Spelling Champ Has Letter-Perfect Day

Despite the onerous omen of having the “i” and the “e” wrongly transposed on her name tag, Ruth Fried went on to win two senior spelling bees at the Jewish Family Service Valley Storefront on Wednesday.

“These people are from the pre-computer days and can really spell,” said Selma Glasser, the moderator of the event which has become an annual attraction at the senior day-care center. “They are so on their toes that this time I just brought the killer words.”

Seniors from throughout the Valley competed against each other for cash prizes, movie tickets and the love of spelling.

“Truthfully, I would do it for nothing because it’s so much fun,” said Fried, 64, of West Hills. “During my childhood, I so much enjoyed spelling, it just kind of stayed with me.”

In the first contest, it took 16 rounds for Fried to outlast Alvin Greenman, 68, of Van Nuys. Greenman’s day was done when he substituted an “s” for a “z” in spelling publicize.

Fried and Greenman battled only each other for nine rounds after the other 12 contestants had failed to spell words such as entrepreneur, emphysema, confectioner, outrageous and complacent.

In the second spelling bee Fried was declared the co-winner along with 77-year-old Zelda Plotkin of Sherman Oaks.

Although many took the competition very seriously, even to the point of correcting Glasser on her pronunciation about five times, most of those participating were there for the fun.

Joking about the choice of words, Saul Taplin, 83, of Woodland Hills, wanted to spell one of the longest words in the dictionary.

“Ask me to spell antidisestablishmentarianism,” he repeatedly requested of Glasser.

After asking for the 28-letter word one last time, Taplin was knocked out of the competition by bouillabaisse.