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Ben Hecht's Theatre of Jewish Protest
About this book
Ben Hecht is most remembered as a famous Hollywood screenwriter and Broadway playwright, but only recently has his extensive Jewish activism during the Holocaust and its aftermath received scholarly attention. Unlike other, more expansive Hecht biographies, this book focuses in depth on his Jewish political theatre, drawing on extensive archival research of four dramas: We Will Never Die (1943), A Jewish Fairy Tale (1944), A Flag Is Born (1946), and The Terrorist (1947). Garrett Eisler's readings of these little-known (and out of print) texts reclaim them as pivotal to the history of Jewish American drama, being among the first works of U.S. theatre to address the Holocaust. The full texts of all four works are republished here for the first time, along with production details and full performance histories.
Hecht introduced a new heroic Jewish identity to the American stage, one that challenged popular stereotypes of villainy or weakness. This powerful and (still) controversial body of work stands as a striking testament to the power of theatre to rise to the moment. The book also features a supporting cast of famous collaborators on these projects, including Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, Moss Hart, Kurt Weill, and a young Marlon Brando. In their use of the stage to aggressively engage with history as it was happening, the story of Hecht and his colleagues is a compelling case of artists who made a difference.
Hecht introduced a new heroic Jewish identity to the American stage, one that challenged popular stereotypes of villainy or weakness. This powerful and (still) controversial body of work stands as a striking testament to the power of theatre to rise to the moment. The book also features a supporting cast of famous collaborators on these projects, including Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, Moss Hart, Kurt Weill, and a young Marlon Brando. In their use of the stage to aggressively engage with history as it was happening, the story of Hecht and his colleagues is a compelling case of artists who made a difference.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Ben Hecht's Theatre of Jewish Protest by Garrett Eisler in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Jewish Literary Criticism. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I: From “Vanishing” to Visible: Barriers to Jewish Representation, 1933–1943
- Part II: Tevye and the Terrorists: Plays for Palestine, 1944–1947
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1: We Will Never Die (1943)
- Appendix 2: A Jewish Fairy Tale (1944)
- Appendix 3: A Flag Is Born (1946)
- Appendix 4: The Terrorist (1947)
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- About the Author