Film Producer Berman Wins
Thalberg Memorial Award

BY HERBERT G. LUFT
(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)

HOLLYWOOD — Pan-
dro S. Berman was hon-
ored with the Irving
Thalberg Memorial
Award by the Board of
Governors of the
Academy of Motion Pic-
ture,Arts and Sciences, it
was announced by pro-
ducer Walter Mirisch,
president of the academy.
Berman is the 21st indi-
vidual to receive the
Thalberg Award since its
inception in 1937.
What manner of man is
Berman whose career
spans almost 50 years and
ho has produced on his
wn 112 feature-length
motion pictures?
The movie veteran was
born in Pittsburgh,
March 29, 1905, son of the
late Harry M. Berman
who was at one time gen-
eral manager of Univer-
sal. In 1923, immediately
after graduating from
high school, the-younger
Berman arrived in Hol-
lywood, started as a script
clerk at RKO (then FBO)
and moved up to assistant
director and film editor.
He became assistant to
David 0. Selznick and in
1931 produced. his very
first picture, "The Gay
Diplomat." Until he left
RKO in 1940, he produced.
85 features and estab-
lished himself as one of
Hollywood's most consis-
tently successful film
makers, with modestly
budgeted pictures. Among
his classics were "Top
Hat" and other Fred
Astaire-Ginger Rogers
musicals, such as "The Gay
Divorcee," "Of Human
Bondage," "Winterset,"
"Stage Door," "Bachelor
Mother," "Morning Glory"
and "Vivacious Lady."
In 1940, Berman joined
MGM where he produced
such films as "Portrait of
• Dorian Grey," "Ivanhoe,"
"Blackboard Jungle,"
"Tea and Sympathy,"
"Something of Value,"
Bovary,"
"Madame
"Father of the Bride,"
"Sweet Bird of Youth,"
geed,"
"Dragon
"Brothers Karamazov" .
and "The Prize."
With "National Vel-
vet," he introduced a very
lo-ung Elizabeth Taylor
to the -screen. She ap-
peared later in 'a number
of his pictures, most not-
ably in the `-`Oscar" win-
. ning, "Butterfield 8." To
me, Berman's finest
achievement at the
studio was the filmization
of _Ann-e Seghers' con-
centration camp epic,
"The Seventh Cross"
with Spencer Tracy as the
anguished anti-Nazi.
After leaving MGM,
Berman made only two
pictures at 20th Century
Fox, in 1969: "Justine,"
with Anouk -Aimee and
Michael York which
moves at the periphery of
the Middle East conflict;
and in 1970, "Move," with
Elliott Gould — a vibrant
yarn dealing with the
"now" generation.
Berman started in the
motion picture industry
when the Screen was still

silent. He closely studied
every phase of Hol-
ly-wood's development '
which not only enabled
him to evaluate the poten-
tialities of new projects
but also created an in-
terest in films about the
movie capital summarized
by him in "What Price Hol-
ly-wood," the first in a
number of four_ pictures
about "A Star is Born." It
was George Cukor who
co-authored and directed
the one produced by Ber-
man at RKO.
I met the Irving Thal-
berg Award recipent in
1966 when he supervised
his last film at Metro, "A
Patch of Blue, - the
Academy Award-winning
epic starring Sidney
Poitier and Shelley Win-
ters and introducing
Elizabeth Hartman as
the anguished blind
youngster.
The film of Pandro S.
Berman, throughout his
long career, stayed away
from sensationalism and

•

•

Cross-Section of Israeli
Society Enrolled at Open U.

permissiveness.
Berman will be pre-
sented with the Thalberg
Award as_part of the 49th
annual "Os-car" show
March 28 to be televised
live on ABC from the
Dorothy Chandler Pavill-
ion of the Los Angeles
Music Center.
* * - *
George Segal is a mild-
mannered safety inspector
who suddenly is swept into
the delemma of being
forced to stop a
criminally-mined yourfg-
man (Timothy Bottoms)
from carrying out a deadly
plan to blow up an amuse-
ment park roller coaster
filled with .innocent
people. The picture is
"Rollercoaster."
Richard Burton por-
trays a hunted war crim-
inal and George C. Scott
and Al Pacino are the
hunters in "Wanted, the
Search for Nazis in
America," to be produced
by Hal Landers and
Bobby Roberts.

