Theater, Movies and Television
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Item Richard Lewis’ life was not ‘from hell’(The Forward, 2024-02-28) Grisar, PJAn obituary for Richard Lewis, a comedian who did stand-up routines, and more recently, starred in the Mel Brooks film, "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," and most recently, appeared over the twelve seasons of Larry David's comedy series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Lewis died of Parkinson's Disease. Click on the link to read the article.Item Saidye Rosner Bronfman(Canadian Encyclopedia, 2019-08) Raymond, KatrineAn article about philanthropist and art patron, Saidye Rosner Bronfman (1896-1995). Married to liquor magnate Samuel Bronfman, Saidye Bronfman was a generous supporter of charities and the arts. She organized the Montreal Jewish branch of the Quebec division of the Red Cross, for which she was awarded Order of the British Empire in 1943. In 1952, she and her husband founded the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation, which "gives grants to education, the arts, heritage preservation and Jewish community initiatives." The couple also made a significant contribution to the arts in Canada, founding the Saidye and Samuel Bronfman Collection of Canadian Art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In recognition of Sadyie Bronfman's passion for the arts, her children founded theater and arts complex, the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts in 1967. Click on the link to read the article.Item Steve Lawrence, singer and half of popular stage duo Steve & Eydie, dies at 88(NPR, 2024-03-07) Associated PressObituary for Steve Lawrence, who died on March 7, 2024. Lawrence's musical career spanned decades. Throughout much of his career, he was part of a team, Steve & Edie, with his wife and partner, Edie Gormé. The pair, appearing as Steve & Edie, were frequent guests on talk shows, clubs, in Las Vegas, Carnegie Hall, and Broadway. Click on the link to read the obituary..Item ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Made Something Out of Nothing(The New York Times, 2024-02-02) Poniewozik, JamesA column about the final season of the long-running HBO television series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," created by and starring Larry David playing a character named Larry David. The article notes that David, the character, is more overtly Jewish than he had been in previous seasons, and alludes to the character's complex relationship between his Jewishness and the political world. Click on the link to read the article.Item Hedy Lamarr: Actor and the inventor of a wireless communications technique still in use today(NewScientist, 2000) Aron, JacobHedy Lamarr, a Hollywood actor, was born in Austria in 1914 to a wealthy Jewish family. The family fled to the United States in 1938, when Austria was annexed by Germany. She was also an inventor. In the run-up to World War II, she wanted to contribute to the United States war effort. Since the Nazis had the capability of jamming torpedo signals, causing them to miss their targets, she set out to develop an unjammable system of radio signals to control them. Along with composer, George Autheil, she developed a system that "would randomly switch to different radio frequencies to get around jamming, known as frequency-hopping (FH) spread spectrum communication." This system, which was patented in 1942 but was classified until 1981. It was used in early WIFI technology and is still in use today for Bluetooth technology. Click on the link above to read the article.Item Norman Lear’s early experience of antisemitism made him America’s conscience: The ‘All in the Family’ and ‘Jeffersons’ producer died at 101(The Forward, 2023-12-06) Grisar, PJNorman Lear, who produced such pioneering and iconic television series as "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," and "Maude" died at the age of 101 on December 5, 2023. Lear was known for the social consciousness of his work. Lear attributes the birth of his social consciousness to his early experience with antisemitism. In a 2014 interview with The Forward, he described how, at the age of 9, he learned that "people disliked me because of my Jewishness," and stated that that realization profoundly influenced his attitudes about people. "My sympathies, my empathy," he noted, "went out to people who were automatically disliked just because of who they are." In addition to his career in television, Lear was an advocate for liberal causes, founding the progressive group, People for the American Way. Click on the link above to read the article.Item “You’re So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah” Exudes Jewish Pride(Jew in the City, 2023-08-30) Josephs, AllisonAn article about the Netflix film by Adam Sandler, "You're So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah." The author notes that what distinguishes this film from so many others about Jews, is that it portrayed a positive image of Judaism and conveyed a sense of pride in being Jewish and recognition that the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony is about Torah and about the Jewish faith and tradition, rather than simply the party. The film is also distinguished by the fact that--unusual in many films with Jewish characters--the Jewish characters were played by Jewish actors. Click on the link above to read the article.Item Why It Matters That 'Oppenheimer' Casts Non-Jews in Jewish Roles(Newsweek, 2023-07-12) Levs, JoshIn the film, Oppenheimer, two non-Jewish actors played the parts of real-life Jews (J. Robert Oppenheimer and Lewis Stauss), whose Jewishness was an important component of their stories. Levs argues that the lived experience that members of minority groups have with prejudice and discrimination can inform their acting and can "help people learn about, and even develop empathy for, members of that minority group." He argues that, at a time of rising antisemitic speech and incidents, the choice of non-Jewish actors to play these roles was a missed opportunity. Click on the link to read the article.Item J. Robert Oppenheimer: 5 Facts, including His Fraught Relationship with Judaism(Aish, 2023-07-16) Miller, Dr. Yvette AltJ. Robert Oppenheimer, was dubbed the "father of the atomic bomb." He directed the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, where the bomb was developed. Oppenheimer, who came from an affluent, assimilated Jewish family, had a complicated relationship with his Judaism. He was avowedly assimilated, despite the fact that antisemitism dogged him throughout his academic