Benjamin Ivry
Willie Howard, More Than Just a Sunshine Boy
Although London’s hit revival of Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys” starring Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths closed on July 28, a possible fall transfer to Broadway has been announced. That’s a good excuse to shine light on a neglected Jewish vaudeville great who inspired Simon’s play.
Tragic in Novels, Lucky in Friends
Joseph Roth’s complex ideas about Judaism made him an object of fascination. With the publication of his letters, attention on him has redoubled.
Poet Laureate of the Airwaves
Norman Corwin, the writer and radio producer who died last year at age 101, was often dubbed the ‘poet laureate of radio.’ But he was rather more than that.
Photographer to '30s Literary Stars
Photographer Gisele Freund captured camera-shy European writers in the 1930s. A new exhibit suggests that Freund was a more complex creative spirit than was thought.
To Understand and Equate, Passionately
Tunisian-born writer Colette Fellous was enriched by a panoply of influences, from surrealist André Breton to her teacher, philosopher Roland Barthes.
The Man Who Out-Sainted Einstein
Physicist James Franck’s most remarkable distinction may be that on a human level, he was even more saintly than his friend and colleague Albert Einstein.
Notorious Anti-Semite Louis-Ferdinand Céline and the Jews Who Read Him
Louis-Ferdinand Céline wrote notoriously anti-Semitic texts depicting villainous Jews raping honest Aryan French. Today, some Jewish writers remain fascinated by Céline the novelist.