This Holocaust survivor has seen more than

Arts&Life movies

GEORGE ELKIND

Movie Lover Extraordinaire

This Holocaust survivor has seen more than 40,000 fi lms … and counting.

GEORGE ELKIND CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Alfred Zydower is no stranger to coping with trauma, and movies seem to help. Having escaped Nazi Germany with his family shortly after Krystallnacht, the 91-year old Madison Heights resident has followed a winding road before settling into retirement here. Over the years, he’s taken in an immense repertoire of more than 40,000 films — outpacing many a Netflix binger well before streaming was available.

Speaking to the Jewish News on a balmy afternoon, he recalled an early fascination with movies before he’d even seen one — a relationship that dates back to his childhood in Fürstenwalde, Germany, which was near the lakeside community of Bad Saarow.

Known for its healing waters, Bad Saarow proved a popular summer spot for a lost generation of Jewish entertainers, who would often canoe into town. Celebrities like Max Schmeling (who fought Joe Louis twice throughout the ’30s) and his wife, Jewish screen actress Anny Ondra, frequented the area — at a time where interfaith marriages like theirs seemed fairly common.

As the godson of a local rabbi, Zydower was introduced to several such “big shots” and stars who attended Fürstenwalde’s synagogue (Bad Saarow, itself, lacked one). Around the same period, the Zydowers had a family friend who played often in the theater and would bring him props to play with. Though he was only free to see a few movies in his childhood, both due to his age and because of increasing restrictions under Hitler, the ones he caught and the aura that surrounded them combined to make an impression.

LIFE IN SHANGHAI

That all changed when he and his family fled to Shanghai, China, where he quickly became a regular moviegoer. At the time, he caught films like Black Friday (about the onset of the Great Depression), Snow White and Tarzan and the Green Goddess for about a dime a ticket. For Zydower, the experience of moviegoing itself — the feeling of a theater or of a star onscreen before him — often seems to make as much or more of an impression than the particulars of a certain story.

He rhapsodized from his backyard about seeing Here Come the Waves in 1946,starring Bing Crosby and Betty Hutton, at the Cathay Theatre in Shanghai. The 1930s-era art deco movie palace boasted 12,000 seats but was largely empty — a space Zydower had mostly to himself.

Zydower displays in conversation a special affinity for actresses, mourning Hutton’s early death (“she got a bit carried away in her life”) while expressing a longtime fondness for Barbara Stanwyck.

Moviegoing for Zydower seems entwined deeply not just with the experience of seeing each work of art, but also has become wrapped up in the longer life films take on in memory — though he finds older films to be more durable.

“Some of them, they stay with me for-

ever,” he said. “I can still talk about them, and I still know exactly who was in them. Now today, you see some movies — yeah, they entertain you. But afterwards? It doesn’t leave much behind.”

Zydower suggests some of this may be due to the loss of stars and the relationship that viewers could form with them across their many frequent works.

“Most movies they are making today, it’s very seldom they have top stars like they used to have before,” he muses. “Even though you never met some of them in real life, you felt like they belonged to you.”

LIFE IN AMERICA

But Zydower remains sensitive to painful recollections. Movies that address the Holocaust can stir memories of both the hate he experienced and the violence he observed and heard about against those around him.

“It upsets me terribly,” he says of watching Holocaustthemed films. “I start crying.” Even now, he describes a sense of disbelief at the horrors he’s heard of and seen.

Fortunately for Zydower, his time since his arrival in America has been almost exclusively free of antisemitism and hate.

“I tell you, the minute I got off the boat I felt I was in paradise. When I arrived in San Francisco, the driver — who had to be Jewish — he told us that Israel had been created that day.”

Immediately upon arrival, he made the most of the country’s then-penchant for showing double features.

“By the time I came to America, I only had seen 174 movies. And I was 18 years old. In San Francisco, I went almost every other day — the theaters were open night and day. There was this one on Market Street, I’d go and watch two movies. And then, the next day I would again watch two.”

The habit continued when his family migrated to Detroit, and he began working in industry. Zydower still vividly remembers a range of neighborhood theaters in Detroit that have gone over the years; the Linwood and the Jersey were frequent fixtures in his life, and he still remembers when each would rotate its weekly programming.

Today, Zydower’s vision has declined enough that he can no longer drive, and theaters have been closed amid the pandemic. But he still watches a lot at home on Amazon (he praised Once Upon a Time in Odessa, a recent series about a Jewish gangster) and appears lively and undaunted even amid a historically difficult time.

When asked if movies provide an escapist function, he agreed they often can, especially in “the bad times.” As an example, he recalled a conversation overheard in Shanghai between a couple, a pair of foreign refugees contemplating the price of a Strauss operetta; they were weighing, as he and his family often did, the value of an artistic experience against what they needed to survive.

Whether escapist or not, Zydower’s story suggests the experience of watching movies has largely been worthwhile. Though not every film’s a winner, impressions of the finest viewings, stars and theaters seem to live on for him as vividly ever.

“I tell you what,” he says of Here Come the Waves, a long-ago viewing experience among an incredible many: “I remember every bit no matter what.”

