Seraphic Secret

By Robert J. Avrech | October 16, 2017

The “Anti-Hate” Group That Is a Hate Group

The Southern Poverty Law Center bills itself as a watchdog of hate groups. But is this just a cover for its true aims? Journalist and author Karl Zinsmeister explains. Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0h

Posted in Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Democrat Fascists, Democrats, Prager University | Tagged Charles Murray, Establishment Media, Hate, Karl Zinsmeister, Mark Potok, Middlebury College, Southern Poverty Law Center | Leave a comment

By Robert J. Avrech | October 11, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

“Keaton had a great influence on me. A lot of his moves I intuitively copied in doing some numbers. I know I was thinking of him when I did a dance with a squeaky board and a newspaper. I didn’t look like him, but I often wish I did. He was a complete genius, and there was a lot of dance inherent in his movements.”
—Gene Kelly

Once again Friday Photos appears on Wednesday due to the last days of Sukkot which begin tonight and then run into Shabbat. Enjoy!

Posted in Alfred Hitchcock, Betty Grable, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Still Photography, Jewish Holidays, Judaism, Movie Posters, Movies, Painting, Photography, Quotes, True Hollywood Confessions, Wisdom of Hollywood Screenwriters | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Allan Grant, Alternative Movie Posters, Bernard Picart, Betty Grable, Buster Keaton, Edward Hopper, Efrat, Eileen Gray, Eugene Robert Richee, Gail Patrick, Gene Kelly, Gerrit Dou, Hendrick Terbrugghen, Hoshana Rabbah, Louise Brooks, Morgan Auto, Picasso, Preston Sturges, Richard Avedon, Richard Burton, Rick McGinnis, Robert Doisneau, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, To Catch a Thief | 2 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | October 9, 2017

Gender Identity: Why All the Confusion?

Are male and female one and the same? Or are there real male-female differences rooted in biology? Ashley McGuire, author of “Sex Scandal: The Drive to Abolish Male and Female,” explains.

Posted in Prager University | Tagged Gender, Gender Confusion, Gender Identity, Men and Women | Leave a comment

By Robert J. Avrech | October 4, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

“Last night I was awake all night again. Sometimes I wonder what the nighttime is for. It almost doesn’t exist for me—it all seems like one long, long horrible day.”
—Marilyn Monroe, Letter to her psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, 1961

No, you have not fallen into a time warp. It is Wednesday. So: why Friday Photos today? The celebration of Succos starts tonight and continues into Shabbat. And because Orthodox Jews (that’s us) do not use electronics during these holidays you get Friday Photos early. We hope you enjoy this edition.

Posted in Art, Brigitte Bardot, Cary Grant, Family, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jewish Holidays, Judaism, Movie Posters, Movies, Myrna Loy, Photography, Quotes, Sandra Dee, Succos, True Hollywood Confessions, Wisdom of Hollywood Screenwriters | Tagged Alternative Movie Posters, Bernard Palissy, Cary Grant, Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, Follow the Fleet, Ginger Rogers, Horst P. Horst, Marilyn Monroe, Myrna Loy, Sandra Dee, Shabbat, Succos | 8 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | October 3, 2017

Evil on the Vegas Strip

And so here we are. Again.

The Las Vegas massacre is not, as the media habitually labels such incidents, a tragedy.

This is an atrocity.

Posted in America, Hillary Clinton, ISIS, IslamoNazis, Judaism, Las Vegas Massacre, Screenwriting, Second Amendment, Sol Teichman, Torah | Tagged Donald Trump, Evil, Guns, Hillary Clinton, Human Nature, Las Vegas Massacre, Leftist Racism, Lydia Polgreen, Ramban, Silencers, Stephen Paddock | 13 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | October 2, 2017

Undercover in Antifa

What happens when two guys infiltrate Antifa, live amongst them for weeks, and take part in their deeply rooted tactics of disruption and violence?

