Page Eight

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, Sepfernber 20, 1946

'God Guides His Hand'

Art Critics Predict Fine
Future for Jewish Boy, 13

By DAVID C. GROSS

Side Institutional Synagogue,
Biblical

of his sketches of
scenes hang.

where many
and holiday

Y THE TIME THIS IS IN PRINT,
Alan Grossman will have celebrated his thirteenth
birthday in pretty much the same manner most Jew-
ish lads in the United States do—he will recite his
Brachos and Haftorah in synagogue. After that he
will sit back and look over his gifts. And after that—

When he was younger, Alan appeared
on Broadway in various roles. He played
the messenger boy in Billy Rose's produc-
tion, "The Seven Lively Arts," and he has
appeared in other plays with Bert Lahr and
Beatrice Lillie.

Well, after that, this particular lad will look for-
ward to seeing his picture on nearly every movie - screen
in the country; also, he will prepare to attend the one-
man Alan Grossman exhibit at the Knoedler Art Gal-
leries. the biggest in New York, and he will continue
to draw and paint and etch every moment he can.

Jewish

Various art critics and connossieurs have said
that--Alan will become the art sensation of the next
twenty years, and he has already chalked up quite
an impressive record for himself. His exhibit at the
Knoedler Galleries will be that of the youngest artist
ever presented there and Paramount Picture's forth-
coming short subject about him and his work is
something for which many a struggling artist would
give his eyeteeth. Everyone who meets the boy goes
away with the feeling that here is a wealth of talent,
sonic expressed and a deal more as yet unexpressed.

11111111-11-61111-rtlictf

Alan is one of three children of Elias Grossman,
an ai te,t. in his own right who has done etchings of
prominent men, such as Einstein, Tagore and Malik.

When you look at Alan's immense pile of drawings,
you find it difficult to believe that so young a child
could possess so vivid an imagination and so fine a
talent. for expressing it. At the present time, his fav-
orite subjects are Oriental, bizarre and fantastic; he
will show you drawings of Japanese dancing girls.
Moroccoan beepers, Caucasian horsemen, ancient pearl
dive's in the Red Sea, Tibetan monks, Confuscius.
Moses. David and even a Japanese Kite Flier. Did he
copy these from pictures in the museum or galleries?
Did he paint them from books? Did he attend a great
many movies with oriental settings? Was he ever
to the Orient?

The answer is an amazing no! Each and every
one of his sketches is done purely and solely from
memory and imagination. Sometimes he likes to
sit at the radio and while listening to an account
of a baseball game at Ebbets Field, his pen will
record the trials and tribulations of an American
Indian chasing an elusive bear.

At one

Chester,

faculty, that she had copies of his draw-
ings mimeographed and distributed to the
parents of all the children.

Despite his precociousness, Alan is, like
many another boy of 13, interested in stamp
collecting and in foreign coins.
Being a
little on the frail side, he hasn't had too
much opportunity to go in for athletics, but
he has developed a healthy interest in ball-
playing, which he says he aims to cultivate
this year at school.

Alan attends the Montessore School in Pennsyl-
vania. He has never had a single art lesson, since
both his parents and their professional friends agree
that Alan's abilities will develop more satisfactorily
if he is permitted to create at his own will. In addi-
tion, he attends the local Hebrew school of the West

War-Created orph-
ans brought b a c k
to health by the
aid of U. S. Jewry
through the U J A
at a JDC home in
Europe They have
priority on JDC
care.

Alan Grossman

His two greatest ambitions are, firstly,
to travel and see for himself all the far away and won-
derful places to which his imagination has already
carried him, and secondly, he says, when he gets tired
of beating around the world, he wants to set up a
museum of curiosities.

Although not qualified to judge Alan's work from
a technical viewpoint, the writer nevertheless enjoyed
viewing his sketches and drawings.
Critics have writ-
ten that he has .. .1-1-iythm and ease in his style, as well
as a great deal Of humor and a sense of detail. To
the layman. however, Alan's work looks sincere, brilliant

and, in view of the artist's age, remarkable.

When his father recently showed Alan's work to
James Hilton, the novelist, the latter was so impressed
he purchased four etchings for his private collection.
Other collectors have learned of his work and bought
much of it too.

Alan's father, whose work hangs in nine museums,

Including the British Museum, likes to tell visitors of
the time he was discussing with a writer-friend the
possibility of going to Europe to paint scenes of the
devastation and the displaced persons, as well as
scenes of reconstruction. The discussion took place in
Alan's presence and after the writer left, Alan offered
to paint for his father the whole series that same
evening. His father l a u g h e d, understandingly, of
course, since he knew how imaginative a thirteen-year-
old can be.
But the next morning his laughter turned to
astonishment when Alan showed him some of his rough

sketches.
Alan's mother,

who says that both her husband
and her prodigy son are "absent-minded professors,"
takes a mother's pride in her boy's talent. A daughter
of a rabbi, she explains that often when she watches
Alan draw, she feels that God is guiding his hand.

