Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
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Culture Bernie Krause Played for Pete Seeger and Inspired an Animal Orchestra
Born in Detroit in 1938, for the past quarter-century Bernie Krause has traveled the world, capturing natural sounds of creatures and environments large and small. Since briefly replacing Pete Seeger in the folk-singing group “The Weavers” in 1963, Krause has gone on to contribute synthesizer performances to many feature films, including “Apocalypse Now.” His company,…
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Culture Remembering Broadway Theater Impresario James Nederlander
James M. Nederlander, the American Jewish theater impresario who died on July 25 at age 94, was more than just a producer and theater owner in New York and Chicago. Growing up in Detroit, Nederlander, known in the theatrical world as Jimmy, honed his showbiz smarts by studying such star performers as Ed Wynn (born…
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Culture Remembering Marni Nixon, the Greatest Ghost Singer
Marni Nixon, who died on July 24 at 86, was more than just the off-screen dubbed singing voice for unmusical actresses in such Hollywood movies as “The King and I,” “West Side Story,” and “My Fair Lady.” A marriage with the screen composer Ernest Gold (born Ernst Goldner), who wrote the soundtrack music to “Exodus,”…
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Culture Why Are the Chinese So Obsessed With the Jews?
In China today, shoppers snap up self-help books about how be smart, rich, and have successful children supposedly by imitating Jews. At least ten universities in China offer Jewish Studies programs. This popularity is in spite of, or due to, the fact that there are almost no Jews in China. “The Image of Jews in…
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Culture Irving Gottesman and the Subtlety of Genetic Psychology
Irving Gottesman, a professor of psychology and modern pioneer in the study of the genetics of schizophrenia who died on June 29 at age 85, exemplified the saying attributed to Albert Einstein: “Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.” Accepting complexities and contradictions in research without losing his unruffled good humor, the Cleveland-born…
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Culture Remembering the Iranian Film Master With a Devoted Israeli Following
The Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who died on July 4 at age 76, trod a fine line as a humanist director living in an Islamic Republic that is committed to destroying the state of Israel. By contrast, his pacific, abstract, philosophical, deliberately-paced creations featured people driving through traffic jams, up difficult inclines, and past natural…
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Culture Unmasking the Invisible Jews of Budapest
To paraphrase Mark Twain, “Clothes make the man. Invisible people have little or no influence on society.” Yet Hungarian Jews, because they assimilated into society to the point that most overt Jewish qualities vanished, made a significant cultural impact. This is one thesis of a new book, “The Invisible Jewish Budapest”. Its author, Mary Gluck,…
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Culture Why ‘Night’ Will Be Remembered as Elie Wiesel’s Greatest Work
The Romanian-born Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel, who died on July 2 at age 87, will be remembered for many accomplishments. Above all, his memoir “Night.” (1960) Translated from a 1955 French edition — an earlier, longer Yiddish memoir with differences in substance and style was also published — “Night” focuses on the stench, torture,…
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