Peter Birkenhead
By Peter Birkenhead
-
Culture When 250 Orthodox Jewish immigrants worked as extras for Cecil B. DeMille
Editor’s Note: On the occasion of Cecil B. DeMille’s 140th birthday, we’re revisiting this article from 2019. Among the thousands of extras Cecil B. DeMille hired for his original, silent version of “The Ten Commandments” were 250 Orthodox Jewish immigrants, newly arrived in Los Angeles from Eastern Europe The director hoped that they would lend…
-
Opinion The ‘lost cause’ myth is everywhere in our culture. Now is the time to expose it – for a more just America
When the Civil War ended, there were no truth and reconciliation commissions formed to process memories, no Nuremberg Trials to enable reflection, no Great Emancipator to free the future from the past — only ghosts, and the ravenous politics of memory. The need for national reckoning was quickly subordinated to the political imperative of reunification,…
-
Culture When 250 Orthodox Jewish Immigrants Worked As Extras For Cecil B. DeMille
Among the thousands of extras Cecil B. DeMille hired for his original, silent version of “The Ten Commandments” were 250 Orthodox Jewish immigrants, newly arrived in Los Angeles from Eastern Europe The director hoped that they would lend a sense of human verisimilitude to the project: “We believed rightly that, both in appearance and in…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Trump to ‘defend the rights of Christians,’ announces new faith initiative led by controversial televangelist
- 2
Music In lawsuit, Drake accuses Kendrick Lamar of picking on ‘Jewish heritage’
- 3
Opinion Yes, Trump’s Gaza plan is outrageous. It could also be just what the Middle East needs
- 4
Fast Forward US Jewish groups respond to Trump’s Gaza comments
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Israel’s arrest of Jerusalem’s booksellers is a grave, self-defeating error
-
Fast Forward In AI video, Jewish celebrities from Scarlett Johansson to Adam Sandler give Kanye the middle finger
-
Opinion How a hostage’s brother became a hero in Israel
-
Fast Forward Prominent Israeli writers and US Jewish leaders rally behind east Jerusalem bookstore that was raided by police
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
