Hollywood and anti-semitism : a cultural history up to World War II / Steven Alan Carr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carr, Steven Alan, 1964-

Series:

Cambridge studies in the history of mass communications

Cambridge studies in the history of mass communication

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture industry--California--Los Angeles--History.

Motion picture industry.

Jews in the motion picture industry.

California--Los Angeles.

History.

Jews in the motion picture industry--United States.

Antisemitism--United States.

Antisemitism.

United States.

Physical Description:

xv, 342 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Summary:

Hollywood and Anti-Semitism: A Cultural History up to World War II examines how the public perceived American Jews in the entertainment industry from the turn of the century to the outbreak of World War II. Eastern European Jewish immigrants are often credited with building a film industry during the first decade of the twentieth century and dominating it by the 1920s. In this study, Steven Carr reconceptualizes Jewish participation in Hollywood by examining prevalent attitudes toward Jews among American audiences. Analogous to the Jewish Question of the nineteenth century, which was concerned with the full participation of Jews within the sphere of public life, the Hollywood Question of the twenties, thirties, and forties addressed the Jewish population within mass media. This ground-breaking study reveals the powerful set of assumptions about ethnicity and media influence as it related to the role of the Jew in the motion picture industry.

Contents:

Introduction: What Is the Hollywood Question? 1

Part 1 The Hollywood Question and American Anti-Semitism, 1880-1929

1 Anti-Semitism and the American Jewish Question 23

2 Religion, Race, and Morality in the Hollywood Question 60

Part 2 The Hollywood Question for a New America, 1929-1941

3 A New Deal for the Hollywood Question 97

4 The Hollywood Question in Popular Culture 132

5 The Politics of the Hollywood Question 154

6 Answering the Hollywood Question 182

Part 3 The Hollywood Question, 1941 and Beyond

7 Popular Culture Answers the Hollywood Question 217

8 The Hollywood Question in Crisis, 1941 238

9 The New Hollywood Question 278.

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral--University of Texas at Austin, 1994) presented under the title The Hollywood question.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-335) and index.

ISBN:

0521571189

052179854X

OCLC:

44592626