Clipping and quipping his way back to Portland

By Jenn Director Knudsen

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He's interviewed George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Alex Trebek, Rachel Weisz, Bow Wow and many other big-name stars. He's also chatted at length with rural folks in Arlington, a town of about 530 people outside The Dalles.
Boaz Frankel, a young man slight in stature and age—he's 23 for one more month —has spent time with some of the entertainment industry's biggest lights and attended the 2006 Sundance Film Festival (where he met and schmoozed with Oregonian film critic Shawn Levy).
Yet, Frankel is quite modest when talking about his accomplishments and recent work.
He shrugs and says he just likes talking to people, no matter who they are.
"I definitely don't take anything too seriously, and I like to talk to everybody," said Frankel, who spent the week of Pesach not in his adopted city of New York but with his family in the Southwest Portland home where he grew up.
He said, "A friend once told me, 'You could have a conversation with a brick.'"
Frankel hosts and produces his own funny, quirky television show, "Clips and Quips," viewed on college campus TV stations nationwide, as well as on local cable channel 14.
In one episode of his show, he played a kazoo duet with Nick Parks and for another he donned a false moustache when interviewing a then-hirsute Pierce Brosnan. Catch more such slightly irreverent fare on the Web at www.clipsquips.com.
He's also working on a documentary about Arlington and its residents and has completed some well-received promotional-video projects, including one for Portland's Florence Melton Adult Mini-School.
Sylvia Frankel, Boaz's mother and a Melton instructor since the international program came to Portland about seven years ago, knew its board wanted to do more active outreach, via video.
She says she told board members "in an off-hand manner" that "my son does this sort of thing."
This winter, the board flew Frankel here from New York, where he's lived since beginning his studies in 2001 at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, from which he earned a B.F.A. in 2004.
And he set to work—pro bono—interviewing and filming about 15 current and former Melton students for four days. Frankel then spent 20 hours editing his taped material into a concise, comprehensive seven-minute video.
"In his editing, he was able to pull out what people said to reflect the spectrum" not only of Jewish practice and thought but also of gender, age, profession and background, Sylvia said. "Those are precisely the things we want to advertise about Melton."
Merritt Linn, co-chair of Melton's advisory committee and a driving force in bringing the Jewish-learning program to Portland, said of Frankel, "What he's given us has been a tremendous gift."
"I always had the feeling this was a very giving and talented person who wanted to do the best possible job for us," said Linn.
Frankel uses the collective "we" when explaining how he goes about his work—whether for his own show launched last year, or video projects such as those for Melton and the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a New York-based non-profit—but he largely works alone.
He is quite effective in doing so with his casual dress, relaxed posture and mixture of conversational and self-deprecating styles, say those who've worked with Frankel on a professional basis.
Wendy Kahn, 42, a first-year student in the two-year Melton course, is featured in the video. She spent about 20 minutes answering the questions Frankel had prepared himself and felt very comfortable during her interview.
"Boaz was very friendly, put me at ease and (was) professional," said Kahn, a member of Neveh Shalom.
Helen Raptis is KATU Channel-2's news anchor and "AM Northwest" co-host. Frankel interned for the program in the summer of 2003. His responsibilities included "warming up" the early morning studio audience before taping began, and he appeared on air, too, she said.
"We have a lot of interns come and go, and Boaz stands out. He completely stands out," said Raptis, who's been with the station for eight years.
She said Frankel makes an impression because he's funny, very sharp, creative and self-critical, all traits ideally suited for behind- and on-camera work.
"I don't think you can meet him and not like him," Raptis said. "Everyone remembers him."
Not bad for someone who a mere couple years ago peppered 200 of the country's TV stations with his r?sum? and landed only two fruitless job interviews.
The former Portland Jewish Academy, Robert Gray Middle School and Wilson High School graduate says his current work keeps him tied to New York (and the teensy apartment he shares with roommates). And he enjoys weekly worship at Congregation Adereth El, an Orthodox shul founded nearly 150 years ago that is Manhattan's oldest synagogue in its original location.
But he fervently hopes to again call Portland home, permanently.
This summer, the city will see more of Frankel. He'll be at the Willowbrook Outdoor Children's Arts Program in Tualatin, getting youths ages 3 to 18 enthusiastic about video and filmmaking.
"I miss it," Frankel says of Portland. "It smells a lot better here."