THE JEWISH NEWS
'Page Fourteen
Friday, September 15, 1944
Remembering the Faith of Our Fathers
By PAUL KRESH
Copyright, 1944. Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.
When war came to Medford, Ore-
gon
' , a town of 15,000, the Jewish
"community" there consisted of five
` 4- and a half families — counting the
town's one Jewish bachelor—who
lived almost wholly vblivion of
their Jewish identity. Sustained ex-
posure to a completely non-Jewish
environment had obliterated all that
was Jewish from their minds save a
few sentimental memories of child-
hood. The women had practically for-
gotten . how to make gefilte fish. The
men scarcely remembered how to sing
"Adon Olom." Three of the families (
did express a minimum of Jewish
loyalty when they made an annual
pilgrimage to Portland, 330 miles to
the north, during the High Holy Days.
That was as far as it went.
There were 11 Jewish children in
town. Only one of them had any
Jewish training at all. The others,
ranging in age from 14 to 17, knew
nothing of their own religion. Two of
them had passed their 13th birthday
without being confirmed.
The one man in town who had a
considerable Jewish background was
Mr. Winkleman, the bachelor. Mana-
ger of one of Medford's largest stores,
a success as a business man, he was
liberal minded and well read. He was
more conscious than the others of
current Jewish problems, and man-
aged, in his frequent trips to Port-
land and San Francisco, to maintain
some loose bond with organized Jew-
ish life.
Conditions Changed by War
The others were not only isolated
from the Jewish world outside Med-
ford, they were more or less isolated
from each other. One ultra-assimila-
tionist family kept as far away as it
could from the rest, forming only
Gentile friendships. When the others
met, it was generally under the aus-
pices of Kiwanis, or Masons, or some
general community organization. They
gave their energies entirely to busi-
ness activities, the children to school.
War was to change all this. In
Star Maker
Copyright, 1944. Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.
HOLLYWOOD — Cinematown
is studded with unusual per-
sonalities who work behind the
scenes . . . are rarely heard
about . . . but whose brushes,
mortars, T squares are the foun-
dations of that business or Art
called the Motion Picture. Such
a one is Maurice Seiderman,
make-up man.
His was the hand that cre-
ated "Citizen Kane," the fingers
that etched Orson Welles from a
. handsome youth to a. crotchety
old man. So imbued is Welles
in the Seiderman wizardry that
he will have none other for
make-up on his pictures. As one
"genius" for another, it was
- Welles who championed Seider-
man's cause until the local union
-, gave the make-up man top rat-
: ing in the profession where he
. had been pigeonholed as an
apprentice.
Creator of Horror Mask
t Recently Seiderman was "dis-
covered" by the Saturday Eve-
; ning Post. He had devised a
horror mask — a Frankenstein-
' Dracula affair which can be
: donned by an actor in 30 min-
, utes. The old method required
four hours each day, an addi-
tional three weeks of production
time to the .budget of a picture
His method is a plastic latex
Which he first models, then
'molds under pressure. The face
is divided into sections, and the
mask is put on piece by piece.
Seiderman learned his profes-
sion the hard way. Began his
training - in Russia under the
:tutelage of his father, a wig-
maker like Max Factor. At the
age of seven the boy, Maurice,
was apprenticed to a branch of
the Mciscow Art Theater. The
first two years of training he
spent sweeping the theater—and
,observing. Make-up men had to
study everything, even the
chemistry of cosmetics. One
'could not go to a store to buy
these; they had to be prepared
September, 1942, a large army post
sprang up in the immediate vicinity
of Medford. And to serve Camp
White, the Jewish Welfare Board as-
signed one of its field workers to
Medford, nine miles from the post.
At first, there were 200 Jewish sol-
diers at White, but the number in-
creased. The need for civilian co-
operation became urgent.
The five and a half Jewish families
were organized, with the help of the
JWB man, into the Jewish Army and
Navy Committee of Medford. It was
the first Jewish organization any of
them had ever joined.
Medford Jews Get Together
Their affiliation involved direct and
constant participation by every one of
them.- There was hard work to be
done. Overnight they found them-
selves bearing the burden of a great
responsibility to the Jewish men in
unform nine miles from their homes.
They began to discover that they
were not isolated individuals without
communal responsibilities. Overnight
they found jthemselves. looked upon
as the indispensable leaders and
guardians of hundreds of men. Men
who were far from home, and severe-
ly lonesome. -
In a large army town, the arrange-
ment of horrie hospitality services ,for.
servicemen..can be arranged on a large
scale without too much difficuljy. For
the Jews of Medford, it loomed as a
tremendous problem. But they got
together. They organized a number of,
fine parties, including. a Hanukah and
Purim celebration.
When Chaplain Jacob Segal arrived
in Medford, he found the community
spirit of this handful of Jewish civil-
ians in the process of development.
