THE DREAM MAKERS OF HOLLYWOOD
The first chapter in American film history was written in 1903 at the
screening of The Great Train Robbery, a primitive production by the
Edison Company. Within five years, more than twenty independent studios
were grinding out thousands of films seldom longer than ten minutes in
length. Under Jewish influence, the speed and scale of Hollywood's
transformation was staggering. In 1912, Quo Vadis, a multi-reel screen
spectacular imported from Italy inaugurated full length features.
By 1916, more than 20,000 "dream palaces"--some were lavishly
appointed theaters built largely by Jewish interests--rose like citadels across
the continent. Paramount, Universal and Fox studios were founded by
Jewish entrepreneurs and the star system they created became a powerful
marketing tool. Hollywood was to become the dominant caterer of
American culture worldwide. Who were the ground breakers? First and
second generation Eastern European Jews, many poorly educated, who
were fluent in the language of dreams.
IRVING THALBERG
(1899-1936) b. Brooklyn, NY Motion Picture
Executive/Producer Generations after his early
death, he remains the "boy wonder" who at age 24
produced the memorable The Hunchback of
Notre Dame (1923) for Universal Pictures.
Thalberg developed the studio system after joining
MGM in 1926 and released another screen gem
that year: Ben Hur. The system, also adopted by •
other major studios, led to production efficiencies and quality never before
attained. Spearheading MGM's transition from silent film to sound, he
created such classics as The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) and
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). Among the talents he nurtured were Greta
Garbo, Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. Thalberg married another protegé,
Norma Shearer, who converted to Judaism. The Motion Picture
Academy's prestigious Thalberg Award was established in his honor.

DAVID 0. SELZNICK
(1902-65) b. Pittsburgh, PA Motion Picture
Producer The descendent of a film industry
family began his career as a script reader at
MGM and advanced to filmmaking for Paramount
and RKO. His tight rein on direction and
production built a reputation for meticulously
crafted works that were box office sensations--the
finest of their era. The most famous epic in Holly-
wood history was his Gone with the Wind (1939), a winner of ten
Academy Awards. His faculty for coupling strong story lines with acting
talent also realized such sagas as David Copperfield (1935), A Star is
Born (1937), Rebecca (1940), Duel in the Sun (1947), Anna Karenina
(1948) and A Farewell to Arms (1957). Selznick was also named the
leading American producer for ten successive years. Several of his last
films starred actress Jennifer Jones who he had married.
OTTO PREMINGER
(1906-1986) b. Vienna, Austria Motion Picture
Director/Actor Coming to the United States with
a law degree and stage experience, he directed
such Broadway hits as Outward Bound (1938)
and Margin for Error (1939). While Preminger
later played German roles in World War Two
films, he was best known for a repertoire of
directing successes after arriving in Hollywood in
1941. His career took off with the internationally praised 1944 mystery
drama Laura--suggestive of screenplays with social themes he favored.
Others included The Moon is Blue (1953), Anatomy of a Murder (1959),
Exodus (1960) and Such Good Friends (1971). The sometimes
temperamental and always outspoken director of musicals and westerns as
well, also helped lead campaigns against motion picture censorship.
- Saul Stadtmauer

2001

COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field & Harriet F. Siden, Chairpersons

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Foundation (Federation's land man-
agement arm) and the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit with another idea — to build
a JWV memorial room at the JCC in
West Bloomfield.
It would be a room named after the
JWV, a place to hold monthly meet-
ings and a place to put up the photos
and the memorial book, said Rosman.
"The Center wanted a $250,000
donation," said Mark Hauser,
Foundation president. "If they [the
JWV] were closing their doors and
they had some money, that would be
nice, but if they didn't have any
money, we'd have to figure out another
way to handle it."
Robert Slatkin, the Foundation's
immediate past president, agreed.
"The JWV should — and will — have
a memorial at the renovated JCC," he
said. "If money becomes an issue in
terms of preparing a place for them,
I'm reasonably certain that there are
fund-raisers in this town that would
come up with enough money."
Rosman and Feldman were flabber-
gasted at the request for a major dona-
tion. "The Jewish War Veterans have
never received a dime from the
Federation," said Rosman. "They've
never asked, and they don't receive.
From the time of their service to the
present day, they've stood on their own."
The two do not think that JWV
should have to contribute "$250,000
or $100,000 or $1.98," as Rosman put
it. "The people on the wall made real
sacrifices for the Jewish community,
and the Jewish War Veterans, from our
perspective, are paid in full," he said.
Feldman said he was insulted. "If we
could raise $250,000, we could reno-
vate our own building," he said. "The
reason we have to go to the Center is
that we can't raise the money from our
people. I told them a majority of my
people are middle class."
Feldman held a desperation fund-
raiser in August, when lack of money
forced the Memorial Home to operate
without air conditioning. His effort
raised $13,000 — $5,000 of it from a
Chaldean-American.

Trying To Agree

Many things must happen to end the
impasse.
JWV leadership wants to find a
place for the Memorial Room before
they sell the building. "We have to
find some place that we're satisfied
with," said Feldman, "that will honor
the Memorial Room and the veterans
who died."

The building's ownership is still
under dispute with the national organ-
ization in Washington, D.C.
According to Ronald Ziegler, imme-
diate past national commander of the
JWV of the U.S.A., "We have a
responsibility as a national organization
to protect the interest of all Jewish war
veterans, in Michigan and nationally.
"When an asset as valuable as this is
being arranged for a transfer without
full value — without any value —
that's an area of concern," he added,
speaking of the donation attempt to
Darchei Torah.
Rosman said the national organiza-
tion is trying to consolidate all 23
JWV departments, sell off all assets
and build up endowments for the
national museum.
"The national's view is that when
everything is done, there will be one
thing left standing — the museum in
Washington D.C.," he said. "If we
donated all of this to Washington, it
would end up in the basement."
Feldman said Michigan JWV is will-
ing to wage a legal battle. But if the
building is sold, Michigan JWV has
no intention of giving the proceeds to
anyone.
"It is absolutely insulting to even
put a monetary amount on us moving
the Memorial to the Center simply
because it belongs to the community,
not to us," he said. "We're just the
custodians."
Feldman wants proceeds from the
building's sale to support the local
JWV and its programs. As for now,
the Memorial Home is open only a
few hours each day.
"We can't understand why the com-
munity and the Federation behave the
way they do toward people who serve
their country," said Feldman. "The
JWV mission is to fight anti-Semitism
and to instill in people that the Jews
were victims in World War II. But they
were also people who fought and died
in World War II so that everybody
could have what they have today."
Slatkin appreciates that argument.
"These people are getting older," he
said, "and I want them to have confi-
dence that there will be a memorial at
the JCC, but it won't resolve itself out
for another year or two.
"There are people out there who rec-
ognize everything they say is true. That
if there isn't a memorial for these heroes,
they will be forgotten, and that the
place for this memorial is at the Center.
"We can't forget them, and they
won't be," Slatkin said. "And I guess at
this point, they have to rely on a little
faith." El

