Un1rc:niry Pre'' An unpnnr uf'tJn1ver11ry Pre11 of New England

\\'Vr'\\,11pnc.c011l (fl Br.1nJd1 Univer1ity This book is dedicated 10 11 to the loving memory of All nghr1 rc1crved Manuf.tcrured 111 rhe Un iced Scacc.1 of America Gertrude Rubin (1921-2010 }: J)e1igned by j)e.111 Born1tcin mother-in-law, movie buddy, lyp<"" in Adobe Garamond by Keysrone poet, political activist, Typ<1crring, Jne. and a real mensch.

For pcrmi11ion to reproduce any of the material in rhi1 book. conracr Pcrmi1sions, University Press of New England, One Court Street, Suire 250, Leba- non NH 03766; or visit \VWw.upne.com

Library of Congress Caraloging·in-Publicarion Dara The modern Jewish experience in world cinema I Lawrence Baron, editor. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-i-61168-208·3 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 978·I·61168-199-4 (pbk.: alk. paper) !.]cws in morion pictures. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in morion pictures. 3. -In morion pictures. I. Baron, Lawrence. PN I995·9·J46M54 2011 791.43' 652924-dc23 20110377I7

This book was published with the generous support of the Lucius N. Lirrauer Foundation.

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JAr/ 16 2013 IPFW HELMKE LIBRARY Contents

Preface XI Abbreviation;; DVD Rental and Purchase Source; xv Introduction: The Modern Jewish Experience in World Cinema, Lawrence Baron

I. ADVANCEMENT AND ANIMOSITY IN WESTERN EUROPE, 1874-1914 lJ I. One of Us? Contesting Di>racli's Jewishness and Engli

II. THE SHTETL ON THE PRECIPICE: EASTERN EUROPE, 1881-1911 S9 6. Fiddling with Sholem Aleichem: A History of Fiddler on the Roof, Stephen]. Whitfield S9 7. Yentl: From Boy to Syndrome, Pamela S. Nadell 66 8. Redressing the Commissar: Thaw Cinema Revises Soviet Strucruring Myths, Elena Monastireva-Ansdell 9. Cinema as Site of Memory: The Dybbuk and the Burden of Holocaust Commemoration, Zehavit Stern 82

Ill. THE AMERICANIZATION OF THE JEWISH IMMIGRANT, 1880-1932 89

10. From Hollywood to Hester Streer: Ghetto Film, Melodrama, and the Image of the Assimilated Jew in Hungry Hearts, Delia Caparoso Konzen 89

11. The Right Fi lm ar rhe Right Time: Hester Street as a Reflection oflrs Era, H asia Diner 98 12. Cultural Erosion and rhe (Br)orher ar rhe Gateway of Sound Cinema, Joel Rosen berg 105 13. Ethnic and Discursive Drag in Woody Allen's Zelig, Rurh D. Johnston ll4 14. Uncle Moses: The First Artistic Yiddish Sound Film, H annah Berliner Fischthal 120 viii coNT EN TS ix CONTENTS ND coMMUNiSM. 1880-1932. 125 nVES: z10 NISM A T!OS'ARY ALTERN A 35. Southern Jewishness on Screen, Eliza R. L. McGraw ,.. REVOLV · Who Loved Hebrew, 3 2-3 1 or the Man 125 6. Jewish Women and the Dilemmas of America's Postwar :\fiddle Class, The Birch of a Language. Riv· Ellen Prell I\· , •. nne Golan T and New Identity, i\O z· · m rauma, 37 132 . Of Lox and Columbus: Jewish and American Them

YI. ISRAEL'S HERO IC YEARS, 19 4 7-1967 229 X. CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN JEWISH IDENTITIES 385 19. L. 229 50. Jewish New York in Crossing Delancey, David I. Grossvogel Filming the Israeli War oflndependence, Ariel Feldestein i85 237 51. 30. Screening the Birrh of a Na tion: faodus Revisited, Yosefa Loshitzky Torch Song Trilogy: Gay and Jewish Foundations, Jonathan C. Friedman 390 52., Against Tribalism: David Mamet's Homicide, Philip Hanson 11. Feminism, Zionism, and Persecutio n in Iraq: The Srory of Herzliya Lokai and 395 53. Self-Criticism in Public, David Kraemer Her Imprisonment in the Baghdad Women's Jail, Daphne Tsimhoni 244 +05 54. 11. From Black to White: Changi ng Im ages of Mizrahim in Israeli Cinema, Keeping the Faith: A Multiculmral}11zz Singer, Lawrence Baron 412 Yaron Peleg 252 Appendix: Alternate Films +11 Conrriburor Biographies VII. ACCEPTANCE IN POS TWA R AMER ICA, 1945-1977 259 427 Acknowledgments 433 3J. The Chosm: The Jew as Boch American and Alien, Michael W. Rubinoff 259 Index 435 J4. Jew and Noc-Jew: Antisemitism and the Postwar Hol!ywood Social Problem Film, Steven Al an Carr 266 Preface

