Dorothy Parker and Anti-Semitism

Definition of Anti-Semitism: Discrimination against, prejudice or hostility toward Jews.

Dorothy Parker's fans know around her greatest-promoting books, poems and brief stories. They are also keenly conscious that Dorothy co-founded the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920's. In the 1930's she was nominated for an Academy Award for her screenplay to A Star Is Born. Also in the 30's, Dorothy Parker co-founded the Anti-Nazi League and Screen Writers Guild. Tragically she was victimized by the McCarthy hearings and found herself, along with pals Lillian Hellman and Dashielle Hammett, a victim of the Hollywood Blacklist commie scare of the 1950's.

In the course of WWII, Dorothy Parker passionately protested the persecution of Jews in Europe. Her passion for boldly speaking out for human rights produced her a hero on each coasts and half way about the globe.

Couple of of Dorothy's fans knew that her maiden name was Dorothy Rothschild. Dorothy's mother, Annie Eliza Martson Rothschild was of Scottish descent, and died at the age of 44, when Dorothy was 5 years old. Dorothy's father, Jacob Henry Rothschild was of German Jewish descent, Dorothy Parker lived in an era when anti-Semitism was at its height. She for that reason was quite sensitive to undesirable discrimination that accompanied awareness of her Jewish name, Rothschild. Hence, she retained the surname of her very first husband, Edwin Pond Parker II, soon after their divorce, and enjoyed writing below then name Dorothy Parker.

In the Jewish religion, a child of mixed parents is regarded to be Jewish only if their mother is Jewish. In the Jewish religion, when One particular's father alone is Jewish, then the child is not deemed to be Jewish. The reasoning for this is that men and women knew a child came from his or her mother - even so, in these days it could not be verified who the actual father was... So, a person with a gentile mother and Jewish father had the distinction of carrying a Jewish surname, but was not viewed as to be Jewish by other Jews mainly because the mother was not Jewish.

Such prejudice from various fronts would have an effect on Dorothy Parker, who hid the truth that her father was Jewish from buddies and fans. Remarkably in 1936 Dorothy helped to found the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. The League's membership grew to more than 4,000 members, raising substantially necessary funds for persecuted Jews overseas. Some accused the Anti-Nazi League of getting a cover for the Communist celebration - which could possibly had been the underpinnings of Dorothy's eventual persecution by the anti-Communist McCarthy hearings in Hollywood.

In 1949 Dorothy Parker wrote the screenplay to the film, The Fan - primarily based on Oscar Wilde's Woman Windemere's Fan. The movie's director was Otto Preminger whose much more noteworthy movie, Exodus, is credited for placing an finish to the Hollywood blacklist in 1960 when he openly credited Blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo on the movie. Exodus was a "Zionist epic" that depicted the correct-life story of a boat of refugees becoming refused entry into the United States for the reason that they have been Jews.

Obtaining grown up surrounded by Anti-Semitism, Dorothy Parker was specifically sensitive to the discrimination of blacks. When Dorothy Parker passed away of a heart attack in 1967 at the age of 73, she bequeathed the rights to her writings to Martin Luther King, Jr. - who in turn left them to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Individuals. In 1988, the NAACP committed a memorial garden in Dorothy Parker's memory. She is heralded for her efforts to retain "the bonds of everlasting friendship involving black and Jewish Peoples."

Terrie Frankel is a New York Instances ideal promoting author, former Doublemint Twin and former Board Member of the Producers Guild of America. Collectively with her twin sister Jennie, Terrie wrote music, books, motion pictures and plays. She is presently President of Web page Turner Publishing and lives in Sedona, AZ. Terrie Frankel's 1 Lady Show on Dorothy Parker can be found on the soon after web-site: http://www.dorothyparkermusical.com