born on April 24, 1928 in the New York City Borough of The Bronx, Elliott recounted memories of a youth spent primarily among many other Jews of Eastern European descent. At the age of 8, he campaigned for Norman Thomas, Socialist Party candidate for president who ran against Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 and several other times.
A year or two later, he recalled having a fourth-grade teacher who was the sister-in-law of Major League Baseball star, Hank Greenberg, who nearly equaled Babe Ruth’s then-single season home run record. “We were all cheering for him to break the record,” he said, adding that the teacher took the class to a game at Yankee Stadium that got rained out in the fifth inning. “I never went to another ballgame after that,” he laughed.
One day in 1937 (May 6), Elliott said he and his friends were playing stickball in the street as the zeppelin Hindenburg passed over them, “so close we could see people through the windows.” Several hours later it exploded and crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of its 97 passengers. A year later another disaster struck: the powerful, unnamed Hurricane of 1938. On December 7, 1941, Elliott was playing in the street again with his friends; this time in a touch football game, when news came of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. “None of us even knew where it was,” he recalled.
Bon Operatit! at Shir Chadash. (Photo by Alan Smason)
“During World War II everybody participated,” Elliott continued. “Everyone was involved. Nothing was disposed of. Everything was recycled and put toward the war effort. It made people feel proud that they contributed to the war effort. Everything was rationed – especially food and gasoline.”
Too young to serve in the armed forces during World War II, Elliott was married with a child and in graduate school during Korean War, so he didn’t serve in that one either. “Then there was the sexual revolution. I didn’t participate in any of that,” he said, eliciting laughs from the audience.
A graduate of the prestigious Bronx High School of Science (from which, he proudly noted, six Nobel Prize winners emerged), Elliott went on to complete his post-graduate work at the University of Cincinnati. A chemist and engineer, he moved on to highly technical jobs in Niagara Falls, NY and Chicago, “at the dawn of the space age,” before settling in New Orleans in 1976. He and Sandy joined Shir Chadash, then known as Tikvat Shalom, the same year.
The Komenka dancers perform a series of Israeli dances. (Photo by Alan Smason)
Leading off the evening’s live entertainment was Bon Operatit!, a vocal quartet consisting of opera and Broadway-style singers in all four voice categories. After a sequence of individual arias and ensemble numbers, Elliott and one of the members, mezzo-soprano Mary Penick Akin, reenacted a scene from Camille Saint-Saens’ most famous opera, “Samson et Dalila.” With Elliott pretending to be a sleeping Samson on the stage, Akin sang Dalila’s love aria to him before wielding a sharp blade and pretending to cut off his long hair. The audience erupted with laughter when she triumphantly waved a lock of fake hair over him.
Following Bon Operatit! was the Komenka Dance & Music Ensemble, performing a series of lively Israeli dances. Other featured performers included vocalist Natasha Ramer, founder of the Moscow Nights Russian culture ensemble; Suzaune McKamey, who sang several numbers including a birthday tribute to Elliott; and a Jesuit High School theatre student dressed as Tevye from “Fiddler on the Roof” singing “If I Were a Rich Man.” Ramer’s husband, Sam, read an original poem about Elliott that he composed especially for the occasion.
Sam Ramer reads a poem about Elliott Raisen as the subject, left, looks on. (Photo by Alan Smason).
Shir Chadash Rabbi Deborah Silver conferred the Priestly Blessing as members of the audience and Elliott’s family formed a circle around him. “The more you love the younger you get and the more you are able to share your heart with people. And so we bless you with many more years of laughter and growth,” the rabbi said as she administered the blessing with outstretched hands.
During a break in the entertainment, birthday cake was served to all the guests. The event went on till after midnight.
Commenting on the occasion several days afterward, Elliott said, “It went great. I loved it. I’ve gotten over fifty emails from people who were there, telling me how much they loved it also. I want to thank everybody who came out, especially the performers.”
One of the highlights he cited was the blessing offered by Rabbi Silver. “It was so nice of her to do that,” he said. “One of my younger friends in my dance group who’s not Jewish commented that she really enjoyed it too.”
Reflecting on reaching nonagenarian status, Elliott said he draws inspiration from others in the same age group, particularly those who are active in the performing arts. In the emailed invitation he sent out prior to the party, he directed recipients to a 28-minute YouTube video from 2017, titled “If You Aren’t in the Obit, Eat Breakfast.” In the video, Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Norman Lear discuss their lives and how they are staying active in their 90s.
“I hope that this movie . . . and me . . . will upset all your conceptions of being 90,” he wrote.
Here are photos from the evening:
