CURTAIN TIME FOR AMERICA

`And they have resolved many fiscal
issues that were unresolved in the past
in their budget and so forth."
In the past, Darchei Torah's board
"had no true oversight and the school
was run by its headmaster," said Cook.
Some 11 men, all Darchei Torah par-
ents, sit on the board.
It is unclear whether Darchei Torah
will receive an allocation this year, but
one Federation perk under discussion
for the new constituent agency is free
or reduced rent at the United Jewish
Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit-
owned Agency for Jewish Education
building in Southfield. Darchei Torah
holds its girls' classes in this building
while boys' classes take place in a
building shared with a charter school
on the Southfield-Detroit border. The
school pays $5,300 per month for the
AJE facilities, but has not always been
punctual with the rent; two years ago,
Darchei Torah went months without
paying, due to what Hurvitz called a
"cash flow problem." However, that
matter has been "cleaned up," said
Federation's Cook, noting that it is
one of the reasons Federation was now
able to make Darchei Torah a con-
stituent agency.
Darchei Torah is perhaps best-
known in the community for its
prohibition against television
watching and its commitment to
children with special needs. In its
early years, the school was criti-
cized for competing with Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah, the local institution it
most resembled ideologically.
However, in recent years, many com-
munity leaders have quietly acknowl-
edged that the competition actually
spurred needed improvements in the
85-year-old yeshiva.
Both schools are fervently
Orthodox and non-Zionist, although
they do participate in community-
wide pro-Israel activities commemo-
rating Israel Independence Day and
Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial
Day). Unlike the Conservative Hillel
Day School of Metropolitan Detroit
and the centrist Orthodox Akiva
Hebrew Day School, they do not have
Israeli flags in the classrooms.
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah and Darchei
Torah offer elementary through high
school education for girls and a kinder-
garten through eighth grade education
for boys, who go on to Yeshiva
Gedolah or out-of-state institutions.
Now that Darchei Torah has joined
the list of day schools affiliated with
Federation, the four Lubavitch-spon-
sored day schools in Detroit — the
only day schools remaining outside

the Federation network — are looking
to get on board as well. A Chasidic
sect, Lubavitch Judaism, is fervently
Orthodox while placing a srrong
emphasis on outreach into the larger
Jewish community.
Michigan Lubavitch Foundation
Associate Director Rabbi Yitschak
Kagan said his schools have had
exploratory discussions with
Federation leadership and plan to
apply in the coming months for con-
stituent agency status.
We very much want it, and we're
encouraged by the developments at
Darchei Torah, even though it took
them so long," he said.
Federation's Cook and Weiss said
that they are unaware of any conversa-
tions with the Michigan Lubavitch
Foundation.
In 1998-99, Federation allocated
funds to Akiva Hebrew Day School,
Hillel Day School, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah and Yeshiva Gedolah, a fer-
vently Orthodox high school program
for boys. With $546,500, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah received the largest alloca-
don, although Akiva received the
largest amount per-pupil.

SCHOOL
ar ool

0

The Jewish News will honor
Michigan's brightest Jewish
high school seniors in our
"Cap & Gown" supplement
May 14. Deadline for nomi-
nations is April 22.

Area high schools have
been asked to distribute our
nominating form to their
eight Jewish students with
the highest unweighted grade
point averages (minimum
3.6 required).

If you feel you qualify but
have not been contacted,
please check with your coun-
selor. Students living outside
Detroit's northwest suburbs
or Ann Arbor should contact
Alan Hitsky at The Jewish
News, (248) 354-6060.

At the time Jewish movie moguls invented Hollywood, their peers on
Broadway helped turn on the footlights of the modern American stage. The
showmanship of Jewish theatrical producers grew dramatically in
substance and appeal. Among the most influential were Florenz Ziegfeld
(1869-1932) who showcased 24 sensational annual reviews, and Sol Hurok
(1890-1974), who in his prime was the nation's leading manager of
performing artists and cultural events.
Billy Rose (1899 1966) was the Broadway producer who pioneered
bringing showbiz celebrities to supper club stages. The Shubert Family
mounted more than 500 productions featuring rising stars of the musical
world. And more recently, David Merrick (1912 ), a dominant producer
for a quarter-century, collected a record number of Tony nominations and
awards. Several before them also lit up the Great White Way.

-

-

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN I
(1847-1919) b. Berlin, Germany The cigar maker
turned millionaire—after emigrating to the U.S. in
1863--also met success as a composer, inventor
and journalist. But his compelling passion was
grand opera, for which he tried but failed to win
large audiences in England. His adopted
homeland offered more promise when, in 1906
the doors of his Manhattan Opera House opened
to a rousing reception (the Harlem Opera House, his first venture, was
established in the 1880s).
Building the institution with more than brick and mortar,
Hammerstein produced brilliant contemporary works with new talent that
almost demolished the reputation and box office revenues of the stodgy
Metropolitan Opera Company. He was bought out by the Met in 1910 for
a reputed $2 million. With New York as the hub of his musical dynasty,
the impresario built ten opera houses and theaters in the city, and one each
in Philadelphia and London. Although not all of his enterprises
consistently played to SRO audiences, the great popularizer staged exciting
productions which set lasting standards for grand opera worldwide.
Sharing his grandfather's obsession with the musical stage, Oscar
Hammerstein II (1895-1960) composed the stylish librettos of Oklahoma,
Carousel, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, Show Boat and a dozen other
hits. He had collaborated with composers Jerome Kern, Sigmund
Romberg and Rudolf Friml before entering a permanent 1943 partnership
with Richard Rodgers which was the most productive of them all.

,

DAVID BELASCO
(1853-1931) b. San Francisco, CA American
theater has seldom, if ever, seen his like. Belasco
was the outstanding theatrical peThonality,
producer and dramatist of his time; his name
alone drew huge crowds to his more than 370
exotic and lavish productions. The son of an
English Jew and gypsy mother had toured mining
camps as a child actor. He later settled in New
York City (1882), served as stage manager of the Madison Square and
Lyceum theaters, and wrote several well-received plays.
In 1906, Belasco built the New York theater which bore his name,
and introduced what became a trademark--spectacular staging and
astounding effects in sight and sound. The first director to widely employ
spotlighting, he also devised dramatic settings and stunning realism that
earned world renown for innovative stagecraft. Belasco was also notable
for discovering and nurturing fresh talent, for lifting young playwrights and
actors to stardom.
While critics sometimes questioned the literary merit of his work
and mocked his flamboyant staging, he helped theater in America gain
status as a popular cultural form. At the outset of his career, Belasco also
wrote and staged Madame Butterfly (1900) and The Girl of the Golden
West (1905), both of which were transformed into operas by Giacomo
Puccini.
- Saul Stadtmauer

Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org
COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field, Chairperson
Harriet F. Siden, Chairperson _

3/26
1999

Detroit Jewish News 11