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
Fast Forward Who is Ella Emhoff? How Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter could affect her run for president
- 2
Opinion Jewish Republicans are smearing Kamala Harris as anti-Israel. Here’s why you shouldn’t buy it
- 3
News What would a Josh Shapiro vice presidency mean for American Jews and Israel?
- 4
News Doug Emhoff: What would it mean if the first first gentleman is Jewish?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Israeli military vows to stop flow of donations to soldiers, even from their parents
-
Culture Another Nazi-looted Schiele painting has been returned to heirs of ‘Cabaret’ inspiration Fritz Grünbaum
-
Fast Forward Trump, meeting with Netanyahu, says we are ‘close’ to World War III because of Biden
-
News Angry about Gaza, will uncommitted voters commit to Kamala Harris?