I began my sabbatical in 2008 determined to write the definitive survey of the depiction ofJews and parison of changing trends in fiction, film, Judaism in world cinema. I had been teaching a documentary film, and political propaganda film .. .. It involves the concurrent histories of course on chis topic for eighteen years. Each year the film representation of other national, eth- when I designed the syllabus, I faced a growing nic, and social groups. And, of course, it re- problem: the existing books on Jewish film were quires knowledge of modern Jewish and world either too narrowly focused or out of dace. The history, of the history of anti-Semitism, of che cost of customized readers, consisting of copies of rise and fall of Nazism, of the planning, enact- articles from journals or excerpts from books, be- ment, and aftermath of the "Final Solution," came increasingly prohibitive as the legal victory of survivor experience, and the vast realm of of the publishing companies against Kinko's was postwar reAeccion and debate on the Holo- enforced. Putting material on line was another op- caust and its representation. (5) tion, bur it was rime-consuming for me and often frustrating for students, as their older comput- The response of Barack Obama, then a presi- ers couldn't handle all the data, links broke, and dential candidate, to a question in a 2008 de- chc university's website sometimes went down. A bate about when a fetus becomes endowed with book in the hand is worth two in cyberspace. human rights kept running through my mind: The more I read the existing scholarship on "That's above my pay grade." Jewish films and viewed as many of them as I The next step was the realization that I didn't could obtain on videotape or DVD, the more I need to reinvent the wheel. Brilliant analyses of had a gnawing feeling that the subject was too key films produced over the course of the last vast and varied for me to do an adequate job hundred years were already in print. I approached of teaching it. When I stumbled on Joel Rosen- their authors co see if they'd be willing to edit berg's marvelous overview of American Jewish their pieces to be less technical, shorter, and more film ("Jewish Experience on Film-An American student-friendly, or if they'd let me perform that Overview," American Jewish Yearbook [1996]), I function. When a particular film had been over- realized what I was up against: looked or needed a more updated interpretation, I asked scholars with the expertise in the appro- What one needs to study is immense. The priate disciplines and subjects to write original subject encompasses the world output of cin- essays. What began as my project quickly turned ema.... It requires some familiarity with film into a collaborative effort. I have enjoyed working theory, past and present.... It properly re- with all the contributors to this anthology, even quires a knowledge of several languages, and of though I know most of them only through e-mail film scholarship in those languages. ... It en- correspondence. I am indebted to them for their tails familiarity with particular Jewish film in- willingness to share their insights with a new gen- dustries, such as Yiddish-language and Israeli eration of students enrolled in Jewish cinema film .... It involves examination and com- courses. .. , <

