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February 12, 2009
True Hollywood Confession: I am a Dope Fiend But Not a Jewess
Alma Rubens, Early Studio Portrait
Rubens starred in Humoresque (1920) according to silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, the “first [Hollywood] Jewish classic,” produced and financed by William Randolph Hurst's Cosmopolitan Pictures. The movie was directed by the twenty-seven year old Frank Borzage, an Italian-American from Salt Lake City. Borzage, one of Hollywood's finest directors, was a former Shakespearean actor who toiled for a while as an extra at Universal, and was then signed by producer Thomas Ince as a leading man. Gradually, Borzage found his way to the director's chair. The script for Humoresque was based on a Fannie Hurst novel, and penned by the great screenwriter Francis Marion.
Adolph Zukor, the head of Paramount, hated the film and could not understand why anybody would want to see a movie about, what he perceived, as lower-class Jews. As Brownlow reports in Behind the Mask of Innocence, Zukor wrote to screenwriter Francis Marion:
“If you want to show Jews, show Rothchilds, banks and beautiful things. It hurts us Jews—we don't all live in poor houses.”
Humoresque was almost shelved, but when finally released, it was a popular sensation, a big money-maker, and Rubens was catapulted to the deadly Hollywood stratosphere.
To read my complete article, please head on over to Big Hollywood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at February 12, 2009 08:05 AM
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