Amerman Company to BY HERBERT G. LUFT (Copyright, 1965. JTA, Inc.) HOLLYWOOD — One of the most ambitious motion picture ventures of the current season is the Mirisch-United Artists multi- million-dollar production in wide screen and color of "Cast a Giant Shadow," from the biography by Ted Berkman of David "Mickey" Marcus and dealing with his ex- ploits during Israel's War of In- dependence. It will go before the cameras on location in the Holy Land on May 18, with writer-pro- ducer-director Melville Shavelson at the helm and Kirk Douglas por- traying the West Pointer who be- came one of the Jewish State's leading military officers. It was in August of 1950. during an interview with Dore Schary, then production head at M-G-M, that I first heard about a contem- plated movie about Colonel David Marcus who had become the Vic- tim of a tragic accident only two years earlier. Nothing happened with the "Marcus Road" yarn after Schary left Metro until Ted Berkman's book, "Cast A Giant Shadow," was published in 1962. At that time, M-G-M took an option on the new biography, but dropped the property after a while. At which time, Mel Shavelson went into action because he believed in the subject matter, which. is "something more important than just making movies." In addi- tion, Shavelson revealed he is related to Marcus through mar- riage and had known the much older brigadier before World War II while in New York City. Shavelson couldn't enlist any in- terest from major studios and de- cided to buy the screen rights with his own Llenroc company, write his screenplay and then solicit co- production deals. He then ap- proached John Wayne who became enthusiastic about the story that sounded to him very much like an heroic episode from the American war for independence. Wayne sees in Mickey Marcus a United States patriot who wanted to help establish the freedom of a small country, the youngest demo- cracy in the world — that con- sistently looked only to the West for support and not once voted with the E astern bloc. John Wayne's Batjac productions joined with Shavelson's own organization, and Michael Wayne (the film star's son) became co-producer. John Wayne pledged to make a special appearance in the pic- ture as an American general who is a composite of Maxwell Taylor, George Patton and other prominent officers who figured importantly in Marcus' life. The Mirisch Corporation then underwrote the project and United Artists pledged to supply the fi- nancing and worldwide distribu- tion. Next. the screen play was submitted to Kirk Douglas, who had made the first U.S. picture, "The Juggler," in Israel in the early 1950's and only recently had completed a junket to the Holy Land for the State Department. Douglas, who is infatuated with the vigor of Israel, accepted the role of Mickey Marcus im- mediately to follow his assign- ment in the anti-Nazi film, "The Heroes of Telemark," currently underway on location in Norway with interiors to be photographed in England. In 1923, at the age of 22, Mickey Marcus won the Intercollegiate Welterweight Boxing Champion- ship. In 1924, he graduated near the top of his class and turned down a Rhodes Scholarship to re-, main in the U.S., attending night school while stationed as a 2nd Lieutenant on Governor's Island so he could become a lawyer. In 1927, he got his law degree, left the Army for the Reserve and mar- ried Emma Chaison. An Assistant D.A. under Tom Dewey, Mickey knocked down two gangsters who tried to bribe him. On Jan. 1, 1934, he was ap- pointed Deputy Commissioner of Correction of New York City by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Three weeks later, he led a raid on Wel- fare Island Prison in which he cap- tured with his bare fists Joey Rao, prohibition gangster, who was run- ning a narcotics racket from his luxurious quarters in the prison hospital. It was Mickey Marcus who then cleaned up corruption in the New York prison system. When Warner's made a movie about :Nlickey's exploits entitled, "Black- well's Island," (starring the late John Garfield) the Deputy Com- missioner came to Hollywood to serve as technical adviser. In 1936, Marcus, at 34, became the youngest judge on the New York bench filling a temporary appointment to Manhattan's Fifth District Court. In 1940, he was sworn in as the City's full Com- missioner of Correction. Later the same year, Mickey rejoined the army because he "didn't want to wait for Hitler to come over here"; his first assignment: Judge Advocate and Headquar- ters Commandant of the 27th Division at Fort McClellan. Later, he was given command of Special Judo Corps and early in 1943 became commandant of Ranger Training School for jungle warfare in Hawaii. Appointed a full Colonel, Marcus was recalled to the Pentagon on G e n e r al Marshall's staff as Chief of Plan- ning. Yet, in a surprise move, he went to England in June of 1944, secured permission from General Maxwell Taylor to parachute with the 101st Airborne into Normandy on D-Day in the first wave of in- vasion (his first parachute jump), fought three weeks in the field and returned to Washington for reprimand. In 1945. Mickey Marcus was military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Dumbar- ton Oaks. Quebec • and Yalta. He also drew up the first draft of the Italian Peace Treaty. Later in 1945, he was liaison officer on General Patton's staff assigned to the liberation of the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. He received the Distinguished Service Medal from Major General John H. Hilldring in Washington. As Assistant. Deputy Military