Masha Leon
By Masha Leon
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The Schmooze Joan Rivers, Jewish Irreverent Comedian, Gone At 81
I first met Joan Rivers — who died at 81 on September 4th — as a zaftig comedienne in a fringed black dress as she warmed up the audience at an April 1966 Virginia Graham TV Show on which I was a guest along with Gloria de Haven. A few months later we met at the…
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The Schmooze Fleeting Jewish Fragments In ‘The Notebook’
To my knowledge, there seem to be only two Hungarian films that address the plight of the country’s Jews during the Holocaust. One is the 1983 gem “Revolt of Job.” Now, there’s the puzzling macabre “The Notebook” (“Le Grand Cahier”) which hints at Hungarian Jews’— one scene shows the Jewish population of a small rural town…
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The Schmooze Yiddish Writers Murdered By Stalin Honored
The August 12, 1952 murder of Soviet Yiddish writers was commemorated at this year’s August 12 memorial held at the Center for Jewish History. Sponsored by The Congress of Jewish Culture under the baton of Shane Baker, it opened with a musical fanfare by acclaimed soprano Sofie Van Lier (Sovali) accompanied on the piano by…
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The Schmooze A Holocaust Keyboard Memoir
When it comes to Holocaust-inspired memoirs, “The Pianist of Willesden Lane,” which had its New York premiere at the 59E59 Theatre, is in a class all by itself. A rare treat, the show interweaves memory and classical music performance by world-renowned pianist Mona Golabek who recreates her [pianist] mother Lisa Jura’s journey from 1938 Vienna…
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The Schmooze Lauren Bacall Remembered — On And Off Screen
Actress Lauren Bacall, who died on August 13 at 89, was an early presence in my life. As a pre-teen in 1944 Montreal I saw Bacall (nee Betty Perske) in “To Have and To Hold” never dreaming that she would one day grace my columns in The Forward! My classmates at the Workmen’s Circle School…
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The Schmooze Remembering Israeli Movie Mogul Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan, the flamboyant Israeli film producer who died at age 85 on August 8 in Jaffa, had more than 200 films to his credit. Along with his cousin Yoram Globus, the Golan-Globus partnership out-Hollywooded Hollywood with such international blockbusters as “Death Wish II” and “Delta Force“ starring Chuck Norris, Lee Marvin, Lanie Kazan and…
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The Schmooze Stephen Schwartz, of ‘Wicked’ Fame, A Hit at 54 Below
Stephen Schwartz, the only songwriter in Broadway history with three shows — “Wicked,” “Pippin” and “The Magic Show”— to have run more than 1900 performances on Broadway, was center stage (and at the piano) at the August 3 “Conversation with Music” at 54 Below – Broadway’s Supper Club. During the evocative interview by longtime friend,…
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The Schmooze Alan ‘Ace’ Greenberg — Wall Street Maven and Mensch
As soon as I heard that former Bear Stearns CEO Alan “Ace” Greenberg” had died of cancer at 86 on July 25th, I called my childhood friend — and now world renowned financial guru — Chairman Emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (MERC) Leo Melamed. for comments. “Ace was a very feet-on-the ground kind of…
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