Arts & Entertainment

An evocative

THE JUMP ARTIST

'The Jump Artist'

based on the true,

and largely unknown,

story of renowned

Author's debut novel tells riveting story of a real
historical character, who transforms himself from
a victim of anti-Semitism into a creator of beauty.

Morton I. Teicher
Special to the Jewish News

I

t is difficult to determine which is

more interesting: a fine debut novel or
the publishing house that released it.
Let's begin with the publisher. Bellevue
Literary Press is just four years old, hav-
ing been established by the New York
University School of Medicine to issue
books that bring together medicine, sci-
ence and humanism, bridging the gap
between the arts and the sciences. The
first volumes to bear its imprint appeared
in 2007.
The mission of Bellevue Literary Press
is to explore human experience in the
practice of medicine through literature so
that medical care will be more humane.
Jerome Lowenstein, the publisher, has
been professor of medicine at NYU's
School of Medicine since 1977. He has
been a physician for more than 40 years
with a special interest in the humanistic
aspects of medicine as is reflected in the
goal of the Bellevue Literary Press.
While it is housed in 273-year-old
Bellevue Hospital, one of NYU's teaching
hospitals, it is a separate, nonprofit organi-

l

ew s

New Flicks

The Loss of the Teardrop Diamond,

opening in theaters on Friday, Jan. 8, is
based on a recently discovered forgot-
ten screenplay by Tennessee Williams.
Set in the 1920s in Memphis,
Tenn., where Williams grew up, the
film centers on Fisher Willow (Bryce
Dallas Howard), a rich planter's daugh-
ter who takes up with a young man
(Chris Evans) from a humble back-
ground. Suspicions fall on the young
man when Willow loses one of a pair of
expensive earrings. Co-stars include
Ann Margaret and Ellen Burstyn.
Howard, 28, is the daughter of
director Ron Howard; her godfather is
her father's great friend actor Henry
Winkler. The two launched their
lifelong friendship when they both
appeared on the TV sitcom Happy

32

January 7 • 2010

photographer Philippe

Halsman, a man Adolph

Hitler knew by name,

Sigmund Freud wrote

about in 1931 and who

put Marilyn Monroe

on the cover of Life

zation, receiving no financial support from to serve his sentence, a
magazine.
AUST)N RATNER
NYU. It survives on revenue from the sale
physician examines him
of its books and from vigorous fundrais-
and says that Philippe
ing efforts.
has tuberculosis. The
Among Bellevue Press' early books is
doctor tells him, "Prison
threat of German aggression continues to
The Jump Artist (2009; $14.95) by Austin
is bad for your health. Try to get out soon." mount. One of the women is Yvonne, with
Ratner, who is a physician and author of
Philippe's 20-year old sister mounts a
whom he falls in love. He asks her father for
short fiction that has appeared in a number strenuous effort to secure her brother's
permission to marry her.
of literary magazines. This is
release. She writes many let-
After they are wed and have a baby, it
his first book.
ters and recruits a number
becomes clear that France is about to be
Its title refers to Philippe
of dignitaries, such as Albert
taken over by Germany. Yvonne, the baby,
Halsman, a Latvian Jew who
Einstein, Romain Rolland and
Philippe's mother and sister manage to get
became a famous photographer
Thomas Mann, to intercede on
to America, and he follows them, assisted
known for his pictures of celeb-
Philippe's behalf.
by a visa obtained with the influence of
rities jumping in the air. Rather
Finally, in his last official
Albert Einstein.
has studied Halsman's life and
act, a sympathetic Austrian
The book closes as Philippe establishes
fictionalized some aspects of it
chancellor pardons Philippe.
a successful career as a photographer
to produce this excellent novel.
After a few months of
in the United States, escaping the anti-
The story opens in the fall
recuperation, Philippe settles
Semitism that took over most of Europe.
of 1928 when 22-year-old
in Paris, where he studies
Ratner succeeds in describing the his-
Author/ph ysician
Philippe Halsman is hiking
engineering. However, his true tory of this era as seen through Philippe's
Austin Ra tner
in the Austrian Alps with his
love is photography; and he
experiences. His exploration of Philippe's
father. In an accident, the father falls and
soon turns to this as a full-time activity,
emotions is a sensitive achievement.
dies. Philippe is falsely charged with kill-
specializing in taking pictures of "beauti-
This psychologically perceptive novel is
ing his father and is imprisoned.
ful women."
a fine expression of what Bellevue Literary
With the aid of anti-Semitic "witnesses,"
In 1933, after Hitler's rise to power,
Press is trying to achieve. Readers will
a hostile court finds him guilty despite
Philippe photographs Andre Gide and has
want to seek out other books brought out
the strenuous and persuasive efforts of his an interesting discussion with him. Philippe by this unusual publishing house while
defense lawyer. Before Philippe is sent off
continues taking pictures of women as the
they eagerly await Ratner's next book. ❑

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

Days.

psychological novel

This is the first
feature directed by
Jodie Markell, 50, a
Memphis native and
a New York stage
actress.
From 2006-2007,
Markell
had a recur-
Jodie Markel!
ring role on HBO's
Big Love as Wendy Hunt. Ginnifer
Goodwin, another Jewish actress
from Memphis, co-stars in Big Love
as one of the three wives of the lead
character. Like Goodwin, Markell
comes from a religious Jewish home.
Also, opening Jan.
15, is Crazy Heart,
starring Jeff Bridges
as a washed-up,
once fairly famous
country singer. He
tries to remain sober
after he falls in love
with a young journal-
Maggie
ist played by Maggie
Gyllenhaal

Gyllenhaal, 32.

On The Tube

Rachel Bilson, 28,
guest-stars on the
CBS sitcom How I
Met Your Mother at 8
p.m. Monday, Jan.11.
The series' lead
character,
Ted (Josh
Rachel Bilson
Radnor, 35), is now
a college professor. Bilson plays a
student of his who turns into his love
interest. Meanwhile, Ted's buddy,
Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), also has
found a new love.
Monday's episode is the series'
100th, and it's being done in the form
of a musical comedy. I know Harris
can sing, but I am curious about the
rest of the cast.

Brittany's Other Half

On Dec. 20, actress Brittany Murphy
(Clueless, 8 Mile), 32, died of sudden

cardiac arrest. Her
surviving husband
is Simon Monjack,
a British Jewish
screenwriter whom
she wed in a small
Jewish ceremony in
2007.
Murphy and
Murphy's mother
Monjack
raised her; the future
actress' father, a Mafia-linked gang-
ster, spent most of his daughter's
youth in jail.
When she wed Monjack, the London
Jewish Chronicle reported that
Murphy's maternal grandmother was
Jewish (the actress played a concen-
tration camp victim in the 1999 TV
film The Devil's Arithmetic).
In 2003, Murphy described her-
self as a "non-denominational
Christian." It is unclear how she reli-
giously identified at the time of her
death. ❑