Masha Leon
By Masha Leon
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The Schmooze A Conversation About Regrets With ‘Is That You?’ Film Director Dani Menkin
Once you get past the “mother—-er” affectionate razzing between 60-year old Ronnie (Alon Aboutboul) an unemployed Israeli film projectionist visiting his brother in America, Dani Menkin”s film “Is That You?” settles into a meandering yet sweet “life journey” —akin to a romantic variant on Preston Sturges’ [1941] film “Sullivan’s Travels” —as the character Ronnie searches…
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The Schmooze Irving Fields Composer, Pianist and Friend Dies at 101
Irving Fields—composer, pianist and lover of life— died on August 20th at age 101. He thought he would live and be at the keyboard forever, as did his friends and fans. His performance portfolio ranged from concerts at Carnegie Hall to gigs at The Plaza, Miami Beach, the Catskills [Fallsview] and—amazingly—the marble and gilt abode…
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The Schmooze Joshua Bell Wows at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival
“I just love Joshua Bell!” gushed a lady next to me as we filed into David Geffen Hall for Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra’s August 17th concert. Greeted by a cheering audience, the comfortably attired, still youthful Grammy Award-winning violinist 48-year old Bell —accompanied by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra under the baton of…
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The Schmooze Conversation With Lars Kraume — Director Of ‘The People Vs. Fritz Bauer’
I was blown away by German director Lars Kraume’s riveting and revelatory film “The People vs. Fritz Bauer” starring Burghart Klaussner in a brilliant portrayal of indomitable Nazi hunter Bauer. A based-on-fact thriller, the film chronicles the travails and obstacles faced by Fritz Bauer—a German attorney general who—in the 1960’s— was unrelenting in his search…
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The Schmooze Fyvush Finkel Champion Of Yiddish Drama, Comedy and Language Dies at 93
Fyvush Finkel’s adieu on August 14 elicited an avalanche of indelible memories—beyond his roles in “Picket Fences” and other TV venues. Among these: The June 21, 2004’s The Yiddish Artists & Friends Actors Club and Yiddish Theatrical Alliance bash at Lincoln Center synagogue at which then 81-year “young” beloved Yiddish vaudeville/theater legend celebrated. He touted…
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The Schmooze Alicia Svigals and Lauren Brody Wow Crowd With Klezmer Gems at Yivo Concert
“This concert is in celebration of Yiddish Summer Program” Ben Kaplan, YIVO Education Administrator, told the August 3 full house at the Center for Jewish History at its “Zumer Concert” featuring violinist-vocalist-composer Klezmer maven Alicia Svigals and accordionist, singer researcher and piano tuner/technician Lauren Brody. Svigals got the audience foot tapping with her klezmer “bulgar”…
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The Schmooze How Gloria DeHaven Helped Me Tell My Father’s Story
News of movie star Gloria DeHaven’s death on July 31 at 91 brought back a wrenching memory. In 1966 we were both featured on Virginia Graham’s daytime TV talk show “Girl Talk” in a segment titled “Women of Courage.” When the episode aired, it would be the last time my father, journalist-writer Matvey Bernstein, would…
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The Schmooze When Bill Clinton Stood in for Hillary Clinton at the Museum of Jewish Heritage
Bill Clinton’s sentimental paean to his wife Hillary Clinton at this week’s Democratic Convention in Philadelphia sent me back to Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust June 20, 2002 dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria at which then New York Senator Clinton was to have been the keynote speaker. Racing down from Harlem wearing…
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