Requiem for a Heavyweight: Whence the name "Maish"

Cafe Society
1

In the 1957 teleplay (later the 1962 movie) Requiem for a Heavyweight, written by Rod Serling, there is a major character named Maish Loomis. He is the boxer’s trainer, played by Keenan Wynn (Jackie Gleason in the film).

In my recollections of the productions, the other players pronounce his name like “Meesh.” Never having seen the name in print, I always assumed it was a contraction of the biblical name Meshack – pronounced “Mee-shak” – of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednago fame. (Talmudic scholars and Guys and Dolls aficionados the world over are quite familiar with this fiery trio.) Well, in an effort to confirm my theory, I went to the IMDB only to learn the name is really Maish.

I never heard of this given name before. A Google search turned up countless hits, but all except one were for people’s last, not first, names. (Ok, ok, I got bored after reading three pages and stopped, but you get the idea.)

So, where did Serling get this odd name from? Is common in some ethnic group? Did he make it up out of thin air? Does it have some great backstory, like it was the name of a one-eyed organ grinder who saved his life as a boy?

2

From the same source Samuel Richardson got the name “Pamela”?

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Maish’s last name was “Rennick,” which might be a Jewish name. That would be consistent with some of the greats’ managers (e.g., Joe Louis and Mike Jacobs, Rocky Marciano and Al Weill). However, I’d be willing to bet that even among Jews, Maish is probably not a common name.

Similarly, I’ve wondered about Steinbeck’s “Joad” family. That is an exceedingly rare name, but I did find a reference to someone named Joad in Carmel, CA. Maybe that’s where he picked it from.

4

This is interesting. At first I thought Earl was wrong. Maish’s last name was Loomis in the teleplay, as I stated in my OP. But then I checked and it was Rennick in the film. So Serling, or someone, changed it along the way. I wonder why. Another mystery!

5

If the character is Jewish, “Maish” may be an accented form of “Moshe”, i.e., Moses.