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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 26, 1986 Page 23
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Arts & Entertainment
Photographer puts Yiddish in the
Avid readers
by Lionel Rolfe
In the early'50s, a major Hol
lywood publicist named Dave
Golding hired a young and up
coming Hollywood photographer.
He was Phil Stern who had made
a name for himself as a combat
photographer and war hero in
World War II. appearing both in
Stars and Stripes and Life
Magazine.
Golding hired Stern to be the
still photographer on the set of
“Guys and Dolls,” and later many
other pictures.
One day Golding asked Stern
a personal favor. He knew that
Stern had grown up speaking
Yiddish and reading the Forw'ard.
His father. Max Golding, admit
ted Dave, was the composing
room foreman at the Forward,
and Golding confessed further
that his dad loved both the
movies and movie stars. Could
Stern, who was friends with so
many of the stars, ask Marlon
Brando to hold a copy of the
Forward, snap his picture, and
then get Brando to autograph the
picture “To dear Max.”
Phil asked Brando, who seemed
tickled by the idea of pretending
he was reading a Yiddish news
paper. Thus began a series of
photos by Stern of various stars
reading a Yiddish paper, each of
them seemingly reacting strongly
to what they were reading—even
though none of them could actu
ally read Yiddish.
It was sort of the first, “You
don't have to be Jewish” ads that
were popular for deli products,
except for the fact that the pic
tures Stern shot were not intended
for publication.
For years the photos Stern
sent Max were tacked up on the
bulletin board of the Forward's
back shop bulletin board. Max
was a hero to his co-workers. In
1981, the Forward finally got
around to publishing a handful
of the photos.
Sometimes Stern put more
effort into his obsession taking
pictures for Max Golding at the
Forward than he did with his
regular work. He says he always
carried a copy of the paper with
him whenever he worked on movie
sets, in case he ran into a likely
and cooperative subject.
J he idea behind the photos
was simple. Stern wanted to
shoot very unlikely people ap
parently reading a Yiddish pa
per-people such as Alfred
Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart. Bob
Hope and Spencer Tracy. “The
only Jew I shot reading the For
ward,” he says, “was w hen Eng
lish actor Ron Moody was play
ing the role ol a Saudi oil sheik,
and was dressed up in the full
regalia, including burnoose. Un
less you want to say that Sinatra
is Jewish because he’s related to
Columbus or something,” he
added.
Despite, or maybe because of
the fact that most of the celebri
ties who posed with the paper
were not Jewish, they almost all
seemed anxious and even tickled
to pose with Forward. He thinks
this is because most people in the
movie business, with a few nota
ble exceptions, have a soft-spot
for Jewish culture.
Stern points out that he would
not have asked James Cagney to
pose with the paper, despite the
fact that Cagney had the map of
Ireland written all over his face,
because it was known that Cag
ney spoke good Yiddish. Stern
was propelled by the idea of
improbability.
Normally, he points out, peo
ple like Brando and Sinatra are
quite resentful of people who
w'ant to take their pictures for
personal reasons or to plug a
product. If they do such things,
they want lots of money. Yet for
his camera, the actors w'ere not
only willing to go along with the
gag, they pantomimed for the
camera while reading the For
ward. Actors, explain Stern, also
do not usually enjoy having to
act once they are no longer in
front of the movie camera.
To Stern’s mind, his little gag,
which he carried on for more
than three decades, was “theater
of the absurd. Theater of the
Absurd had to be invented by
Jews," he says, “because Jews
have the most grist and subject
matter, the most pertinent human
traumas to supply material for
T heater of the Absurd, because
of the nature of their historical
predicament"
In Steven Spielberg's wild
comedy “1941” Christopher Lee
was playing the part of a Nazi
U-boat captain. Stern just couldn’t
resist shooting this most unlikely
character to be reading the For
ward despite his own reserva
tions. Remember, none of these
photographs were meant to ever
be printed, so regarding the
bizarre juxtaposition of the
swastika and the Yiddish news
paper. Stern said, “Oh hell, it's
all in the family” and shot the
picture. One Jew ish crew member
on the film set objected to this
“bad taste” and tried to get Stern
WABE-FM 90 presents ‘Voice of the Turtle’
On the first day ol Hanuka,
the performing group. Voice of
the Turtle, will present a live
concert broadcast w hich includes
stories about the holiday, art
fully woven into a program ol
traditional music. Listeners can
hear Voice of the Turtle Satur-
Bible stories
Franklin D. Kreutzer, interna
tional president of the United
Synagogue of America, the or
ganization of 850 Conservative
synagogues in North America
with a constituency of over a mil
lion and a half members, has
announced the availability of six
classic Bible stories in video
cassette form under United Syn
agogue auspices, produced by
the world-famous Hanna Barbera
Studios. Applying their expertise
to some favorite children’s Bible
stories, Hanna Barbera Produc
tions has captured the timeless
message of the greatest stories
ever told via televideo, the
medium of today.
Through the adventures of
three contemporary children
who become part of the scenarios
dav, Dec. 27, from 8 to 10 p.m.
on WABE-FM 90.
