"Jewish Matchmaking", a New TV Series, is Now Streaming on Netflix

Jewish matchmaking has come to streaming TV in the form of an eight part series released on Netflix this week. All episodes are online now so you can binge if you want to.

As the host of Jewish Matchmaking on Netflix, Aleeza Ben Shalom adapts the model of Orthodox arranged matches to Jewish singles from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds, including secular, Reform and Conservative Jews from across the United States and Israel.

As Jackie Hajdenberg writes for JTA,

The Jews cast on the show are all in different places in their lives, some grieving serious breakups or committed to specific religious identities, some picky about looks or hoping their partner will be OK with riding motorcycles. Some of them are looking for particular Jewish commitments to concepts such as tikkun olam, which means “repairing the world” and has come to represent a social justice imperative for many liberal Jews; others want to be sure they’re matched only with people who share their approaches to observing Shabbat and keeping kosher.

Want a preview? Here's the official trailer. Enjoy!

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Happy 96th Birthday to Mel Brooks and a Look at His Narration of "The Automat" Documentary

Yesterday Mel Brooks celebrated his 96th birthday. The actor, comedian and filmmaker's career spans over seven decades, and he is known as a creator of broad farces and parodies widely considered to be among the best film comedies ever made. 

He began his career as a comic and a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show Your Show of Shows (1950–1954) alongside Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Larry Gelbart. With Carl Reiner, he created the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man. He wrote, with Buck Henry, the hit television comedy series Get Smart (1965–1970). 

And Mel is still going strong. Last year he narrated what he calls a meshuganeh documentary called The Automat,  

Featuring an original new song that Brooks wrote and performed, The Automat, which premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, tells the 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables. 

From the perspective of former customers entertainer Mel Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Horns, the Hardarts, and key employees - we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.

The documentary, written by Michael Levine and directed by Lisa Hurwitz, is available for streaming on Kanopy, a service provided free of charge through most public libraries and universities.

Enjoy!

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"Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles" - A New Documentary Arrives This Friday

A new documentary, Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles will be starting its run in select theaters this Friday, August 23.

It's the origin story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals, Fiddler on The Roof, and its creative roots in early 1960s New York, when "tradition" was on the wane as gender roles, sexuality, race relations and religion were evolving.  

As David Gordon wrote in his Theatermania review,

The film presents a deep dive into the cultural history of the show, which will no doubt thrill theater aficionados. There's production footage from Broadway and world productions, demos performed by songwriters Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, and interviews with everyone from Chaim Topol (the Tevye of the 1971 film adaptation) to Lin-Manuel Miranda.

As the documentary shows, whether it's presented as a traditional Fiddler on Broadway with professional actors, or in Brownsville, Brooklyn with a cast of African-American elementary school students, or in Thailand with an all-Thai company, the performers and audience find a way into the material. 

So when and where can you see it? The hour and a half long documentary will be playing in Manhattan at the Landmark Theatre on West 57th Street starting Friday August 23. It will also be at select AMC Theatres. Dates and times will be posted at the AMC website starting tomorrow.

Enjoy!

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Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas: A Film About the Jewish Composers of Christmas Songs

As we are surrounded today by Christmas songs playing on the radio and TV, and with the music finding its way into elevators, supermarkets, and shopping malls, it's interesting to note that most of the popular songs were written by Jewish songwriters.

Approximately half of the 30 best-selling Christmas songs by ASCAP members in 2015 were written by Jewish composers. Johnny Marks has three top Christmas songs, the most for any writer—"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", and "A Holly Jolly Christmas". By far the most recorded Christmas song is "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin in Russia)—who also wrote "Happy Holiday"—with well over 500 versions in dozens of languages.
Others include:

• "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" by Sammy Cahn (born Cohen) and Jule Styne (who also wrote "The Christmas Waltz" together)
• "Winter Wonderland" (composer Felix Bernard was born Felix William Bernhardt)
• "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" by Robert Wells (born Levinson) and Mel Tormé
• "Sleigh Ride" (lyricist Mitchell Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky in Lithuania)
• "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (composer George Wyle was born Bernard Weissman)
• "Silver Bells" by Jay Livingston (born Jacob Levinson) and Ray Evans
• "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" by Bob Allen (born Robert Allen Deitcher) and Al Stillman (born Albert Silverman)
• "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Walter Kent (born Walter Kauffman) and Buck Ram (born Samuel).
• "Santa Baby" by Joan Ellen Javits (Zeeman), niece of Senator Jacob Javits, and Philip Springer.
• "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Frank Loesser

An offbeat, irreverent documentary called Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to the world's most musical holiday. It's an amazing look at the 20th century North American immigrant experience and the extraordinary outburst of musical energy from the children of those immigrants. 

This new generation rejected their parents' European past and instead embraced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and, finally, Hollywood. The outsiders began writing the soundtrack to the insiders' American dreams and in doing so, wrote themselves into history. 

Telling this story through words and song, Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas features rarely-seen archival footage, musical performances and interviews with contemporary writers and performers, as well as connoisseurs of North American popular music.

The 52 minute documentary is available on iTunes for $2.95. You can see it free of charge if you are a member of a public library that offers free streaming of Kanopy films. 

Enjoy!

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A Wendy's Shabbat for Seniors in Palm Desert

A short documentary film, Wendy's Shabbat, has been drawing attention at Jewish film festivals around the USA.

It's about a group of Jewish senior citizens in Palm Desert, California who celebrate the weekly Shabbat at the local Wendy’s fast food restaurant with Hebrew blessings over burgers and fries.

