Arts Entertainment
BEHIND THE MAGIC
On Friday, Sept. 23, the Henry Ford presents the
world premiere of "Behind the Magic — 50 Years of
Disneyland," an exhibit celebrating the half-century
anniversary of Disney's original theme park. The
exhibition of Walt Disney Imagineering art and arti-
facts includes a 7,500-
square-foot display of 250
pieces of Imagineering art-
work, hand-crafted models,
construction drawings and
marketing materials tracing
the growth and history of
the California landmark.
Among those behind the
exhibit are Marty Sklar,
vice-chairman and principal
creative executive of Walt
Disney Imagineering, who
was hired by Walt Disney
Disneyland in Detroit
shortly before the opening
of Disneyland; and
Experience Design Director Scott Mallwitz.
The Henry Ford was chosen to debut the exhibit,
says Mallwitz, because "Walt was so taken with
Henry Ford's vision of an idealized American village
that he returned eight years later. These trips and
visits to other destinations and events across the
country helped him frame the concept of what
would later become Disneyland."
Timed tickets, at $10 (general museum admission
also required), may be purchased at
CELEBRITY JENVS
NATE BLOOM
Special to the Jewish News
Sold Out
IN
9/22
2005
50
So revered is director/writer MIKE LEIGH in
Britain that all London's National Theatre had to
do was announce they were mounting his new play
and the play's entire run of 16,000 seats was imme-
diately sold out — even though
nobody knew what the play was
about. Finally, two weeks ago,
word leaked out that it was
about "something Jewish."
Last week, the play, titled Two
Thousand Years, opened to glow-
ing reviews. The opening scene
has a young man wrapping a
leather strap around his arm.
Mike Leigh
Most playgoers thought he was
about to shoot heroin. It turned
out that he was laying tefillin.
The young man is from an upper-middle-class
London Jewish family so assimilated they don't even
Best Bets
www.TheHenryFord.org or by calling
(313) 982-6001.
ON CAMERA
Haskel Wexler, one of the world's great
cinematographers, is perhaps best known
for his camera work in films like
American Graffiti and Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?, for which he won
the Oscar, as well as his own pioneering cult
classic, 1.968's Medium Cog a commentary on
life in the '60s that focuses on a television
news cameraman and his growing apathy with
the violent events around him.
Now, Haskell's son Mark wields the camera,
in an up-close-and-personal biographical por-
trait of the elder filmmaker titled Tell Them
Who You Are. The documentary also is an
attempt to reconcile what has not been an easy
father-son relationship — with all the warts of
Haskell's famed prickly personality exposed.
Film cameos include appearances by Billy
Crystal, George Lucas, Jane Fonda and many more.
Tell Them Who You Are screens 7:30 p.m. Monday,
Sept. 26, at the Detroit Film Theatre. $6.50-$7.50.
(313) 833-3237.
TIMES OF GLORY
At a time when America was locked into the
Depression and Europe kept a wary eye on a siren
know what kosher means. His turn to Judaism mys-
tifies and somewhat angers his parents. Reviewers
say Leigh makes clear the parents' cozy liberal view
of the world is in many ways no more realistic or
rational than the irrationality they ascribe to their
son's religious turning.
Leigh, 62, whose best-known films are Secrets and
Lies and Vera Drake, grew up in a working-class
neighborhood, the son of a doctor. As a young
man, he was involved in a Labor Zionist group, but
he has declared himself a more-or-less detached
atheist in recent interviews.
Nonetheless, he obviously has been following
Jewish issues, as both international political issues,
including Israel, and the dynamics of being Jewish
in modern Britain are covered.
Yes, let's hope he makes a movie of the play.
Searchin'
Google, the top Web search company, is opening an
Israeli office. Not a surprise since Israel is a hi-tech
center and Google's Jewish co-founder, SERGEY
BRIN, 32, has attended tech conferences in Israel.
Founded only seven years ago, Google has turned
Brin into a multibillionaire, and, now, its first full-
ening, deadly Nazi regime, the sport of box-
ing held everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt
to Ernest Hemingway to Adolf Hitler spell-
bound. Prizefighters Joe Louis and Max
Schmeling came together in the ring twice
during the 1930s, and every ear was glued
to the radio.
Black America had few heroes during this
period, and Detroit's own Joe Louis quickly
ascended to a god-like figure among his
own people. At the same time, Jews were desperate for
a sign that Hitler was not
invincible — and Louis gave it
to them. Nevertheless, he
became the object of U.S.
racism. For his part, Schmeling
was accused of collaborating
with the Nazis; with his resur-
gence in every fight, one could
see the revival of Germany
itself
In Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs.
Max Schmeling and a World on
Book signing in
the Brink (Alfred A. Knopf;
Birmingham
$26.95), author David
Margolick, a contributing edi-
tor to Vanity Fair, writes about the era from the per-
spective of all the interested parties — blacks, Jews,
white Americans split in their loyalties and Germans,
as the worsening political climate raised the stakes.
The author will appear at a book signing 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 7, at Borders Books and Music, 34200
Woodward Ave., in Birmingham. (248) 203-0005.
length corporate history, The Search, by John
Battelle, has hit the stores.
Those looking for juicy personal or Jewish details
on Brin will be disappointed
with the book; it doesn't even
mention that Brin is Jewish. In
past interviews, Brin has
explained his scientist parents
left Russia because the Soviets
made it clear Jews were no
longer wanted there.
However, The Search is a
cogent exposition of Google's
Sergey Brin
innovations. Battelle does note
Brin is highly concerned with
ethics. He has agonized about
whether to pull out of the big Chinese market
because of censorship; the Chinese government has
the nasty practice of blocking Chinese Google users
from thousands of sites that it deems politically
unacceptable.
Shaffer Shofar
On Sept. 22, Late Show with David Letterman
bandleader PAUL SHAFFER was a judge at the
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