Category Archives: Movies

By Robert J. Avrech | September 23, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Fashion, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Judaica, Marlon Brando, Painting, Photography, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Andre Barre, Basil Rathbone, Edouard Boubat, Edvard Munch, Edward Hopper, Francis Ford Coppola, George Hurrell, Geraldine Chaplin, Horst P. Horst, Jacob Lawrence, John Sloan, Marianne Breslauer, Mario Puzo, Mia Farrow, Milton Avery, Mina Avrech, Mina K. Avrech Collection, Olive Cotton, Ori Resheff, Rod Serling, The Godfather, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer | 10 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | September 21, 2016

How to Write a Screenplay

Tweet I get a fair amount of email from readers asking me about writing. More specifically, how do I go about writing a movie? Writing is ninety percent perspiration, ten percent inspiration. In other words do not wait to get struck with inspiration. That’s a load of romantic nonsense. In fact, that’s a sure way […]

Also posted in Hollywood, Screenwriting | Tagged Movies, Screenplays, Writing | 17 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | August 31, 2016

When Ingrid Bergman Rebelled Against Ingrid Bergman

Tweet So powerful are Hollywood movies as propaganda that America has never achieved victory in war without Hollywood’s support. When Hollywood turns against America at war, defeat is assured. Witness Vietnam, the first casualty of Hollywood’s ideological wrath. The Jane Fonda, Jon Voight vehicle “Coming Home” (1978) was a turning point in Hollywood’s leftward tilt. […]

Also posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Ingrid Bergman | Tagged Anti-American Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman, Joan of Arc, Open City, Paisa, Petter Lindstrom, Pia Lindstrom, Roberto Rossellini, Sidney Lumet, The Bells of Saint Mary | 6 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | August 26, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Painting, Silent Movies, Touch of Evil, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Albrecht Durer, Bartolomeo Veneto, Black Narcissus, Democrat Fascism, Edgar Degas, Edward Boubat, Exodus, Garbo, Goya, Jay DeFeo, Joanne Woodward, Joseph Cornell, Mabel Normand, Manny Farber, Marlene Dietrich, Melvyn Douglas, Mina Avrech Collection, Ninotchka, Orson Welles, Paul Delaroche, Paul Newman, Paul Sample, Ralston Crawford, Repulsion, Robert Motherwell, Roman Polanski, Roman Vishniac, Tim Walker, Touch of Evil, Vilhelm Hammershøi, William John Leech, Yeshiva University Museum | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | August 15, 2016

Coming of Age: Three Must See Films Currently Streaming

Tweet One of the most durable movie genres is the coming of age narrative. With roots in the 18th century literary novel, tales about young people who mature through ordinary and extraordinary circumstances have an irresistible appeal that is universal. Here are three films that are currently streaming on either Netflix or Amazon Prime. Each […]

Also posted in Amazon Prime, Hollywood, Islam, Israel, Netflix | Tagged Alice Winocour, Amazon, Baba Joon, Brie Larson, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Güneş Şensoy, Jacob Tremblay, Lenny Abrahamson, Mustang, Netflix, Room, Yuval Delshad | 5 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | August 5, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Gloria Grahame, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Joan Fontaine, Marilyn Monroe, Painting, Photography, Photography, Los Angeles, Pico-Robertson, Quotes, Screenwriting, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Crossfire, Edward Hopper, Egon Schiele, Esther Bubley, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gloria Grahame, Henri Rousseau, Ida Wyman, Jimmy Cagney, Joan Fontaine, John Gutman, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Kenna, Mori-Shunkei, N.C. Wyeth, Paul Gauguin, Rebecca Lepkoff, Ruth Orkin, Sacha Goldberger, Stanley Kubrick, William Eggleston | 12 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | July 25, 2016

Hidden Hollywood: Broncho Billy, Son of a Jewish Gun

Tweet In 1965, a frail old man in a wheelchair appeared in the no-budget western, The Bounty Killer. For those of us who love movies, especially westerns, this is a bittersweet moment. Because the man who invented the western movie hero makes his last appearance on the silver screen. That man was Broncho Billy Anderson. But […]

