PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Art A Comic Tells The Story Of Henry Ford And A Jewish Math Whiz
Thanks in no small part to J.D. Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey,” radio show whiz kids have long held a special spot in the Jewish-American imagination. But it may surprise some that the real world purpose of “Quiz Kids,” a 1940s trivia show, was to promote Jewish intelligence during a time when Jewish lives were most…
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Culture Somebody Feed Phil Season 2 Is Now Netflix’s Most Jewish Show
For the past three years, Phil Rosenthal, creator of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” has been travelling the world in search of great food and lasting friendship. A nebbish-y Anthony Bourdain, Rosenthal began his culinary tourism in 2015 with the PBS show, “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having.” This first entrée (pardon the pun) was followed up earlier…
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Culture The Real Amy Winehouse Surfaces In New Photo Book
When we imagine Amy Winehouse, the late and troubled singer-songwriter of “Rehab,” we may imagine her jet-black bouffant or her severe eyeliner. A new photo book, out in August from Taschen, appears to challenge and, at times, reinforce that image. Simply titled “Amy Winehouse,” the book seeks to strip away the patina of makeup to…
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Culture How Jewish Movie Moguls Quietly Helped To Fight The Nazis
Open Culture has published an article praising the Warner Brothers loud dissent against Nazis and censors in the 1930s by producing such films as “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” and the Hitler-lampooning cartoon, “Bosko’s Picture Show.” The Warners, children of Polish immigrants, were certainly outspoken among the cadre of Jewish studio heads at the time,…
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Culture RBG Goes Classical For New Album Inspired By Her Life
With Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement threatening to throw the Supreme Court’s balance off kilter, all eyes are on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the famous dissenter and keeper of the progressive flame — but all ears? A new, nine-song cycle inspired by the liberal lion’s life is now available for those who can’t get enough RBG. While…
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Culture Watch An Animated Introduction To Anna Freud
On July 4, 2018, Open Culture featured a video from Alain de Botton’s School of Life Youtube series wherein Freud’s favorite daughter, Anna, swats away blowfish and frolics among cutouts of a drunkard, a dejected child and a mustachioed gymnast with a bib and pacifier. It’s quite the ride. The six and a half minute…
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The Schmooze Alan Dershowitz Kvetches About Martha’s Vineyard — And The Internet Laughs At Him
Alan Dershowitz had a thing or two to say about liberals pestering Trump administration officials. At least that’s what he claimed he was talking about. The bulk of the legal eagle’s latest oped is really more about how Dershowitz’s friends in Martha’s Vineyard are “shunning” him for his support of Trump on Fox News and…
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Culture ‘The Catcher Was A Spy’ Strikes Out On Jewish Themes
There’s a moment in “The Catcher Was a Spy,” the new Paul Rudd-led biopic about the Major League catcher, polyglot and American operative, Morris “Moe” Berg that feels out of place. In the scene, Berg (Rudd) is in the cabin of a ship headed for the coast of Italy. Joining Berg is the physicist, Samuel…
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