Category Archives: Hollywood

By Robert J. Avrech | May 12, 2013

Happy Mother’s Day in Hollywood

Also posted in Mother's Day | Tagged Gary Cooper, Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Hollywood Mothers, MIckey Rooney | 13 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | May 9, 2013

Hollywood Stars and Cars: I Drive Therefore I Am

Tweet America has long had a love affair with the automobile. Cars are the ultimate expression of form, function, fashion — and speed. But most of all the car represents freedom. Try and remember when you were a teenager yearning for your driver’s license so you could hop into daddy’s car and go, go, go. [...]

Also posted in Stars and Cars | Tagged Cadillac, Corvette, Douglas Fairbanks, Duesenberg, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Jaguar, Janet Gaynor, Jr., Kim Novak, Marilyn Monroe, Nancy Carroll, Packard, Phantom Corsair Cord, Pierce Arrow, Richard Dix, Steve McQueen, T-Bird, Young in Heart | 20 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | May 2, 2013

In Memoriam: Deanna Durbin, 1921-2013

Tweet There was a time when Hollywood and Hollywood stars represented hope and liberty. Such a star was the radiant Deanna Durbin, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 91.

Also posted in Deanna Durbin | Tagged Ann Frank, Charles David, Deanna Durbin and the Holocaust, Greenbriar Picture Shows, Hollywood Career, Judy garland, Self-Styled Siren, Universal | 18 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 25, 2013

Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s: The Nun’s Story

Tweet We continue and conclude our survey of the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s. For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1940s, click here. For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1930s click here. For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1920s click here. 20. The Nun’s Story, 1959 Think of Audrey Hepburn and [...]

Also posted in Audrey Hepburn, Great Movies, Greatest Movies of the 1950s, Nuns in Hollywood | Tagged A Stranger Among Us, Fred Zinneman, Kathryn C. Hulme, Movies of Faith, Peter Finch, Religious movies, Robert Anderson, Sidney Lumet | 27 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 14, 2013

Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Tweet We continue our survey of the twenty greatest movies of the 1950s. For the Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1940s, click here. For a listing of the greatest movies of the 20s and 30s click here. 15. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956. This film has no CGI. No SFX. And no gripping battle [...]

Also posted in Great Movies, Greatest Movies of the 1950s | Tagged Dana Wynter, Daniel Mainwaring, Don Siegel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jack Finney, Kevin McCarthy, Science Fiction, Walter Wanger | 21 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 6, 2013

US Funded Fatah Mourns Jew-Hating Tyrant Chavez

Tweet Socialist tyrant Hugo Chavez is dead. Hell’s waited too long. Chavez was a tyrant who claimed, like all socialists, to be for the people. But of course, like all populist political thugs, he was a thief who amassed a private fortune of over 2 billion dollars. Chavez was also a classic leftist Jew-hater.

Also posted in Islam, Islamic Terror, Jew-haters, Obama Watch, Venezuela | Tagged Abbas, Hugo Chavez, Kevin Spacey, Michael Moore, Naomi Campbell, Oliver Stone, Sean Penn | 20 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 21, 2013

Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s: Rear Window, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Seven Samurai

Tweet We continue our survey of the twenty greatest movies of the 1950s. For a complete listing of the greatest movies of the 20, 30s and 40s, click here. 10. Rear Window, 1954 Photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart) breaks his legs while photographing a car racing accident. Now, he is confined in his Greenwich [...]

Also posted in Alfred Hitchcock, Great Movies, Greatest Movies of the 1950s, Movies | Tagged Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Michael Kidd, Rear Window, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Seven Samurai, Stanley Donen | 27 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 14, 2013

Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s: Shane, The Big Heat, Ugetsu

Tweet We continue our survey of the twenty greatest movies of the 1950s. For a complete listing of the greatest movies of the 20, 30s and 40s, click here. 7. Shane, 1953. The gunshots in Shane are unlike any other gunshots in Hollywood history. They are heart-stopping thunderbolts, from either heaven or hell. Shane, a [...]

Also posted in Great Movies, Greatest Movies of the 1950s, Movies | Tagged Alan Ladd, Brandon deWilde, Fritz Lang, George Stevens, Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Kenji Mizoguchi, Lee Marvin, Machiko Kyo, Shane, The Big Heat, Ugetsu, Yoshikata Yoda | 34 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 7, 2013

Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1950s: Ace in the Hole, The Bad and the Beautiful, Singin’ in the Rain

Tweet We continue our survey of the twenty greatest movies of the 1950s. For a complete listing of the greatest movies of the 20, 30s and 40s, click here. 4. Ace in the Hole, 1951 A hand-embroidered motto, “Tell the Truth” sits as a dusty epitaph on the newsroom wall of an inconsequential Albuquerque newspaper [...]

Also posted in Great Movies, Greatest Movies of the 1950s, Kirk Douglas | Tagged Ace in the Hole, Billy Wilder, Gene Kelly, Jan Sterling, Lana Turner, Singin in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful | 35 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 10, 2013

Fay Wray: Beauty and the Beasts, Part III

Tweet In her disarmingly modest, and revealing autobiography, On the Other Hand, film actress Fay Wray (September 15, 1907–August 8, 2004), best known for her role as Ann Darrow in the classic film King Kong, unravels her life in a lovely, impressionist style. As Seraphic Secret wrote in Part I, Wray, a fatherless young beauty [...]

Also posted in Fay Wray | Tagged Hollywood, Hollywood Marriages, John Monk Saunders, King Kong, Robert Riskin | 12 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 3, 2013

Hollywood: I Drive Therefore I am Free

Tweet The automobile represents freedom. You climb into a car and go, go, go, whenever and wherever you want. The car is modern man’s path to liberty. Contrast cars with trains. Railroads are an expression of the collective. Individual identity is erased. You are at the mercy of a state-controlled system that turns citizens into passive [...]

