Editing Zero Mostel (section)

=== Rise ===
Mostel's rise professionally was rapid. In 1942, his salary at the Café Society went up from $40 a week to $450; he appeared on radio shows, opened in two [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] shows (''Keep Them Laughing'', ''Top-Notchers''), played at the [[Paramount Theater (New York City)|Paramount Theatre]], appeared in an [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] movie (''[[DuBarry Was a Lady (film)|Du Barry Was a Lady]]''), and booked into ''[[La Martinique]]'' at $4,000 a week. He also made [[cameo appearance]]s at the [[Yiddish theatre]], which influenced his performance style. In 1943 ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine described him as "just about the funniest American now living".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Butterfield |first=Roger |date=January 18, 1943 |title=Zero Mostel |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=mE4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61 |magazine=Life |access-date=March 2, 2017 |page=61}}</ref> In March 1943, Mostel was drafted by the [[United States Army|US Army]]. Although he gave varying accounts of his Army service, records show he was honorably discharged in August 1943 because of an unspecified physical disability. He entertained servicemen giving [[United Service Organizations|USO]] performances until 1945.<ref>Brown, pp. 36–39</ref>

Mostel married [[Kate Mostel|Kathryn (Kate) Cecilia Harkin]], an actress and dancer, on July 2, 1944, after two years of courtship. The pair met at [[Radio City Music Hall]] where she was a [[Rockette]].<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/23/obituaries/kate-mostel-dies-at-67-an-actress-and-author.html|title=Kate Mostel Dies at 67; An Actress and author| date= January 23, 1986|work=The New York Times| access-date=April 17, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The marriage caused problems in his relationship with his [[Orthodox Jew]]ish parents: his new wife was not Jewish. His mother never met Kate or her grandsons.<ref name="Sainer" />{{rp|89}} The marriage had problems at times, again mostly due to Mostel's spending most of his time in his art studio. Their relationship was described by friends of the family as complicated, with many fights but having mutual adoration. The couple stayed together until Mostel's death; they had two children, film actor [[Josh Mostel]] in 1946 and Tobias in 1948. After Zero's discharge from the Army, his career resumed. He appeared in a series of plays, musicals, operas, and movies. In 1946 he even made an attempt at serious operatic acting in ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'', but received lukewarm reviews. He sang the title role in a short film of [[Puccini]]'s comic opera ''[[Gianni Schicchi]]''. Critics saw him as a versatile performer.

Zero Mostel made notable appearances on New York City television in the late 1940s. He had his own show in 1948 called ''[[Off the Record (TV series)|Off The Record]]'' on [[WNYW|WABD]] with comedian partner [[Joey Faye]]. Simultaneously, Mostel had a live TV show on [[WPIX]], ''Channel Zero''. He also appeared in the May 11, 1949 ''[[Toast of the Town]]'' broadcast hosted by [[Ed Sullivan]].