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How a Jewish schoolteacher from New Jersey made it to Hollywood and Broadway at the same time

JL;DR SUMMARY Robert Kaplow, a former high school English teacher from New Jersey, has carved a unique path in the arts, transitioning from a beloved educator to a creative force in theater and radio. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HeritageHollywoodBroadwayNprHumorLorenz HartBlue MoonRobert KaplowRichards And HartRadio Comedy

Places mentioned

Metuchen, New Jersey, United States
"Robert Kaplow, a retired high school English teacher, has been publishing a monthly newsletter in Metuchen, a small New Jersey town"
Tempe, Arizona, United States
"who was a high school student of Kaplows in the mid-1980s and is now a published poet and an English professor at Arizona State University"
Summit, New Jersey, United States
"Kaplow taught English and film at Summit High School in New Jersey for 34 years."
Washington, Washington DC, United States
"Jay Kernis, Morning Editions founding producer, was in Washington, D.C. when Kaplow was being interviewed about the song he sent in"
Ireland
"right up to and during the shoot last summer in Ireland where Kaplow joined them on set."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 63983
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-10-17 05:30:59 UTC
Curated 2025-10-17 08:30:47 UTC