Happy Holidays to Our Wonderful Customers! his father's recordings," Bernstein says. — Ruth E. Gruber Jewish Telegraphic Agency Hitler Miniseries P ho to co urtesy CB S • "Prime Time for Hitler" headlined the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. "Swastikas for Sweeps" reported the New York Times. "CBS Greenlights `Hitler,'" noted Daily Variety, Hollywood's trade paper. The three headlines referred to a recent announcement by the CBS-TV network that it would air a four-hour miniseries next year called Young Hitler, a title hastily revised to Hitler: The Young Years, and then to just plain Hitler. Whatever the title, the miniseries will cover Hitler's life from the ages of 18 to 34 and will be broadcast during one of the annual "sweeps" periods, when television networks and stations air programs likely to garner the high- est audience ratings. For the time, the project has attracted mainly critical jeers, ranging from con- cerns by Holocaust scholars to gleeful jibes from competing television networks. But Leslie Moonves, CBS presi- dent and CEO, and the network's pro- gramming president, Nancy Tellem, are sticking to their guns. "We know how the story ends, but this is how Hitler came to power," said Moonves. "This is Hitler from a very early age in which _ people don't know much of the story. This is a very timely subject about how bad guys get into power, and how it affects the rest of he world." CBS's main line of defense is that the script for the docu-drama is based on the acclaimed book Hitler: 1899- 1936 Hubris by respected British his- torian Ian Kershaw. This earnest explanation has only encouraged the detractors. "I wouldn't touch the subject with a 10-foot barge pole," one rival network boss told Sally Ogle Davis and Ivor Davis, who wrote the extensive Jewish Journal article. Another network head commented, "If they had come to me with this, I would have told them to turn around and leave." New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd observed that the 18 to 34-age span of Hitler in the TV program cor- responds directly with "the demo- graphic sweet spot of network televi- sion. If there is one thing Hollywood executives understand it's megaloma- nia. And if there is one audience they crave more than any other, it's teenagers and young adults." No cast for the docu-drama has been announced, but the buzz points to Ewan McGregor as a likely candi- date for the title role. Given the large numbers of Jewish executives and producers in American television, it is no surprise that the initia- tors of the project are Jewish: Moonves says his grandmother's family in Poland was all but wiped out in the Holocaust, and Tellem is the daughter of survivors. The miniseries is being produced by Alliance Atlantic, whose CEO is Peter Sussman, who was raised in a Conservative Jewish congregation in Toronto. The miniseries' chief critics also are Jewish. Writer/producer Lionel "This is a very timely subject about how bad guys get into power." — Leslie Moonves, CBS President and CEO Chetwynd, who created the documen- tary The Man Who Captured Eichmann, put his finger on one of the project's chief difficulties. "To do a young Hitler, you have to humanize him, and what are the ethi- cal implications of that? The minute you bring in a good flesh-and-blood actor, he's going to humanize him," Chetwynd told the Davises. Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum agrees. "CBS is taking a monumental gamble because if it shows us Hitler's humanity and makes him a sympathetic character, it's a total outrage. "If it makes him into a monster with- out us understanding how he became a monster, it allows us to say that Hitler was Hitler, he shared no humanity with us, so we don't have to worry about him. There are a thousand ways they can make mistakes with this, but only one or two ways to get it right." — Tom Tugend Jewish Telegraphic Agency We Are Open On Saturdays For Dinner! the 11' . Caucus HOURS DINNER TUESDAY-SATURDAY LUNCH MONDAY-FRIDAY AVAILABLE WEEKENDS FOR PRIVATE PARTIES * * * 150 West Congress Detroit Reservations Recommended 313-9654970 Since 1952 * * * * * 647900 * * * * * * BREAK THE FAST. All Of Your Traditional Yom Kippur Foods Prepared By Our Fabulous Chefs! ORDER EARLY! Complete Traditional Yom Kippur Foods From Appetizers & Dinners To Our Fabulous Desserts! Pick up our convenient Menu Order Form or We'll Even FAX It To You! 651420 * * * 0* * -4( * Wishing Our Customers A Happy & Healthy New Year! 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