Arts Entertainment Silver Screen Simchas Author's passion for haute couture takes her into the dressing rooms of Hollywood brides. ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER Special to the Jewish News ver since she was a child, Sandy Schreier has had a fascination with weddings, bridal gowns and Hollywood's portrayal of matri- mony. As she pursued a career in fashion and began collecting rare couture and film costumes, her interest in nuptial ceremonies and bridal garb only intensified. Now, Schreier takes her curiosity one step further in a new book, Hollywood Gets Married (Clarkson Potter Publishers, $29.95), to be released May 21. On June 2 at 3 p.m., the Book Beat in Oak Park will host the author in a book signing. And wedding cake will be served. Hollywood Gets Married is a pictorial history that uses detailed captions and anecdotes to highlight some of the most glamorous on- and off-screen wed- dings of the 20th century. "While doing research for my first book, [1998's] Hollywood Dressed and Undressed, I came across lots of information about celebrity weddings," says Schreier, who lives in metro Detroit. "I also have seen the return of marriage — rather than just relationships — and noticed a general interest about weddings and celebrities. So I thought it would be a great book." Heimish Hollywood Top to bottom: Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) marries lawyer Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks) in the 1980 comedy "Private Benjamin" — Schreier's favorite onscreen Jewish wedding. Barbara Streisand, playing Fanny Brice, wears an Irene Sharaff creation in this scene from 1968's "Funny Girl." Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe at their real- lift wedding, June 29, 1956 Before the wedding, Marilyn took conversion classes from a rabbi and learned to cook chopped liver from Miller's mother. 5/17 2002 80 Katharine Ross in a flowing gown being pulled away by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate; Sarah Jessica Parker taking her vows with Nicolas Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas; Barbra Streisand as a pregnant bride in Funny Girl — these are just some of the movie weddings in Hollywood Gets Married. "To put the book together, Schreier combed though thousands of celebrity wedding photos, spoke to a slew of costume designers and watched countless old movies. In the process, she made an interesting discovery — the influ- ence of Jews. To begin with, the motion picture industry wouldn't exist without the Jewish people," she says. "Secondly, the starters of the film industry were Jews in the fashion world. "Adolph Zukor was a furrier, Louis B. Mayer was a button dealer and Samuel Goldwyn was a glove manufacturer. They all came from the shtetls of Eastern Europe and wound up in New York's rag trade. "When they went to Hollywood, they didn't know anything about making a movie, but they knew about making beautiful clothes. And that's why costumes became a major asset on the silver screen. There were wedding scenes in every movie, even westerns and mysteries, says Schreier, "because they were selling the wedding gowns seen on the screen. Those gowns were pictured in magazines, and manufac- turers would buy the rights to make those gowns and the founding fathers of the film industry were profiting." Being Jewish and married herself, Schreier, who wed lawyer Sherwin Schreier at Adat Shalom Synagogue in the 1950s, particularly enjoyed writing about wed- dings of famous real-life Jews. "I think Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller's mar- riage was fascinating," she says. "Arthur wore a yar- mulke, they got married by a rabbi, and the reception was a barbecue in the back yard of his parents' house. "Marilyn converted and moved in with his par- ents, and Mrs. Miller taught Marilyn to make chopped liver and gefilte fish. In fact, Marilyn had such a great relationship with his parents, that even after Mrs. Miller died, Marilyn continued to visit Mr. Miller senior and he became her confidant." Norma Schearer and Irving Thalberg were real-life bride and groom in another of the book's Jewish weddings. "She was the queen of MGM and he was the vice president," Schreier says. "His best man was [studio head] Louis B. Mayer, and for a wedding gift he gave them an enormous check plus a three-Month European honeymoon." Elizabeth Taylor, with eight marriages, "is the queen of Jewish weddings," says Schreier, who put Taylor on the cover. "After she converted for Mike Todd, she continued to have Jewish weddings. She even made John Warner wear a yarmulke — they had an Episcopal ceremony and a honeymoon in Israel!" As for the best Jewish wedding in a movie, Schreier's favorite is Goldie Hawn and Albert Brooks' in Private Benjamin. They had a Conservative Jewish wedding and Goldie wore a 1980s gown that was purchased at Bendel's by the costume designer." The Ever-Evolving Wedding Wedding styles have indeed changed over the years, says Schreier. "Weddings reflect real life," she points out. "In the Below: Sandy Schreier in a 1950s photo that accompanied her wedding announcement in the Jewish News. Above: The cover photo of "Hollywood Gets Married" features Elizabeth Taylor in "Father of the Bride," wear- ing a Helen Rose wedding gown. Schreier refers to Taylor as "the queen of Jewish brides."