Maltz Museum Presents: A Summer of Jewish Cinema
June 11, July 9, August 27, 6:30 pm
In-person
$5 General Admission
A collection of three classics, featuring some of the greatest Jewish creators in Hollywood’s history. Hosted by Ygal Kaufman. The movie will be shown and will be followed by a brief discussion.
June 11: The Cocoanuts (1929) starring the Marx Brothers, written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, produced by Walter Wanger
The legendary Marx Brothers – Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo – made their motion picture debut in the outrageously funny adaptation of their Broadway play The Cocoanuts. Groucho portrays the owner of the Hotel de Cocoanut who tries to fleece everyone from innocent bellboys and bellgirls to wealthy society matron Mrs. Potter (Margaret Dumont). Chico and Harpo play resort hotel con men who arrive with empty suitcases they plan to fill by robbing guests. Featuring elaborate musical productions with music by Academy Award winner Irving Berlin, this comedy treasure includes some of the Marx Brothers’ best stage routines.
July 9: Scarlet Street (1945) starring Edward G. Robinson and Vladimir Sokoloff, cinematography by Milton Krasner, music by Hans Salter, directed by Fritz Lang, and produced by Walter Wanger
Scarlet Street, perhaps legendary director Fritz Lang’s finest American film, is a dark gem of film noir and golden age Hollywood filmmaking at it’s finest. When middle-aged milquetoast Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) rescues Kitty (Joan Bennett) from the rain slicked gutters of an eerily artificial backlot Greenwich Village, he plunges into a whirlpool of obsession, larceny and revenge.
August 27: Second Chorus (1940) starring Fred Astaire and Artie Shaw, music by Artie Shaw, produced by Boris Morros from a story by Ben Hecht, with art direction from Boris Leven
Two talented trumpeters (Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith) are on the brink of graduating when they meet Ellen, a beautiful young student (Paulette Goddard). They ask her to manage their band, but their collaboration ends when the boys leave college. Ellen, meanwhile, has started to manage another successful band, and so tries to use her new contacts to help the boys break into showbiz.
