Jews On Film

A cultural historian touches on the Jewish American
experience in Hollywood.

RICHARD HALPRIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

id you ever wonder why
the United States film in-
dustry is based in Cali-
fornia? Or what forces
shaped the classic anti-Semitic
charge that the Jews control
Hollywood? Could the answers
to these questions be interrelat-
ed?
For anyone interested in ex-
ploring these issues, the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield was the place to be
April 16. As
part of its on-
Stephen Whitfield: going lecture
The Hollywood
series, the
persona.
Cohn-Haddow
Center for Ju-
daic Studies at
Wayne State University and the
Jewish Historical Society of
Michigan presented Professor
Stephen Whitfield of Brandeis
University.
A Yale graduate, Professor
Whitfield is a preeminent cul-
tural historian who has received
numerous awards for his books

D

on the American Jewish experi-
ence.
The professor quickly shift-
ed from Al Jolson's jazz singer
to Woody Allen's Alvy Singer,
dissecting and examining the
ways that the Jewish persona
developed and emerged in 20th-
century Hollywood and how the
inevitable collision of progres-
sive Jewish ideals and Old
World tradition worked itself out
in the movies.
Paternalism versus indepen-
dent thought? Consider The Jazz
Singer. Assimilation? How about
The Chosen? Worship of the for-
bidden blue-eyed blond? So
many films. To quote the pro-
fessor, "For every Eddie Fisher,
there was a Debbie Reynolds."
No question was too obscure
or too daunting as he explained
how the Jews progressed from
the junk business to the movie
business, two industries, he ob-
served, that at times weren't so
far apart.
In the early years, filmmak-

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ing was considered an ignoble
art form and, like other trades
from generations past, was gen-
erally barrier free.
Ultimately, it appeared that
the presentation was designed
more to provoke thought than
provide answers. By evening's
end, one couldn't help but un-
derstand that, while the Jews
don't control the film industry in
America, they do have some con-
trol over the perception of Jews
in America by the films that are
made about their experiences. ❑

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