Posted in America, Antifa, Democrat Fascists | Tagged Steven Crowder | 3 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 29, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

“Marilyn was a very calculating girl. She was never late on our set, I’ll tell you that. She was trying to get me to go to bed with her while she was trying to get Howard [Hawks, the director] to do the same thing! We both knew it and—I can speak only for myself—it turned me off. Completely.”
—Cary Grant via An Affair to Remember by Maureen Donaldson and William Royce
Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant in a scene from Monkey Business, 1952.

Posted in Art, Cary Grant, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Joan Fontaine, Marilyn Monroe, Movie Posters, Movies, Painting, Quotes, Sophia Loren | Tagged Alternative Posters, Bernard Perlin, Cary Grant, Herbert Dombrowski, Joan Fontaine, Leonardo Da Vinci, Lorser Feitelson, Marilyn Monroe, Maureen Donalsdon, Meredith Frampton, Rear Window, Suspicion, Vertigo, Vintage | 5 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 27, 2017

The Weak Link in the Iran Nuclear Deal

We seem to be preoccupied with a bunch of dimwit football players who hate America and insist on displaying contempt for the American flag.

Posted in America, Culture Wars, Iran | Tagged Dore Gold, NFL, North Korea | 5 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 25, 2017

Prager U: Does Israel Discriminate Against Arabs?

Does Israel discriminate against Arabs? Is it today’s version of apartheid South Africa? Olga Meshoe, herself a South African whose family experienced apartheid, settles the question once and for all. Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2eB2p0h

Posted in BDS Movement, Holocaust, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Prager University | Tagged Apartheid, BDS Movement, College Campuses, IDF, Israel, Israeli Arabs, Lies, Olga Meshoe, South Africa | Leave a comment

By Robert J. Avrech | September 20, 2017

Early Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Because Rosh Hashanah begins tonight, then turns into Shabbat, and I do not blog on Jewish holidays, I am publishing Friday Photos early.

“I’ve always believed that acting is instinct to start with; you either have it or you don’t.” —Claudette Colbert

Posted in Art, Brigitte Bardot, Claudette Colbert, Friday Fashion, Friday Footwear, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Lauren Bacall, Painting, Photography, Quotes, Rosh Hashanah, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Claude Monet, George Hendrik Breitner, Harry Dean Stanton, Hilma af Klint, Julie Christie, Lauren Bacall, Martin Mukacsi, Norman Parkinson, Randall Knives, Richard Avedon, Rick McGinnis, Tatsuya Tanaka, William Merritt Chase | 10 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 19, 2017

Prager U: Are Some Cultures Better Than Others?

Are some cultures better than others? Or are all cultures and their values equal? Bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza, who was born in India and moved to America, explains.

Posted in Art, Donald Trump, Prager University | Tagged Capitalism, Civilization, colonialism, Culture Wars, Dinesh D'Souza, Judeo-Christian values, Multi-Ethnic Society, Multiculturalism, Saul Bellow, Slavery, The American Dream, Uniquely Western, Values | 1 Response

By Robert J. Avrech | September 18, 2017

The Democrat Socialists of America

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during an event to introduce the “Medicare for All Act of 2017” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

At last, the Democrat party reveals its socialist core.

The only way to save Obamacare is through, you guessed it, socialism. You know like Cuba or Venezuela, where you have to bring your own sheets and aspirin to the government hospital

Bernie Sanders, who spent his honeymoon in the totalitarian Jew-hating Soviet Union, has come out for single payer health care.

Posted in America, Big Government, Obamacare | Tagged Bernie Sanders, health care, Obamacare, Socialism | 2 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 15, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

“When I am spotted somewhere, it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around.”
—Eleanor Parker

Posted in Art, Eleanor Parker, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaica, Judaism, Movie Posters, Movies, Painting, Photography, Quotes | Tagged Anita Ekberg, Edvard Munch, Eleanor Parker, Elliot Erwitt, Félix Vallotton, Harry Callahan, Jackson Pollock, Lana Turner, Liberale da Verona, Peter Sellers, Rick McGinnis, Sophia Loren, Tatsuya Tanaka, Vintage Cars | 5 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 14, 2017

Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Understand George Orwell’s 1984

I have not read Hillary Clinton’s latest ghost-written tome in which she blames everyone but herself for her loss to President Trump.