Also posted in How I Married Karen, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Stars and Cars | Tagged El Brendel, Hollywood Suicide, Hope Hampton, Jack Pickford, Jackie Coogan, Mary Duncan, Olive Thomas | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | December 31, 2012

Old Hollywood, New Year

Tweet Seraphic Secret works hard to favor the glass half-full view of life. When bad stuff happens, which it does all the time, we try not to plunge into a clinical depression. But let’s face it, 2012 was a difficult year for Conservatives — and for America. Obamacare has become the law of the land, [...]

Also posted in New Years | Tagged Barbara Kent, Bette Davis, Debbie Reynolds, Marilyn Monroe, Myrna Loy, Rita Hayworth, Sari Maritza, Shirley Temple | 17 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | December 21, 2012

Friday Photos: Hollywood Celebrates Christmas

Tweet During Hollywood’s Golden Age, the studios took thousands of photos of their stars celebrating Christmas. In this way, Hollywood—though founded by poor immigrant Jews—let America know that it and the heartland were aligned. Seraphic Secret — Karen and I — are Orthodox Jews. We observe the Sabbath and eat only kosher food. Our lives [...]

Also posted in Christmas | Tagged Anna May Wong, Carole Lombard, Christmas & Hollywood, Colleen Moore, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Harlow, Marceline Day, Mary Pickford | 22 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | December 20, 2012

Fay Wray: Beauty and the Beasts, Part II

Tweet In her modest, jewel of an autobiography, On the Other Hand, film actress Fay Wray (September 15, 1907–August 8, 2004), best known for her role as Ann Darrow in the classic film King Kong, unravels her life in Hollywood in a lovely, impressionist style. As Seraphic Secret wrote in Part I, Wray, a fatherless [...]

Also posted in Fay Wray | Tagged Gary Cooper, Hollywood Memoirs, John Monk Saunders, King Kong, On the Other Hand, Vivien Wray | 13 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | November 23, 2012

Book Review: Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter

Tweet As I was working at the studio on a script about the great and tragic silent comedienne, Mabel Normand, the producer stepped into my office to discuss a few problems in the screenplay. As we were shmoozing, the producer, hugely successful, a soft-spoken and sensitive man, wandered over to the window overlooking one of [...]

Also posted in Books | Tagged Baby Peggy, Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter, Hollywood Memoir, Little House on the Prairie, Melissa Francis, Stage Mothers | 13 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | November 8, 2012

Fay Wray: Beauty and the Beasts, Part I

Tweet Actress Fay Wray achieved screen immortality as Ann Darrow, the girl in King Kong’s paw, the beauty who tamed, at least for a while, the raging beast. For most of us growing up after Hollywood’s Golden Age, Fay Wray (born Vina Fay Wray; September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was nothing more than [...]

Also posted in Fay Wray, Movies | Tagged Classic Hollywood, Hollywood Memoir, King Kong, On the Other Hand | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | October 26, 2012

Friday Photos: Stars And Their Cars

Tweet Automobiles represent freedom. You climb into a car and go, go, go, whenever and wherever you want. The car is modern man’s most potent symbol of, and path to liberty. Contrast cars with trains. Trains and subways are an expression of the collective. Individual identity is erased. You are at the mercy of a [...]

Also posted in Colleen Moore, Friday Fotos, High Speed Rail, Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, Stars and Cars, William Powell | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Al Jolson, Buck Jones, Buick, Cadillac, Cadillac Phaeton, Carl Brisson, Colleen Moore, Deusenberg, Freedom, Gary Cooper, Harold Lloyd, Isotta Fraschini, Jazz Singer, Mercedes, Mildren Davis, Open Road, Packard Special, Stepin Fetchit | 8 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | October 25, 2012

Elizabeth Taylor: Dying To Love, Dying For Love

Tweet Elizabeth Taylor lived in a diamond encrusted bubble. Hers was a life utterly devoid of any sense of normalcy. From age twelve, when she became a child star in National Velvet, (1944) Elizabeth Taylor was thrust into an aberrant existence. Here was a young girl who never went through the ordinary rites of passage [...]

Also posted in Elizabeth Taylor | Tagged Classic Hollywood, Cleopatra, Eddie Fisher, Furious Love, Hollywood History, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Richard Burton, Walter Wanger | 15 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | October 18, 2012

Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton Argue Judaism

Tweet Liz and Dick. Married, divorced, then married again and divorced once more, they were Hollywood’s greatest power couple since Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Paparazzi followed their every move. Their lavish lifestyle made headlines across the globe. Richard Burton, the son of an alcoholic Welsh miner, and Elizabeth Taylor, Hollywood’s greatest star, made [...]

Also posted in Elizabeth Taylor, Israel, Judaism | Tagged Cleopatra, Conversion to Judaism, Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, Hollywood Jews, Mike Todd, Richard Burton | 21 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 30, 2012

Succos: 2012

Tweet When I first came to Hollywood I was hired by a powerful producer to write a major motion picture. After contracts were signed, I sat down with the producer and his staff and we talked about the script. The producer suggested a specific date for delivery of the first draft. “Sorry, that’s Rosh Hashanah.” [...]

Also posted in Israel, Succos | Tagged Bukharian Jews, Jewish Holidays | 6 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
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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.
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2012
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audio-only mp3 [15MB]: Ninth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2011
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audio-only mp3 [18MB]: Eighth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2010
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audio-only mp3 [80MB]: Seventh Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2009
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audio-only mp3 [64MB]: Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2008
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audio-only mp3 [70MB]: Fifth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

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