The Secret Jewish History Of ‘A Star Is Born’
By Seth Rogovoy for The Forward
Like the cicadas that spend most of their lives underground, emerging only every 13 or 17 years (and how they decide is for you to know and me to find out), the movie musical “A Star Is Born” gets remade every few decades or so. The latest incarnation, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, is scheduled to open on October 5, having premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August and at festivals in Toronto and San Sebastian in September.
Linda Richman Is Verklempt
By Rokhl Kafrissen for Tablet Magazine
How Yiddish entered American pop culture, and how American pop culture penetrated the Yiddish vernacular
“On this show we talk about coffee, New York, daughters, dogs, you know, no big whoop, it’s just coffee talk.” If you were alive and owned a TV in the early 1990s you probably have some recollection of Linda Richman, the iconic Mike Myers Saturday Night Live character. She was a New York Jewess with an exquisite collection of “low back chain shift” vowels and an immovable pouf of black curls.
Meet David Fantle, Interviewer To The Golden Age Stars
PJ Grisar for The Forward
40 years ago David Fantle and his writing partner, Tom Johnson, saved up enough money from their summer jobs to fly to Los Angeles for interviews with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. They were 18-years-old Minnesotans with no credentials other than chutzpah and a love for Golden Age cinema. They had never done anything like it before and all it took was a snail mail request for sit downs with the two titans of cinematic dance.