But I have read a few quotes, and this one about Orwell’s classic novel 1984 actually made me laugh out loud.

Posted in America, Donald Trump, George Orwell, Hillary Clinton | Tagged 1984, Donad Trump, George Orwell, Hillary Clinton | Leave a comment

By Robert J. Avrech | September 13, 2017

Prager U: If You Live in Freedom, Thank the British Empire

Was the British Empire a good or bad thing for the world? To put it another way, is freedom a good or bad thing for the world? Historian and author H.W. Crocker III explains why we may want to rethink the British Empire’s bad rap.

Posted in Big Government, Prager University | Tagged British Empre, Freedom, Slave Trade | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 11, 2017

9-11 Sixteen Years After: Never Forget, Never Forgive

The Torah teaches that we should forever remember what Amalek did to the children of Israel in the desert. Furthermore, the Torah commands us to wipe this evil off the face of the earth.

Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

—Deuteronomy 25

What was Amalek’s great evil?

Posted in 9-11, Andrew Breitbart, Islam, Islam Denial, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazis, Israel, PalNazis | Tagged 9-11, Andrew Breitbart, Israel, Israeli 9-11 Memorial | 3 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 8, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

“Of the group of starlets only Marilyn emerged. Still photographers discovered her natural talent for flirting with the camera lens, and her blond looks of instant availability made her America’s most popular pin-up girl. Marilyn felt that the lens was not just a glass eye, but the symbol of the eyes of millions of men. She knew how to woo this lens better than any actress I ever photographed.”
—Philippe Halsman

Posted in Art, Brigitte Bardot, Doris Day, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Judaica, Movie Posters, Movie Star Ads, Movies, Myrna Loy, Painting, Photography, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Basil Rathbone, Laurits Andersen Ring, Loretta Young, Myrna Loy, Pablo Picasso, Sylvette David | 6 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 6, 2017

Hidden Hollywood: Madge Bellamy’s Acting Workshop

Madge Bellamy (1899-1990) 1920s.

Madge Bellamy was huge Hollywood star in the early 20’s. Unfortunately, most of Bellamy’s silent films have been lost. But you can still see her in starring roles in John Ford’s Iron Horse (1924) and Maurice Tourneur’s Lorna Doon (1922). In the sound era, Madge’s most famous role is as Madeleine Parker, in White Zombie, with Bela Lugosi (1932), a cult classic.

Tragically, Madge was one of the most self-destructive Hollywood stars of all time. And in a town where actors excel at self-annihilating behavior, that’s quite an accomplishment.

In 1943, Madge shot her lover, millionaire Stanwood Murphy, after he jilted her to marry another woman. The massive publicity and resulting scandal destroyed her already sputtering career. Regarding the shooting Madge said: “I only winged him, which is what I meant to do. Believe me, I’m a crack shot.”

Posted in Hidden Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Madge Bellamy, Silent Movies | Tagged Alan Dwan, Iron Horse, L.B. Mayer, Lorna Doon, Madge Bellamy | 10 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 5, 2017

Prager University: Why Is Health Insurance So Complicated?

Why is health insurance so complicated, while car insurance and life insurance are so simple? Can health insurance be more like, well, insurance? Lanhee Chen, fellow at the Hoover Institution, explains.

Posted in Obamacare, Prager University | Tagged Health Insurance, Obamacare, Risk Pool, Socialism | 1 Response

By Robert J. Avrech | September 1, 2017

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

“I was a homely kid with freckles that came out every spring and stuck on me ‘til Christmas. I was glamorous because of magicians like George J. Folsey, James Wong Howe, Oliver Marsh, Ray June, and all those other great cinematographers. I trusted those men and the other experts who made us beautiful. The rest of it I didn’t give a damn about. I didn’t fuss about my clothes, my lighting, or anything else, but, believe me, some of them did.”
—Myrna Loy