Gov- ernor of Germany under General Lucius Clay. he was the only one who, according to General Zhukov, "knows how to drink." Appointed Chief of War Crimes Branch of the War Department, he helped organ- ize the Nuremberg trials and later the Japanese War Crimes tribunals. In April of 1947, David Marcus re- turned to civilian life and the prac- tice of law in New York. It was in December of 1947, Shavelson reveals, that Marcus was approached by Moshe Shar- ett, Shlomo Shamir, Yakov Dori and Yigael Yadin, to help find a full-fledged American general to organize the underground forces of the Haganah and Pal- mach for the dreaded attack by six Arab armies to come on May 15, 1948, the day fixed by the United Nations for the partition of Palestine. The motion picture will start at the moment when Col. David Mar- cus arrives in Palestine in Febru- ary, 1948, to offer his own services. Shavelson tells me that thus the picture will have a complete unity of locale. But the earlier life story of Mickey is being revealed Mel Shavelson discussed with me the career of David Marcus, a subject matter he has become an expert on — during -his months of research. The story of Colonel Marcus, who served in Palestine under the pseudonym of Michael Stone, is so diversified and colorful that it appears almost as fiction. Born on the East Side of New York "Mickey" Marcus was a star ath- lete when attending high school in Brooklyn. On the basis of his physical prowess — in football and boxing — he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when Douglas MacArthur was its commandant. One of the young man's classmates was the THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 56—APRIL 16, 1965 future General Maxwell Taylor. of GA Afickey Marcus COL. MICKEY MARCUS in a series of flashbacks into the past projected onto the screen in vivid s t a c c a t o images, some of which were photographed by Shavelson and his assistant Jack Reddish without actors in New York earlier this month, such as the Marcus family home in Brook- lyn and scenes at Macy's and Herald Square. "Cast a Giant Shadow" shows how Mickey Marcus started the formation of a regular Israeli army prepared to operate in coordinated units — three months before state- hood was declared. We will see the aftermath of the dynamite blast on Ben-Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, the advance of the Arabs. the official start of hos- tilities on May 15, jeep forces roll- ing into the Negev desert to halt Egyptian tank advances; infantry seen marching into the mountain- ous region in scorching sun and under enemy fire. With Jerusalem under seine. Prime Minister Ben-Gurion re- called Marcus from the desert campaign on May 28. 1948, to make him Commander of au forces on the Jerusalem front. The picture will show how Mickey Marcus vainly launched attacks on the Latrun fortress to open the route to Jerusalem. When he first suggested to build a "Burma Road" through the desert at night, slicing across the serpentines directly east- ward over the mountain tops, his officers told him that it couldn't be done. Whereupon, Mickey replied laconically, "We made it across the Red Sea, didn't we?" "Cast a Giant Shadow" gives credit to Shlomo Shamir for lay- ing out with stone markers the projected "Burma" path. After which Mickey Marcus sent out a radio message to Ben-Gui-ion ask- ing top priority for bulldozers. With the help of the civilian popu- lation of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the road was built to lift the siege just before the truce which would have frozen the front lines into effect. (When I was in Israel in 1961 to attend the Eichmann Trial. I went a dozen times by bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Every time, the driver pointed with pride at a now obsolete road strewn with parts of blown-up tanks and rotten equipment—towards a section of "The Marcus Road" which saved the independence of Israel.) The picture climaxes with the tragedy at the Monastery of Abu Gosh, where on June 11, 1948, David "Mickey" Marcus was ac- cidently shot by his own sentry, only seven hours before the truce became effective. He was buried at West Point and his epitaph reads, "Colonel David Mar cu 5, A Soldier for All Humanity." Melville Shavelson assures this JTA correspondent that he will treat the Marcus story with great reverence. In addition to the Ted Berkman biography, he has used as his sources the private diaries of Ben-Gurion and Yigael Yadin and all the contemporary material he could find. During three trips to Israel, he nad long conferences with Asher Hirshberg of the Bu- reau for Encouragement of the Film Industry in the Ministry for Industry and Commerce in Jeru- salem. He has the full cooperation of the government, armed forces and the people of Israel. Shavelson will try to cast every Israeli with native actors and only looks for a European or Americah leading lady to portray Mrs. Marcus. While in Israel, his first assistant direc- tor will be Shlomo .logrobi; all technical crafts will be recruited I in Israel except some key techni- cians such as camera and lighting director who either will come from Hollywood, or London and Rome. Mel is known in Hollywood as a triple-threat among the creative artists, developing his own screen (2, treatment and writing his own scenario, then proceeding to handle all production chores and finally going into directing a photo play no one but the one who has written it could know better. Shavelson has always been inventive in his work. A native of Brooklyn — just as Mickey Marcus — he