Reborn on the Fourth of July

Every Independence Day, L.B. Mayer (1884 – 1957) would shut down production at MGM and celebrate twin holidays: America’s birth, and the birthday of L.B. Mayer.

Flags and bunting graced every building and sound stage. There was band music and rows of picnic tables groaning under the weight of food.

L.B. Mayer, a man without a birth date

Every MGM star was expected to attend and pay homage to America-and to L.B. Mayer. For in Mayer’s mind, the two were inseparable. All complied, except Greta Garbo, a woman far too narcissistic to lavish attention on any country or person other than her own mirrored island.

Though Yiddish was his first language, L.B. Mayer delivered a rousing Fourth of July speech. Mayer could be a forceful English speaker, mixing deeply personal anecdotes—usually about his beloved mother—and soaring rhetoric about his adopted home, America.

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Tags: Anne Rutherford, Assimilation, Colleen Moore, Fourth of July, Jewish Studio Moguls
Posted Jul 4th 2009 at 7:03 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story | 17423828 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/04/reborn-on-the-fourth-of-july/Reborn+on+the+Fourth+of+July2009-07-04+14%3A03%3A47Robert+J.+Avrech

What’s President Obama’s Script For Iran?

You know, people, I really wish I knew what the story was regarding President Obama’s puzzling diplomatic approach to Islamist Iran. Inquiring Minds Want To Know. This ain’t no movie, and I really don’t like the storyline to date. Haven’t since 1979. So what’s the script? White House Productions seems to be holding the storyline in blackout mode, and at this point I’m ready to put former FOX reporter Roger Friedman on the job of rooting it out. He sure did a bang-up job on “Wolverine.”

To be fair, I actually gave the President credit in this March 26th opinion piece entitled “Is President Obama Turning The Tables on Iran?” See, it occurred to me that the President might be undertaking a very brilliant strategy toward the Islamic Republic. If the President offers the Iranian regime nothing but carrots and gets nothing but sticks in return, then the regime is exposed as the hard case it really is. Nobody could say the President hadn’t tried every means at his disposal to make peace. (more…)

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Tags: al qaeda, Ali Khamenei, AMPAS, anti-gay pogrom, Argentina
Posted Jun 8th 2009 at 8:15 am in News, Politics | 1515784 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/08/whats-president-obamas-script-for-iran/What%27s+President+Obama%27s+Script+For+Iran%3F2009-06-08+15%3A15%3A14John+T.+Simpson