Archive for 2010

Churchill’s Stand

Who do we have to thank for Hitler’s eventual defeat? What was World War II’s turning point? Who, by his actions during the war, inspired Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s early leaders? The answer, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s stirring new documentary, “Walking With Destiny,” is Winston Churchill.
Churchill, who [...]

Turning Qassams into Art

A work by Niso Maman

The Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon in Southern Israel, six miles from Gaza, is a 500-bed facility with an emergency room and a teaching hospital that treats Israelis and Palestinians. Qassam rockets launched from Gaza land so regularly on the building that the top two floors are [...]

THE MAN WHO WAS TONY CURTIS

Tony Curtis was so famous, so iconic an American movie star that I don’t really need to tell you who he was. He was Tony Curtis, and he lived that role with childish delight, relishing where his life had taken him, and the pleasures and opportunities fame had afforded him. By [...]

TEN YEARS AFTER

It’s been 10 years since my mother Eva Teicholz died on Sept. 22 - nine since I stood by her graveside at the unveiling. Since then, I have visited her grave in New Jersey on many occasions and have diligently observed days of mourning and lit memorial candles.
I loved her dearly. But [...]

Is LA Ready for its Dose of “Law & Order”

Following last year’s cancellation of the original New York version of the series after a venerable 20-year run — a record matched in drama only by the classic Western “Gunsmoke” — a new spawn will appear this fall: “Law & Order: Los Angeles.”
While some may dismiss this latest iteration of Dick Wolf’s [...]

The Passions of a Nobel Laureate

Given that I haven’t been posting much lately, I thought perhaps I would fill the gap by publishing an interview I did for Andy Warhol’s Interview back in the early 1980s with Isaac Bashevis Singer, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
As I recall he was prickly but quite game — [...]

What We Say When We Talk about Mel Gibson

The recent news that Mel Gibson is no longer a client of William Morris Endeavor should come as no surprise. Many news and entertainment programs, including NBC’s “Today Show,” pegged the delisting to Gibson’s recent domestic assault allegations and tabloid leak of surreptitious tapes of racist rants he allegedly made, all arising from his custody [...]

Bell Rings it in….

Violinist Joshua Bell. Photo by Timothy White

Recently I sat down with violinist Joshua Bell to talk about being a classical music performer in the 21st century and a star in the age of iPods and auto-tuned performances. Bell, who will perform July 15 at the Hollywood Bowl, talked about how technology can enhance the concert [...]

“Sons of Tucson”: A Cult Hit in the Making?

“Sons of Tucson” is a clever and subversive new sitcom about three sons who’ve fled to Tucson, Ariz., because their father was imprisoned for financial fraud. They then go on to recruit a ne’er-do-well, played by Taylor Labine (of “Reaper” fame), to pose as their father for school and other official purposes. The show is [...]

Arshile Gorky, a Kindred Spirit

TOMMYWOOD
NOMINATED
FOR TWO
LA PRESS CLUB
AWARDS!
For Entertainment Reviews/ Criticism Column — For an essay on “Holocaust Movies: Winners & Losers”
http://tommywood.com/2009/02/holocaust-movies-winners-losers.html
and
For Entertainment News or Feature for my profile on Ricky Jay,
“Extraordinary Oddities” http://www.jewishjournal.com/holiday_preview/article/ricky_jay_offers_a_rogues_gallery_of_eccentric_entertainers_in_new_show_200/
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ARSHILE GORKY,
A KINDRED SPIRIT

“Self-Portrait,” 1937, oil on canvas, 55 x 23 7/8 in.
Private Collection, on long-term loan to the
National Gallery of Art, Washington. [...]