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JJl • pREf-'CE

xiii : PREFACE .. tJu"hc on particular themes and nat· Lour:so . - . . ionaj JuJ< in ch< .111ch0l- . . Jnd from a y;mecy ot d1sc1plines I ti. _ -. Ltnem.is. · ts cO\·. thors about working with Phyllis Deutsch. Those . .\meri.:Jn, Holocausc, and Israeli c· good humor and mc:ticulou';" attention ro the for- L·_;.;.._,.. .. . :1..'n· t commenrs have prol'ed to be true. She gave me .. trJge o · . matting and indexing of the mana"'npt. If it . ·-i ·ubr should make 1C arcracti,·e to but 1..' er . in · Pro- insightful feedback on the first and second ver- ...... ,.)!.;:: l!' ..._ • • [ 1) t weren't for her, the publication of ch" book ,;_"" otkrina courses on these subjects u ,,.,-...d .-.-mt• .111 -di l'"-3S(h ., · .llOl\'. sions of my book proposal and was an under- would have been much delayed. .. ..,n•> ...... in .. JS" . · one thac its global approach will pro standing. though rough, taskmaster after it was ewr. I h ,.- • lllpt I ,\ :,-x·r:"< f<'n sh Finally, thank my family for their pacience . ' ro· ....J.Iint .A.:-. :..N - those who rIL•U> Jbom which book, not only for their entertainment value, but the Llrcauer Foundation, San Diego State Uni- • ·' •.• in m nw book. .-1.lrht'ugh the distributes. The Phorofesr staff has been ex- for what they can reach you about the modern f'..: U.i:J ;x: ...... · · - · ftilm" yersir:-. and the uniYersity's Hisrory Department, "· tremely helpful in obtaining rhe majority of stills Jewish experience. l '· tn"":t' J ,_.,b_i.:-..·cion" ro c:he o . ..., to which I bdong. used in the anthology. ., illl m\· imn.i.I t<. rhc're wt're far more re-commen- -., I appreciate the ";se advice given by the fol- ·-. dJtWn• oi othm I should add. L'lrinurdy. I am \'Vhen I was racing against a deadline, Claudia Lawrence Baron .. . lo\\; ng people, eYen though I have unwisely not '·· r<•ron;ible tOr the choices. a number of which Mci\lahon, a dear friend and my former admin- San Diego, California '• always heeded ir: Alan Berger, David Brenner, isrrative assistant, came ro my rescue with her ., .,_ were JicrJred b,· prJ.-ri.:al .:oncerns abou t the stze February 201! Ste,·en Alan Carr, Hasia Diner, Gordon Dueck, ,,i the antholo;:r. .. '• .,·- ,, ..\,, noted introduction, I fdr strongly Barack Fishman, Sylvia Fuks Fried, Kath- •· ryn Hellerstein, Marnie Hughes-Warrington, '· '· , '•. thJt an1 monon picture analyzed in the collec- , -: tion robe readily a1ailable in English dia- Yrnnne Kozlm·sk;· Golan, Giacomo Lichrner, ': '/. ·. logue or a subrirled rmion fo r purchase or rental Joanna Michlic, Pamela Nadell, Riv Ellen Prell, . ,, .. l .. by students and protessors alike. One of my com- Catherine Portuges, Sharon Rivo, Alan Rosen, , ' plaints abour other surreys of Jewish cinema is Joel Rosenberg, Robert Rosensrone, Jim Ross, .-"'· ., •,, '•. tha t the" devo ted mention to morion picrures Michael Rubinoff. Alyssa Goldstein Sepimvall, '• . .. ·, . .. ': thar were no longer accessible ro the viewing pub- Susan Rubin Suleiman, Mary Wauchope, David ,_ ·-. lic in any fo rmar. The acquisitions edirors at Weinberg, Stephen Whitfield, Jennifer William, .,_ ...,,, .,, .. Brandei< L'nirmirr Press dubbed chis the "Net· and Rochelle Wright. -. fo rule." Forrunatdy, within the pasr three years, Brandeis University Press was my first choice the numbers of formerlr hard-ro-find films that as a publisher because I had always been im· hare been released as D\.'Ds and are now stacked pressed both by the quality of their books and by br ranous Inrerner retailers and organizations their marketing of the works ro the Jewish com· that disrribute and presen·e films have increased munity and Jewish studies scholars. Another rea· exponen tially. son I wanted ro have Brandeis University Press This prm·ides instrucrors with the publish this book was that I had heard so many tlexi bili ry ro sdect from a range of . r movies ror good things from Brandeis University Press au· I L66 STE VEN A L A N C ARR

Bib11"'1"P"' 34. Jew and Ot-Je AbrJm>on,, fd,..ird A. Chmn !'otok. Boston' Twaync, Ant1sem1t1sm' . . and th IN 19 8"· 5 . e Po Cohen. N.10ml Wiener. TheAmmcaniZAllOn o/Zionism, ocial Problem Film stwar Hou 1Sp·-194.1. Wal rham, M A' Brandeis Univmiry Press, STE Yy,OoQ VEN ALAN CAR.R. !00,, Frcmon c-Smirh. El ior, "Books of rh c Tim es: Looking Crossfire, directed by Edward Dniyt 1. B.ick: Two Good Novel s Reconsidered," New York United Stares, 1947 ry, 1imts.Junc 16, 196 .... 4r. Gentleman 's Agreemem, directed by El Fricdnun. Lcsrer D. The}ewJ.Sh lmngt m American Fiim. (A) Ial(,Qn Scc.rncu\, NJ: Ciradel, 1987, 24 4. Gfa2er, Narhan. Americ1m)11dmsm. Chicago: University United Stares, 1947 of Ch icago Press. 1988. Kagan.Jeremy Pa ul, Tilt' Chosen Audio Com- mcnury). The Chosen, Hen's Tooth Video, i.010. Both Crossfire and Gentleman's A . . grerm,,,1 h Maslin,jJncr, "'As Ti me Gone By," New }Ork Times, Ap ril come to ep1tom1ze Hollywo d" "' o s immcd· 10, 1982, Cs. war response to the Holoca h· iatcpo. . usr, w ich histo Mile!., Margaret R. Sumg and Believing: Religion and convent1onally have characre · d n"' nze as not 1;i!ues in the J.for•res. Boston: Beacon, 1996. ing to much of a response eirhe . amounr. Mimz, Jeromc. Hasidic People: A Place m the J'llew JVor!d. . . ' r m ternis of Ucl lmg Nazism or of addressing the . Cambridge: Harvard Un iversity Press, 1992. .· . . . speer 6callv )<>. {as Phil Green) being rold there are no rooms at the Flume Inn by Roy Robercs (..,the ho