Also posted in Broncho Billy, Hidden Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jewish Hollywood, John Wayne, Movie Posters, Silent Movies | Tagged Charlie Chaplin, Essany, Francis X. Bushman, Marguerite Clayton, Max Aaronson, Mollie Louise Schabbleman, Westerns | 8 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | July 8, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Actors, Art, Edith Head, Errol Flynn, Family, Friday Fotos, Glamour, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Joan Fontaine, Lielle Meital, Maayan Ariel, Marlon Brando, Movie Posters, Olivia De Havilland, Painting, Photography, Quotes, Silent Movies, They Died With Their Boots On, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charlie Chaplin, Deborah Kerr, Dinner at Eight, Edith Head, Edvard Munch, Edward Hopper, Errol Flynn, Jean Harlow, Joan Fontaine, Lenore Coffee, Leon Berkowitz, Marie Dressler, Marlon Brando, Noel Neill, Olivia de Havilland, Sabine Weiss, Sari Srulovitch, Smith & Wesson, They Died, Tiffany and Co., To Each His Own, W. Eugene Smith, Wally Kline, Æneas MacKenzie | 19 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | July 6, 2016

Hidden Hollywood: Latin Lover Ricardo Cortez is Kosher Butcher’s Son

Tweet Ricardo Cortez (1900-1977) was a handsome and talented leading man whose image, in the silent era, was that of a hot-blooded Latin lover. In truth, his name was Jacob Krantz, the son of a kosher butcher, born and raised in the mean streets of New York’s Lower East Side.

Also posted in Alma Rubens, Glamour, Greta Garbo, Hidden Hollywood, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Irene Dunne, Jewish Hollywood, Judaism, Movie Posters, Photography, Ricardo Cortez, Silent Movies | Tagged Alma Rubens, Bebe Daniels, D.W. Griffith, Greta Garbo, Irene Dunne, L.B. Mayer, Mae Clarke, Maltese Falcon, Pidyon Ha-Ben, Ricardo Cortez, Stanley Cortez, Symphony of Six Million, The Torrent, This Bright World Again | 3 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | July 1, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Design, Fashion, Friday Fotos, Helen Twelvetrees, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Kim Novak, Livia Yarden, Marlon Brando, Painting, Photography, Photography, Los Angeles, Pico-Robertson, Quotes, Screenwriting, The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged (My) Burgers, Edvard Munch, Edward Hopper, Fan Ho, Helen Twelvetrees, Horst B. Horst, Kim Novak, Livia Yarden, Miriam Hopkins, On the Waterfront, Patek Philippe, Rare Watches, Robert Motherwell, Sari Srulovitch, Utamaro, William Michael Harnett | 14 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 24, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Audrey Hepburn, Automobiles, Elizabeth Taylor, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Movie Posters, Painting, Photography, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Argyle Chair, Buster Crabbe, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Edward Harrison May, John Frederick Peto, Maarten van Heemskerck, Pinchas Tzvi, Robert Motherwell, Saul Leiter, Thomas Eakins, Thurston Hopkins, Utamaro | 15 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 16, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Actors, Alfred Hitchcock, Anna May Wong, Art, Design, Family, Friday Fotos, Glamour, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Madge Bellamy, Marilyn Monroe, Movie Posters, Painting, Photography, Photography, Los Angeles, Pico-Robertson, Photography, Signs, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Ann Dvorak, Arthur Dove, Canada Dry Spur Cola, Casablanca, Edward H, Georgiana Houghton, Horst B. Horst, Josef Hoffmann, Madge Bellamy, Marilyn Monroe, Spur Soda, William Harnett, Winslow Homer | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 6, 2016

Revenge of the Hollywood Millennials

Tweet My friend Jake Novak writes exclusively for Seraphic Secret about an emerging trend in Hollywood: storylines that feature the crushing disappointment Millennials feel in their permissive Baby Boomer parents. We all know the conventional wisdom about Hollywood and morality. The TV and movie business is filled with libertines and anti-family radicals who want to […]

Also posted in America, Hollywood | Tagged Amy Schumer, Anne Hathaway, Baby Boomer Parents, culture, Harold Ramis, Jake Novak, Judd Apatow, Knocked Up, LeBron James, Millennials, Nancy Meyers, Parenting, Robert De Niro, Seth Rogen, The Intern, Trainwreck | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | April 13, 2016

