Masha Leon
By Masha Leon
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The Schmooze ‘Got Nut Allergies? Get Off My Plane!’
Addressing the 650 guests — mostly mothers of young and teenage children with food allergies — at the Food Allergy Research & Education Spring Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street, allergic-to-nuts WABC-TV Anchor Lori Stokes spoke of “the dramatic rise in the number of children with life-threatening food allergies” and her anguish that her 19-year old allergic…
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The Schmooze Chelsea Clinton Receives Interfaith Award from AJC
A poised in a black suit and white shirt Chelsea Clinton, recipient of the American Jewish Committee’s Interfaith Award at its Spring Luncheon, brought back the memory of the 16-year old First Family daughter when I first met her in August 1996 at President Bill Clinton’s 50th birthday-cum-Democratic Fund raiser trifecta. At the ($1500 ticket)…
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The Schmooze Comedian Tales — It’s All in the Timing
It was all about tale telling at the Society of Illustrators’ “From the Borscht Belt to Seinfeld: The Evolution of Jewish American Comedy.” With welcoming comments by Society’s executive director Anelle Miller, panelists included Yiddish scholar and Jewish comedy maven Prof. Edward Portnoy, “comedy writer Tom Leopold (“Seinfeld,” “Cheers”), Drew Friedman, whose amazing caricature illustrations…
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The Schmooze ‘Ida’: Conversation with Director Pawel Pawlikowski
“Ida,” a fascinating and disquieting Polish language film written and directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, is a post-Soviet Polish rumination, a mystery with religious and political overtones. Pronounced as “Eeda,” Pawlikowski told me during our chat: “I needed a good name and remembered the Jewish Polish actress Ida Kaminska. It was a name I liked, but…
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The Schmooze Mengele: Handsome Psychopath in ‘The German Doctor’
In documentaries and live testimonials, survivors of Dr. Joseph Mengele’s “Right [life]-Left [death]” selection at Auschwitz, remember him as exceptionally handsome. And so is Spanish actor Alex Brendemuhl, who eerily and seductively portrays the toxic physician in Lucia Puenzo’s film “The German Doctor.” An uncanny Mengele Dopplelganger, Brendemuhl — a Spanish actor working in Germany…
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The Schmooze Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Honored in Yiddish Word and Song
On April 20, a glorious, sunny day, more than 100 gathered at Der Shteyn — “The Stone” Memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising at Manhattan’s Riverside Park and 83rd Street. Organized by the Congress for Jewish Culture, Jewish Labor Committee, Workmen’s Circle and Jewish Labor Bund, it marked the 71st anniversary of the Ghetto Uprising…
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The Schmooze Does Grover Speak Yiddish?
It was Elmo, cameras, and applause at WNET’s Annual Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street at which community leaders, philanthropists and celebrated personalities toasted the innovative partnerships, which have brought cutting edge programming to millions for decades. Emceed by husband-wife team Deborah Roberts, correspondent for ABC News’ 20//20 and Al Roker co-host of NBC News’ Today…
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The Schmooze Susan Bressman Among Top Docs Honored at Castle Connolly Awards
“I’m lucky because I found a calling that teaches, gratifies and humbles you,” said Dr. Susan Bressman, an Honoree for Clinical Excellence at the Castle Connolly Top Physicians of The Year Awards Dinner at The Pierre. Daughter of Holocaust survivors, Bressman — Alan and Joan Mirken Chair, Depts. of Neurology, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical…
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