Evening star., 1955-02-24


days which begin at Z am. end
which she combines the careers
Of acting, wifehood, mother
hood. and a variety of civic ac-I
tivities.
The cynical might attribute
her unfailing physical and men
tai energy to the fact that she
always has doctor in the house,
DR.. Paul Chodoff, neuropsyehia-
trist and analyst but Mrs.
Chodoff creates the impression
Of boundless innate vitality.
The other Chodoffs, four
children and the doctor, equally
healthy. thoroughly approve of
such a program for such a
woman.
The single complaint. more
humorous than serious, was reg
istered the other day when Mrs.
Chodoff found herself in her sec
ond consecutive Arena Stage hit.
the current "Sholom Aleichem."
Her 11-year-old daughter Toby
who had seen mother depart
nightly for weeks to play in
"The Miser," foreseeing many
more weeks of the same in the
new play, observed drily:
IT thought acting was just a
hobby Of yours"
Mrs. Chodoff who has got her
laughs for years with some Of
the finest comedy lines ever
written, rewarded Toby's with
the laugh it merited.
A critic who has been casting
Affirmative votes for Mrs. Cho-
doff for years at Catholic Uni
versity. Arena Stage and Olney
Is surprised at luncheon to learn
that it began even before that.
"You gave me my first good
notice (not hers, ours) when I
replaced Leila Ernst in the orig
inal company of Pal joey" she
says.
All of her notices in that first
big role-which wasn't so big,
she says-were good with one
exception. She still treasures
what Gene Kelly told her then
to console her: Don't think
thing of it. You've got too much
sense to be in this show"
Mrs. Chodoff, who could not
be happier with the way life has
worked out, is indebted to two
men and one war for the pat
tern. One of the men was her
Philadelphia father who insisted
she be educated, music major
In college. The other was DR..
Chodoff. who. confronted by
war, asked her to share it with
him She did. After that acting
became1 a part-time activity,
much more varied than if she
had made it an exclusive career.
and much more satisfying for
its variety.
Since last summer. however,
1t has been taking more time
than usual. thanks to everything
turning into a long-running hit.
The first Of these was Fry's
"Venus Observed at Olney last
summer. and this fall and WIN
ter "The Miser" and "Sholom
Aleichem" laid end to end at
Arena.
But. it is not so bad" she
says. who needs more than six
or seven hours sleep? I get up
In the morning, get the children
of to school, Paul off to his
practice and teaching. get the
house in order and. when I need
1t. take a nap when the baby
(Sarah, aged IA months) is TAX
ing hers. suppose if you want
to do as many things as I do.
you just learn to do them with
out fuss and fretfulness.
A couple of other things she
does are helping her husband
with his presidency of the West
Elementary School PTA and
participating in many of the ac-
tivities of the District League of
Women Voters.
Incidentally. the Chodoffs live
at 4704 Blagden avenue. within
hearing distance Of Carter Bar
ron Amphitheater. but they never
make a peep of protest about
the noise from there.
ut means actors at work, >"
Mrs. Chodof says, with the un-
derstanding Of one who has seen
actors not at work.
In her spare time. Mrs. Chod-
off plays piano. sings and plays
with the family menagerie which
includes a cat, dog and bird. In
his spare time. her husband plays
tennis. reads avidly and goes to
the theater. AS for Toby. IL, she
contemplates a future in which
she thinks she will be an actress,
which shows the family is totally
unmarked by mothers avoca-
tional career.
The boys, Mark 8. and David,
8, have no spare time.
X \ \
FURTHERMORE: Those who