p.irncu!Jrh unpopu!Jr in occupied Germany so that the problem can in h and all, could offer the test tance f . t Cend b , warts o winn1n h (Scgra1·c 199-, 1-1 ). Eager to coopcrace with post- simple causes, to a villain wh e th tJ\'or making cercain kinds of films over others, 11' ·ndustr ' -greemem fi - ;11rt and (, . contained . y to 1 cYen ifcheirefforrs were nor successful in reaching mane rather than a social in , cl rh< fiJoi h kinds of themes that Holly- fleeted h t m th" pu;id· m, . " context I( r;, ,, r cd [ c t c outcome f . 'tt1> Uld 10 0 the desired goal, or in commercial terms. resolution of the problem"· C · ey to .1 "'"out d e in dramatizations of social America I C th11 ton'· Each film addressed antisemitism within the con- viscerally in the latter film one 111 • 0t less Aattcnng eme ion ior wh I . . . ' o narrow- . un t maintains a balance on the posi- rges as a hate cti 111e Wh h at '°" straints of the Hollywood social problem genre, and petty md1v1duals incapable f . lllindrd rh< rreatnien the d . en t e poli h o seeing th th than che negative side. Thus, a film mur erer at the end of th fil . tt' oot explicitly referencing American antisemitism lective harm they inflict on the d . CcoJ. rive ra er f d .ll has trium h d e m, diligent good . . . emocrat1e poi· how chat men o goo w1 are actually P e over Irrational .L • while only incidentally referencing the Holo- Most striking 1s that even though both fil shou Id s . . Agreem 1 · cvi Gentlem.,n' . . . lllswcrr aJ'ority, even though It 1s only a passive en is a more complicated _ ' caust. The rwo films did this quite differently, ab out annsemmsm, neither offered J io rh 'ni fits the b · narrat1ve, bur it . a . . v until aroused. In other words, good same as1c formula. An . . with Crossfire depicting antisemitism as a patho- tagomst. From a dramatic scandpo· h· ma1onr, porter d. imcsugath'c re- . . . int, tis was a id not only triumph over evil but the re- preten mg to be Jewish in d logical aberration, and Gentleman's Agreement key charactensnc: theu narratives w sh ou an ex , f . or er to write ere notabo should be brought about through wil- pose 0 American amisemiusm fi d th' depicting it as a nasty personal habit tolerated in what it is like to be Jewish and enco ur sotI pre'ud· I n' " unter anti· fuJ [sic J and purposeful action rather than . J '.ce comp etely endemJC in police societ\' polite society, bur with corrosive consequences semitism, but what it is like to be not Jewish and through fortuitous circumstances. The difli- mcludmgcheworkplace, schools,hotcls,andev ·' for democratic ideals. Although explicit refer- encounter this phenomenon. m personal I · h' en culties arising from these Iii ms are largely re anons ips. Although the film su _ ences to the Holocaust remained noticeably ab- Both Crossfire and Gentleman's Agreementrr- . gests that ant' · · · g due co the problem or t h eme, b ut this princi- isemmsm JS prevalent, n contains sent from these films, that absence is key to flected a powerful, negotiated consensus through plrshould underlie the treatment of all films enough men and women "of goodwill" to rnn- understanding the logic of a broad-based view which the Hollywood social problem genre could with the seamy side of American life. front what it portrays more as a tolerated c\'il shared by Hollywood and the federal govern- neatly align with President Franklin Rooosevelrs Showing our problems frankly and objectively than a pathological one. The most interesting a;. ment: the injustice of antisemitism was that it Four Freedoms. These freedoms, as articulmd in ttAecrs very well upon American freedom of pect of Gentleman's Agreement, though, is how singled out everyday people who just happened to Roosevelt's January 6, 1941, State of the Union discussion, but we must remember that movies the reporter methodically roots out inmnm of be Jewish; and American democracy upheld uni- address. presented a distinctly American vision of ace made for a mass audience not necessarily in polite society, as the homidd, versal ideals that not only minimized religious, the modern world meant for wartime and po•- to such reflection and analysis. For this detecnve m Crossfire amasses evidence of a hare ethnic, or racial differences, but stubbornly de- war cultural export: freedom of speech, frei· reason, the overall impact of a film should be crime. By the time the reporter in Grmlem.mi nied the fact that they existed in the face of a dom of worship, freedom from want, and fm· one in which problems are shown with rela- Agreement writes his story and has his moth

