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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Feminist Fashion in the Tower of David
It’s a striking experience to enter a hall dating to the Crusader period deep in the bowels of the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem, and to encounter mannequins draped in haute couture by some of the Israel’s top contemporary fashion designers. This is exactly the effect desired by new museum director…
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Robert Klein on When The Catskills Were Comedy Central
Ever wonder what Jerry Lewis and Jerry Seinfeld have in common? Then go see the Borscht Belt flashback express a/k/a “When Comedy Went to School” a film written by Lawrence Richards directed by Ron Frank and Mevlut Akkaya arriving in New York City on July 31 at IFC and Manhattan’s JCC. A 77-minute history-packed narrative…
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How Robert Klein Saved Rodney Dangerfield’s Life
“When Comedy Went to School,” a new documentary opening in New York and Los Angeles July 31, tries too hard to be both a history of Jewish comedy and the Catskills. It’s a lot of territory to cover, but the producers made at least one right choice: The film’s narrator is Robert Klein, 71, the…
The Latest
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Weiner as King Kong on New Yorker’s Cover
While other contenders in New York’s mayoral race are calling on Anthony Weiner to drop out of the race, the Big Apple’s media outlets are feasting on the controversial candidate. The New Yorker is the latest to get creative in depicting Weiner’s mishaps. ON this week’s cover, Weiner’s legs are wrapped around the top of…
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Confusion in the Hardware Store
Paul Manuel Kane had ambitious goals for “Dancing on Nails,” including discussions of race, love and family. Unfortunately, these themes play out in the context of a five-caricature play. Not characters, but caricatures, whose motivations are confusing and undermine the best of Kane’s intentions. The setting is New York in the spring of 1953. Sam…
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Lea Michele Lead ‘Glee’ Tribute to Cory Monteith
“Glee” cast, crew and producers held a private memorial on Thursday for star Cory Monteith, the 31-year-old heartthrob who died this month from an overdose of heroin and alcohol. Fox Television said in a statement that “Glee” co-creator Ryan Murphy and Monteith’s co-star and girlfriend Lea Michele joined their colleagues “to share memories and music…
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Books Editing the Smallest College Daily in America
An anthology of 50-plus years of Ron Rubin’s published commentary on topics of import to world Jewry, “A Jewish Professor’s Political Punditry” (Syracuse University Press), is now available. His blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the…
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Books Author Blog: Becoming an Anthologist
Earlier this week, Ron Rubin wrote about visiting the Soviet Union and Peri Devaney wrote about working on the postscript for her anthology, “A Jewish Professor’s Political Punditry: Fifty-Plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin” (Syracuse University Press). Today, Peri discusses organizing the material for the anthology. Their blog posts are featured on The…
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Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters Performs in ‘Nazi’ Get-Up
Roger Waters, a rock musician critical of Israel, used a giant, pig-shaped balloon emblazoned with a Star of David and symbols of dictatorial regimes during a recent concert in Belgium. Waters, who recently urged other performers to boycott Israel and compared Israel to apartheid South Africa, was singing on stage on July 20 under the…
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The Secret Genius of Hasidic Fashion
“The genius of the Satmar rebbe,” Williamsburg-based artist Michael Levin says of the late Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the post-Holocaust leader of Williamsburg’s Satmar Hasidic community, “was to say that if you wear a shtreimel and long peyes, everyone will be freaked out and hate you and stay away from you. But in the end, they’ll…
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Natalie Portman To Direct Amos Oz Film
Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman will direct her first feature film based on “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” a memoir by Israeli novelist Amos Oz, the author said on Wednesday. The Israeli-American actress, who won a best actress Oscar in 2011 for her role in ballet drama “Black Swan,” will also play Oz’s mother, who…
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In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
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Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
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Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
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Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
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