Masha Leon
By Masha Leon
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News Cheering the Russian National Orchestra
Awaiting the arrival of filmdom’s regal Sophia Loren for the March 7 Russian National Orchestra gala at The St. Regis Hotel, the paparazzi were on their best behavior thanks to publicist R. Couri Hay’s irrevocably assigned spots behind the ropes. A barrage of unrelenting photo flashes exploded as gala honorary co-chairman Loren — spectacular in…
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News Literary Lion Gets French Salute
Norman Mailer was awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest distinction, on March 3 in New York at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. I first met Mailer in Anaheim, Calif., in 1973 at the American Booksellers Association convention, where his book, “Marilyn” (about Marilyn Monroe, whom he’d never met), caused such a buzz…
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News A Trio of Farewells
I first met Coretta Scott King — who died January 30 at 78 — in 1995 at a Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration hosted by the World Jewish Congress. The event, which took place at the Seagram Building, celebrated the proclamation by Jewish communities in 80 countries that Jews worldwide will remember King’s legacy. In…
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News Welcoming a Latter-day de Tocqueville
In his signature black suit — white chemise empesée open to the sternum — and with D’Artagnan-esque flair, French celebrity intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy held court at a January 27 reception in his honor, hosted by France’s ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte and co-hosted at New York’s French consulate by France’s consul general, François…
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News Fighting To End Gender Discrimination
At the International Women’s Health Coalition’s January 19 gala dinner, held at Cipriani 42nd Street, board chair Kati Marton said: “We have one foot on the ground in countries such as India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru… helping women… secure equal rights through grants that we give. Our other foot is in the corridors of power… from…
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News Wiesenthal Center Honors Murdoch
‘We’re both from Down Under,” statuesque Nicole Kidman said as she presented the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Humanitarian Laureate Award — a shofar inscribed, “He who helps mankind” — to Rupert Murdoch at the center’s January 11 dinner, held at The Waldorf-Astoria. “No other person… is able to touch so many people of this world,” Kidman…
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News Meretz Lauds a Music Master
“My commitment to Meretz and the peace movement has always been intricately and indissolubly connected to my belief in an Israel that is not only secure in life and limb but anchored in moral rectitude,” stated a white-bearded, prophetic-looking Theodore Bikel, honoree at Meretz USA’s festive dinner January 9 at New York’s B.B. King Blues…
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News Munich, on Film and in Person
A barrage of laudatory critics’ quotes in print ads and on television regarding Steven Spielberg’s overlong, gory thriller about the slaughter of the 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and the ongoing media debate — some of which reads like an apologia — has left me with “Munich” fatigue. Though a sympathetic texture…
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News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
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Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
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Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
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News Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
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Fast Forward Boulder hostage-march firebombing suspect to plead guilty to state charges
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News Her body has been unidentified for decades. Her Ashkenazi DNA may explain why