<Copyright, 3946, JTA)

Films' Famous Cohn Brothers

By LEON GUTTERMAN

'

When the trio returned to the Grossman apart-
ment. Alan seated himself at a table and within one
hour had astonished both his father and his friend
by producing 15 fine sketches of - scenes he had viewed
a while ago at the zoo. The 'same artist now takes
pleasure in frequently bringing Alan all the art sup-
plies he wants.

time. the Grossmans lived in

Y., where Alan was the only

the teacher was telling the story of the
Nativity to Alan's class, and as she spoke,
his hand moved up and down a blank sheet
of paper, illustrating what she was saying.
When the teacher viewed Alan's sketch,
she was so impressed, as was the rest of the

11-M11111116-rntlf

Once. when he was five, Alan and his father visit-
ed the zoo at Central Park, close to their mid-Manhat-
tan home. with another artist, who proceeded to sketch
the animals in various moods. Alan asked the artist
if he might barrow his sketch-pad and draw. too, but
the latter refused, saying that •so young a boy would
only ruin some very expensive paper.

N.

child in the school. At Christmas,

partners, and produced a feature picture for $20.000.
When completed, the picture looked so good that a

major releasing organization offered to buy it for $60,000.

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS
to succeed in the . business world.
One is to marry the boss's daughter.
Another is to join the company as
messenger boy or train dispatcher
and, by dint of great perservance, rise
to the presidency.
Still another is to be an empire
builder's son.

None of these opportunities was presented to two
young men, still in their twenties, a little over 25 years

ago. But Harry and Jack .Cohn were endowed with
the spirit, imagination and vitality to take a chance
and win.

Late in 1920, the Cohns decided that they

had

learned enough about the film business during their
years of working for the old Universal company to

strike out on their own. They huddled together over
their savings and added it up: $250. They quit their
jobs.

Today Harry is president and Jack is executive
vice-president of Columbia Pictures Corp., currently
celebrating a glittering silver anniversary.

They started with a contract to release two-reel
comedies. Never having produced any pictures, Harry
and Jack Cohn in New York arranged for a producer
in Hollywood to make a series of quality shorts at ;10,000
each. The first four that came through elicited moans
from the new movie magnates. They were terrible.
Quick investigation by Harry Cohn revealed that the
producer was spending only ;2,000 apiece on the two-
reelers. The Cohns immediately cancelled the contract
and Harry left for California to produce the shorts

himself.

The Cohns made one short, sold it quickly to pro-
vide money for the second, and kept going. The two-
reelers developed into the series that became known
as the Hall Room Boys comedies.

The Cohns branched out with
new series of
one-reel subjects known as "Screen Smipshots." This
series, a sort of fan magazine of the screen that show-
ed the movie stars at work and at play, caught on from
the first, and is still being made.

At the end of the first year, the Cohn boys, ting-
ling with success, added a partner, Joe Brandt, and
named their firm "The CBC Film Sales Corp," After
a few years, the CBC decided to make a feature pic-
ture. Such a venture would cost more money that
CBC could lay its hands on, especially as the company
wished to continue making its very acceptable shorts

at the same time. The boys gathered five additional

On the strength of that initial venture, CBC sold
five additional, though as yet unborn, features. This
really startled the quintette of new investors, who
had planned to take a quick profit on the one feature
and run. The "Fretful Five" finally balked at going
along and withdrew their investments and their profiteL

But at the time, their departure left the Cohns fag
a predicament.
They were faced with the task of
having to raise new capital with which to produce
their program of five feature pictures.
They figured it out well too! When the Cohn"
started production on their second feature they had
$5,000 in the bank. When they finished the picture,
they still had $5,000 in the bank. This sounds like
financial magic.
A new name now was needed that was more in
keeping with the dignity of a company that was mak-
ing and selling successful feature pictures. The part-

ners felt that "CBC" sounded too much like - corned
beef and cabbage."
Various names were considered,

and finally "Columbia" was chosen.
Columbia's pictures, by the middle twenties, were
coming along very well. Unable to afford a contract
list of top-stars, the company secured some of the most
important names in the business on one-picture deals.
They very carefully selected stars who were perfectly
suited to the particular scripts the Cohns wanted to
film.
In 1926 Columbia opened its first four film ex-
changes. Gradually these branches replaced the fran-
chise holders in the company's sales organization until
Columbia was operating all of the domestic branch
offices it has today.
Broadway runs for independent pictures were *
rarity in the twenties, but Columbia began to break
through at an early date. One of the company's more
ambitious efforts, "Blood Ship," was booked into New
York's Roxy Theater then the top showcase of the
country and the Cohn brothers knew they had

—

—

"arrived" in the Big Time.
It was as a direct result of the switch from silent

to talking pictures—which was made with dispatch—
that Columbia ceased to be a privately owned com-
pany. The corporate structure of the firm was re-
organized.
The public was invited to participate in
its ownership, and shares in the company were listed
on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1932 Joe Brandt
decided to retire, and Harry Cohn became president of
Columbia. Jack Cohn moved up from treasurer to
vice-president.
At 25, Columbia, although one of the top movie
concerns is still young and vigorous. The Cohn broth-
ers are planning newer and better things for their
exhibitors and their public. For instance, this season
they presented Rita Hayworth in "Gilda," a deddely
different kind of picture. Still another innovation on
the Columbia agenda, is the technicolor musical, "T
Jolson Story."

ACopyright. 1941, JTA),