gradu- ated with an A.B. from Cornell University, became a Broadway press agent and a radio writer de- veloping such shows as "We, thp- People" and later in Hollywoo "The Bob Hope Show." In 1943, Shavelson wrote his first screenplay for Samuel Gold- wyn, "Wonder Man," starring Danny Kaye. Next "The Kid From Brooklyn" for the same producer and star. He then collaborated on comedies such as "The Princess and the Pirate," "Always Leave Them Laughing," "It's a Great Feeling" and "Daughter of Rosie O'Gradie." In 1948, he joined Jack Rose in writing for Bob Hope, "Sorrowful Jones," one of the comedians greatest screen suc- cesses. For Cary Gran t, they scripted "Room for One More", for Doris Day, "On Moonlight Bay" and "I'll See You in My Dreams," for Lewis and Martin, "Living it Up;" for John Wayne, "Trouble_ Along the Way." When Shavelso/ and Rose formed their own con,„_) pany, they wrote and produced jointly with Shavelson also direct- ing, "The Seven Little Foys"; "Beau James," an affectionate bio- graphy of Jimmy Walker; "House- boat" with Sophia L or en and Grant; "The Five Pennies" star- ring Danny Kaye; "It Started in Naples" with the late Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Vittorio de Sica and nine-year-old Marietta an Italian youngster who also appeared in Shavelson's war picture, "The Pigeon That Took Rome" starring Charleton Heston; and "On The Double" starring Danny Kaye. Alone, Shavelson last produced, wrote and directed, "A New Kind of Love." `Let All Those Who Are Hungry Enter' By CHARLOTTE HYAMS Once upon a time, in the city of Odessa lived an old man with a Jewish beard and a forehead that had folded into wrinkles long before it was meant to do. His name would have been Gershon in He- brew. For "ger" means stranger, and if there ever was a stranger to Mother Russia, it was this unloved native son. Each year, at Passover, he and two cronies would gather around the table to recount the wondrous exodus from Egypt. Some years, they would get a special chuckle out of the Hagadah: Imagine, such a fuss over these slaves of old! They, at least, had matzo! Ah, but Gershon could not complain; in one way or another, he had a piece of matzo for the Passover. There are ways. Yet, this Passover, he was alone. Meyer— God rest his soul—had died this past winter in his sleep, lucky fellow. David had come up with a long-lost niece who suddenly decided to do right by her old uncle and invited him to her seder in Moscow. Nu? What to do but carry on as best he could. In other years, better times (Were there any? Gershon couldn't remember), Golda would have been there, and they would have had a seder for two. But that was in the past, and Golda had long been buried in the cold Russian earth. Still, as he always would do until he lay by her side, Gershon set a place for Golda at the table. They would read the Hagadah, the two of them, with no idle chatter from outsiders. He made the simple preparations slowly, relishing each act as though it were a priestly rite—the matzo (oh yes, he had ways, though the supply would be sufficient only for the seder nights), the egg (on what meal had he skimped for that?), the bitter herb (the native plant of my homeland, Gershon thought with a thin smile), the wine (ah, just think of the vine- yards in Eretz Yisroel!), Once he would have hurried off to shul while Golda saw to this woman's work. But noth- ing was the same any more—only the way THEY .treated you. That never changed, no matter who had the office in Kremlin Square. So Gershon stayed home. Finally, the pains- • • taking preparations over, he dabbed his face wit I cold water, ran his fingers through his beard;—/ donned his good jacket and settled himself into the big chair Grandfather had used years ago for the same occasion. Perfect; on this night, he would lean. But what was this gnawing feeling of incom- pleteness? Had he forgotten something? As Ger- shon opened the Haggadah, he knew. "Let all those who are hungry enter . . ." it said. Of course! But did he dare? The thought thrilled him and hung suspended over the shabby room. Could he unlock his door in such times, when any young hoodlum might come and—? He shuddered. Even those who wrote the Haggadah could not have foreseen such times. Still, the Hebrew injunction teased his eyes: "Let all those who are hungry enter . . ." The old man arose and went to the door, un- bolted the heavy latch and let the wind do the rest. With a rush of air, the door flew open. Gershon stood there, breathing heavily, his heart hammering against his chest. He peeked c-" cautiously to the left and right, and with somf relief, headed back to his chair. Suddenly there was a noise behind him. He wheeled around. A huge young . officer filled the doorway, the badges and stars on his uniform gleaming ominously in the moonlight. "Yes?" Gershon trembled. "Your door was open," came the voice of government. "So I decided you must be' having open house, and I am invited." (The sneer was unmistakable.) "Y-you see, it's a c-custom," Gershon explained, his face white with terror. "I-it's our P-Passover." "I know your custom. But I see no guests. Are they hiding?" "Oh, no." Gershon replied quickly, "I am alone. You may search if you like. You will find no one. I am alone." "Alone on the Passover?" The voice softened. "Ah, but I, too, am alone on the Passover—" He stopped, and then, "Please, may I . . . may I join you for awhile?" Gershon could not answer. He nodded dumbly. The stranger smiled and entered. "Thank you, chaver," he whispered. "My name is Georgi. You may call be Gershon."