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Arts&Life

celebrity jews

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

NFL AND U-M GRIDIRON JEWS

Here are the Jewish players on an NFL team roster as of Sept. 28 (main source: my friends at Jewish Sports Review magazine): Jordan Dangerfield, 30, Pittsburgh, plays (backup) strong safety. This five-year veteran is of Ethiopian Jewish background; Nate Ebner, 32, New York Giants, plays (reserve) strong safety and on special teams. For his first eight seasons he played for New England, often contributing to the Patriots many Super Bowl wins. He signed a one-year deal with N.Y. in the off-season; Julian Edelman, 34, New England. This great wide receiver doesn’t seem to be slowing down. On Sept. 21, he had eight receptions and a career-high yardage total in a game against Seattle.

As I’ve noted before, Edelman had only one Jewish great-grandparent. It’s unclear if he has formally converted to Judaism, but he identifies as a Jew in a religious sense and in a “community solidarity” way. Most recently: raising money for Tree of Life synagogue shooting victims and publicly reaching out last July to a player who posted something antisemitic. The Christian Science Monitor called Edelman’s responsea “master class on how to handle hate. ”

Other players include Anthony Firkser, 25, Tennessee, (backup) tight end and fullback. This Harvard grad had a good 2019 season; Alexander “Ali” Marpet plays offensive guard for Tampa Bay. He has started 75 consecutive games since 2015, earns almost $11 million per season, and was team captain in 2018 and 2019; Mitchell Schwartz, 31, Los Angeles, plays offensive tackle. Like Marpet, he is highly

ALEXANDER JONESI VIA WIKIPEDIA

Julian Edelman

paid and has a great streak going (over 130 consecutive starts); Sam Sloman, 23, Los Angeles, is a kicker. He’s a rookie who earned a starting spot. His college teammates nicknamed him “the kosher cannon.” (Note: five more Jewish players are on NFL “practice squads” and there’s a chance they will see action this season). Local interest: Two Jewish receivers play for the University of Michigan, which begins its Big Ten season on Oct. 24: Jake McCurry, senior, and Jake Thaw, freshman. Upcoming: Starz has given the greenlight to a regular series based on Blindspotting, a hit 2018 film. The film was written by Daveed Diggs, 38, and Rafael Casal. They co-starred in this “dramedy” film as working class guys trying to cope with racism and gentrification. The series (half-hour episodes) will be written by Diggs and Casal. Diggs won’t act in the series, but Casal will reprise his role.

Also: Alana Haim, 28, will be the co-star of a yet untitled 1970s coming-of-age film directed and written by eight-time Oscar nominee Paul Thomas Anderson. Alana and her two sisters (Este, 34, and Danielle, 31) form the popular rock pop band called Haim. The upcoming film features multiple storylines and big-name actors, like Bradley Cooper, who will have small parts in the film. Anderson loves Haim’s music and has directed four music videos for the band.

On The Go

people | places | events

STAND WITH TRANS THROUGHOUT OCTOBER The first-ever month-long virtual experience for trans youth and allies,celebrating gender diversity, empowering youth, educating community. Stand with Trans will provide an extravaganza of entertainment, workshops, networking, peer support and more. For additional information, visit standwithtrans.org/beyou.

ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE 7 PM, OCT. 8 Using stirring music, powerful images and suspenseful storytelling, Dr. Jud Newborn will recount how two former fanatical Hitler Youth leaders transformed into the greatest heroes of the German anti-Nazi resistance. Register at holocaustcenter.org.

SPECIAL EXHIBIT ONGOING THROUGH OCTOBER For one more month, the Holocaust Memorial Center is hosting a special exhibit called Operation Finale: The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann, which chronicles the true story of the secret mission to bring one of the architects of the Holocaust to justice. View at holocaustcenter.org. In these interactive artifact spotlights, you’ll learn about the personal stories of those involved.

BRUNCH TOUR 10:30-1 PM, OCT. 11 Feet on the Street will host a tour of Midtown/Cass Corridor. Cost $35. Accommodations and procedures are in place for safety and comfort amid COVID 19 concerns: as much as possible outdoors (including utilizing outdoor patios at food establishments), limited size of groups, social distancing, mask wearing. Info: EnjoyTheD. com; 313-393-2055. FREE SEATING & JUDAISM 2-3:30 PM, OCT. 13 “Free Seating: How an Overcrowded Detroit Synagogue Transformed American Judaism” will be the topic of a Zoom gathering sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan. “Free seating” — the movement to end assigned or owned synagogue seats and let people sit wherever they want — began in Detroit a century ago at Temple Beth El. Learn how this story took on national significance. Cost: $10 for members; $18 for non-members. Register by 9 pm Oct. 12. Instructions for joining the Zoom call will be sent the day before.

Xavier Foley

VIRTUAL CONCERT 7 PM, OCT. 15 The Sphinx Organization will host an online concert featuring Sphinx artists, alumni and students and includes a world premiere by Sphinx Competition Laureate Xavier Foley and performances by Sphinx Virtuosi, EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble, Anthony McGill, Raquel Gonzalez, and more. Sphinx is dedicated to transforming lives through the the arts. Check the Sphinx website or Facebook page.

Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.