eerie tone; simply and wisely, he hasn't
tried. His clarinet tone probably owes
more to Barney Bigard, a near-con-
temporary of Becher. This is a bril-
liant, spiky, difficult set, full of unex-
pected twists and turns. Not for all
tastes, perhaps, but a fine recording.

— Reviewed by George Robinson

04x*** Excellent; a must-buy

**** Very good; you'll prob-
ably want to own this

***

Good; buy if this genre
of music pleases you

x:x4x

Fair; only for collectors
of the artist's complete
works

Poor; not even at
gunpoint

No stars There oughta be a law

George Robinson is a New York-
based writer on Jewish arts and
culture.

Oscar News

Oh, what a tangled web — genealogi-
cally speaking, that is.
It turns out that Gwyneth Paltrow,
the beautiful, blonde Oscar-nominat-
ed heroine of Shakespeare in Love, is
descended from a distinguished rab-
binical dynasty that may stretch back
to 17th-century Russia.
According to the London-based Jewish
Chronicle, the actress can count 33 rabbis
among her ancestors, on her father's side.
Her great-great-great-grandfather
was Rabbi Tsvi Paltrowitch, the Gaon
of Nitzy-Novgorod in southwest
Russia, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
His three sons, all rabbis, immigrat-
ed to America in the 19th century,
where one, Simcha Paltrowitch, served
as rabbi in Buffalo from 1890 to 1914.
Another son, Mayer, subsequently
moved to England and established the
now defunct Old Central Synagogue
in Leeds.
It was through the British branch
of the Paltrowitch family that the
Jewish Chronicle established the lineage
of the American branch, including the
actress and her cousin, Dr. Irving
Paltrowitch of Newark, N.J.
According to genealogical studies
by Rabbi Nachum Paltrowitch, a
member of the Leeds family, a direct
ancestor was Rabbi David Ben Samuel
Ha-Levi, a renowned 17th-century
authority on Jewish law.

Gwyneth's father is TV producer
Bruce Paltrow and her mother is
actress Blythe Danner. Her brother,
Jake, had a bar mitzvah, according to
the Jewish. Chronicle, and in an article
in the Jan 1 edition of the Detroit
Jewish News, writer Philip Berk report-
ed that Gwyneth Paltrow had a bat
mitzvah at age 12. "Years ago," wrote
Berk, "she told me she would never
change her name — out of love and
respect for her grandfather.
In more Oscar news, Miramax
Films has announced that, following
the receipt of its seven Oscar nomina-
tions, Life Is Beautiful has become
North America's highest-grossing for-
eign language film of all time, surpass-
ing II Postino (The Postman). The
tragicomic fable tells the story of a
father who tries to shield his son from
the horrors of a concentration camp.
Life Is Beautiful is the second for-
eign-language film in Oscar history to
be nominated in both the Best Picture
and Best Foreign Language Film cate-
gories in the same year. Z was -the
other. Roberto Benigni, director, co-
writer and star of Life Is Beautiful, is
only the fourth person in Oscar histo-
ry to be honored with nominations
for a single film in the Actor, Director
and Original Screenplay categories.

PAUL AND JIMMY
PANAGOPOULOS
OF THE NEW AND OLD
PARTHENON IN
DOWNTOWN DETROIT
AND LEO STASSINOPOULOS
ARE BRINGING THE
FINEST AUTHENTIC GREEK
CUISINE TO OAKLAND
COUNTY

"

TALJkANT

f

I t

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LOCATED AT CROSSW , LAZA
WEST B 00WOLD
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Top: Roberto Benigni in
"Life Is Beautiful."

Above: Gwyneth Paltrow in
"Shakespeare in Love."

2/26
1999

News

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