Jackie Mason, z”l Answer

07/26/2021

A. Ginger Reiter met Jackie Mason in 1977 when he performed at a restaurant in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida called Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House.

and

B. During the time that Ginger Reiter and Jackie Mason were dating, Reiter said, “He would leave some of his suits and ties in my closet. But little did I know that there were women all over Miami Beach with his suits and ties in their closets.” Reiter later introduced those suits and ties as evidence in her paternity suit against Mason.

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C. Ginger Reiter had trained as a teacher of hearing impaired, but later gave up that career and became a writer, performer and producer. Her first show, Oh, Jackie, Oh, premiered in 1983, about her relationship with Mason before their daughter was born. Jackie Mason saw the first version of the show Oh, Jackie, Oh at a Florida synagogue, and gave it the following review, according to Reiter: “I don’t understand why you think this is so interesting. A man and woman, they go out. They go to an early bird special. What’s so interesting about it?”

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D. Ginger Reiter’s first show, Oh, Jackie, Oh, was revived and rewritten more than once, and ultimately ran off-Broadway in 2014 with a new title, 702 Punchlines & Pregnant: The Jackie Mason Musical, with songs including Ode To The Early Bird Special and I Never Met This Yente. Reiter said the 702 in the show title referenced “the exact number of times that I was with Jackie.”

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E. Though Mason had little to do with his daughter Sheba, a comedian and actor, he did once run into her in Manhattan, where he complained about a joke she had made in her stand-up comedy act, where she said: “Sometimes I wish a better-looking comedian was my father, like Woody Allen or Rosie O’Donnell.”

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