Arts & Entertainment
'Silent' Satchmo
Jazz ensemble provides soundtrack to film
based on the early life of Louis Armstrong.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
O
ne exception stands out among the
sordid childhood experiences of
jazz great Louis Armstrong — the
positive influence of a New Orleans Jewish
family.
Armstrong's relationship with the
Karnofskys enters into the silent film Louis,
which captures a brief time span in the
musician's young life and is debuting in a
limited tour.
The film, directed by Dan Pritzker and
starring Jackie Earle Haley and Shanti
Lowry, will be shown Thursday evening,
Aug. 26, at the Max M. Fisher Music Center,
where the screening will be enhanced by live
performances of a group of jazz notables
including Wynton Marsalis on trumpet and
Cecile Licad on piano, under the direction of
conductor Andy Farber.
Pritzker, a rhythm and blues composer
and performer before tackling cinema, made
a point of meeting Karnofsky descendents as
he did pre-production research.
"This film is not intended as a biography,'
says Pritzker, 50, seen in concert with Sonia
Dada, a band that has played at the Ark
in Ann Arbor. "I wrote a more whimsical,
mythical story.
"Although there are certain signature
moments in Armstrong's life that I've sewn
into the fabric of the film, my interest was
to tap into my imagination for a time before
1922 when Armstrong's life began to be well
documented."
The movie, developed for adults, shows
the alleys, bordellos and cemeteries of
early-20th century New Orleans as faced
by Armstrong, befriended, employed and
helped in getting his first horn by the
Karnofskys.
"The impetus to work on Louis came
while I was researching the writing of a
screenplay about Buddy Bolden, a trumpeter
in New Orleans in the early part of the 20th
century,' says Pritzker, who has a Jewish
family background and holdings that have
placed him on the Forbes list of wealthiest
Americans.
"I was told that Bolden invented jazz but
not very much was known about him. We
know when Bolden was born, when he was
committed to an asylum and when he died.
I'm not interested in writing about the life of
someone we know all about or could know
all about. I found it inspiring that I could use
my imagination.
"I thought as long as I was going to shoot
the film about Bolden, maybe I could write
a companion piece about a little boy who
wants to learn to play the trumpet. Having
the film play to a live orchestra was the
intention from the outset."
The idea for the silent film paired with live
music developed after Pritzker saw Charlie
Chaplin's City Lights with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra performing the score.
Pritzker, now editing the Bolden project as
a full-length feature film, used modern cam-
era techniques for the Armstrong movie. His
interest in jazz, both as a composer-musician
and filmmaker, has to do with the redemp-
tive, uplifting qualities of the sounds.
"I loved New Orleans jazz long before
I started doing the film research',' says
Pritzker, whose song "Lover, Lover" has
climbed record charts. "From my point of
view, ifs the most life-affirming music in the
world:' El
Louis will be screened, accompanied
by an all-star jazz ensemble, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 26, at the Max M.
Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward,
in Detroit. $10-$85. (313) 576-5111;
www.detroitsymphony.com .
Jews
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Emmy Time
The Primetime Emmy Awards, for
excellence in TV, will be broadcast live
on NBC beginning 8
p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29.
Here are the Jewish
nominees in some of
the many Emmy cat-
egories.
Julianna Margulies
(The Good Wife) and
Kyra Sedgwick (The
Julianna
Closer)
are two of
Margulies
the six nominated
actresses competing
for the Emmy for outstanding lead
actress in a drama series. Sedgwick's
mother is Jewish, and she strongly
identifies as Jewish. This is her fifth
nomination in a row for The Closer (no
wins yet).
Margulies, whose husband is
Michigan native Keith Lieberthal, has
many Emmy wins; but this is her first
nomination for The Good Wife. Her
Wife co-star Alan Cumming is nomi-
nated for outstanding guest actor in
a drama series for playing religious
46
August 26 • 2010
Jewish character
Eli Gold. Cumming,
as Gold, will be a
regular on the series
next season.
Newcomer and hot
TV star Lea Michele
(Glee) is nominated
Lea Michele
for outstanding lead
actress in a com-
edy series. Michele
is the daughter of
a Sephardi Jewish
father and an Italian
Catholic mother.
Larry David,
the star and cre-
Larry David
ator of Curb Your
Enthusiasm, is nomi-
nated for outstanding lead actor in a
comedy series (Curb). This is David's
fourth nomination for
the same role since
2003, and some pre-
dict this is his year.
Mega-veteran actor
Eli Wallach, 94, is
nominated for out-
standing guest actor
in a comedy series
H. Jon
(Nurse Jackie). The
Benjamin
outstanding voice-
over category has three Jewish nomi-
nees: Hank Azaria (The Simpsons);
Seth Green (Robot Chicken) and H.
Jon Benjamin (Archer).
Mad Men, created and produced by
Matthew Weiner, is up for outstand-
ing drama series; and Weiner also is
up for a writing Emmy. Likewise, Lost
is nominated for outstanding drama
series and series co-creator/producer
Damon Lindelof is nominated for a
writing award.
You Don't t
i
Jack, an HBO
original film about Michigan': Dr. Jack
Kevorkian, is nominated for outstand-
ing original TV film or miniseries. Its
director, Barry Levinson, is up for an
Emmy for outstand-
ing director of a
made-for-TV film
or miniseries. He
competes with Bob
Balaban (Georgia
O'Keefe) And
Jeremy Podeswa
Jeremy
(The Pacific).
Podeswa
Other interesting
nominees include
Steve Levitan, co-creator of the hit
sitcom Modern Family, who is up for
an Emmy for outstanding comedy
series and for a writing award; Adam
Shankman, with
nominations for
outstanding chore-
ography and produc-
ing (with Michigan
native Bill Mechanic)
for the 82nd Annual
Academy Awards
Steve Levitan
telecast; and
Agnieszka Holland,
for outstanding
director of a drama
series episode,
the pilot for HBO's
Treme. Holland
grew up in post-war
Poland; her Jewish
father barely sur-
vived the Holocaust.
Agnieszka
Her Catholic mother
Holland
fought with the
Polish underground.
Holland's best-known feature film is
the Holocaust movie Europa Europa.
The Daily Show, starring Jon
Stewart, is nominated for outstanding
variety, music or comedy series, and
Stewart also competes for outstand-
ing writing in that category. El
Contact Nate Bloom at
middleoftheroadl@aoLcom.