=Entertainment

IT'S IN THE CARDS

When Nelly Toll was hiding from
the Nazis in Lvov, Poland, she never
imagined that the drawings and words
she recorded in her diary would see
the light of day.
But 55 years later, those images
have re-emerged in the form of
designs for Hallmark's Tree of Life line
of Jewish greeting cards.
Each of the 36 cards portrays one
of Toll's paintings with an inside senti-
ment inspired by her book Behind the

Secret Window: A Memoir of a Hidden
Childhood During World War II.
The messages are for all occasions.
One card, for example, features a pic-
ture of a young girl feeding ducks on a
bright, sunny day. The message reads:

Mixed Media

News & Reviews.

feel today," she says.
"I'm not saddened; I don't reflect
on how things were then. I was a
child, and I was protected by a mother
who was wonderful and imbued me
with love and nurturing and praise.
These artworks and the writing were
the result."
The Tree of Life division of Jew-
ish cards debuted in 1995, as one of
three ethnic branches of Hallmark.
Michelle Buckley, a Tree
of Life publicist, says Toll's
designs offer "[an] uplifting
sense of spirit — upbeat and
childlike, encouraging, hope-
ful. And while the line is
geared toward Jewish con-
sumers, it has broad appeal;
it would be appropriate to
send these cards to anyone."

— Lynne Meredith Cohn

Nelly Toll's whimsical drawings are fea-
tured in a new line of greeting cards

"Wishing you a day of simple peace
and beauty, a day that's sun-blessed
with joy."
Beginning in 1943, Toll, then 8,
was hidden in a small bedroom for 13
months.
She created 64 watercolor paintings
during that period. Eight are in the
permanent collection at Yad Vashem,
the Holocaust memorial museum in
Jerusalem, and, now, 36 grace the
Hallmark cards.
Today, Toll, who came to America
in 1951, teaches humanities at Rowan
University and lives in New Jersey. She
co-authored a play called The Secret
Window, and has written three books.
"I do not focus on the past," says
Toll. "I'm an existentialist. "[As] I
wrote in my diary many years ago as a
child, `If I am to be killed, at least my
diary will be here to tell the world
what really took place.' That is how I

IL\

Nelly Toll's greeting cards,
at $1.95 each, will be avail-
able through September at
Hallmark stores which
carry the Tree of Life line,
and at various larger
department and discount
stores. To find the nearest outlet,
call (800) 396-TREE.

NEW ON CD

Lenny Kravitz looks like he should
be on the cutting edge of something.
The dreadlocks, the nose ring, the
hipster gear and the superior sneer all
suggest East Village aggression and
Bohemian experimentation. But
Kravitz is about as alternative as Han-
son.
A child of two cultures, Kravitz
grew up half-Bahamian, half-Jewish in
Manhattan and Brooklyn, the son of
TV producer Sy Kravitz and actress
Roxie Roker (Helen on "The Jeffer-
sons"). Raised around music, he dug
jazz and R&B in New York City;
moving to L.A., he sang with the Cali-
fornia Boys Choir and recorded with
Zubin Mehta.
His work has always been built
around Stevie Wonder-influenced
grooves and fuzzed-up Motown hooks,
and he's made a mint by giving sweet

NEW ON CD-ROM

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With the recent spate of books, TV
specials and musical compositions in
honor of Israel's 50th anniversary,
could a CD-ROM be far behind?

Portrait of Israel
(JeMM Produc-
tions), a multime-
dia exploration of
modern Israel uti-
lizing the photo-
graphic archives of
Time-Life photogra-
pher David Rub-
inger, comprises
three main sections.
"The Gallery"
showcases 50 of Rub-
inger's favorite pho-
tographs, each accom-
panied by a personal
anecdote in his own voice; "The The-
atre" includes video clips from a Rub-
inger "then-and-now" documentary
and five slide shows (the Early Years,
Land of Immigrants, Leaders, Wars,
Three Faiths); and "The Archive" fea-
tures 1,000 of Rubinger's best images
with captions, arranged by either sub-
ject or date.
Portrait of Israel, in both English
and Hebrew, runs on either Windows
or Macintosh.
JeMM produces interactive CD-
ROMs on Jewish themes. Its Interac-
tive Haggadah was named as one of
the 100 best CD-ROMS of 1996 by
PC Magazine; and in 1997, the
Jerusalem-based company issued the
interactive mystery game Who Stole
Chanukah?

sounds a touch of
'rude.
His new album, 5
(Virgin), continues
along this vein. The
13-song collection
is disarmingly
beautiful at times
and deceptively
simple from start
to finish.
Produced, writ-
ten and performed by Kravitz, who's
often been criticized for the derivative
nature of his earlier work, 5 reveals a
searching, ebullient spirit.
"Live" is no "Are You Gonna Go
My Way," but it's a riveting opening
track and an instantly memorable,
fist-pumping rock 'n' roll song.
"We focus all our energy on things
that bring us down," Kravitz sings
as the clean guitar riff crunches in
the background. "Let's put our voic-
es all together and make a joyful
sound."
And he does just that. "Little Girl's
Eyes" is pure sentiment, but it's so
Spartan, so direct, that you believe
Kravitz when he sings to his daughter,
"You make me feel alive/You are my
highest high."
Says Kravitz, "I love being in
`Daddy' mode."
The funky pulse of "Supersoul-
fighter" — which sounds more
PORTRAIT OF ISRAEL
than a little like a Jamiroquai
David Rinser
song — is nevertheless infectious
and emotional. And even though
"Thinking of You" eulogizes his
recently deceased mother, it's so
full of vibrancy and purity that it
comes off sounding like a celebra-
tion of life rather than a mourn-
ing of death.
There's more synthesizer-gen-
O r a n 1 :7
erated music and digital sampling
...........
on 5 than any previous Kravitz
fifty
or Israel throttgh t
piti.orrs award.winairkg
TINT1.-111-13
1)avid ItIthitit,N2A-
recording, but he doesn't let the
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extra production bog him down.
tolo
,IINtti-LIPti.
The psychedelic funk of "Fly
jeMM
Away" could be the best song in
Kravitz's small but impressive cat-
alog.
To order, or for more informa
— Reviewed by John Godfrey,
tion on Portrait of Israel, call
Copley News Service
(800) 871-0694.

6/19

1998

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