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…
Most Popular
- 1
Culture In season 4 of ‘Fauda,’ Israeli tactics come under fire — and so do the show’s heroes
- 2
Fast Forward ‘Saturday Night Live’ mocks George Santos’ Jewish claims
- 3
Fast Forward 7 killed in Jerusalem synagogue shooting and 2 wounded in subsequent attack
- 4
Culture Why Bob Dylan’s haunting comeback album sounds just as Jewish as it ever did
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion ‘Live without fear’: Doug Emhoff opens up about his Jewishness as he visits his ancestors’ Polish hometown
-
Opinion Photos: A somber Holocaust remembrance trip with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff
-
Opinion After massacre at Jerusalem synagogue, Palestinians must confront the violence in our culture
-
Opinion With Jerusalem on the verge of erupting, Netanyahu must rein in his own coalition