The Jaguar X Type
By Gil Benzeevi
Nominee for the People's Choice Car of the Year Award Finally there is an affordable Jaguar that should satisfy most car enthusiasts that always wanted one but until now was just out of their price range. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the new X-Type is here. Now the ad says "starting at below $30,000" but to be safe expect to spend no less than around $35,000 for this stylish and sophisticated looking automobile.

Now for the fun part. The basic model has a five speed manual transmission and a 2.5L engine with 194 horsepower. The most expensive is an automatic with a 3L engine and 231 horsepower. So both models give you some definite power and 0-60 acceleration estimates range from 8.5 - 6.6 seconds depending on the engine size. The exterior definitely has the feel and pizzazz of an authentic Jaguar - starting with the chrome cat emblem at the center of the hood and finishing with some sexy contour body hugging lines that are sure to get people to pay attention.

Inside there are the obvious comfortable leather seats to add to a classic interior design that won't let you easily forget that this is no ordinary, indistinguishable, lost-in-the-crowd import. Some features available are: Connolly leather-trimmed sports style seats sport steering wheel, Dynamic Stability Control, heated front seats with two temperature settings, headlamps, power wash with heated jets, Xenon headlamps with automatic headlamp leveling, steering wheel audio controls, bird's-eye maple door trims, automatic climate control with pollen and odor filter, instrument panel with Jaguar racing green dials, on-board navigation, touch screen controls for audio, air conditioning and telephone, to name just a partial list of what your Jaguar X-Type can come with. Oh yeh, you can also have an integrated digital cellular phone with voice activation, and lots of chrome.

For safety and security there are side airbags for driver and front passenger, side curtain airbags for front and rear occupants, anti-lock braking, drive-away locking, remote 2-stage unlocking, perimeter security and four full time all-wheel drive power assisted steering. There is more but let's get to the driving experience.

This Jaguar will bring a pretty wide smile to your face. Starting the engine already gives you a wonderful sensation that you're about to explore an adrenaline rush of personal joy. As you accelerate, cushioned by the plush interior and the smooth handling of the X-Type, you start to confirm to yourself that you are not dreaming and this is for real. My short trip in the X-Type was better than expected. Over the long haul, we can only hope the experience holds on and never lets go.

Overall, for the price, the new X-Type will bring a lot of pleasure both from its distinguished styling and responsive behavior. It definitely sticks out in the crowd and should get a lot more attention than other cars in its price range such as BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, Infinity, Volvo, and Audi.

Now all you have to decide is what color you like best, and wow, is there a large selection! Take a test drive and see for yourself why you don't have to spend a fortune to feel like at least a million bucks.
-Reprinted from August 16'01 issue of NoHo>LA.

From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes
a book by Robert Clary

It is not enough to say that Robert Clary, known best as the zany Colonel Louis Lebeau in TV's Hogan's Heroes has lived a remarkable life, but rather, he's lived many lives in his one. Aside from conquering the miraculous feat of being a Holocaust survivor, a successful singer, actor, painter, and family man, he's lived to tell his tale with absolutely no regrets. In his exceptional autobiography, From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes, Clary is completely honest and naked to the reader, revealing every nuance, fear, insecurity and success from his relatively happy childhood in France, where he loved to entertain his large family, to concentration camp prisoner and or-phan, to Broadway and television star. Robert leaves nothing to the imagination and takes us back in time with him to experience the pain as well as the happiness that mark his extraordinary life.

Despite all of the heartache that marred his teenage years, after the war, Robert kept himself in the club scene as a performer in France and made many fortunate business connections, eventually gaining the notice of Harry Bluestone of America's Standard Radio Transcriptions, and came to the states permanently in the late 1940s. He befriended a bevy of up-and-comers like Merv Griffith and made the acquaintance of the influential comedic singer, Eddie Cantor, who had Robert on his Colgate Comedy Hour. Clary went on to play on Broadway in New Faces of 1952 with newbies like Paul Lynde, Eartha Kitt, and Ronny Graham, and landed perhaps his most famous role on Hogan's Heroes from 1965-1971.

In the 1970s Clary followed up with recurring roles on Days of Our Lives and Young and the Restless and Broadway shows like Sugar and in Cabaret as the Emcee. In the 1980s, he became an influential speaker and interviewer for the Simon Wiesenthal Center at the Museum of Tolerance, and in the 1990's gave a testimonial of his Holocaust experiences for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation archives. Unfortunately, Robert's wife and best friend, Natalie, Eddie Cantor's daughter, passed away in 1997, but Robert keeps busy painting and releasing a studio album of wonderful standards each year. He often participates in events for the Eddie Cantor Appreciation Society, of which I am president. - Michelle E. Malik