Published: 21 January 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Patrons threaten to pull their support if mention isn’t made of Hollywood’s ‘founding fathers,’ immigrant Jews who laid foundations for the filmmaking industry
THE ACADEMY MUSEUM of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, which aims to enshrine a century of movie-making in Hollywood, is facing criticism because its exhibits exclude the Jewish filmmakers who played key roles in launching the industry.
Donor and influential academy members have complained that there is no mention of the mostly immigrant Jews who established the industry after escaping persecution in their home countries, Rolling Stone magazine reported.
The museum opened last September with a star-studded event but already at the time some were raising questions about what was missing from the displays.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who was at the gala opening, told the magazine of his disappointment at what appeared to him to be a “glaring omission.”
“As I walked through, I literally turned to the person I was there with and said to him, ‘Where are the Jews?’” he said.
FULL STORY Absence of Jewish legacy at LA’s Academy Museum of Motion Pictures spurs outcry (Times of Israel)
Photo: MGM Lion and founder Sam Goldwyn