He noted, however, that the affairs
were social in nature and had little
Jewish content. But the Passover
Seder, four weeks, after he arrived,
proved to him that these
men and women needed
only the proper leader-
ship to help them give
expression of their Jew-
ishness in a traditional
and religious manner. •
This swift. return to the faith of
their fathers proved a lasting change
in the way of life of Medford's Jews.
Obtain Sefer Torah
Not long after that memorable Pass-
over, Chaplain Segal asked the civil-
ians if it would be possible to obtain
a Sefer Torah from one of the POrt-
land synagogues for- the ark in- the
Camp White post chapel. The idea
met with' eager approval. Bachelor
Winkleman was able to obtain the
loan of a Sefer Torah for the dura-
tion. Its presentation at the chapel,
where it' has subsequently enhanced
the "regular Sabbath and Holiday
Services, was, according to Chaplain
Segal, "another memorable experi-
ence," with the civilians taking "gen-
,uine pride in participating in an ex-
pression of Judaism at its best, happy
for having been instrumental in
transforming a military chapel into
a true Jewish sanctuary."
From that day on, the Jewish peo-
ple of Medfcitcl came to consider the
post chapel, in a sense, their own
communal synagogue. A whole chain
of interesting developments ensued.
As the Hanukah festival approached,
and the parents were busy preparing
an elaborate social affair for the
soldiers, they worked with the chap-
lain much of the time and asked him
some surprising questions. They
wanted to know, for example, what
could be done aboul the problem of
their children's interest in • Christmas.
Organized Play and Study
"Every Christmas," the mothers
would confide in him; "the children
want to know why they, too, can't
have Christmas trees and exchange
gifts, like their Christian friends.
What can we tell them?"
, Chaplain Segal decided to hold a
Hanukah party for these children.
It was a colorful affair. The young-
HELEN ZIGMOND
in the theater. So the boy's in-
terest in chemistry was awak-
ened. Today he has his own
chemi-plastic I a b-o r atory in
Hollywood---
.
Worked with Reinhardt
He was born in the old Tartar
city of Samara, now known
(and remembered by the Nazis)
as Kuibyshev. His parents were
prosperous — his father owned
the wig factory; his mother
owned and directed a fur fac-
tory. They had a summer and
a winter home; the four chil-
dren were educated by private
tutors. Came the. Revolution.
The father was arrested with the
other wealthy citizens . . . was
later released. In 1921, the year
of the great famine, he brought
his family to America.
Seiderman is now a young
man of 36, dark, slight, modest.
He smiles sheepishly when he
mentions the Moscow Art Thea-
ter. "Everybody in Russian show
business came from the Moscow
Art Theater, It's just like every-
body from Germany used to
work for Max Reinhardt. Pres-
tige!" Actually he did both. The
first make-up job he got in
New York was with Max Rein-
hardt, then producing "The
Miracle. He was given charge
of all the characters, the lepers,
beggars; etc. From 1925 to 1930
he was associated with Maurice
Schwartz.
Armored Steel Formula
Although he has been in and
out of Hollywood for almost 10
years, he hasn't acquired the
Movietown glaze. Neither has
he become completely immersed
in pictures. His chemi-plastic
laboratory, a one-man factory,
is his vocation as well as avoca-
tion.
He lives in a little house in
Hollywood with his wife, a con-
cert pianist who speaks Russian
fluently, but continues to study
at night school, and who is
pretty enough to give Betty
Grable competition.
-
COPYRIGHT,. OW 1 5. 1i___TE,LEGRAPNIG AGgi'lCV
seers joined in • the • lighting of the
candles, they exchanged gifts, they
played appropriate games, and list-
ened avidly to all the stories he
could tell. them.
Soon afterwards the children of
Medford were - attending a regular
Sunday School class. The chaplain
had suggested it, • and , they had re-
sponded- with great eagerness. Chap-
lain Segal got hold of Jewish texts,
and since then the boys and girls of
the town have been getting together
at his home every Sunday morning
for several hours.
Adults Also Organize
"I rather like the role of being .a
Melamed in this Jewish wilderness,"
he says, "and get quite a kick out of
the children's eagerness and recep-
tivity." His classes have already ,
graduated from the elementary "Res-
his Das" stage r and can read the
SiddUr, as well as write Hebrew
fairly well. Pretty soon he intends to
teach two 14-year-olds a short Haf-
torah—they've already begun to study
the "Berachot"--in preparation for "a
symbolic, if belated, double Bar-
Mitzvah."
The success of the children's weekly
class has prompted the adults to ask
why they couldn't have something
like that for themselves—a discussion
group, perhaps, where they might
learn more about current Jewish
events. The chaplain consented, and
now devotes occasional weekday eve-
nings to such meetings.
"In, their children's newly-awakened
interest," he says, "the parents have
found • an even deeper motivation for
their own Jewish loyalties."
Medford's little community of lost
Jews has returned to the fold, and it
looks as though they are coming back
to stay.