Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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Culture How Scooby-Doo became TV’s most Jewish cartoon dog
The American Jewish animator and producer Joe Ruby, who co-created the TV series character Scooby-Doo, died on August 26 at age 87. His family announced in The Los Angeles Times the following day that Ruby’s “Jewish faith played an increasingly important role in his life, and Joe was bar mitzvahed at the age of thirty-nine.”…
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Culture Arnold Spielberg — engineering pioneer, father of Steven — dies at 103
Arnold Meyer Spielberg, who died on August 25 at age 103, was more than just the father of celebrated film director Steven Spielberg. Born in Cincinnati to a family of Ukrainian Jewish origin, Arnold Spielberg grew up to be an electrical engineer of uncommon invention and productivity. He developed research that would make the personal…
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Culture On her 90th birthday, the Jewish origin story of Betty Boop
August 9 marks the 90th anniversary of Betty Boop’s first appearance in a cartoon short produced by the Austrian Jewish animator Max Fleischer. Betty was eventually voiced by a Bronx-born Jewish actress, Mae Questel. Yet fans of animation have sometimes been baffled in trying to pinpoint the degree of Yiddishkeit in Betty’s chameleon-like persona. To…
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Culture How Leon Fleisher overcame adversity to become the Rembrandt of the piano
The pianist Leon Fleisher, who died on August 2 at age 92, was part of an aspirational generation of American Jews. Born in San Francisco, he was the son of impoverished immigrants from Odessa and Poland who managed two hat shops. By age four, Fleisher already showed talent at the piano. He studied with Lev…
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Culture In ‘Gone With the Wind,’ a complicated Jewish subtext
Editor’s note: Olivia de Havilland, the last surviving star of “Gone with the Wind” died July 26, 2020 at the age of 104. In the film, she played Melanie Hamilton, the prototypical Southern belle sister-in-law of Scarletther closest friend. In honor of Ms. de Havilland’s long career in entertainment, we’re republishing a piece from earlier…
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Culture On Bugs Bunny’s 80th birthday, how Jewish is that wascally wabbit anyway?
As we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the release of “A Wild Hare,” the first animated short starring Bugs Bunny, the question arises: How Jewish was the sassy, anti-authoritarian rabbit? Since 1940, Jewish audiences have taken Bugs to their heart for his anarchic energy in lightning-fast short films of concentrated intensity and visual quality, especially…
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Culture We should talk about the Jewish backstory of ‘All About Eve’
This year marks the 70th anniversary of “All About Eve,” the landmark screen drama with a backstory that implies how risky Jewish identity, whether overt or repressed, could be circa 1950. Written and directed by the American Jewish filmmaker Joseph L. Mankiewicz, “All About Eve” was adapted from a short story inspired by an ambitious…
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Culture How Jewish themes inspired Ennio Morricone
The Oscar-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who died on July 6 at age 91, is cherished by film fans for his scores to Spaghetti Westerns directed by Sergio Leone as well as Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” (2015), for which he received an Academy Award. Yet as Morricone sometimes pointed out to journalists, his artistry…
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