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Call today to find out just how much Bonds can do for you 3/41b. $ 12 95 KING CUT PRIME RIB $995 BAKED LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN $695 ABOVE INCLUDE SALAD, POT. & HOT BREAD We Serve Beer-Wine & Liquor Private Banquet Rooms Complete Carry-Out On All Occasions 54 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1988 1-800-US-BONDS Jews And Hollywood Focus Of Neal Gabler Volume MICHAEL ELKIN Special to The Jewish News D ynamic and dynastic — such were the men who carved a name for themselves in the hills of Hollywood at the beginning of this century. Think of them as Jewish Blake Carringtons with movie cameras, forever in mo- tion as they wheeled and dealed with motion pictures. They were titans of Tinseltown, men who framed their own dreams and visions in celluloid that would sell to the masses. But these Herculeses were chained to a past from which no strong-arming could release them; their past was their Jewish heritage. While it held them back in the real world, the "reel"world was of their own creation. And what they created in Hollywood was a new social order,in which Jews could work and play — often at the same time within the confines of film. Neal Gabler's compelling An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood focuses on a Hollywood that was both hell and high times. Gabler, a well-respected film reviewer, served as co- host of PBS' "Sneak Previews" for three seasons. The images of Zukor, Mayer, the Warner brothers and Harry Cohen course through the book like a course in Hollywood entrepreneurism. Gabler sheds light on a film noir industry made up of men who cut deals while stabbing their best buddies in the back. Oedipus, it is rumored, would have been an ideal movie mogul — had he not gotten hung up on his mother. But then, the Jewish moguls had their own hang- up — their Judaism. With each new film produced, they felt more part of the mix that was the melting pot of America. Assimilation was important to them, says Gabler, who is a standout in his field, thanks to his contributions to televi- sion's "Entertainment ibnight" and "Good Morning America:' Would the non-Jewish com- munity have allowed the moguls to create a Hollywood had they envisioned it to be such a financial hot spot? "Never," says Gabler. "The gentile attitude toward mo- tion pictures was that it was Neal Gabler's new book talks about how Jews created an "empire" in Hollywood. a novelty, a novelty that would have no endurance and no influence on our culture. let the Jews have it' was • their attitude." It was an attitude that changed quickly. When films fanned interest around the country, the gentle gentiles grew more rambunctious, try- ing to yank the plug on Jewish control of tlie business. "When the industry started to become an in- fluence, 'official America' — let's say, 'official gentile America' = tried to wrest the industry from the Jews who controlled it," says Gabler. But the Jews managed to control the resurrection, and, for years, built the images that dreams were made of. "The motion-picture in- dustry," says Gabler, "is a very unusual business. It depends on taste and a sense of panache at the same time. "The Jews who ultimately survived understood the rela- tionship between commerce and art. It was very difficult for the official gentile culture to move into the industry without destroying its base of popularity?" And it was popular, "Jews understood how to satisfy and exploit audiences," says Gabler. In a way, they exploited themselves. There was anti- Semitism among Hollywood Jews themselves. "In a way, some of them felt stigmatized by their Jewishness," says Gabler of the moguls. The ambivalence that per- vaded that generation of giants is not so prevalent to- day. "The current generation of Hollywood's Jews don't feel that way," says Gabler. "No one feels a need to hide their Jewishness." Years ago, Hollywood's Jews played religious hide-and- seek: Hide your Jewishness and seek out an assimilated role in society. "That first generation in Hollywood felt that if they were overtly Jewish, the industry would be There was no give-and-take in the nascent nation of Hollywood film makers — it was all take. "Winning was everything to people like Zukor," says Gabler. Even though Hollywood is no longer controlled by a Jewish mogul mentality — "They were eventually cast aside" — stereotypes persist that Jews are at the helm of all the studios. The recent fundamentalist group-led lambasting of Lew Wasser- man, head of MCA, parent company of Universal, for his studio's release of The Last Temptation of Christ was in- dicative of the anti-Semitism still aimed at Jewish Hollywood executives. "The notion that the in- dustry is crass and vulgar and is run by Jews suggests anti-Semitism," says Gabler. "And the word 'mogul' con- notes men who are mercenary. With this book, I try to rectify that image, to indicate that these were men really seeking gentility, class and art."