There is an old joke from the Holocaust, Robin Williams says.
Two old Jews want to kill Hitler. The fuhrer doesn\’t show up. \”So one turns to the other and says, \’My God, I hope nothing happened to him,\’ \” Williams quips.
Bruce Vilanch, comedy writer to the stars, picks up the phone. \”Jew speaking,\” he says.
Emmy Award-winning Vilanch, 51, is one of the drollest Jews in Hollywood.
Joshua Hammer\’s book is called \”Chosen by God: A Brother\’s Journey\” (Hyperion Press), and while the titular journey refers to his brother, it may very well apply to Hammer himself.
The number \”three\” doesn\’t play an especially important part in Jewish lore and customs. But the pre-High Holy Day musical rush brought to my desk several trios of related recordings, so it\’s fitting to deal with them in groups of threes.
There have been a few Israeli films that dealt with relationships between Arabs and Jews (among them the superb prison drama \”Beyond the Walls\”), but rarely do we see an Arab movie that tells the story from the perspective of the \”other side.\”
Jennifer Maisel, who\’s been described as \”David Lynch with estrogen,\” explores child abuse, insanity, suicide, rape. In \”Mating Season,\” a young man sets out to supply all the local sperm banks. In \”Mad Love,\” a 13-year-old girl begs a Christmas-tree salesman to rescue her from her incestuous father. Now comes \”Eden,\” the tale of a suicidal woman with AIDS who withdraws from her friends and her optimistic mother, a Holocaust survivor.
Many American filmgoers still aren\’t familiar with Francis Veber. Yet they should be — they\’ve been watching his work for two decades. Sort of.
In 1995, while on the Florida leg of a concert tour, Bob Dylan walked into Temple Beth El in West Palm Beach and attended Yom Kippur services.
Even for an international film producer and inveterate traveler, Arthur Cohn has covered a lot of territory recently.
\”Do they all have to be Italian?\”
This is the question the network executive asked the creator of \”Everybody Loves Raymond\” as they were casting Ray Romano\’s family.
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