TIE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 40—FridaY, Septwiaber 25, 1970 'Society Faces Religious Crisis' NEW YORK—"The accelerating polarization toward extremes by the far right and far left, coupled with a rapid growth of totalitarian ideology and tactics, have produced signs of repressive actions by var- ious branches of government. Simi- lar symptoms also have appeared in the religious community." This warning on the serious crises facing all religious institu- tions has been sounded by Dr. Bernhard E. Olson, director of interreligious programing for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, who expanded his omi- nous warning by declaring: "The polarizing effect has poten- tially serious consequences for our racial and religious minorities, especially Jews, since the first seismographic reading of a society heading toward totalitarianism anti-Semitism." The tension between Jews and Christians, despite The growth of dialogue fostered/by the NCCJ, has become either static or re- gressive as far as the Roman Catholic community is concerned, says Dr. Olson. The fact that a Catholic sought the presidency in 1928 opened the floodgates of hate and anti- Catholicism. This eruption dis- turbed many people and several distinguished Americans subse quently helped to found and acti- vate the NCCJ. Today, across the country in most regions, interreligious dia- logue groups meet regularly to discuss these and many other vital issues affecting American society. Many of these are clergy groups, but a growing number consist of laymen. "Dialogic enterprises usually focus on social problems ranging from those found in the local com- munity- to those of a national or international scope," says Dr. Olson. "These discussions of con- crete and real issues have proved valuable and necessary. However, the dialogic experiences .under- taken by the NCCJ, particularly those dealing with the relation- ships between Jews and Christians over the situation in the Middle East, have indicated that a new dimension. of dialogue is needed." NCCJ's department of interreli- gious programing has prepared three basic publications to aid -and provide valuable resources for in- depth dialogue. Dr. Olson contends that the future direction of Jewish- Christian relations will depend upon the extent to which they come to understand how their basic faiths illuminate these problems and point to their solutions. The booklets in the series of pub- lications are "The Meaning and Conduct of Dialogue," "Homework -for Christians" and "Homework for Jews." Halt in Talks Causes Dip in UAR Pound in Gaza JERUSALEM (JTA)—Suspension of the Jarring peace talks in New York has caused the Egyptian pound to drop in value relative to the Israel pound in the Gaza Strip. Both currencies have been recog- nized as legal tender there since Israel occupied the Strip in the June 1967 war. Many Gaza residents anticipated an early return of Egyptian rule when the Jarring talks began last month and started to unload their Israeli currency. Some made massive purchases of Israeli goods and others exi changed Israeli for Egyptian pounds. The latter rose in value from 5-1 to 6-1. When Israel broke off the talks on grounds of Egyp- tian truce violations, the old ratio of five Israeli pounds to one Egyp- tian pound was restored. The buy- ing wave also has ended. " - U.S. Bishops Conference Names Moderator for He is roaming about the world Catholic-Jewish Relations directed Stars in Variety of Notable Films By HERBERT G. LUFT (Copyright 1170, JTA, DM) LONDON—Ron Moody, the Fa- gin of "Oliver's" stage and screen productions, now portrays the char- acter of Hawk Dove in Ralph Nel- son's "Flight of the Doves," a whimsical tale of the pursuit of two children across Ireland by a sinis- ter uncle. The film, now before the cameras at the Ardmore Stu- dios in Bray near Dublin, reunited Moody with Jack Wild, the Artful Dodger of "Oliver!" Veteran Ab- bey Theater performer Noel Pur- cell essays the role of a rabbi. As uncle John Cyril Dove, Moody appears as a master of disguise, a vaudeville artist posing as a law- yer to get his hands on two chil- dren and their inheritance. Hawk Dove is a man with a split pe*- sonality tortured by the effort to quell an essentially sensitive na- ture with an overlay of male- volence and hostility towards the world. This dichotomy•also was ex- pressed earlier by Moody in his portrait of Fagin. In "Flight of the Doves," the character is con- temporary, more pantomimic, blends malice with humor and pro- vides Moody with several roles in one, for he appears in disguise ranging from a parsimonious soli- citor to an irrespressible woman journalist. Ron Moody, 47 years old, ha_' been playing only much older characters. He started in the early 1950's, becoming a cabaret and "TV variety performer and build- ing his reputation as a comedian with London stage revues like "Intimacy at 8." He is currently writing "Saturnalia," a musical he says has sociological overtones and is "an answer to 'Hair' and the social dropouts." • Fritz Kortner (C o h e n), the Vienna-born thespian, a giant of stage and cinema in the Germany between the two World Wars, died recently at the age of 78 in Mun- ich. An outspoken foe of Prussian militarism, he appeared in the title role of Jessner's modern "Ham- let" production, denouncing from the ramp a reawakening of chau- vinism in the early 1920s. He por- trayed "Dreyfus" in Richard Oswald's famed motion picture when Hitler was on the verge of rising to power, and was one of the