Posted in Actors, Alfred Hitchcock, Art, Automobiles, Design, Fashion, Hollywood, Movie Posters, Movies, Myrna Loy, Painting, Photography, Quotes, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Albrecht Durer, Allan Grant, Ancient Judaica, Batiste Madalena, Christopher Dresser, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Edvard Munch, Eliot Erwitt, Gregory Peck, Gustav Klimt, Leonard Nemoy, Livia Yarden, Marion Davies, Modern Judaica, Myrna Loy, Pablo Picasso, Ric von Neumann, Rick McGinnis, Roberto Benavidez, Shabbat, Tatsuya Tanaka, Utamaro, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Vintage Cars | 4 Responses

How I Married Karen

The new book
by Robert J. Avrech

Available in All Major Book Stores

Adobe Digital Edition's version is available through the Lulu store!
About Me
Robert J. Avrech
Los Angeles, California
I'm an Emmy Award winning screenwriter. I'm also an observant Jew, a religious Zionist, a conservative Republican, and a member of the NRA. I've been writing and producing in Hollywood for over twenty-five years. But the focus of my life is my family: my radiant wife, Karen—with whom I have been in love with since I was nine years-old—and my two daughters, who, thankfully, look like Karen. Not too long ago, we had three children. But our son, Ariel, died at the age of twenty-two from cancer. We miss him terribly. We think about him practically every minute of every day. People tell us that time heals, but Karen and I know this is not true. Time grinds away doing its terrible work. Ariel is gone. Yet absence becomes presence.

Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
Subscribe to Seraphic Press via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address
Search Seraphic Secret
Annual Ariel Avrech
Memorial Lectures
Young Israel of Century City

Fourteenth: June 11, 2016
Daniel Greenfield: “Fighting Anti-Semitism and Defending Israel in the Age of BDS.”

Blog Post
MP3 Audio Stereo (100 MB)

Thirteenth: May 22, 2016
Ben Shapiro: “How You Can Save Israel”

Blog Post
MP3 Audio Stereo (70 MB)

Twelfth: June 7, 2015
Larry Elder: “The New Black Anti-Semitism”

Blog Post
MP3 Audio Mono (50 MB) | Stereo (100 MB)

Eleventh: June 8, 2014
Michael Medved: “Shifting Alliances: Why Liberals No Longer Reliably Support Israel — And Conservatives Do.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 97MB)

Tenth: June 9, 2013
David Horowitz: “The War Against Judaism on the University Campus.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 16MB)

Ninth: June 3, 2012
Joel B. Pollak: “The Mainstream Media’s Betrayal of Israel.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 15MB)

Eighth: June 5, 2011
Yossi Klein Halevi: “What is Expected of a Survivor People: Lessons My Father Taught Me.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 18MB)

Seventh: June 13, 2010
Dennis Prager: “Happiness is a Mitzvah, Not an Emotion.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 80MB)

Sixth: June 21, 2009
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky: “Conformity in Jewish Life: Vice, Virtue or Affectation?”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 64MB)

Fifth: June 15, 2008
Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl: “What Was the Rosh Yeshiva Reading: Intellectual Openness in 19th Century Lithuania.”

Blog Post | Audio (mp3 70MB)
Tags

Alfred Hitchcock Al Sharpton Audrey Hepburn Ava Gardner Barack Obama Benjamin Netanyahu Bette Davis Big Government Brigitte Bardot Carole Lombard Cary Grant Charlie Chaplin Clark Gable Edward Hopper Elizabeth Taylor Gary Cooper Glamour Grace Kelly Greta Garbo Hamas Hedy Lamarr Hillary Clinton Hollywood IslamoNazis Israel Jean Harlow Jeremiah Wright Jew-hatred Joan Crawford John Kerry Karen Singer Avrech Liberal Facism Lielle Meital Livia Yarden Ma'ayan Ariel Marilyn Monroe Marlene Dietrich Myrna Loy Nuclear Iran Obama PalNazis Prager University Rick McGinnis Rita Hayworth Shabbat