| The week of May 11, 2020, Chicago Movie Tours celebrates Jewish pioneers in film, TV, and Chicago. |
Jewish Pioneers in Film, TV, & Chicago | |
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The week of May 11, 2020, CHICAGO MOVIE TOURS celebrates Jewish pioneers in film, TV, and Chicago. | |
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HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED why Hollywood was created by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and not longtime citizens of the U.S.?
The essay "Why Jewish Movie Moguls: An Exploration in American Culture" offers us a few reasons:
- Jewish families first owned theatres in their own neighborhoods that they eventually expanded to more affluent areas. So by the early 1910s, these successful businessmen were so in touch with what audiences wanted, that they were able to enter movie production themselves.
- Without strong national ties or roots to one place or land, Jewish immigrants of the late 19th century were readily adaptable to new ventures in business and life, like moving pictures.
- Because of discriminatory policies in their home countries, Jewish men were encouraged to enter commercial trades as merchants and craftsmen. As a result, they immigrated to the U.S. with those skills, necessary for new commercial opportunities, ready at hand.
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Learn more about these pioneers below! | |
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1. Carl Laemmle & Universal STudios | |
We first recognize entrepreneur Carl Laemmle (pronounced LEM-lee), one of the first people to open a movie theater in Chicago.
Laemmle also co-founded Universal Pictures, a studio that continues to make popular movies like Jurassic World, Pitch Perfect, and The Bourne Supremacy.
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2. Jewish Comedy & Culture: Trivia | |
This week's trivia questions span several decades: from the founding of Chicago's improv club The Second City to an award-winning series on Amazon Prime Video.
Go ahead, and give 'em a try.
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3. Tour: Jewish Waldheim Cemetery | |
In this 18-minute walking tour of Chicago's oldest Jewish cemetery, discover seven trailblazers of the big and small screens, and explore the architectural style of one of the largest mausoleums in the cemetery.
NOTE: In this virtual walking tour, we inadvertently conflate the names and dates of two separate cemeteries: German Waldheim and Jewish Waldheim. Although both cemeteries are located in the same general area in Forest Park, IL, German Waldheim was founded as nondenominational and merged with Forest Home Cemetery in the late 1960s. Jewish Waldheim—the focus of this video—has served Chicago's Jewish population separately since 1870.
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On the above walking tour, we conclude at the Balaban mausoleum, built to honor members of Chicago's "first family" of movie palaces.
Here’s another connection to that mausoleum: the short film Dead Bastard (2010) uses the Balaban monument as its backdrop (start around min. 03:25).
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Our newsletter, Highlight Reel, introduces featured and coming attractions, and it reviews events you may have missed.
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