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Excerpts
Chaper Twenty
JEWELRY, APPAREL & COSMETICS
Lev Leviev and the Soviet Jews
He
was born in Soviet Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in July 1956. Only three years
had passed since Stalin’s death and the end of the “Doctor’s
Plot.” In his last months, Stalin had accused Jewish doctors of
attempting to poison the Soviet leadership, and following a show trial,
Stalin planned a pogrom and the exile of all Soviet Jews to Siberia.
MORE....
Chapter Thirteen
HOLLYWOOD
The Jazz Singer
Not
the first “talking motion picture,” The Jazz Singer nonetheless
revolutionized Hollywood. Its public acclaim and financial success forced
the established oldline movie studios to hastily adopt sound, something
they had not pursued with any urgency until then. Different techniques
had been under development since 1890, before the upstart Warner brothers,
Harry, Sam, Jack, and Albert, staked their company on Vitaphone, a new
1920s technology that synchronized sound and film.
The remarkable story richly echoes the life of the Warners and Al Jolson
while also depicting the assimilation challenge facing so many recent
Jewish immigrants.
MORE....
