Before moving to Los Angeles, Vogler lived in Krakow, where he directed and produced documentary films. His life as a Jew in Poland was rather sedate.
Playwright Paula Vogel grew up in suburban Maryland, where the country clubs did not accept her Jewish father.
In \”Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith\” (Pantheon Books, $23.00), a gentle and touching memoir, Anne Lamott tells a variation of an old story:
A 1998 article about Chicago collector Stephen Durschslag\’s haggadah collection set the number of different haggadot on his shelves at 4,500, increasing almost daily.
It\’s not always easy to contend with an artist who decides to bite the hand that feeds him.
Some of the best recent American documentaries are nonfiction, highly subjective narratives that explore the Sturm und Drang of family relationships.
When Roberto Benigni won the grand prize at Cannes for his Holocaust tragicomedy, \”Life is Beautiful,\” he rushed to the stage and kissed the feet of juror Martin Scorsese.
Gwyneth Paltrow, the beautiful, blond Oscar-nominated heroine of \”Shakespeare in Love,\” is descended from a distinguished rabbinical dynasty, called Paltrowitch, which may stretch back to 17th-century Russia.
After two years of nonstop global touring in support of her band\’s two albums, a weary Powell found herself in a state of flux earlier this week — without a permanent place to call home — just days away from recording the follow up to Save Ferris\’ 1997 major label debut, \”This Means Everything.\”
To read this straightforward and endearing memoir is to understand why its author would add his maternal grandparents to an honor roll of the rich and famous.
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