Okinawa, thus subrly re- may well hav Dri,,ing ;tway fro m the inn, I knew all about effecti vely erases the difference b . ·vcd at . . e corn c: to u d h. b fi . d etwee l her<'" Jews evaded mili tary sc r- arc fil"1, such 'v' n " "•nd I· nerv nun or wo man who'd been roid the job and lS est nen , Dave Gold ll 11i llt 0J1 d rhat as wand J k " ·"'"P<.u . .. "1an L '

When she finishes reading the passage, the llepKnon Of a victim who .c omc .1d enrally hap- the relevance of both film s co the Halo caust, Mitch: I didn't murder anyone. Why would! mother solidifies this consensual view of Ameri- to hold a particular 1denttty other than then, would also include both production and murder him? What motive would l havt! can history at a deeply personal level, observ- '.\mmran." as well as the relativel y fluid manner reception histories that use primary historical re- Finley : Maybe you didn't like him. Maybeyo u ing char the reporrer's recenrly deceased father nwhKh anyone could occupy that identity, be- sources. For production history, this involves ar· hated him. Hate's a good motive. "would have liked to have you say that, Phil." for how American films depicted chival research, such as studying studio memos Mitch: Why would I hate him? I hardly knew Neither Crossfire nor Gentleman's Agreement .oddid not depict the Jewish specificity of the and scripts. However, even production history him. I only talked to him fora couplrof was simply about antisemitism, but rather both Holocaust. alone is insufficient, as this would tell only what hours. He seemed like a nice guy. were about encountering antisemitism from the Ii he gazes into a bedroom mirror. H e in Samuels's medical disc arge • I, OSSI 1ty t lat American audiences The revise view propose 27l STE V EN ALAN CARR 273 SOUTHERN JEWJSH N!!ss ON SCl\F_[N

l>Crond looking .1r Crosgirt and Gentleman's Bibliography · in F'''"''efi/m.ras History. edited by K. R. M. sourhern matria h .1S di:crere and ulrim.1rely failed con- ,,.... }(noxville: University ofTennesse h re and Baron, Lawrence. "Picturing Prejudice. er Jewishness exceptional L of antisemitism trapped within rhe 1 89· c . . . uc:q,,lc: l)f About Anti-Sernirisn1. " in fi oUYw , With Its inclus· social problem genre, instead considering these f{aunted in the Nero World: Jewish Amer- Cw1'1zat10n, edited by Le d In St•di ""'1, 1"" the to ic ion of southern films as part of a broader process of consent and . onar J. G (.&<'. • V l fro"' Cahan to "The Goldber"S. "Bloo P of race rclac· Jewishne,. d Ronald A. Simkins, 17 _ . Orn "'"'Poon °''4 0 111rt o· m- . ions, h an 37 1 ten d s cinematic owever, the fil U · · p aha, NE "1d n· lodiana Univers ity Press, :z.005. negori.1rion between H ollywood, government, mversuy ress, 2006. : cr cighta M · conventions f m CX· and audiences. Analysis of these fi lms should be- Carr, Steven Alan. Hol/vwood d ' ,,gio· iss Daisy offers a visual voe o SOuthcrnnc,.. ..., an Anti S Histo.ry up to World 1%r I!. ern Jewishness with . . abulary for south- gin by examining the particular circumstances of h T Its wide b. bridge University Press, 1. bri dge: <4ni. t e emple in Adan ' tight •hors of their production, and how they were initially 200 . taand soh --. "Hollywood, the Holocaust, and voices discuss ing Ut crn-a