Three Notable Films About Youth on Netflix

Tweet To be young is to be foolish and make mistakes—hopefully none of them fatal. It’s also a time for trying on different guises and carving out a place in the world. Most of all it’s a time of crazy impulses, mad love affairs, and grandiose dreams. To be young is to be the main […]

Also posted in Hollywood, Netflix | Tagged 6 Years, Acting, Ben Rosenfield, Brie Larson, Fish Tank, John Gallagher Jr., Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Netflix, Short Term 12, Taissa Farmiga, Youth Movies | 2 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 18, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Fashion, Friday Fotos, Gene Tierney, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jewish Holidays, Lauren Bacall, Movie Posters, Myrna Loy, Painting, Photography, Purim, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Andrea del Castagno, Angelica Kauffmann, Book of Esther, Bruce Cohen, Dovima, Esther and the King, Gene Tierney, Gerrit Dou, Horst P. Horst, Joan Collins, Joan Miro, John Everett Millais, Kasimir Malevich, Leon Bakst, Murnau, Nasreen Mohamedi, Nosferatu, Palma Vecchio, Peter Paul Rubens, Richard Avedon, The Honeysuckle Bower, Twilight, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Vivien Maier | 8 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 11, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions, Spitting Image

Also posted in Art, Ava Gardner, Brigitte Bardot, Friday Fotos, Movie Posters, Painting, Photography, Quotes, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Eisenstadt, Bruce Cohen, Caravaggio, David and Goliath, Dovima, Gerard ter Borch, Hans Süss von Kulmbach, Hedy Lamarr, Peter Evans, Richard Avedon, Robert Moskowitz, Spit and Beauty, Throne of Blood, Tom Sandberg, Vivian Maier | 9 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | March 8, 2016

Three Notable Films from Australia on Netflix, Yiddish in the Outback

Tweet One of the joys of Netflix is their vast library of international films that get no theatrical distribution in America. Seraphic Secret goes through periods of screening, including but not limited to, South Korean, British, Chinese, Scandinavian, Japanese, Bollywood, and most recently, Australian movies. Aussie films have a peculiar charm that will have you […]

Also posted in Australia, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Netflix, Screenwriting, Yiddish | Tagged Australian Movies, David Lyons, Emma Booth, golliwog, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska, Netflix, Oi, Oy, Swerve, These Final Hours, Tracks | 12 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 19, 2016

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions, Self-Portraits, Early Selfies

Also posted in Art, Friday Fotos, Grace Kelly, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Lillian Gish, Maayan Ariel, Painting, Photography, Photography, Los Angeles, Pico-Robertson, Photography, Signs, Quotes, Russia, Self-Portrait, Seraphic Secret, Shabbos, Silent Movies, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Annabel Carracci, Catharina van Hemessen, Claude Cahun, Edward Hopper, Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Elliott Erwitt, Felix Nussbaum, Frédéric Boissonnas, Grace Kelly, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, Gustave Courbet, Henri Matisse, Ilse Bing, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Mayan Ariel, Nobuyoshi Araki, Nussbaum Haus, Pablo Picasso, Parmigianino, Pieter Claesz, Self Portraits, Selfies`, Vincent van Gogh, Vivian Maier | 5 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | December 31, 2015

New Year, Old Hollywood

Tweet Here at Seraphic Secret we try to maintain an optimistic demeanor. However, after seven years of Obama, this becomes increasingly difficult, if not downright impossible. Cognitive dissonance is not our style. IslamoNazis are on the march all across the globe. In Israel, the murder of Jews by IslamoNazis who call themselves Palestinians—a faux nationality invented […]

Also posted in America, Holidays, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Islam, Islam Denial, Islamic State, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazis, Israel, Obama Watch | Tagged Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina, Hollywood, New Years, Rashomon, Stalin, The Big Short, Trumbo, Truth, Waterloo Bridge | 16 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | December 25, 2015

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

Also posted in Art, Friday Footwear, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Movie Posters, Painting | Tagged Blonde Venus, Carole Landis, Ed Ruscha, Flokeje van Lith, Howard Hodgkin, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Kandinsky, Lupe Velez, Morris Louis, Norma Shearer, North Korea, Shane, Sir William Orpen, The Red Shoes | 16 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.
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Annual Ariel Avrech
Memorial Lectures
Young Israel of Century City

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)
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