The friends usher in the Sabbath by candlelight, with challah bread and grape juice (no wine at Wendy's) to complement their chicken nuggets and fries. Shabbat is typically observed at home with family, but here these seniors share in the celebration of their religion at Wendy’s. The Wendy’s staff, somewhat tickled and honored to be the site of such ritual, arrange the restaurant tables into a long row and prepare milkshakes for each attendee.

This is a story of rediscovering the joys of community again in older age, and in the longing for ritual, however unorthodox and non-kosher it may be. There are themes of love, of ritual and of community -- all within the context of an adorable scene at Wendy’s.

The film will be shown at nine Jewish film festivals in 2018.

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom.

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Documentary on Curious George's Jewish Creators is Now Available on Home Media

A year ago, we wrote about plans to make a documentary about Hans and Margret Rey, the husband-and-wife team behind the multimillion-selling Curious George children's books.

The 75 minute documentary, produced and directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki and narrated by Sam Waterston is now complete. 

It had its first screening at the Manhattan JCC last week, and yesterday it was released for home viewing on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Kaleidescape, FandangoNow, Xbox, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Verizon, Charter, Suddenlink, Mediacom, WOW!, Midcontinent, Metrocast, Clearleap, RCN, Telus (CA), Virgin Media (UK), Globosat (LATAM), Dish, and DirecTV.

Curious George is the most popular monkey in the world. Since his introduction in the first publication in 1941, the beloved series has sold over 75 million books in more than 25 languages. 

The MONKEY BUSINESS documentary explores the lesser-known tale of George’s creators, Hans and Margret Rey. Originally from Hamburg, Germany, the Reys first met when Hans was dating Margret’s older sister. Years later, having heard that Hans was wasting his artistic talents as a bookkeeper in Rio, Margret traveled to Brazil to persuade him to marry her and do something creative together. After their four-week honeymoon to Paris turned into a four-year residency, they accidentally became children’s book authors when a publisher suggested they create a book out of a cartoon Hans had drawn. 

Being German Jews, however, their life in Paris abruptly came to an end in June 1940 when the Reys were forced to escape from the Nazis by riding makeshift bicycles—a manuscript of the first Curious George book was one of the few possessions they could smuggle out with them. Arriving in New York as refugees, they started their life anew and over the next three decades they created a classic that continues to touch the hearts and minds of children around the world.

Here is the official trailer for the documentary. Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week - "A Hole in One"

Another Monday, another Joke to Start the Week. Today's joke comes from the project "When Jews Were Funny," which became a documentary shown at Jewish Film Festivals this year.

Last month we posted a trailer of the 89 minute film, which includes a series of interviews with old and young Jewish comedians. It's available on Netflix for instant playing, and as a DVD from Amazon.com

This clip is identified as coming from the film, but we didn't see it there. We don't recognize the comedian, so if you can identify him, please share the information in the comments section below.

Here's the setup:  It's Yom Kippur, and this avid golfer decides that he's going to go out and shoot a quick nine holes before he has to go to shul. And then...

Enjoy!

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"Gefilte Fish Chronicles" Documentary Becomes a Musical in New York This Week

Three years ago we reported on a documentary called "The Gefilte Fish Chronicles," a film showing how the Dubroff sisters went about preparing a Passover seder for their very large family. 

The film focuses on  shopping for the perfect fish and meat through the cooking of enormous quantities of gefilte fish, cholent, and matzo brei, and celebrating the seder. It has been shown on PBS in the Pesach season for the last few years and has gotten rave reviews whenever it's shown on TV.

Whether or not you've seen this funny piece of nostalgia, you have another opportunity to see it in a new form, a musical, that was performed last year at the White House in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month. It's coming to New York this week, and will be performed at the JCC in Manhattan on Wednesday evening, June 11, at 8 pm.

As Ted Merwin writes in the current edition of The Jewish Week,

With music and lyrics by Matty Selman, the buoyant show begins in the present and then flashes back to family seders in the 1940s and ’50s. One of the non-Jewish actors, Iris recalled, “never expected the show to pack such an emotional wallop.” Then again, she reflected, “People feel comforted by Jewish tradition; it makes them feel safe. They want to know the recipes, the music, and the stories from the past.”

Here's a preview of the show, with commentary by executive producer Iris Burnett and lyricist Matty Selman.

Enjoy!

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"Sturgeon Queens" Film Celebrates 100 Years of Russ and Daughters Appetizing Store

100 years. Four generations. 1,800,000 pounds of pickled herring.

One hundred years ago an appetizing store called Russ and Daughters opened on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Since 1914, four generations of the Russ family have worked behind the counter to help transform the fish store "from pushcart to posh."

Filmmaker Julie Cohen will soon premiere Sturgeon Queens, a long-in-the-works documentary about the store. The film chronicles the history of the shop through interviews with several generations of the Russ family, plus a mix of loyal regulars and celebrity customers like Mario Batali, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

The release is well-timed to coincide with the shop's 100th birthday this year, but also catches it at a moment of significant expansion. In discussing those plans for a Russ & Daughters Cafe, fourth generation owner Niki Russ Federman says, "Most restaurants don't even last past the first year. That can't even be an option for us." 

The film will be screened a few times at Jewish Film Festivals in the coming months, including on May 20 at the JCC CineMatters festival on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Until then, you can check out a preview below or catch it on PBS when it airs in the fall. 

Enjoy!

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