Starsky's Turn (Swimming, Being Jewish, and the 1972 Olympics)

[frescadp]

My big plan today, in the face of the jumbled state of the world [terrorist bombing in Paris], is to bring some order to my sewing supplies,
which are all muddled up on my new '70s bamboo bookshelf. >

Someone had put this out for free on the curb and I thought it looked . . .

1. lightweight enough to carry
2. useful
3. like Starsky & Hutch

I've paid a lot of attention to Hutch's stuff.

Turns out, now it's Starsky's stuff I'm looking at.
______________________________________________

Starsky: Swim Poster, Being Jewish, and the 1972 Olympics
(featuring Starsky's back)

I went looking to see if my bookshelf shows up
in Starsky and Hutch---(it truly is from the Seventies, and it would match Hutch's houseplants).
But, alas, S & H fandom does not have a huge database of images like Star Trek's Trekcore.com.

So I can't argue from its absence online, but I couldn't find a picture of such a bookshelf in S&H.
I did, however, see its matching bamboo "peacock chair" in Starsky's place--in a tiny image at Barbwire's "Da Little Tings".

(She calls it wicker, but it's bamboo.)
I remember this chair as the most uncomfortable chair ever.)
Oh--here's a larger shot of the chair, on Starsky's right, from the episode "Running" (1976).

Along the way I also came across this screencap of Starsky's apartment (below, from the episode "Foxy Lady", 1978).

As you can see, the person who took it was interested in Starsky's menorah. (I believe it's never stated Starsky's Jewish, though the actor, Paul Michael Glaser, is.)
I got curious about the poster above the menorah.

I tell ya, the Internet is so great, isn't it?
I just googled around:
"1970s swimmer poster" didn't bring it up;
 but, guessing, I added "olympics", and there it was!

A swimming poster for the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games.

One of a series of posters thirty-five world artists created for the games, organized by the games' lead designer, Otl Aitchen.
This one is by artist R B Kitaj.

I thought Kitaj was British,
but no, he was an American Jew who lived in England, and, according to his NYT obituary,
"Later in his career, Mr. Kitaj (pronounced kit-EYE) celebrated Jewish culture and his Jewish identity in his art."

So, a poster by a Jewish artist, above a menorah. Could there be a connection?

Starsky's apartment seems like a random jumble of stuff, but in this case, there is a connection:
The 1972 Olympics were the ones where Palestinian gunmen killed eleven Israeli athletes.*

From "Olympic Posters" in The Telegraph:

1972 Munich, Germany
Designated the “Happy Olympics”, the 1972 Munich games were anything but. Conceived to promote a positive and peaceful image of modern Germany, these were the games when the Utopian Olympic ideal came most badly unstuck.
...these games were overshadowed by the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches by members of the Palestinian Black September group. The games continued with flags at half-mast, with American swimmer Mark Spitz winning seven gold medals.

Also, Starsky likes swimmers, I presume, since he has a Speedo poster in his kitchen. Which one? Does anyone know?
I can't find it, so I added Mark Spitz in his Speedo.

I was eleven during the 1972 summer Olympics, and I remember the buzz about the men's Speedo tiny (for the time) swim briefs.

But I didn't remember that Mark Spitz is Jewish and during the 1972 Olympics:
"Mark Spitz, the American swimming star who had already completed his competitions, left Munich during the hostage crisis (it was feared that as a prominent Jew, Spitz might now be a kidnapping target)."

Yes, and so, my conclusion is:
I am not going to get much done today, after all, because I spent hours establishing that Starsky is a Jewish guy who likes swimmers and has some feelings about the 1972 Olympics...

Also, he has nice shoulders. But you knew that. Maybe he's a swimmer himself?

*googles again*
Wow, huh:
according to the Talmud, Jewish parents are supposed to teach their kids to swim.

From Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, "Learning to Swim":
"The Talmud (Kiddushin 29a) enumerates three specific requirements for what parents must teach their children: the Torah, how to make a living, and how to swim.
The first two seem obvious, but how to swim?
Swimming, literally, is a life-or-death matter. The authors of the Talmud recognized that parents must teach their children how to survive — how to come out on the “swim” end of “sink or swim.”
Even if we live far from water, even if we think our children will never accidentally enter a pool area, even if we ourselves hate water, we must ensure that our children have the basic skills necessary to survive."
_____

* Weird coincidence:
According to wikipedia, the night before the Palesitinian attack...
"Monday evening, 4 September [1972], the Israeli athletes enjoyed a night out, watching a [live theater] performance of Fiddler on the Roof"

As I assume you know if you've read this far, the coincidence is that Paul Michael Glaser was in the movie version of Fiddler released the year before, in 1971.

"Starsky & Speedo" from OK-7's Tumblr post "Some Thoughts on Starsky's House"

Comments

[duluthgirl.livejournal.com]

More cool ideas and observations! I had noticed those posters, but for some idiotic reason, never considered that Starsky was a swimmer. But he certainly IS built for it. Man, I like the thought...


Starsky being Jewish isn't ever stated, but I certainly buy it. He also has the star of David around from time to time, even if he DOES like Christmas!

Great shots. You make me want to study their apartments! Btw, that first shot is from "Running," which has lots of great scenes of his apartment. I love the decor in both of their homes.

[frescadp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! This stuff is so interesting, isn't it---placing the boys in their social and historical context.

I just discovered (and added here) the info that 1972 Olympic swimmer Mark Spitz is Jewish---I hadn't known that (but Starsky probably would).

I'll add that the shot is from "Running".

[taass64.livejournal.com]

You are such a wealth of information. I love the picture of Starsky's back in Gillian. I love it so much! That has been my default userpic since day one on LJ. I just want to bury my face in his back, it is so sexy!

[frescadp.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm.... Starsky's back.
Like nuzzling warm cinnamon rolls.
Or biting into a steak.
Or...