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The Importance Of Being Ernst

This year's New York Jewish Film Festival highlights
the films of renowned director Ernst Lubitsch.

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choose from this year," says
Aviva Weintraub, director of
media and public programs at
the Jewish Museum and a
ong before directing
member of the festival's selec-
Ninotchka and The
tion committee. "There's a lot
Shop Around the
more work being produced
Corner (later parlayed
every year.
into You've Got Mail), Ernst
Featuring a number of world
Lubitsch — the namesake of the
and
U.S. premieres, the majori-
"Lubitsch Touch" — aspired to
ty
of
the films to be screened
be a comedic actor. While
are
recent
creations. However,
appearing in music halls and
in an effort to attain a balance
cabarets in his native Germany,
in the overall program, a variety
Lubitsch developed a character
of film genres are to be fea-
called Meyer, through whom he
tured, including the special pre-
was able to emphasize ethnic
sentation of the Lubitsch films.
Jewish humor, and who
Among Weintraub's festival
appeared in a series of films star-
favorites
is From Swastika to Jim
ring Lubitsch himself
"It's
a subject very few of
Crow.
•
One of these films, Meyerfiom
us
knew
about
— Jewish acade-
Berlin, is a recently rediscovered
Ernst Lubitsch: " He was the one truly great director,"
mics
who
escaped
Germany in
Lubitsch classic. It and several
said "Ninotchka" star Greta Garbo.
the '30s, came to the United
other Lubitsch films, including
States and had difficulty finding jobs,"
Jan. 16-27 in New York City.
the earliest surviving film featuring
she explaihs. "They ended up teaching
The festival, a collaboration between
Lubitsch as an actor, will be presented in
at black colleges in the South, at segre-
the Jewish Museum and the Film
conjunction with the Jewish Museum's
gated schools. It's a very clear-eyed view
Society
of
Lincoln
Center,
will
present
exhibition "Berlin Metropolis: Jews
of that time, and includes some of the
25
films
illuminating
the
Jewish
experi-
and Jewish Culture in Early German
most interesting interviews I've ever
ence
around
the
world.
"We
had
Cinema" at the Ninth Annual New
almost three times as many films to
seen." ❑
York Jewish Film Festival, which runs

ifilr

"The Lubitsch Touch'
T

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LYNNE KONSTANTIN
Special to the Jewish News

L

o me, great people are always sim-
ple and Ernst [Lubitsch] was the
simplest man I ever knew," said the
actress Jeanette MacDonald, whom
Lubitsch discovered. "He had no flaw
in his greatness, no chichi, nor false
vanity On the set, he had a greatness
of his art, but no 'artiness.'"
A directorial career full of similar
praises earned the greatness in Lubitsch's
work the moniker "the Lubitsch touch,"
a phrase yet to be precisely defined, but
not for a lack of trying.
Ernst Lubitsch was born to a pros-

perous Jewish tailor in Berlin in 1892.
Drawn to the stage while in high
school, which he quit at 16, he began
to live a double life in order to fulfill
his father's wish of his taking over the
family business. He worked as a book-
keeper by day and appeared in cabarets
and music halls by night, securing a
place in Max Reinhardt's famous
Beutsches Theater and as a handyman
at Berlin's Bioscope film studios.
It was around this time that
Lubitsch began developing a character
called Meyer, whom he used as an

outlet for ethnic Jewish humor.
Gradually becoming more interest-
ed in directing than acting, Lubitsch
had reached serious box office stature
by 1919 with The Eyes of the Mummy,
starring Pola Negri, which he followed
with a string of additional successes.
To promote one of these German
hits, Lubitsch visited America in
1921, and again the following year at
the request of Mary Pickford, who
wanted him to direct her, which he
did in Rosita, marking the beginning
of his Hollywood success.