career, beginning at Harvard, which, beginning in 1922, the year he matriculated, began asking applicants to disclose their religion in an effort to curb the number of Jewish students. Always keenly concerned with issues of ethics and morality, it was the Holocaust awakened Oppenheimer's identification with the Jewish people. Indeed, that was a motivating force behind his commitment to develop the bomb before the Nazis did. The article discusses Oppenheimer's misgivings about the arms race that would ensue and became a vocal opponent of the nuclear arms race and may well have been behind his losing his security clearance. Click on the link to read the article.Item Alan Arkin, Jewish actor with uncommon versatility, dies at 89: The son of Ukrainian and German Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn won an Oscar in 2007(The Forward, 2023-06-30) Silow-Carroll, AndrewThis article discusses the nearly seven-decade career of actor, Alan Arkin, who died in June 2023. The article emphasizes Arkin's versatility and the wide range and variety of the roles he played. Click on the link to read the article.Item What Scared Steven Spielberg About The Fabelmans—And How Tony Kushner Pushed Him Past It(Vanity Fair, 2022-11-21) Breznican, AnthonyThis article discusses the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner in creating "The Fabelmans," Spielberg's intensely personal, semi-autobiographical film. Spielberg had contemplated making this film for some time, but because of its personal nature and revelations about his family, he had been reluctant to do so. Kushner coaxed him to do it. According to Speilberg, "the decision to make the movie was maybe one of the scariest lines I’ve had to cross. Once, with Tony’s help, I got past that, it was a very interesting experience.” Click on the link to read the article.Item At ‘The Fabelmans’ premiere, Steven Spielberg discusses how his Jewish identity is portrayed in the autobiographical film(Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), 2022-09-12) Fear, DavidAt the premiere of Steven Spiellberg's semi-autobiographical film, "The Fabelmans" (co-written with Tony Kushner) at the Toronto Film Festival, Spieilberg discusses his Jewishness and the experience of living in distinctly non-Jewish environments. "The Fablemans" is widely considered to be the most personal of his films. Click on the link to read the article.Item ‘Hallelujah’ Review: From Leonard Cohen to Cale to Buckley to Shrek: A new documentary tells the entwined stories of a songwriter and his best-known composition(New York Times, 2022-07-01) Scott, A.O.This is New York Times film reviewer, A.O. Scott's Critics Pick of the biographical documentary, "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song." The directors, Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine trace the seven-year development of Leonard Cohen's best-known song, "Hallelujah." They trace his development from a poet and known figure in the Canadian literary community, his upbringing in the affluent Westmount section of Montreal, and his interest in Jewish and Buddhist religious teachings. Click on the link above to read Scott's review of the film. Click on the links below to see NAJC's other entries on Leonard Cohen.Item Museum of Yiddish Theater(2021) Museum of Yiddish TehaterThe purpose of The Museum of Yiddish Theater, located in New York City, is to "preserve and document the historic legacy of Yiddish Theater, radio, recordings and films or future generations and scholars." Its collection includes everything related to Yiddish theater from scripts, music, newspaper articles, books, photographs, costumes, etc. The Web Site includes links to a variety of resources related to Yiddish theater. Click on the link above to visit the site.Item Ivan Reitman, ‘Ghostbusters’ Director and Son of Auschwitz Survivor, Dies at 75(The Detroit Jewish News, 2022-02-14) Hanu, Shira; Jewish Telegraphi AgencyAn article about Hollywood Ivan Reitman, who died on February 12, 2022. Retiman is best known for having directed the 1984 hit movie, "Ghostbusters." He also produced the 1978 film, “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” Click on the link above to read the article.Item Should only Jewish actresses play Jewish roles? Some say Hollywood has a 'Jewface' problem.(USA Today, 2021-11-10) Oliver, DavidHave Jews enjoyed a great deal of success in the United States? Without doubt. Are they completely accepted? The answer is somewhat more complicated. This article discusses the fact that many Jewish roles in movies, theater and television are played by non-Jews even though there are many Jewish actors who could play them. Click on the link above to read more.Item Stephen Sondheim on West Side Jews, Israel, and Cole Porter(Tablet, 2021-11-30) Pogrebin, Abigail"An excerpt from ‘Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish’ about the legendary composer." Jews make up a small minority of the North American population. This leads many to assume that secular Jews grow up and work in essentially non-Jewish contexts. This interview suggests that this is not always the case. Click on the link above to access.Item Stephen Sondheim, Titan of the American Musical, Is Dead at 91(The New York Times, 2021-11-26) Weber, BruceA biographical essay on the occasion of the death of Stephen Sondheim, A Jewish American who was "one of Broadway history’s songwriting titans." Among his many accomplishments, he wrote the lyrics for the musical "West Side Story," and the music and words for "Send in the Clowns." Click on the link above to access the article.Item Larry David: American comedian and writer(Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021-06-28) Augustyn, AdamLarry David is best known for being the co-creator of the popular comedy series, "Seinfeld." He is currently the star of another popular series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Click on the link above to read this article on the work and career of Larry David. Click on the first link below to read an article in "The Forward" entitled "Why ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Is The Seminal Jewish Comedy (Yes, It Even Beats ‘Seinfeld’)." Click on the second link below to see a scene from "Seinfeld."Item The Vagina Monologues Performed by Eve Ensler(YouTube, 2014-06-18) Ensler, EveA set of 10 YouTube videos of Eve Ensler performing "The Vagina Monologues." Click on the link above to watch the videos. For a discussion of the role and impact of "The Vagina Monologues," see the first link below. To read an article based on an interview with Ensler, click on the second link below.