Jewish History & Culture
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A World of Music
A few weeks ago, the Paris-based world music ensemble Les Yeux Noirs performed at Royce Hall as part of UCLA Live. Led by brothers Olivier and Eric Slabiak, violin virtuosos who are the Paris-born grandchildren of Polish Jewish immigrants, Les Yeux Noirs played improvisations on Russian, Yiddish, Romanian and Roma songs, as well as their […]
The Sayings of Chairman Levine
“When is a dirty bathroom a broken window?” This is the question that opens Michael Levine’s recently published business tome, “Broken Windows, Broken Business” (Warner Business Books). Levine is a successful Hollywood publicist. I am indebted to him forever for one of my most memorable Tommywood moments — a séance with Hollywood’s evergreen legend, Robert […]
COMEDY MATTERS (Albert Brooks)
“After 9/11, all I did was sit around and be scared,” Albert Brooks told me recently. “After a year and a half,” Brooks now says, “I just got tired of it.” He wondered, “Why isn’t this being processed? Do we never mention it?” Looking at what Hollywood was releasing to the public, he concluded that […]
Fight of the Century
Joe Louis’ boxing match against Max Schmeling at Yankee Stadium in 1938 remains one of the great sporting events of the 20th century — even though the fight in front of nearly 70,000 spectators lasted all of two minutes and four seconds. Some 67 years after that fateful night of fisticuffs, David Margolick, a Vanity […]
Larry David Died for our Sinsw
Larry David, the producer-writer-star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” has just finished airing the fifth season of his HBO program. Many people find him hilarious. Others find him annoying in the extreme. Both are right, of course, and David builds his humor out of this particular intersection of pain and pleasure. However, this season has been […]