JEWISH INFLUENCE IN THE MASS MEDIA
Clara Bow, renowned for her promiscuity, was the sex goddess (the "It girl") of the late silent screen era. Like many who have the burden of being "sex" stars, she repeatedly collapsed with nervous breakdowns. She was built to fame by Benjamin Schulberg, head of a film company called
Preferred Pictures. "To launch her," note Joe Morella and Edward Epstein:
"Schulberg instructed his photographer [in 1923] to take a series of provocative
pictures of Clara. In the photographs she was gracefully posed and draped only
in a sheet, Greek goddess-style. Her breasts and ample derriere were outlined, and
it was obvious that she wore nothing under the sheet ... Clara was in effect a pin-up
girl, though the term had not yet been coined. This manner of selling her would set
the tone for her entire career ... One of the unpublicized advantages of being under contract to a studio, even a small one like Ben Schulberg's, was the ready availability
of reliable medical attention for 'unspeakable' problems certain to arise among Hollywood's high-living set. Abortions were easily arranged. Venereal diseases could
be treated without undue embarrassment. To put it bluntly, and in the words of an
actor of the era, 'Anyone as promiscuous as Clara was sure to catch the clap." [MORELLA/EPSTEIN, 1976, p. 58]
Eventually, in 1925, Schulberg and his company moved under the wing of larger Jewish film moguls Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky at Paramount Pictures, at the time the largest movie studio in Hollywood. [MORELLA/EPSTEIN, 1976, p. 69-70] Bow's paramours were numerous, but perhaps the most publicized was her affair with "showman Harry Richman," "Mr. Broadway," "a Cincinnati-born Jewish boy ... By his own admission he often wined, dined, and bedded down as many as four showgirls in one night. And Harry was generous. He shared his conquests with his pals ... For a time one of Harry's closest buddies was fellow womanizer and enormously wealthy film mogul Joseph Schenck ... head of United Artists ... At the time of his friendship with Harry Richman, Schenck was married to top star Norma Talmadge [who later married Jewish comedian George Jessel]." [MORELLA/EPSTEIN, 1976, p. 69, 70, 169, 170] Schenck arranged the initial sexual tryst with Bow for Richman. [p. 172-175] (Richman also owned Club Richman, "a speakeasy which became a big success." [MORELLA /EPSTEIN, 1976, p. 70]) "Richman's name was romantically linked with the most glamorous women of his day, including the tragic, gorgeous silent-screen star Barbara La Marr. There was mystery and scandal too. Ziegfield girl Helen Walsh burned to death in a fire on one of Richman's yachts." [MORELLA/EPSTEIN, 1976, p. 70] Per Clara Bow, "Harry Richman had finally found his match for sexual adventure. In his own words: 'One of the greatest things about Clara was that she had an appetite for lovemaking that was at least the equal of mine. Every time I was ready, she was, and believe me, there was hardly an hour when I was not ready." [MORELLA/EPSTEIN, 1976, p. 179]
"Not all Bow suitors retained fond memories of her," write Morella and Epstein,
"Abel Baer, a sexy young songwriter from New York, was in Hollywood writing
the score for an upcoming Clara Bow picture. Baer had attracted the attention
of Mae West back in New York, and in Hollywood he caught Clara's eye. 'I
went to bed with her,' Baer says, 'but I'll tell you this -- there were no repeat
performances. Once was enough for me.'" [MORELLA/EPSTEIN, 1976,
p. 209-210]
......
Jewish singer Eddie Fisher, ("I prefer seduction to singing") for years a cocaine addict, divorced Debbie Reynolds, "America's sweetheart," to marry Elizabeth Taylor in 1958. To the mores of the 50s it was a scandal of monumental attention. "Even a partial list of his claimed [sexual] conquests," adds London's
Daily Telegraph,
"include Mia Farrow, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Kim Novak,
Stefanie Powers, Angie Dickinson, Dinah Shore and Judith Exner,
the mistress also shared by President Kennedy and Sam Giancano,
the boss the Chicago mafia.... Fisher is of the generation that
still uses a good sprinkling of Yiddish words, and prominent among
them is shiksa."
"I think I slept with only one Jewish girl in my whole life," Fisher told the London paper, "Peggy Lipton, and then I didn't know she was Jewish ... Boy, did I have a libido." [LAURENCE, C., 10-14-99, p. 23] (Film director Oliver Stone's father was Jewish -- originally Lou Silverstein. He was a wealthy stock broker. [RIORDAN, 1995, p. 4] "Like many men his age," writes James Riordan about Oliver's father and mother, "[Lou] began to seek solace through an increasing number of affairs. There were several models, but often he preferred high-class call girls." [RIORDAN, J., 1995, p. 16]
Doris Day was stunned when her agent, Al Levy, "followed me into my room, closed the door, turned off the lights, and pulled me onto the bed. He desperately thrust himself on top of me as if he was some unknown rapist and I were an anonymous victim." [HOTCHNER, 1976, p. 102] Jewish bandleader Artie Shaw's romantic flings included those with Judy Garland, Betty Grable, and Lana Turner. [SHIPMAN, D. 1993, p. 104-107] Hollywood lawyer Gregory Bautzer "had a reputation not unlike Artie Shaw of having 'squired' many of Hollywood's most famous stars; he had preceded Shaw in Turner's life, and he was publicly associated with Joan Crawford for several years." [SHIPMAN, p. 464] Among [
MGM screenwriter-producer] Joe "Mankiewicz's former lovers were Joan Crawford, Gene Tierney, and Linda Darnell. He had a habit,' said his son Chris Mankiewicz, 'of bedding down with leading ladies.'" [HEYMANN, C.D., 1995, p. 203] Screenwriter/playwright George S. Kaufman (best known for the Marx Brothers movies), who was married, "had a cleanliness compulsion, abhorred outward displays of affection, and hated physical contact except, presumably, with his many sexual conquests (the Broadway producer Max Gordon called him a 'male nymphomaniac')." [WINOKUR, 1987, p. 109] Even Jewish Hollywood hairdresser Sydney Guilaroff "had a long affair with [Greta] Garbo and then moved on to Ava Gardner." [MCDOWELL, p. 15]
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