The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened in Los Angeles in 2021, dedicated to the film industry. The museum holds more than 13 million objects, including Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, tablets from The Ten Commandments, and a shark mold from Jaws. Shortly after opening, the museum received much criticism that it failed to reflect the major role that Jews played in the Hollywood film industry. As a result, the museum announced plans to add a permanent exhibit dedicated to Jewish industry pioneers, and this exhibit, titled “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” just opened. Among those featured in the exhibit are Louis B. Mayer (Lazar Meir), the Warner brothers (the Wonsal brothers), and Samuel Goldwyn (Schmuel Gelbfisz). They and so many other founders of the movie industry were born to Jewish families who emigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century.

Samuel Goldwyn, born in Warsaw, eventually made his way to Hollywood where he partnered with his brother-in-law Jesse L. Lasky in hiring the unknown playwright Cecil B. DeMille to direct a silent film titled The Squaw Man. Goldwyn’s success continued as he hired writers including Ben Hecht, Dorothy Parker, and Lillian Hellman, and worked with actors including Eddie Cantor, David Niven, Gary Cooper, and Danny Kaye.

While Goldwyn did not embrace Judaism, he did ultimately become president of the United Jewish Welfare Fund and was a strong supporter of Israel. Among the honors he received were the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

What else is true of Samuel Goldwyn?

Samuel Goldwyn - Jul 1919 EH by Underwood & Underwood is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

A. His second marriage, to a Catholic woman, produced a Catholic son, pleasing Goldwyn who felt this helped him “bleach out his Jewishness.”

B. He was the only major Hollywood producer who refused to blacklist writers targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

C. Upon being told that a book he had purchased for filming, The Well of Loneliness, couldn’t be filmed because it was about lesbians, he reportedly replied: “That’s all right, we’ll make them Hungarians.”

D. He was unsuccessful at convincing Sigmund Freud to write a romantic screenplay (which he assumed would have great sex scenes).

E. Playwright Lillian Hellman stated that “Within limits, I liked him.”

Click here for the answer.

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡ ✡