How the Jews Revolutionized the Movie Industry: An Empire of Their Own

Eric: Very interesting if you like to know more about this subject

France on Mar 23, 2022

mohammed ballout: Excellent book and great readings

Australia on Mar 28, 2021

A. M. Quinlan: I love this book

Canada on Nov 04, 2020

Anthony Jacobs: Only just started but riveting reading.........

United Kingdom on Dec 13, 2019

Buddy Mear: Despite perplexing use of the hyphen and mistakes confusing the words gentile and genteel I loved this book. The early tales of the studios founders is a great read. But the book really comes into its own when the nasty politics begin to take a toll on the Studios. While many of the film executives were almost deaf to Hitler and his murder of Jews, the national swing to the right and paranoid fear of communists came close to destroying the studios. The studio heads cooperated with the HUAC and betrayed the writers and directors genius and creativity was responsible for the decades of profit for studio bosses. The studio heads had the hubris to pretend that they were the creative force in what a become a reflection of American culture and a major economic contributor to American prosperity. But their refusal to unionize and their refusal to accommodate the Screen Writers Guild in many ways contributed to the downfall of their empire.

United States on Oct 04, 2017

Tail End Boomer: This book is not just about a religious tribe pioneering the birth of movieland but also the humanity and pathos that inspired the Big Bang of 20th century cinema. They came from the ghettos of Europe escaping persecution, turned their backs on impoverished upbringings, peasant parentage and created a celluloid dream world where they could rise to high society and forget their worries as well as our own. Having hit Hollywood's genesis stride before, during and after the Great War, they retreated America into a 40 foot escapism where the silver screen was at first safe from unhappy endings. Some were workaholics who died young, others had family rivalries embroiled in domestic strife. But many had compromised their sense of personal identity to sell larger than life make believe and fit into the new world.

Through it all, these cinematic giants were steadfast to an early optimism of an America that refused to be down and out when theater pastime reflected our best and brightest showmen, players and storytellers. But it was not simply the vision of the people of the book but of the different ethnic groups within their ranks whose life philosophies reflected the subject matter...

United States on Aug 14, 2015

Michael Lapelosa: This book recounts the stories of the individuals who created the American motion picture industry and Hollywood. They were the producers, writers, lawyers and agents who dominated the American film industry until shortly after WW II. These men were mostly displaced eastern Europeon Jews who struggled to attain success in their adopted country. The author relates the attempts to assimilate and, in many cases, reject the Jewishness that defined them. The cast of characters included the fatherly but domineering L. B. Mayer, the crude and womanizing Harry Cohn and assorted husbands, fathers, thugs, party-givers, gamblers and racehorse owners who nevertheless created MGM, Columbia, Universal and Warner Bros. The author describes the personal lives, lifestyles and business success and failures with unerring prose that engrosses the reader in these stories. I found particularly interesting the styles and themes that distinguished each of these movie moguls and their respective motion picture institutions from each other. Wonderful photographs augment the narrative.

United States on Aug 13, 2015

David Donovan: This exposes the jewish plot against America and her Caucasian people,(The true Israelites of the bible).
The jewish man who wrote the book, gloats about what the jews in hollywood have done to all of us.
They try to say they don't control hollywood anymore, because they sold it to the mega-corporations, but they neglect to mention that they are the owners of those same corporations. Funny How Yahweh makes them tell the truth every so often. Sorry, I am not anti-semetic because I am a Caucasian, and we are the semetic people who came from shem. If I were anti-semetic, then I would hate the Caucasian people like myself. They say that they put a spell on America in the book, and you can certainly see that this is true. Remember the poppy field in the Wizard Of Oz?

United States on Feb 03, 2015

Missy: This is a really good book. I'm black but I've always been fascinated by Jewish culture. Anyway, I got this book because it was recommended by famous Jewish actor.

WOW what an excellent read. It almost makes you feel like a loser because these people came here with nothing, figured out how to make it and became millionaires. Meanwhile, most of us will never see the kind of money these people made. I was extremely impressed with their business savvy and ability to see opportunities where most could not.

I guess, my issue would be their disinterest in their own culture. It's almost like they came to this country and ignored their ethnicity. I'm not saying that I'd expect folks to put their ethnicity first but I was surprised at how some of them completely ignored their Jewish traditions by doing things like changing their names, celebrating Christmas and Christian traditions, marrying non-jews, raising children without any interest in passing on their Jewish history and or traditions onto their kids, etc.

United States on Jul 03, 2013

thatdavewalsh: Stuff in here you would never know, a good read. The description of early cinema development is fascinating and really does show the entrepreneurial spirit that built America.

United Kingdom on Dec 05, 2012