"The Wizard of Oz" and Jews
Behind the magical plot of "The Wizard of Oz" there is a story of Jewish pain, hope and creativity. The Jews who worked on the film based on the book turned it into an immortal hymn to longing for the homeland.
Guests of Las Vegas are delighted with "The Wizard of Oz" in the Sphere, an immersive show that rethinks the cult film with advanced special effects - a life-size tornado, flying objects and a new soundtrack. "Who wouldn't want to walk this yellow brick road?" asks producer Jane Rosenthal, who helped bring this dazzling new version to life.
Judaism had a significant impact on Rosenthal's work. Her worldview was formed in the close-knit Jewish community of Charlotte, North Carolina. Her latest project introduces the new generation to The Wizard of Oz, and some of them may be surprised to learn that the film was created mainly by Jewish artists and permeated with Jewish motifs.
Frank Baum published the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, followed by 13 sequels. Although this book was positioned as a fantastic fairy tale for children, historians note that Baum's work reflected the American political realities of the late 19th century.
Researcher Henry Littlefield claims that this story served as an allegory to the confrontation between the "gold beetles" who supported the gold standard and the "silverites" who advocated that the American currency was provided with both silver and gold. In the western states (Baum lived in South Dakota), the latter were more supported. In Baum's book, Dorothy in silver shoes walks along the golden road to a city similar to Washington, ruled by a confused leader. The Iron Woodcutter represents industrial workers, the Scareper - oppressed farmers, and the Cowardly Lion is usually treated as William Jennings Brian, a politician who defended farmers and the lower classes.
Baum himself insisted that his book was a "pure fantasy". (In the same year, he also published "The Art of Decorating Showcases and Interiors", a much less popular work.) In an interview in 1939, Baum suggested that when writing "Oz" he was inspired by a supreme being.
This idea corresponded to Baum's eccentric religious views. He and his wife Maud moved from Methodism to theosophy, an occult sect founded by the Russian mystic Elena Blavatskaya. Blavatskaya's works were imbued with anti-Semitism, in them Jews were depicted as "half-humans", and Judaism was described as "a religion of hatred and malice".
Even before the adoption of theosophy, Baum showed extreme prejudices. In 1890, as the editor of the Saturday Pioneer newspaper, published in Aberdeen, South Dakota, he called for the destruction of the Indians, writing after the massacre in Wounded-Nee: "Swep these indomitable and uncontrollable creatures from the face of the earth." Even by the standards of his time, Baum's racism was excessively radical. (In 2006, his descendants officially apologized to the Siou people.)
It is not surprising that the echoes of these views penetrated the books about the country of Oz. Subsequently, the publishers removed the most offensive moments.
The series of books about the country of Oz was a great success, selling millions of copies. In the 1930s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer staged the first book a Hollywood blockbuster.
Composer Harold Arlen (née Haiman Arluk) grew up in a devout Jewish family in Buffalo. His father was a cantor, Arlen himself was also a teenager who sang in the synagogue. Subsequently, he wrote unforgettable music for the film, including the Oscar-winning song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".
Author of lyrics E. Y. Ip Harburg (born Isador Gochberg) was the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia living in the Lower East Side of New York. Having lost everything as a result of the crisis of 1929, he made a career as a poet-songwriter - with the support of his friend Ira Gershwin. Harburg, who always held progressive views, was blacklisted as "Hollywood communists" in the era of McCarthyism. Among his early hits was the Great Depression anthem "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?".
The script was created by a group of writers, mostly of Jewish origin: Herman Mankevich grew up in a devout Jewish family in New York and worked as a journalist, including in a Jewish newspaper, before working in cinema. He was an ardent critic of Nazism both in his journalistic works and in scripts. Irving Brecher grew up in a Jewish family in the Bronx and wrote for the Marx brothers before joining the Wizard of Oz team. Herbert Fields came from a famous Jewish musical family; his father was a famous variety artist Lew Fields (née Moses Schoenfeld). Samuel Hoffmanstein was born in Odessa and moved to the United States, where he became a popular screenwriter and poet.
Perhaps the most recognizable Jewish figure among the actors was Bert Lar (born Irving Larheim), who played the Cowardly Lion. Lar was a comedian whose signature Brooklyn accent added charm to the role.
The emotional power of the film is partly explained by the deep anxiety experienced by its Jewish creators. The premiere of The Wizard of Oz took place on August 25, 1939 - just a few days before Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Working on the film, Arlen, Harburg, Mankevich and others watched with torment as their relatives in Europe were persecuted. Their work reflected both despair and hope, giving the film additional shades.
Dorothy's desperate attempts to escape from the Wicked Witch of the West reflected the plight of the Jews trapped in Europe. Her desire to return "home" echoed the desire of the Jews to the Land of Israel.
The song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" had a special meaning for Jews. Her poignant line "The Earth I Once Heard in the Lullaby" is considered to be inspired by the song "Rozhinkes mit Mandlen" ("Raisins and Almonds"), a famous Yiddish lullaby written by Avrom Goldfaden in 1881. This memorable song, which describes a mother rocking her child and predicting difficulties and exile, called on Jews to never forget their homeland. The parallel is striking and touching.
The promise to find security, home and good today sounds as strong as in 1939. In 2014, singer Pink performed the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the Oscar ceremony. Her mother, Judith Kugel, later noted that the song reflected the longing of its Jewish creators during the rise of Nazism: "I didn't think about the film," she recalled, "I thought about the lost Jews of Europe and immigrants in the United States and celebrated our struggle for survival in every community and every country where we live, always with the idea of bringing something better to this world."
Aish.com, translation by Yakov Skvortsov
Source: https://stmegi.com/posts/129448/volshebnik-strany-oz-i-evrei/