‘A hit is a hit’: RIP Jerry Adler, who portrayed ‘Sopranos’ mobster and music guru Hesh

The late Jerry Adler played mobster Herman “Hesh” Rabkin in “The Sopranos.”

Actor Jerry Adler has died, at the age of 96. I won’t even try to summarize his nearly 70-year career, here. But I do want to mention that he played mobster and former record company executive Herman “Hesh” Rabkin on “The Sopranos,” and Hesh is the main character in one of my favorite “Sopranos” scenes.

Hesh is thought to be based, at least in part, on Morris Levy, the Roulette Records founder who had major success in the music industry, particularly in the ’60s, and had strong ties to the mafia. Hesh is not a major “Sopranos” character, but did play a significant part in many episodes.

The scene I wanted to share, below (fast forward to 50 seconds in, for just the key part), is in Episode 10 of Season 1. Tony Soprano’s younger cousin and protégé Christopher Moltisanti (played by Michael Imperioli) is trying to break into the music industry by producing a local band. He plays a demo for Hesh, and Hesh tells Christopher the truth.

Hesh starts diplomatically: “I think it’s not good.” But Christopher presses him for an explanation.

“There’s good and there’s not good; this is not good,” Hesh continues, prompting Christopher to tell the older man, condescendingly, “Maybe it’s not your era.”

Now Hesh gets angry. “Music is music,” he says. “Talent is talent. I don’t care who you are. And I’ve seen them all. I saw heavy metal invented by Hendrix at the Cafe Wha? Kid just came out of the Army. I said to him, ‘Kid, I don’t know what you call it — talent, charisma, magic — but you got it.’ These kids? They don’t, sorry. …

“There’s one constant in the music business: A hit is a hit. And this, my friend, is not a hit.”

Christopher still asks, “Why?”

“Christ! For reasons we couldn’t comprehend or codify, you pathetic schlepper,” says Hesh.

Check out this brilliant scene here:

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