I he stories come I mm w idely
disparate traditions: the Ashke
nazi world of Isaac Bashevis Sin
ger. set in Eastern Europe; the
world ol the Sephardim whose
traditions preserved the fabulous
by utilizing a time machine, the
Bible is brought vividly to life for
viewers of all ages. The action
and excitement which are the
hallmarks of these strikingly
animated cassettes convey the
values and concepts ol the stories
in a way to w hich children respond
best.
According to Dr. Morton K
Siegel, director of the Depart
ment of Education of the United
Synagogue, “the Greatest Adven
ture Series provides a meaning
ful and entertaining appreciation
of Torah narratives and moti
vates the viewer to turn to the
text itself for further study. As a
classroom tool, the series has
maximum pedagogic impact.”
Presently, the following six
stories can be purchased through
"Romancas.” epic sagas sung to
hypnotic melodies, evoking the
erasol Medieval and Renaissance
Spain; and the modern world,
where the traditions continue.
The songs include those pre
served with love and care through
the centuries. The holiday music
the United Synagogue: “Moses,”
“David and Goliath,” “Joshua
and the Battle of Jericho,”
“Noah’s Ark,” “Samson and
Delilah” and “Daniel and the
Lion’s Den.” Charges per cassette
(in VHF or Beta), which run
approximately 30 minutes per
tape, are $19.95, plus shipping
and handling.
Also available are colorful
companion books for each story,
handsomely illustrated and pub
lished in hard cover. These books,
at $5.95 each, complete the col
lection. For more information,
contact the United Synagogue
Department of Education. 155
Fifth Avenue. New York, N.Y.
10010.
will be sung in l.adino and
Hebrew and will be accompanied
by a variety ol Medieval and
Renaissance instruments.
The Voice of the Turtle is a
quartet compi ised ol Derek Bur
rows, Lisle Kulbaeh, Jay Rosen
berg and Judith Wachs. Formed
in 1977, the Voice of the Turtle
has developed a unique approach
to the performance of Medieval,
Renaissance and traditional folk
repertoire which includes the
music ol Sephardic Jews. Because
each member is able to perform
on many instruments, their con
certs evoke a wide variety of
atmospheres and time periods.
Research into the authentic tra
ditions. from field recordings and
notated sources, provides the
seeds of imaginative re-creations.
Presentations include voices,
harp, psaltery, rebec, medieval
dillle. Tul. Spanish medieval
bagpipe, and many other histori-
eal instruments.
Voice of the I mile has per
formed to audiences at B'nai
B'nth Hillel at Harvard. Prin
ceton, Rutgers. Brandeis. T ufts.
Cornell, and many other colleges
and sv nagogues through the New
York and New England area.
available in videocassette
picture
fired. The other Jewish crew
members enjoyed the gag.
Stern says he can well under
stand how many survivors might
be sensitiv e even to actors dressed
up in Nazi uniforms, but he re
mained to his sense of the princi
ple that was driving him.
Stern’s credentials as a Nazi-
fighter were impeccable. Stern
used to interrogate Nazi colonels
and generals speaking Yiddish, a
language most people w ho speak
German can understand. Stern
had distant relatives w ho died in
the Holocaust, and more to the
point he had been a famous war
hero and combat photographer
in the Darby’s Rangers, the
combat unit that was not only
the bravest, but also suffered the
most casualties. Of the original
1.500 rangers, only 199 survived.
After the war. Stern played
himself in a movie about the
Darby’s Rangers. As a genuine
war hero, he was quickly accepted
in Hollywood circles when he
picked up his camera.
He’s an intelligent and inde
pendent soul, with a powerful
photographic vision and a highly
developed sense of craft. He still
covers Hollywood sets with a
war combat zone intensity. If
there’s a dangerous stunt going
on, for example. Stern will throw
himself into the most precarious
positions in order to record it.
Some of Stern’s other photo
projects are adding to his fame
these days. People magazine early
this month ran a four-page spread
of his pictures of famous stars
such as John Wayne, Humphrey
Bogart, Bing Crosby and Jack
Lemmon with their children—an
obsessive project of his similar in
intensity to the Forward pictures.
His intimate photographs of
Marilyn Monroe and James Dean
are collector's items worth hun
dreds of dollars each. As the
chief photographer for the great
jazz impresario Norman Grantz,
he shot most of the album covers
of nearly every great jazz musi
cian who ever appeared on
Cirantz's Pablo records. When
John Kennedy was inaugurated
as president. Stern’s friend Frank
Sinatra asked him to photograph
the dinner backstage—he was
the only photographer allowed
to do so.
Stern goes back to the begin
nings of photo-journalism. When
Life did an exhibit and a book
called Life: The First Decade;
1936-1945, the first of the 300
classic black and white photo
graphs w as a Depression-era Phil
Stern photo, of a man and his
family looking for work and a
home. It was a haunting, power
ful photo as many of Stern's
photos are. The collection began
with the works of three of its
great photographers, Margarete
Bourke White, Ansel Adams and
Phil Stern.
But anyone who has known
Phil Stern is bound to quickly
discover that his favorite photo
graphic obsesssion has been those
wonderful pictures of unlikely
celebrities reading a newspaper
written in “Jewish.”
Lionel Rolfe, editor of the
B'nai B'rith Messenger in l.os
A ngeles. is also the author of two
hooks, "The Menuhins: A Fam
ily Odvssey” and "Literary LA."
hath published by Panjandrum
Books.
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