Among the most wonderful T.V. shows of all time are the following, each of them endowed with a variety of characters whose qualities and interactions reflect both the joys and complexities of what it means to be Human: Gilmore Girls, the creation of Amy Sherman Palladino, a lady of Jewish extraction…. Thirtysomething, created by Marshal Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, both Jews…. Parenthood, produced by Jason Katims, also a Jew….. and Northern Exposure, two of whose chief writers were Joshua Brand and Andrew Schneider, blessed with the same genetic heritage as each of the above.
As a Boomer, I am constantly telling my contemporaries that we were blessed with the greatest cultural richness and diversity of any previous era. While my university focus in the 70s was on literature, I nevertheless became enchanted with the offerings of the film industry which had only been in existence for 40 years or so. What truly astounded me was that so many of the wonderful movies I came to love were the products of producers, directors and writers of Jewish extraction. Why, I wondered, was this intelligent, creative sector of the species the subject of so much hatred?
While it is impossible to cite the multitude of Jewish writers, directors and producers which fed the wonderful culture which emerged from the film industry in the last century, the following examples may serve to make my point. MGM, the creation of Louis B. Mayer and Samuel Goldwyn, for example, produced a number of classics such as Mutiny on the Bounty, Dr. Zhivago, Adam’s Rib, Tea and Sympathy, Guys and Dolls, etc., etc.. At the same time, many of the most revered directors of the era were of pure or mixed Jewish descent, among them Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, Mel Brooks, Sidney Lumet and George Cukor.
While Mr. Cukor directed such classics as Adam’s Rib, Born Yesterday, My Fair Lady, etc., his most delightful film to me was The Philadelphia Story, a wonderful 1940 work which would come to be numbered among the eras’ so-called “screwball comedies,” a genre rife with spasms of witty and often sarcastic dialogue whish was truly hilarious. The interesting thing about many of these comedies was that their Female leads were often strong, intelligent women who refused to submit to the sometimes bullying tactics of the man in their life. Such was Catherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday, each of whom fought relentlessly against Cary Grant’s smug sense of superiority. That Women’s Rights were being defended decades before Feminism had really taken root in our Western Culture, is a testimony to the brilliance of these movies. The screenplay of His Girl Friday, by the way, was written by Ben Hecht, a Jewish writer/director often referred to as The Shakespeare of Hollywood. The various books and movies born of his brilliance are simply too numerous to mention here.
Woody Allen’s movies [Annie Hall, Manhattan, Play it Again Sam, etc.] are wonderfully witty and endearing, much of their charm derived from the fact that Woody, in his various roles, represented an ironic comment on Hollywood’s stereotypical notion of a Leading Man. Significantly, the opening scene of Play it Again Sam features him watching Casablanca, a film made 30 years earlier [1942], which leads him to reflect on the pathetic nature of his love life in the context of the inspiring relationship between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Nora Ephron was responsible for some of the most wonderful romantic comedies of the 80s and 90s, among them Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, both of which she wrote and directed. She also contributed to the screenplay of When Harry Met Sally, directed by Rob Reiner and containing one of the most beloved scenes [Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm in a crowded restaurant] in Hollywood history. Yes, these were mere comedies and not works of earth-shattering cultural or political importance, but they were made at a time when films were designed to entertain rather than propagandize. At the same time the relationship between the sexes, it seems to me, is a subject integral to Human Happiness and one certainly worth exploring!
Two other remarkable individuals of Jewish descent who influenced the film industry in its early years, were Irving Thalberg and Dorothy Parker. The former, who died as a young man in 1936, was known as The Boy Wonder to his MGM peers and had already contributed to the making of such classics as Mutiny on the Bounty and A Night at the Opera before his death. Parker, a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table which met almost daily in N.Y. City from 1919 to 1929, was, as were her friends, a caustic critic of the contemporary culture and, while being primarily a writer of short stories, ultimately contributed to the making of classics such as A Star is Born and It’s a Wonderful Life.
The positive impact of intelligent, creative Jews on the burgeoning film industry and culture of the 20th C. West, is undeniable. Of course to those of a particular mindset, these people were mere Capitalists motivated by greed. It is a gross simplification typical of the lunacy of the contemporary Left. Just recently Dave Rubin posted a video on Jew Hatred in which he cited a statement made by Black conservative Thomas Sowell over 20 years ago. Mr. Sowell says quite simply that if Jews wish to escape the scourge of anti-Semitism, they must learn to fail. His pithy statement succinctly describes the plight of White, Western Civilization in general, which is under attack by the neo-Marxist Left basically because it has been the most Successful force in all of Human History! Truly Ridiculous!