WMEX (was AM stereo WLYN)

[Donna Halper]

At 11:52 PM 5/28/2006 -0400, Brian Vita wrote:
Brian wrote--

>Late into the afternoon they kind of pigeon holed me into a corner and 
>asked me, quite seriously, if I thought it would be a problem for them 
>getting into the entertainment business because they were Jews.  I had to 
>explain to them it was more difficult for me being a non-Jew.  Apparently 
>these guys hadn't heard of Speilberg, Louis B Meyer, and the other 80% of 
>Hollywood.

Oh Brian, you're joking, right?  One of the oldest stereotypes on the 
planet is that Hollywood is dominated by Jews.  Au contraire.  For one 
thing, most of the studios are owned by overseas concerns which have few if 
any Jews on their boards.  For another, even in the day when there were 
some Jewish studio heads like Mayer, these men were highly assimilated to 
the point of refusing to allow ANY Jewish content in their films. Perhaps 
due to the brutal anti-Semitism of that era, these moguls did everything 
they could to hide their ancestry and fit in with gentile society-- they 
married non-Jews, raised their kids as Christians, and had no further 
relationship with the Jewish community whatsoever-- and yet, those who 
didn't like Jews continued to refer to these guys as part of the "Jewish 
plot to control the entertainment industry"  (Henry Ford's quote).  And 
while Spielberg or Streisand may be identifiably Jewish, these days, 
Hollywood is a pretty diverse place where there are just as many non-Jews-- 
if we were to start naming major directors, I think we'd have as large a 
number of gentiles in fact.   But your two Orthodox Jews had a point-- 
there are not too many highly religious people (whether it's Orthodox Jews 
or Evangelical Christians) working in Hollywood.  It's a pretty secular 
place, based on what I've seen... SO don't worry, Brian-- if you have a 
good idea for something, you still may have your big chance to become a 
Hollywood star!!!

[Btw, I fear this thread will quickly spin off-topic, if it hasn't already, 
but I had to say something before it did.]