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Joyce Warshow, 1937 - 2007

…She chose action over passivity. She chose to reform rather than to conform. Her diverse background and interests led her down many paths. As a renowned feminist, filmmaker, psychologist, educator, author, and activist who fully invested herself in every fiber of her work-literally, physically, metaphorically-Joyce touched the lives of many.

Betty Comden, 1917 - 2006

Her life not only chronicles a history of the Broadway musicals I grew up with, but also an era that allowed many of us to believe in the beauty and power of New York, as well as that melancholy feeling many of us hold as we look back on a period when life was indeed simpler… Though not a particularly observant Jew, Comden seemed informed by a Jewish frame of mind – a wise-cracking, down-to-earth, cultural "at homeness" with which I very much identified.

Fress. Kvetch. Shtup.

Raysh Weiss

Your life is a mess. You’re tired of the routine, you’re constantly craving more of what you’ve already attained, and you find true satisfaction in nothing and in no one. Well here’s the quick fix:

  1. Plan an expensive get-away.

  2. No, actually, scratch that—plan three expensive get-aways.

  3. But it’s not just the location that’s getting to you. You’re also sick of your significant other. So dump the schlub, give no real reason for your decision to break-up, and then…

Topics: Film

As Old as Lilith and Eve: “The Mediator between the Head and Hands is the Heart!”

Alma Heckman

Last Sunday, after a totaled car and a summarily canceled day-trip to Ipswich, MA, my friend and I decided to make the best of things and not let a little thing like a car accident ruin our day. What better activity than seeing a German Expressionist film about robots, class struggle, and compassion? Alas, while there are many great things one can say about the film, I was angered by the predictably dualistic depiction of women, a theme as old as Lilith and Eve.

Topics: Feminism, Film

Vampire Mania: Paying tribute to the original "vamp"

Leah Berkenwald

We are a country in the grips of vampire mania.

Topics: Film

When Harry Met Sally: 21 Years Later

Katherine Romanow

It was twenty-one years ago on July 12th, 1989 that audiences were introduced to characters Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal), who brought the perennial question of whether men and women could just be friends to the big screen in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally. It has become one of the most iconic films of the twentieth century with people still watching and talking about the movie today.

Topics: Film

"Sex and the City 2" v. "Agora": How will you escape?

Leah Berkenwald

This weekend, two movies starring two of Hollywood's most famous Jewesses are opening. One is the glitzy explosion of Sex and the City 2 (SATC2) starring Sarah Jessica Parker and the other is the relatively quiet premiere of Agora, starring Rachel Weisz.

Topics: Feminism, Film

Natalie Portman has got a point

Leah Berkenwald

Natalie Portman raised some eyebrows last week when she stated that she avoids Jewish roles, romantic comedies, and playing the "sex object," in an interview with Elle magazine.

Topics: Film

A Jewish American (Disney) Princess?

Leah Berkenwald

In response to yesterday's post about the "What's a Coastie?" song, Renee Ghert Zand of Truth, Praise & Help shared this video.  Landline TV spoofs classic Disney "behind the scenes" shorts about the making of a fictional new animated film about a Jewish American Princess called "Rachel and the Dragon."

Topics: Film

Survivors and storytelling in "Four Seasons Lodge"

Leah Berkenwald

This week I had the opportunity to screen a documentary about a community of Holocaust survivors who bought a bungalow colony in the Catskills called the Four Seasons Lodge to spend their summers together at each year.  I was looking forward to seeing the film after my cousin sent me a link to the trailer. I knew exactly why she was so excited about it -- the survivors in the trailer acted and sounded exactly like our grandparents, Ben and Rose Berkenwald.    

Topics: Holocaust, Film

What "Making Trouble" means to me

Leah Berkenwald

If you follow JWA on Twitter or Facebook, it should be pretty obvious that we think Making Trouble, the film about six trailblazing Jewish women entertainers, makes a great Hanukkah present for the whole family.  Normally, the idea of pushing a "product" makes me queasy.  Afterall, I chose to work for a non-profit, not an advertising firm!  So I feel that I owe the JWA audience a real and honest explanation for why I think Making Trouble is something you should own.

Topics: Comedy, Film

Barbara Myerhoff

Myerhoff was a renowned scholar, heading the University of Southern California's anthropology department in Los Angeles where she lived and raised her family. A creative and extremely popular professor, she urged her students to use the tools of anthropology to question and better understand their own lives and the lives of others. But Myerhoff's influence also reached far beyond academia, and she touched a broad audience with her books and films.

Doing the "work" of identity

Judith Rosenbaum

"Who am I, anyway?" That's a question most of us ask at various points throughout our lives -- usually most noisily as adolescents but with piercing power as we grow older, too.

Topics: Film

The "Pride, Honor & Courage" of Hartford Jewish women during WWII

Leah Berkenwald

Pride, Honor and Courage: Jewish Women Remember World War II, the documentary film produced by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford (JHSGH), premiered Thursday at the Mandell Jewish Community Center.

What Patrick Swayze (z”l) did for Jewish women

Judith Rosenbaum

I heard the news about Patrick Swayze's death when I logged on to Facebook last night and saw numerous status updaes about dancing the merenge and not putting Baby in the corner. Swayze's death is not just sad (he was only 57); for Jewish girls of my generation, it's the end of era.

Topics: Film

Inglourious Jewess

Leah Berkenwald

Inglourious Basterds has been called the "ultimate Jewish revenge fantasy," in every review and blog post I have seen.  I am not interested in adding my two cents to the debate about whether revenge fantasies are "good for the Jews" or "bad for the Jews."  Instead, I would like to offer a different angle on the film. 

Last week I wrote about the deficit of "kick-ass Jewish women" in film, and Sylvia suggested that Shoshana of Inglourious Basterds fit the bill.  Now that I've seen the movie, I completely agree.  The true hero of Inglourious Basterds is the heroine: Shoshana Dreyfus, a kick-ass Jewish feminist.

Topics: Feminism, Film

Los Angeles film debut of Anzia Yezierska's "Hungry Hearts"

December 3, 1922

In her short stories and novels, author Anzia Yezierska focused on the challenges faced by young Jewish women trying to navigate between their im

Tovah Feldshuh stars in "Golda's Balcony"

October 15, 2003

Golda’s Balcony, starring Tovah Feldshuh, opened at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre on October 15, 2003.

Opening of Goldie Hawn's "Private Benjamin"

October 10, 1980

Goldie Hawn produced and starred in the highly popular film, Private Benjamin, which was released in theaters on October 10, 1980.

"Crossing Delancey" Released

September 16, 1988

Joan Micklin Silver's Crossing Delancey, a Jewish-themed romantic comedy, was released in theaters on September 16, 1988.

Birth of entertainer Kitty Carlisle Hart

September 3, 1910

Born on September 3, 1910 [some sources say 1911, 1914], Kitty Carlisle Hart began a musical career at a young age and kept performing into her nineties.

Broadcast of Deborah Kaufman's "Blacks and Jews"

July 29, 1997

The documentary film Blacks and Jews, written and directed by Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow, was aired on PBS on July 29, 1997.

Actress Sylvia Sidney born

August 8, 1910

Actress Sylvia Sidney was born Sophia Kosow on August 8, 1910.

Birth of Theda Bara, the original "vamp"

July 29, 1890

Born Theodosia Goodman on July 29, 1890, Theda Bara had a brief but notable career as the star of dozens of silent films.

"When Harry Met Sally" hits theaters

July 12, 1989

The movie When Harry Met Sally, which follows characters Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) through several decades of searching for love as they debate whether a ma

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