first to leave the Third Reich in 1933. In England, he appeared in several movies before going to Hollywood, where he struggled through the war years making only occasional screen appearances, such as one of the cameos in "The Hitler Gang." Returning to Germany in 1948, Kortner continued to present un- compromising stage productions, thereby holding up a mirror of truth to a people often resenting his work as director and perform- er. Most famous among the rare appearances in his final years was Kortner's portrayal as Strindberg's "Father." His son, Peter Kortner, formerly a producer with NBC television on the coast, is now in London as a screen writer and re- cently published his first novel. • • a Sidney Lumet, son of our friend the Yiddish playwright Baruch Lumet, currently is preparing for producer Robert M. Weitman at Columbia the filmization of'le Anderson Tapes," the sto of n story epic million-dollar robbery that takes place in a luxury apartment in New York's fashionable upper East Side and stars Alan King and Martin Balsam. The younger Lumet, perhaps America's most intellectual and articulate film maker, director of O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night," of "The Pawnmaker" and most recently of Chekhov's "The Sea Gull," has the distinction of never having worked in Hollywood. Lumet, who made in Manhattan a few seasons ago, "Fail Safe" — dealing with the doom of an atomic disaster—be- lieves that working in a major film studio would take away' the sense of realism he tries to infpse into ail- of- his cinematic creations. with his camera and has films in England, Sweden, Italy and France as well as in Florida, Massachusetts, Louisiana and, of course, New York. • • * David L. Wolper,who produced such outspoken anti-Nazi films as "The Bridge at Remagen" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," now is preparing at Bav- aria Studios in Geiselgasteig near Munich, in conjunction with Stan- ley Margulies, the filmization of "WWu Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," based on Roald Dahl's best-selling fable. The movie focuses on the adventures of young children visiting a candy plant. Gene Wilder, who rose to fame as Zero Mostel's nitwit co-star in Mel Brook's madcap movie "The Pro- ducers," -plays the title role. The picture features five original songs by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. * a Roman Polansky, who had just finished an idyllic, unlikely fea- ture, "One Fine Day," in Denmark when disaster struck with the Sharon Tate murders, has joined with literary critic Kenneth Tynan to write a modern film version of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," to be directed by himself at Rank's Pine- wood studios. It is for Hugh Hef- ner's Playboy Productions and will feature a series of fresh faces from the stable of British stage and television actors. . * Sidney Sheldon, who broke into films almost a quarter of a century ago when Dore Schary signed him directly from college to write the scenario for "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer," for which he won an Academy Award, and then made a fortune producing such television series as "The Patty Duke Show" and the current, "Nancy," is in London to set up a Hollywood mobile unit for location work, in conjunction with Samuel. son Film Service, the largest in the world. Sheldon. a prolific writer-producer-director, will have his first novel, "The Naked Face," published in the U.S. this fall. • * * Harry Saltzman (of the "James Bond" film series) and Don Kirsh- ner are the co-producers of "To- morrow," a space-fiction yarn in- volving a new vocal group that clashes with superhumans from an- other planet—an obvious spoof de- signed for the younger set. • * a Arthur P. Jacobs is preparing in London and Montreal a futuristic adventure yarn, "Kyle," with Sam Wanamaker (the American actor now living in England) directing a screenplay by Lewis Davidson and David Karp. * • • Dimitri Tiomkin was guest of honor at the Soviet premier of the Mosfilm production of "Tchaikov- sky," a motion picture for which he was both executive producer and musical supervisor. • • 0 Norman Cohen is directing, at the British Shepperton Studios, "Dad's Army," a feature screen comedy from the successful Brit- ish television series. NEW YORK (JTA) — The up- coming fifth anniversary of the Vatican's renunciation of the con- cept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus was emphasized by Msgr. Francis Mugavero, bish- op of Brooklyn and newly desig- nated moderator of the Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the National Conference of Cath- olic Bishops. He spoke at a recep- tion in his honor in the offices of the American Jewish Committee, where he called for mutual efforts to erase anti-Semitism. The reception was one of a series of observances planned by the AJCommittee to mark the promul- gation of the Vatican proclamation in October, 1965. The - series will include a seminar at the Institute of Judeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J., Oct. 25-28. Msgr. Mugavero was welcomed .by Morris B. Abram, honorary AJCommittee president, and by Rabbi Marc H. Tenenbaum, na- tional director for interreligious affairs, who presented him with a Bible. 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He said 8,000 of this year's immigrants are from the United States and 10,000 are expected next year. Gen. Narkis said that 120.000 immigrants -have. arrived in Israel since the Six-Day War. Al lieigler:..Your.Ilost.