The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
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Books
Leonard Maltin’s Last Movie Guide
The word is out. Leonard Maltin’s annual movie guide has fallen into what, in Hollywood speak, would be called “developmental hell.” First published in 1969 and annually since 1986, the new 2015 edition is its last. Like newspapers and other print media, it has fallen victim to the Internet, where much of the information is…
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Lena Dunham On Leaked Celebrity Photos: Don’t Blame the Victim
Lena Dunham has a word of advice on how to handle conversations around the nude celebrity photos leaked over the weekend: don’t blame the victim. In an acid tweet, the “Girls” star compared remarks like “don’t take nude pics if you don’t want them online” to dismissive attitudes about rape. The “don’t take naked pics…
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Joan Rivers Still on Life Support, Daughter Says
Joan and Melissa Rivers // Getty Images Melissa Rivers has confirmed that her mother and “Fashion Police” co-host Joan Rivers is still on life support. “On behalf of my mother and our family, we are extremely grateful for all the love and support we’ve received. At this time, she does remain on life support,” Melissa…
The Latest
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That Time Jon Stewart Went to Cairo To Make A Movie
Late night funnyman Jon Stewart did something unheard of last summer, he took three months off from America’s favorite fake news program, his insanely popular “The Daily Show,” to direct a movie he wrote in Egypt. Here’s the first glimpse of “Rosewater,” a movie about the imprisonment of Iranian Canadian reporter Maziar Bahari during the…
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Lady Gaga Greets Tel Aviv Fans With ‘Shalom’ Video
Lady Gaga issued a short video in advance of her performance in Tel Aviv, greeting her fans with “Shalom.” “Shalom, Israel,” the American pop star said in the 10-second video. “I’m so excited to perform my new tour in Tel Aviv.” The performer’s manager announced Sunday that the Sept. 13 concert would go on as…
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My Dad and the Garment Business
“Dressing America,” which debuts September 2 on WNET, is a nostalgic look back at the largely Jewish history of the New York City garment business, replete with interviews of mostly old Jews fondly recalling a bygone era. Some of those interviewed head well-known fashion brands including Perry Ellis, Nicole Miller and Leslie Fay. (Notably, though…
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An Escape Artist With Daddy Issues
It’s a bit presumptuous of me to suggest that the History cable network scheduled its two-part “Houdini” mini-series over Labor Day weekend on the theory that most folks will be away from their television. But, if by some chance, that turned out actually to be the network’s strategy, kudos to them. Houdini is played by…
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Sam Kass and Alex Wagner Tie Knot
Getty Images Sam Kass – the Obama family’s personal chef and President Barack Obama’s senior policy advisor – is a lucky man. When he gets married on Saturday to Alex Wagner, host of MSNBC’s “Now With Alex Wagner,” he will have some special guests: the president and the first lady. Kass is a longtime friend…
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Books The Clothes We Carried
Musician Rosanne Cash reminisces about a purple shirt that once belonged to her legendary father. Designer Cynthia Rowley rhapsodizes about the Girl Scouts sash that helped ignite her entrepreneurial spark. And an octogenarian Holocaust survivor named Dorothy Finger shares memories of a suit made with a bolt of cloth she took from her childhood home…
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Old Letters With New Messages
“Shadows From My Past” is a strange amalgam of a documentary. Though it is often amateurish (it has the feel of a home movie) and dated (it includes interviews of people long dead), it is powered by its subject matter and evokes strong emotion. Gita Weinrauch Kaufman escaped Vienna with her parents and two brothers…
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Chelsea’s Last Show on Chelsea Lately
Oh Chelsea Handler, how everyone will miss you on E! Or, at least, what appeared to be half of Hollywood will miss you. Last night, Chelsea hosted the last episode of her talk show, Chelsea Lately, which started seven years ago back in 2007. And of course she left with a bang (and a couple…
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News ‘It’s the Jews’: San Diego mosque shooters decried ‘the universal enemy’ in hate-filled manifesto
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Music For Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday, an 85-minute playlist
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Opinion Netanyahu is facing electoral catastrophe — and could place Israel in existential peril
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Culture Proposal to ban Israeli products roils a Brooklyn members-only grocery
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Massive fire breaks out at kosher supermarket in London’s Golders Green
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Books Reading a Pakistani author’s 30-year-old novel helped me understand my parents’ views on intermarriage
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Yiddish נײַ־אַנטדעקטע פּרטים וועגן די סאָוועטישע ייִדן צווישן 1945 און 1953Newly discovered details about Soviet Jewry between 1945 and 1953
אַנאַ שטערנשיס האָט געזאַמלט הונדערטער בעל־פּהיִקע גבֿית־עדותן פֿון מענער און פֿרױען פֿון פֿאַרשײדענע סאָציאַלע שיכטן.
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Fast Forward Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Coop votes to boycott Israeli products