Rant #3,598: Tell Me

There was an interesting post on Facebook yesterday.

It was put up rather innocently, but it caused a little bit of chatter among some of the respondents, including me.

The poster put up the photo [above] and wrote "Merry Christmas."

Very innocent indeed.

And most respondents posted the very same thing.

That was OK by me.

But a couple of the respondents didn't leave it at that.

They posted this emphatic question:

"Weren't the Stooges Jewish? Didn't they celebrate Chanukah?"

Well, this kind of went back and forth without being adequately answered, so I jumped in with my answer, which in all honesty, I could have gone on and on about, but which I decided to keep fairly short:

"Yes, all the Stooges were Jews, except for Curly Joe DeRita.

Those were different times. Although many of Hollywood's biggest stars were Jewish, Hollywood did not recognize Judaism-except in certain instances--

Made even more ridiculous by the fact that most studio heads were Jews themselves.

Look at all the Jewish references in their films ... how could anyone not know that the Stooges were Jews?

But if you could ask everyone from Jack Benny to Hedy Lamar to Jerry Lewis to Paul Newman and the Marx Brothers, they would tell you it was simply not spoken about.

Even Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor converted to Judaism when they married Jewish men, but it was not acknowledged by Hollywood."

Those were verrrry different times back then, and Judaism certainly never crept into Hollywood's handling of the holidays, and quite frankly, still doesn't.

Chanukah celebrations on mainstream TV and films are few and far between, and when there are choice times to handle the holiday--and teach people about it without hitting anyone over the head about it--it is usually flubbed.

Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" is the most atrocious instance of a wasted moment, as the song has absolutely nothing to do with the holiday, but is more of a smarmy name-dropping exercise about who is Jewish and who isn't.

And then we have "The Goldbergs" TV show, which had a real chance to bring Judaism into the public consciousness, but during its years on prime time, it did nothing but denigrate Judaism, taking three seasons to even acknowledge that the family was Jewish.

And its holiday episodes always featured the narrator lamenting that he was Jewish, and he was jealous of those who celebrated Christmas--in fact, he wanted to be one of those people himself!

It was just so obvious to me what was going on on this sitcom; I even commented about it on Facebook on the show's site, and was quickly barred by the show's creator's mother--who ran the site--for having the audacity to bring up such a thing.

And when TV does tackle being Jewish in America, like it did with "Brooklyn Bridge," It simply doesn't sell to Middle America.

Even that terrific show, when it was headed for cancelation, began to focus more on the budding relationship between the Jewish boy and his Irish Catholic girlfriend, rather than being Jewish in America in the 1950s, the era the show was based in.

And that is the point: however idiotic this sounds, in particular as we head into 2025, the powers that be still think like they did in 1940--

That Judaism doesn't sell to Middle America ...

But every alternative lifestyle you can think of does.

Hooray for Hollywood!

Look, I am not interested in equal representation at this point--certainly not with about 4 percent of this country's population being Jewish--but with Chanukah still being swept under the rug in 2024, and Jewishness pretty much the same way by certain people in the entertainment industry who just happen to be as Jewish as I am, you would think during the past 80 years, there would be more of an understanding--

And an acceptance.

I could go on and on about this, but I won't. 

I think I have made my point.

Just let me end this Rant by stating that in a culture that seems to accept every permutation of humanity, why are we even having this conversation?

I know the answer--

Do you?

Have a nice weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.