Mark Cohen
By Mark Cohen
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Culture Does a $676 million art sale mark the end of an era in Jewish art collecting?
The $676 million that Harry and Linda Macklowe’s art collection brought at auction was, according to a quote from Sotheby’s in The New York Times, “the most valuable single-owner auction ever staged.” Amid the jubilation, only one voice suggested something was off. Art collector and gallery owner Adam Lindemann sized up the collection, distinguished by…
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Culture How an unapologetically vulgar collector horrified fellow Jews — and revolutionized the art world
As two exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York showcase the seven-decade career of America’s greatest living artist, 91-year-old Jasper Johns, two new histories have arrived, revealing the crucial role that has been played by Jewish art collectors, “The House of Fragile Things: Jewish Art Collectors and the Fall of France”and “Belonging and Betrayal: How Jews…
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Culture The Secret Jewish History Of ‘Casablanca’ And Rick Blaine
Murray Burnett was shaken by what he witnessed in Europe during the summer of 1938, so when the high school English teacher and aspiring writer returned home to New York in early September, he felt compelled to write a play about his fellow Jews forced to flee Nazi terror. He was also convinced that a…
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Culture Billy Rose Was Showman, Patriot — and Zionist Hero
On August 3, 1964, Billy Rose suspected that Teddy Kollek, the future mayor of Jerusalem then working in the Israeli prime minister’s office, was harming his shot at immortality. Rose was furious. His plan for a sculpture garden at the Israel Museum, which turned 50 on May 11, was not just another chance for fame….
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Culture The Top 10 Allan Sherman Lyrics
10 – “King Louie was living like a king” (“You Went The Wrong Way Old King Louie”) 9 – “Al ‘n Yetta watched an operetta/Leonard Bernstein told them what they saw” (“Al ‘n Yetta”) 8 – “Come let us go there/Live like Thoreau there” (“Here’s to the Crabgrass”) 7 – “And you won’t have a…
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The Schmooze Is Rick Moranis ‘Too Jewish’?
Writing about Rick Moranis required that I remind myself what he’s done. After all, his great comic roles in Mel Brooks’ “Spaceballs” and the first “Ghostbusters” movie are pushing 30. So I sneaked over to YouTube to watch Moranis order his starship to “ludicrous speed,” and in “Ghostbusters” ask, “Okay, who brought the dog?” But…
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Culture The End of the Reign in Spain
SEPHARDI FAMILY LIFE IN THE EARLY MODERN DIASPORA Edited by Julia R. Lieberman Brandeis University Press, 264 pages, $85 The voices that come alive in “Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora” beat down the tiresome impulse to prove history relevant. Instead, the six excellent and painstakingly researched scholarly papers, edited by Julia R….
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Culture A Profane Reliquary
Saul Bellow, Letters Edited by Benjamin Taylor Viking, 608 pages, $35 Why not simply admit it? The new collection of Saul Bellow’s “Letters” (Viking 2010) is a modern reliquary. It is a treasured remnant of the beloved wonderworker. And who are the followers, the faithful? Bookish cranks, mainly, plus unstoppable line-quoters, Jewish lit fetishists, passionate…
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