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Zsa Zsa Gabor Dead - The Last Hungarian Actress of Her Generation
Zsa Zsa Gabor has died at 99. As my fellow Hungarican wrote me: 'That's it. 2016 worse year ever.' Zsa Zsa was the last connection to my mother's world of Budapest and the glory of Hungarian women born before World War Two - a cosmopolitan, very clever, very adaptable, very assimilated, world of superficial beauty, sexual sophistication and a love of jewelry and luxury. A decade ago, when Zsa Zsa first was reported at death's door, I wrote the following… -
Cult of Luxury: Craftsmanship, Scarcity and the Hermès Brand
How Hermès has succeeded in creating veneration-worthy items as well as a successful global brand is a story worth studying.Thierry Hermès was a leather harness maker who set up shop in Paris in 1837. The saddles, bridles and harnesses he made were prized by the rising bourgeoisie of Louis Phillipe's reign in 19th Century France. Since then Hermes, almost without parallel, has made a business out of selling beautiful items no one needs, as well as items one needs but… -
The Art of the Rubell Family Collection Miami
The Rubell Family Collection (RFC) in Miami, housed in a former DEA warehouse, is remarkable in many respects. First and foremost, as it name advertises, it is the collection of one family, Donald and Mera Rubell and their two adult children Jason and Jennifer collected over the last half century, that continues to grow with the involvement of the next generation (one of whom is an artist herself). The Rubells were also instrumental in Art Basel deciding to hold its… -
The Day Begins with "Evening": A Conversation with Nessa Rapoport
NESSA RAPOPORT"S NEW NOVEL, Evening, has been hailed as 'smart, darkly funny" by Publishers Weekly, and Lilith called the novel both "deeply Jewish and (wait for it) deeply Canadian," adding that "[t]here's very little feminist fiction worthy of this claim." Evening is all that, as well as being a beautifully written, masterfully crafted exploration of sisterhood, families, lovers, and love. As author Daphne Merkin says, it is "a novel that adroitly touches on everything we"ve ever wanted to ... View… -
Nick Cannon Could Teach a Masterclass in Bouncing Back from a Scandal
Here are nine lessons from the TV host's redemption tour, which included a visit to an L.A. Jewish centerWatching the near collapse and resurrection of actor, rapper, and TV host Nick Cannon's career in real time has been a masterclass in reputation rehab. After Cannon was heard spouting anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan talking points on his podcast Cannon's Class, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted, "Anyone seeking a Ph.D. in Jew-hatred should watch this... View Original… -
The Broad Museum Reopens
Eli Broad, the Los Angeles real estate magnate turned philanthropist, civic leader, and art collector, died April 30, 2021. His legacy is most evident on Grand Street in downtown Los Angeles, home to the Frank Gehry masterpiece Walt Disney Hall, as well as his namesake museum, The Broad Museum, repository of his art foundation's collection which, regrettably, he did not live to see reopen.But The Broad has indeed reopened, and they have done so with a brilliant new re-installation of… -
Adventures Among the Orthodox
"NOTHING JEWISH is alien to me," philosopher Franz Rosenzweig said in the early 20th century. Rosenzweig hoped this phrase would launch a Jewish renaissance; however, the multiplicity of Jewish observance and experience has mostly led to mutual disdain among the varietals. As each branch of Judaism has set itself apart from the others, barriers to entry, acceptance, or even understanding have increased. No less an authority on Jewish life than Sholem Aleichem famously said that "es iz schwer ... View… -
Maggie Rose Earns A Seat At The Table
The Music Business is filled with the stories of artists who knocked around for years before finding the right sound, releasing the right album, giving the right performance that made their career. If you can believe their accounts, Bruce Springsteen was a total failure until the day he was a success. More recently, Nathaniel Rateliff was about to throw in the towel before recording his R&B record "S.O.B."Which brings me to Maggie Rose, a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who has been perfor...… -
Another Tel Aviv: "Asylum City" Streaming on ChaiFlicks
Asylum City is a gripping 2018-2019 Israeli one-hour drama series in Hebrew with English subtitles that debuted this week on ChaiFlicks, the streaming service devoted to Jewish interest content (available online or for viewing on the ChaiFlicks app on your favorite streaming platform).At its center is a murder mystery set in Tel Aviv. However, what makes Asylum City remarkable and distinctive is that it is shows parts of Tel Aviv that most of us have never seen or did not… -
Hooray For Hollywood! The Academy Museum Has Opened
As anyone who has worked in Hollywood knows, it's a miracle when anything gets done. For each movie made, each series shown, there are thousands that didn"t; and no production journey is complete without having to jump through more hoops and face more setbacks (and studio notes) than imaginable. So, too, with the Academy Museum.More than 90 years ago, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the folks who bring you the Oscars) thought it would be… -
Everything Rises For Jennifer Koh And Davone Tines
Last night, I attended a performance, Everything Rises at Royce Hall presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA), co-created and featuring Grammy-winning classical violinist Jennifer Koh and Bass-Baritone Davóne Tines with music by Ken Ueno. It had premiered the night before at the University of California at Santa Barbara's St. Anthony's Chapel.Everything Rises is a work of such originality and, at the same time, a so deeply personal exploration of identity by both... View… -
"Hadestown" Marks A Return To Los Angeles
Hadestown, the many-Tony-award-winning musical, which retells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice (and Hades and Persephone) in a modern-day New Orleans-like setting (with some steampunk flourishes), has arrived in LA, at the Ahmanson through May 29, 2022 (and then again at the Segerstrom Center for The Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, August 9 to 21).Hadestown has much to recommend it, and if the crowd the night I attended is any indicator, it has a great appeal to a young and…