FATHERS OF THE SILVER SCREEN - I
In no leading American industry can one find more Jewish influence than
in motion pictures. A chronicler of its history has aptly written: "...Jewish
immigrants came from •the shietls and ghettos out to Hollywood. In this
magical place that had no relationship to any reality they had ever seen
before in their lives--or that anyone else had ever seen--they decided to
create their idea of an eastern aristocracy: the American dream, a Jewish
invention."
During filmdom's thirty or more formative• years, the nation's
studios, theaters, talent agencies and distribution channels were almost
• exclusively run by Jewish producers, executives and entrepreneurs. Their
founding of Hollywood was a hymn of gratitude to a vibrant and accepting
land to whose values and mythologies they became devoted. And they built
an institution that would enthrall the world. Meet several who helped make
it so:
ADOLPH ZUKOR
(1873-1976) b. Ricse, Hungary Penny arcades, as
they were called at the turn of the century, were
forerunners of today's movie houses. Zukor, who
had worked as a furrier in New York and Chicago,
helped create the idea of penny arcades in 1903.
Within nine years, he and his partner, Marcus
Loew, went on to build and control a national
• ..::;
- chain of film theaters. But he foresaw greater op-
portunity in lengthy, high quality screen productions. A breakthrough came
and a fortune was made when he brought the English-French film Queen
Elizabeth, starring Sarah Bernhardt, to America. Among the first to
exploit the "star system," Zukor founded the Famous Players Company
which pioneered staging Broadway hits-before the cameras, and produced
The Count of Monte Cristo and The Prisoner of Zenda. He capped his
career by helping organize and preside over Paramount Pictures, then one
the world's largest film companies.

SAMUEL GOLDWYN
(1882-1974) b. Warsaw, Poland Nickelodeons,
another name for penny arcades, hopelessly
addicted the impoverished teenager--later a
successful glove factory owner who would
become one of the industry's reigning film
magnates. The transition came in 1913 when
director Cecil B. de Mille joined him in filming
The Squaw Man, possibly Hollywood's first
feature length movie. For more than a half century, the increasingly
powerful film producer with almost unerring taste created such classics as
Street Scene, Arrowsmith, Wuthering Heights, All Quiet on the Western
Front, The Little Foxes, Stella Dallas and The Best Years of Our Lives. The
original partner in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer later allied himself with United
Artists and brought many popular stage actors and distinguished writers to
the silver screen.

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2001

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HARRY COHN
(1891-1958) b. New York City He was said to
have a flair for alienating his actors, screenwriters
and directors, but Cohn succeeded in turning
Columbia pictures into one of Hollywood's most
profitable studios. The one-time vaudevillian and
fur salesman with relentless ambition entered the
studio turmoil of filmdom's early days as a New
York City movie distributor. He subsequently
headed west, formed Columbia in 1924 and began production. The strong-
willed executive also had a flair for recognizing and grooming promising
talent: Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak were but two. With Cohn at its
helm, Columbia issued many of its screen gems, such as Lost Horizon, B0111
Yesterday, From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront and Bridge on the
River Kwai.
- Saul Stadtmauer
COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field & Harriet F. Siden, Chairpersons
Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org

Tenant Unrest

North Park Towers residents who were
part of valet law suit plan to leave.

ALAN ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News

parking was abolished. That number
could not be independently confirmed.

T

No Comment

he organizers of a lawsuit
by Jewish senior citizens
who live in Southfield's
North Park Towers apart-
ments say they are moving because of
an Oakland County Circuit Court
decision not to reinstate valet parking.
Although the Oct. 17 ruling by
Judge Gene Schnelz denied the plain-
tiffs' motion for an injunction, Thomas
R. Warnicke, the attorney for the 53
residents who alleged age and disability
discrimination, said he will still seek
monetary damages for those who
remain tenants. Warnicke, of Warnicke
& Wigent PLLC of Keego Harbor, is
also a resident of North Park Towers,
east of the Lodge Freeway and north of
Northland shopping center.
The official order issued by Schnelz
gave no reason for denying the plaintiffs'
motion nor for lifting the temporary
restraining order he previously imposed.,
Legal remedies will not be enough
to keep tenants like Miriam Kottler in
their apartments.
"There are quite a few who are mov-
ing," she said. "The owners of the build-
ing have not made any attempt to retain
the older residents. We paid our rent
timely. They [management] did not
have to hunt us down. It is not like the
long list of evictions they now have."
Kottler, like other tenants inter-
viewed for this story, was among the
53 plaintiffs in the lawsuit. She said
she is also angry because "new people
[tenants] coming in pay less rent than
the people leaving. Our rent was raised
considerably — $400 in one fell swoop
— because they said we were paying
below market rate. People coming in
off the street are being given two
months free rent, so they pay $3,400
less a year than I do. They never gave
us that option. They are not playing to
the clientele who want to live there.
"I miss the valet parking," added
Kottler. "But it turned out to be not as
bad as I thought it would be."

Although Kottler likes living in

North Park Towers and compared it to
the Dakota in New York, she said she
will be moving, and will not stay in
Southfield.
Kottler, who has lived there 15 years,
believes 10 people have moved since valet

Archon Residential Management man-
ages the 313-unit building. Archon is
owned by Goldman Sachs, the New
York-based investment banking and
securities firm.
Following numerous phone calls, Ron
Barger of the Irving, Texas, offices of
Archon said, "Our company policy is not
to comment upon matters in which there
is ongoing litigation, so we will have to
respectfully decline any comment.
A common thread among residents
who said they are moving is a complaint
about the lack of response from man-
agement to their concerns. However, a
prerecorded message, heard by callers to
the management office while on hold,
says: "To our residents: We value you.
We want you to continue to make your
home with us at North Park Towers."
Rebecca Kuneck said she plans to
move "in the next few months."
"They [building management] never
gave us a chance to negotiate. We
would have paid more money for valet
parking. They wouldn't give us one
minute of their time. They weren't
flexible," she said.
Kuneck, 82, is a former school-
teacher at Brady Elementary in Detroit
and a nine-year resident of the build-
ing. She is now parking outdoors.
She says the garage is "not for an
not only from a secu-
older person"
rity standpoint, "but the ramps, you
have to go in eight circles. I hope I
move before the winter snows."
Resident Ruth Driker Kroll, 76, said,
"I'm staying because it is a building I
enjoy, although I was very, very disap-
pointed by the loss of valet parking. But I
can't make a decision to move right now
I did not want to have to move again."
Kroll said the building is "as close to
(living in) New York as I can get. The
building was first class, but now
they're taking away the things that
made it that way."
Tenant Gladys Barr said Kroll will
be moving, too, when the time comes.
"Nobody's going -to stay. All the ones
who told me they'd never move are start-
ing to look. I'm starting to look. When
all my friends move, they'll be no reason
left to stay," said Barr, who has lived at
North Park Towers for 12 years. ❑

"

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