Joan Crawford

Flashback: When Hollywood Celebrated Christmas

December 24, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 5 Comments

Mary Pickford helps Hollywood celebrate Christmas, 1920s.

There was a time when Hollywood openly and joyously celebrated Christmas. Now, among the Hollywood elite, the greeting I hear is “Happy Holidays.”

Look, we at Seraphic Secret are Orthodox Jews. This is not our holiday.

But we want our Christian friends to celebrate Christmas. The politically correct Happy Holidays shtick is another nail in the coffin of American culture; another instance where a minority of obnoxious liberals bully the larger culture into secular nothingness.

American Christianity is a unique force for good in world history. It is not the Christianity of Europe that is poisoned with genocidal Jew-hatred.

Hollywood used to celebrate Christmas using every tool in the cinematic playbook.

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

March 17, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 8 Comments

“I was so tired of the parts I had to play. There seems little for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indians for Chinese roles.”
—Anna May Wong

Friday Photos: In Every Generation

April 9, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 19 Comments

Bookstore in Jewish Quarter, Paris ca. 1920

On Passover, Jews around the world recite a passage from the Haggadah that strikes a note both poignant and defiant.

In every generation they [our enemies] rise up against us to destroy us, but the Holy One Blessed Be He saves us from their hands.

But Judaism does not place faith in faith alone. Man is born with free will and G-d expects us to exercise that free will in order to do what is right.

Jewish law holds—as does common sense—that it is incumbent to strike preemptively at your enemies before they attack you. Because Jewish history shows with Newtonian certainty that when people threaten to kill Jews — they mean it.

Our IslamoNazi enemies in Tehran have made it quite clear that they intend to annihilate the Jewish State. Barack Obama has, at the same time, made it even more clear, that he couldn’t care less about Israel or the Jewish people. To this doctrinaire Marxist who has made common cause with Jew-haters for his entire academic and political career, Israel is just an annoying and illegitimate neocolonial outpost in the Middle East.

In every generation they rise up.

The surprise is that the American people and 74% of American Jews rose up and freely elected one of our bitterest foes.

A few photos to enjoy over the next few days.

Friday Photos: ObamaNet Edition

February 27, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 8 Comments

The other day Karen and I were walking along La Cienaga Boulevard when we spotted this giant sculptor of Lenin. We could not believe our eyes. Naturally, whoever is responsible for this hunk of junk will claim that this is deconstruction, an ironic comment on postmodern art and politics, yadda, eider. As far as karen and I are concerned, it's an insult to the millions of victims of Communist genocide that was a central foundation of Lenin's pitiless political program. — The other day Karen and I were walking along La Brea Boulevard when we came upon this giant sculpture of Lenin outside a building owned by Ace Gallery. “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head” is by the Chinese artist brothers Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang. I have no doubt the brothers will claim that this is an ironic comment on postmodern art and politics — yadda, yadda. As far as Karen and I are concerned, it’s an insult to the millions of victims of Communist genocide that was engineered by Lenin.

Few noticed that a significant erosion of liberty took place this week in a room in Washington where three Democrat party commissars voted to classify the internet as a public utility.

This means that over the next few years, slowly, almost imperceptibly, the federal government will levy increasingly heavy taxes on the internet. In ways both subtle and flagrant, internet content will be heavily influenced by Washington bureaucrats. Keep in mind that the internet is becoming indistinguishable from TV or even the movie screen. Thus, the greatest tool of propaganda—American movies—will, over the next few years, fall under the shadow of federal regulations.

The internet has been one of the greatest engines of innovation and free market capitalism since the invention of the printing press. The truth is, if the government had controlled the internet from the outset we’d still be using dial-up to get a slow-poke connection.

Of course, the Democrats understand that to control the internet is to control the message, which is what’s needed in order to centralize power. And the postmodern Democrat party is all about the exercise of raw power in order to establish a soft tyranny of the very highly paid whose mission is to redistribute every one else’s wealth and foster the illusion of liberty and equality.

We have gone from ObamaCare to ObamaNet.

And on that cheery note, let’s look at some moments in time that will, hopefully, brighten your weekend.

Bess Myerson: The First Jewish Miss America

January 6, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 1 Comment

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 1945 file photo, Bess Myerson, of New York, holds the scepter after being crowned Miss America 1945 at the annual Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America who parlayed her stunning 1945 victory into national celebrity, died Dec. 14, 2014, at her home in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 90. (AP Photo, File) — In this Sept. 8, 1945 photo, Bess Myerson, of New York, holds the scepter after being crowned Miss America 1945 at the annual Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America who parlayed her stunning 1945 victory into national celebrity, died Dec. 14, 2014, at her home in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 90. (AP Photo, File)

Bess Myerson passed away several weeks ago. Her death was only announced in early January.

Bess was the first Jewish Miss America.

My parents told me that when Bess—they always called her Bess, as if old friends—became Miss America, there was a deep sense of pride among American Jews, a feeling that we were, at last, accepted by Christian America.

Indeed, with World War II just ended, and with details of The Holocaust emerging, the crowning of a Jewish woman as Miss America was a significant event for many American Jews.