Last fall, actress Scarlett Johansson was named to this paper’s annual list of the American Jewish world’s top 50 movers and shakers. Not only had the voluptuous starlet — who has a Danish father and a Jewish mother — apparently cured Woody Allen of his shiksa fetish, but she was slated to play one of the iconic Jewesses of modern American literature, the title character in Herman Wouk’s 1955 novel “Marjorie Morningstar,” in an upcoming film adaptation.
Now, alas, The Shmooze hears that Johansson as Marjorie was too good to be true.
Johansson shared the bad news with The Shmooze at a May 3 Oxfam benefit in New York City at the Louis Vuitton store on Fifth Avenue.
“It was one of those heartbreak projects that you had to let go,” she said. “Sometimes when you have a book like that, there are a lot of rights to it, and everyone’s been involved for such a long time. It was a ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’ type of thing.”
According to a 2004 article in MovieMaker magazine, Johansson first became interested in the character of Marjorie Morningstar when her mother gave her a copy of the eponymous book for her 17th birthday. “I read it and thought, ‘Oh my god, this is me,’” she said.
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If there was a news about a Jewish lady who is upholding Jewish tradition and heritage, it would had been an infinitely better news. Scarlett Johansson, no doubt a very beautiful woman in her own right, is in fact epitomizing a huge problem Jewish population is facing in United States, and other parts of the world (aside from Israel). This problem is, of course, assimilation, and to put it simply, it is a bit hopeless situation. So, several decades from now, we will remember her as a former sex symbol who has a Jewish blood, and then, completely assimilated among American population. So, I guess you can say that her heritage is that, what, letting the world knows that a Jewish woman produced an exceptionally beauty? Is being accepted and assimilated such a high priority for Jews? Where is that vaunted Jewish pride, that pride of being a chosen people? So, I guess, in few generations, do we expect to see majority of Jews disappeared (assimilated) among the general populace in the western world...then what?
She doesn't look Jewish!
I'm happy to hear that Scarlett is becoming more comfortable with her Jewish heritage, at last. I've read many of her interviews where she sounded embarrassed to admit she had Jewish ancestory. One time on te Letterman show Scarlett described the ways that she was similiar to Woody Allen, omitting the fact that they both shared a Jewish background. It was sad. I don't know what Marsha means when she wrties that Scarlett doesn't look Jewish because she definately doesn't look like a pure shiksa. Even with blond hair and blue-eyes Scarlett is exotic-looking, so I wasn't surprised when I found out that her mother was Jewish. It seems that Natalie Portman had a good influence on Scarlett regarding her Jewish heritage.
I am in love with Scarlett, as is most of this world's male gender... She could cure any man of anything... The movie "Lost in Translation" is every middle aged man's dream. I bet you that Bill Murray had a blast doing that one. As she gets older I hope she keeps her looks. She will have a tendency to get porky, but, alas, who doesn't?
By the way - who cares if she's Jewish? She's gorgeous! Lauren Bacall, Natalie Wood and a host of others were also Jewish and gorgeous - but I sure wasn't looking at the Star of David when I looked at them. Let's keep a little objectivity here and appreciate good looks for good looks sake. God made a lot of good looking young ladies for us old geezers to appreciate! If Scarlett or any other of the forementioned (when they were young)wanted to debate politics or relgion, I would listen with gaga eyes and become a blithering idiot.
Aren't terms like shiksa dated now and offensive? I think so.
Aside from the origins of the term which I don't consider relevant it smacks of condescension toward an outsider.
Evidently there is a common misconception about Natalie Wood, but she was not Jewish, she was Russian Orthodox. ============== ---From an interview with Natalie Wood's biographer Suzanne Finstad: Arlington, Va.: I haven't read the book yet, so forgive a threshold question: What was Natalie Wood's ethnic background? "Zakharenko" indicates a Russian family origin, but I wonder if she was Jewish as well. Is "Wood" a translation of "Zakharenko"? Also, was Natalie Wood seen as something of a stand-out in terms of her iconic beauty in her time, being rather dark in an age of epic blondes from Marilyn Monroe to Catherine Deneuve?
Suzanne Finstad: She was Russian Orthodox, not Jewish. Her mother, Maria Zudilova (maiden name) claimed variously to be either a royal Romanoff or a gypsy.
The surname Wood was chosen for Natasha by producer Goetz either because of his friendship with director Sam Wood, or Sam Wood happened to walk by at the time Goetz selected the name. Six year old Natasha disliked it intensely. She would have preferred Woods, plural, because at least then she said it would remind her of forests and trees.
As for her dark ethnic beauty, I believe it was a factor in her stardom. She was occasionally cast in ethnic roles, such as the Puerto Rican Maria in West Side Story, and a Mexican in The Burning Hills.
=================== From Wiki Answers: Was Natalie Wood Jewish?
No. Natalie Wood was Russian Orthodox, the daughter of Russian immigrants. She married her second husband, Richard Gregson, in a Russian Orthodox ceremony. Her grave bears the three barred Russian cross.
Some interviews early in her career state that she was a more generic, protestant faith, but this was probably the result of studio image making.
She starred in the film Marjorie Morningstar, where she played the iconic Jewish ingenue, which may cause some of the confusion over her faith. =========================== From Styleforum.com: jerrysfriend July 5th, 2005, 05:02 AM quote] I should point out that Natalie Wood was not Jewish, she was Russian Orthodox of the Karlovtsy (sp?) Synod, which is or was pretty anti-Semitic. There is a Russian Orthodox church in Hollywood (I think near Sunset and Oxford) that was built largely from money she willed them.