•

TEL AVIV — The 2,396
persons enrolled in the
Open University's first
term, which began in
mid-October, range in age
from 14 to 80-plus, and 64
per cent are in the 24-39
range.. -
Forty-three percent of
the students do not have
matriculation certifi-
cates, Education Minis-
ter Aharon Yadlin was
told during a tour of the
institution's headquar-
ters in Ramat Aviv re-
cently, according to the
Ferusalem Post.
More than 4,000 per-
sons have so far enrolled-
for the second term, to
begin on March 20, Yadlin
was told.
The students, who came
from all sectors and strata
of society, consists of 64
per cent males and 34 per
cent females.
About 100 students are
Arabs, druse and mem-
bers of other minorities.
In the present term,
courses are being given in
Jewish studies, mathe-
matics, life sciences (biol-
ogy), natural sciences

(chemistry and physics),
earth sciences (geology),
and technology.
The new term will also
include courses in spoken
Arabic and eight pro-
-- grams leading to a bache-
lor's degree, three adult-
education programs, and
three vocational-training
- programs.
The university has
opened 17 study centers
from Tel Hai in the North
to Eilat in the South.

-

its his release from the
vicious circle of job dis-
missal, accusations of
parasitism and charges of
being privy to state secu-
rity secrets.
While. Dr. Trifonov
made the best of his ordeal
by- preparing papers for
the seminar (he gave 15
reports during the year)
and delivering popular
lectures in molecular biol-
ogy to a devoted group of
12 fellow "refuseniks,"_
Goldfarb in Rehovot, who
credits his own release in
1973 to a letter-writing
campaign, was busy ask-
ing scientists around
the world to help in the
Trifonov case.
For Dr. Trifonov and
his family, the letter
campaign worked. But--
Prof. Benjamin Levich'
(whose son YeVgeny is
now a member of the
Weizmann Institute Nu-
clear Physics Depart-
ment) and many other
Soviet Jewish scientists
are still waiting.

NBC-TV Signs Kissinger

was not disclosed, re-
cently signed a $2 million
contact with Little,
Brown and Co. for publi-
cation of his memoirs.
Kissinger will begin
working with NBC as
special consultant for
world affairs in July.
Former President Gerald
Ford has also signed a
contract with NBC to do
news documentaries and
guest appearances.

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Is-
rael went wild 'after the
Tel Aviv Maccabi basket-
ball team's surprise 91-79
victory -over the Soviet
Union's champion Mos-
cow team last week.
The game was broad-
cast live from Belgium,
during which time the
streets of Israel's major
cities were almost empty.
But as soon as the game
ended, shortly before
midnight, the streets
erupted with people
cheering and dancing and
the sound of automobile
horns. The victory as-
sures Israel of a spot in
the European Cup finals.
The Soviet radio broad-
cast the results of the
-game but its /listeners
were told that the Rus-
sian team had lost to the
Italians.

In Israel, Purim is a
major festival with the
"Adloyada" carnival.
"Adl_oyada". means "until
one does not know the dif-
ference." One- so full of
"spirits" as to be unable
to distinguish between
Mordecai and Haman.

HENRY KISSINGER

NEW YORK — Former
U.S. Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger has
signed a five-year con-
tract with NBC-TV to do
one documentary prog-
ram a year and several
interview shows.
Kissinger, whose salary

Dirty
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Afro-Arab Summit

TUNIS (ZINS) — The
first Afro-Arab summit
conference has been
scheduled for Cairo in
early 1978, with the heads
of 59 countries invited.
In January, Arab
ministers, meeting in
Morocco, agreed to estab-
lish a $500 million fund to
promote science and
technological 'research.

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Letter-Writing Campaign Helps
Israeli Team
Free Soviet Jewish Biologist
REHOVOT — Soviet which Dr. Trifonov cred- Beats Russia

biologist Edward
Trifonov planned to at-
tend_the 1976-77 Moscow
Seminar on Collective
Phenomena; instead he is
attending seminars at Is-
rael's Weizmann Insti-
tute of Science, whose
staff he has just joined.
While his fellow
Russian-Jewish dissi-
dents, unemployed and
awaiting visas, meet
weekly in the Moscow
apartment cit Prof. Mark
Azbel for intellectual and
morale-boosting sessions,
Trifonov is safe and
sound in Israel, together
again with Alex Goldfarb,
his former colleague and
laboratory co-worker in
the biological department
of the Kurchatov Insti-
tute of Atomic Energy.
It was Goldfarb, now
completing his doctoral
studies in the institute's
Wochemistry depart-
ment, who launched the
intensive letter-writing
campaign among world-
renowned scientists to

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