|
|
|
Home > Index >
TV Character Bios > Latka Gravas |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
TV Character Bios |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
GRAVAS, Latka & wife, Simka
(Taxi)
(
555-6328
c/o The Sunshine Taxi Company
New York City, NY (Manhattan)
Latka is a lovable garage mechanic. He comes
from an undetermined East European nation and speaks a language with
gibberish sounding phrases like "yabba Ibby dibby dabba." Latka reports
to cab dispatcher Louie DePalma who always gives him a hard time.
|

Latka Gravas |
|
For fun, Latka unwinds at
Mario's, the cabbie's local hangout. His favorite song on Mario's "Rock-ola"
jukebox is "Summer Love." [A7 on the machine]. Latka's catchphrase is
"Thank you very much."
Wanting to fit in, Latka
said he wished to be “an American fun guy taking each
day in high gear.” To obtain his wish, he gathered up copies of Playboy
and a tape of a smooth-talking FM DJ and Latka left “to alter my lifestyle
to fit the fast lane. “Latka’s intensive study into the world of the
swinger forced a personality transformation in the form of an alter ego
called Vic Ferrari, a suave, ingratiating womanizer who spoke English
without any hint of a foreign accent. Latka later married Simka Dahblitz,
a peasant girl who recently moved from Latka's homeland to New York City.
Prior to the marriage,
there is the Gewirtzal. This is the person who proposes marriage for the
groom-to-be. The bride-to-be accepts the marriage proposal by grabbing the
nose of the Gewirtzal. In addition to the Gewirztal, there is the Murzik.
This is what the groom's mother tells the bride-to-be before the wedding.
How the bride reacts to the Murzik determines if the mother gives her
blessing. The Murzik consists of these comments: "men are nothing but lazy
lumps of drunken flesh. They crowd you in bed, get you all worked up, and
then before you can say 'is that all there is,' that's all there is. They
pass out smokes when you are still whimpering from pain of delivery. Your
flaxen hair will become like dead grass and your once firm breasts will
fall to the floor."
Latka and Simka
celebrated marriage in the traditional style of their old world country,
but in a reversal of American customs, the bride wears a suit and the
groom wears a dress. To be worthy of marriage in the eyes of their Elders,
the couple had to pass a test ("If one of them should fail any question of
the test, they will never be married.").
Beginning the ceremony with
a howling noise, the priest puts a crown of rue on the bride's head. If
she can successfully walk with the crown on the head, she is declared a
virgin. Unfortunately, Simka drops the crown but she manages to convince
the priest she is still "pure").
The next step in the ritual
involved the correct answering of three questions. Question No. 1: "Who is
it that is not your brother yet he is your father's son." (the groom
answers "It is me"); Question No. 2: "What is the greatest gift a person
can give to another?" (The answer: $5,100); and Question No 3: "There is a
beautiful baby and there is Simka. A wild bore is charging. You can save
only one. Who do you save? [This is a trick question, because no matter
what a person answers, the answer
will be graded wrong. and the priest will say the couple "can never be
married." This is done to see if the person really loves their partner and
is willing to defy the Elders' wishes and marry their chosen mate,
anyway]. Simka, of course, goes into a tirade supporting her love for
Latka and the priest joyfully announces they are marriage material. The
priest closes the wedding ceremony with the words: "May the stars shine
upon you and may God grant you many children. You are now husband and
wife." With the ritual finished, the couple kicks up their heels doing the
traditional dance called the "Plumitz."
After their marriage Latka
and Simka conducted a sacred post-marriage ceremony called “The Schloogel.“
In the old country where Latka and Simka were born, newlyweds in an
expression of love and sharing of their new found happiness, would
introduce their closest acquaintances to "ideal" marriage partners. If the
newlywed's friends did not attend the ceremony, it was considered a great
insult. Following the tradition of their country, Latka and Simka hosted a
party at which Alex Rieger, Elaine Nardo, Tony Banta, Louie De Palma, and
Jim Ignatowski were supposed to meet their ideal life partner. On first
glance, it appears they did.
|
SOME LATKA - ISMS
|
Latka: |
As they say in my
country, the only thing that separates us from the animals are
mindless superstition and pointless ritual.
|
| |
|
|
Latka:
|
In my country
everyone shares everything with everyone. |
|
Alex: |
Oh, that's nice,
Latka. |
|
Latka: |
Otherwise they
shoot you.
|
| |
|
|
Rev. Jim: |
Death to the
revolutionary rebels! |
|
Latka: |
But I am fighting
for the revolutionary rebels. |
|
Rev. Jim: |
Death to the
imperialist stooges! |
|
Latka: |
But they were
thrown out long ago. |
|
Rev. Jim: |
Death to the
puppet regime! |
|
Latka: |
But there is no
puppet regime. |
|
Rev. Jim: |
Who the hell are
we fighin'? |
|
Latka: |
The tyrannical
despot. |
|
Rev. Jim: |
Well, the
tyrannical despot will soon know the name Jim ...ummmm.... |
|
Alex: |
Ignatowski. |
|
Rev. Jim: |
Right! Already
it's spreading!
|
| |
|
|
Elaine: |
No way I'm gonna
marry him! |
|
Bobby: |
It's just a
marriage, Elaine! It's not like you have to have sex with him
or anything. |
|
Latka: |
Who asked you?
|
|

TRIVIA NOTE:
Latka Gravas was an East European immigrant with a strange Slavic/Russian
accent He claimed to be from an Island in the Caspian Sea. The concept
for the Latka character evolved from a street incident when Andy Kaufman
was approached by people who insisted he give them his money. Instead of
arguing or fighting with them, Andy put on a very sweet slavic-like accent
and began to cry "I don't have any money. I don't know what to do. Leave
me alone." His pathetic demeanor chased away his would be muggers. Andy
later used his "Foreign Man" character for his comedy act. Andy Kaufman
often courted controversy to gain maximum comedic exposure. For instance,
he enjoyed a brief professional career and challenged all the women in the
audience to fight with him while obnoxiously declaring they were weak and
not as good as a man. Andy's stint as a wrestler even got him smacked down
on television by a male professional wrestler. Andy received real injuries
from the encounter and for weeks afterward was seen wearing a white neck
brace. Born January 17, 1949, Andy Kaufman
died of lung cancer
May 16, 1984. Comedian Jim Carrey portrayed Andy Kaufman in the
biographical film homage Man on the Moon (1999).
|
|
TAXI/ABC/NBC/1978-83
|
Judd
Hirsch |
as |
Alex
Rieger |
|
Danny
DeVito |
as |
Louie De
Palma |
|
Marilu
Henner |
as |
Elaine
O'Connor-Nardo |
|
Tony Danza |
as |
Tony Banta
|
|
Andy
Kaufman |
as |
Latka
Gravas / Vic Ferrari |
|
J. Alan
Thomas |
as |
Jeff
Bennett |
|
Jeff
ConawRandall |
as |
John Burns
|
|
Carveray
|
as |
Robert L.
'Bobby' Wheeler |
|
Carol Kane
|
as |
Simka
Dahblitz-Gravas |
|
Christopher Lloyd |
as |
Reverend
Jim Ignatowski |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Home |
Site Map |
Search |
Contact Us |
Privacy Policy |
Archive |
|
|
|
|