Written by:

Actually written by: Israel Isidore Baline (Irving’s real name).

Written while: seated poolside at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona (talk about your White Christmas).

Made famous by: Bing Crosby in the movie Holiday Inn.

Cool Irving Berlin fact: Refusing to make money off his deep-seated patriotism, Berlin donated all the royalties from “God Bless America” (just another little ditty he penned) to the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls.

2. “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Written by: Johnny Marks in 1949.

Based on: a poem/story penned by Marks’ brother-in-law, who invented Rudolph.

Made famous by: Gene Autry, whose recording sold over 2 million copies in the first year alone.

Famous Rudolph mondegreen: "Olive, the other reindeer" (see my mentalfloss post on mondegreens if you don’t know what they are).

Cool Johnny Marks fact: He is the great-uncle of economist Steven Levitt, co-author of one of my favorite books of all time, Freakonomics.

3. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

Written by: composer Jule Styne in 1945 with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.

Actually written by: Julius Kerwin Stein and Samuel Cohen (real names).

Made Famous by: Vaughn Monroe, hitting #1 on Billboard in ’46.

Curious “Let it Snow” fact: the lyric never once mentions Christmas.

Cool Jule Styne fact: he also wrote the music for the musicals Gypsy and Funny Girl.

4. "Silver Bells" Written by: Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in 1951

Actually written by: Jacob Harold Levison and Raymond Bernard Evans (real names).

Introduced by: Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in the movie The Lemon Drop Kid.

Made Famous by: Bing Crosby and Carol Richards.

Cool “Silver Bells” fact: the song was inspired by the silver bells of the Salvation Army bell ringers, thus making it one of the few Christmas carols about the city, as opposed to the usual rural countryside setting.

5. “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"

Written by: Albert Hague in 1966 (with words/lyrics by Dr. Seuss, of course)

Actually written by: Albert Marcuse, who was born in Berlin, but his family raised him Lutheran with the last name Hague in order to avoid the raging anti-Semitism in the 1920/30s (He got out of Europe just in time, landing in America in 1939).

Made Famous by: Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft, who made a name for himself singing and doing voice-overs for Disney.

Curious Albert Hague fact: He was also an actor! You can see him in both the movie and TV series, Fame, playing the role of Shorofsky.

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The gematria 25 serves as a perfect example. Traditionally, we’re taught that Chanukah begins on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev because that’s the day the Maccabees reclaimed and rededicated the Temple after defeating King Antiochus’ Syrian army. The word Chanukah means “dedication.” But looking at the word through gematrian-glasses, we can split it into two words, Chanu, which means "they rested" and kah, which is comprised of the Hebrew letters, kaf and hay. The numerical equivalent of kaf = 20, while hay = 5, giving us a sum of 25. So another translation of Chanukah might be “On the 25th of Kislev they rested from their enemies.”

And there are more. The 25th word in the Torah is ohr, which means “light,” as in, “Let there be light.” What is Chanukah if not a festival of lights? And in the appropriately gematrian-titled book, Numbers, you’ll find a list of places the Jews camped in the desert on their way out of Egypt. The 25th place listed is Hashmonah.

This should ring a bell as the Macabees were also called the Hasmonaim, part of the Hasmonean dynasty.While it may be that these numerical connections are nothing more than coincidence and projection, certainly gematria adds interesting commentary to an already rich historical tapestry dotted with inspirational symbolism… and not only for Jews, if we consider another Biblical figure thought to have been born on the 25th of December, which, of course, sometimes falls on the 25th of Kislev.

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Dustin Hoffman’s 40-year stage and screen career is legendary. From his edgy breakthrough performance in The Graduate, which paved the way for ethnic-looking actors in male leading roles, to his comic portrayal of both Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie, Hoffman’s impact on American cinema is almost unequaled.

These thoughts are from an informal interview/talk Hoffman gave at the LA Federation’s "Hollywood Hands-On" breakfast series.

On his earliest Jewish memories:

My maternal grandmother, who was from Romania, lived with us, and she’d speak Yiddish to my parents so my brother and I wouldn’t know what they were talking about. But we didn’t observe any of the holidays and I’d never heard Hebrew until I was about four and we went to a funeral. My brother and I thoughtit sounded funny and we started laughing and we got kicked out of the funeral. Also, there was a lot of anti-Semitism in the neighborhood where we lived and I remember being called "kike" a lot. It was very painful and a little later, when people would ask me, "What are you? What religion?" I’d say, "American."

On becoming an actor:

I never thought about being an actor when I was growing up. My parents put a piano in front of me and decided I was going to be a concert pianist. In those days, if you were black, you wanted to own a Cadillac and if you were Jewish, you wanted your son to be a concert pianist. So acting wasn’t even a thought in my head. I only took an acting course in college because I was a terrible student and was told that no one fails acting—it was like gym class.

On landing his first starring role:

In those days, you had to be tall, Aryan, blonde with blue eyes to get a leading part. These were values that the Jewish studio heads wanted. They created a kind of Christian, gentile reality. So for The Graduate, originally they wanted Robert Redford for the part of Benjamin Braddock, the WASP from New England as it’s written in the Charles Webb novel. When they asked me, I didn’t think I could play a role like that. Guys who were short and ethnic-looking, like me, didn’t play roles like that. But then [director Mike] Nichols said to me, “Did you read the book?” and I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Did you think it was funny?” And I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Well, maybe [Benjamin Braddock] is Jewish on the inside.” And that’s how he talked me into doing a test for it.

On his movie Ishtar:

What the movie says is: Isn’t it more important to spend your life doing what you’re passionate about, albeit second-rate, than to be first-rate and successful at something that you don’t care about. Even though it’s a flawed movie, I still love it.

On culture in Los Angeles:

There is a lot of culture here in Los Angeles; you just have to kind of look for it. The one thing that Los Angeles lacks is the ability and spontaneity to walk out the door and not know where you’re going and not care. Here, you have to know where you’re going because if you walk, you’ll get stopped by a cop.

On gratuitous violence in Hollywood:

I will not pick up a gun on camera unless the scene absolutely calls for it. I remember hearing President Clinton speak at CAA (Creative Artists Agency), and he said the kids who are affected by violence in films don’t have families. It’s very romantic for them, he said, because the gangs are their families. So violence gives them a sense of identity, whereas for us it’s just entertainment. And everyone at CAA applauded and I said to my wife that I’d like to tell the President: “Mr. President, I want you to know when you’re finished speaking and all these people go back to their offices, they’re not going to change their behavior one iota because it’s money to them.” So I do feel very strongly about this.

On volunteering and philanthropy:

I don’t think I’m a good example because I made a choice to spend all my time being an artist and raising my family. When I hear how other people are so active with causes, my first thought always is: I hope their kids are getting it first. I mean, I have six kids and that’s a lot of work. Maybe now is the time I’ll start to get involved because the kids are out of the house. But it’s hard for me because I’d like to know where the money is going.You hear that money raised for Tsunami relief never reached the people. I’ve given to individuals at times, but I’m very quiet about whatever I do. And when people ask of my time, I do it if I can because it is gratifying. I should probably do it more often.

On being a Jew:

I love being a Jew! I love Jew food. I love the humor. I love the irony.

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Here in Los Angeles, the country’s hunger capital, 1 in 8 people are what we call food insecure. By my way of thinking, in a country with the supposed network and infrastructure to feed everyone, that’s just Fail with a capital F.

To do something about the growing problem, many organizations have teamed up under the banner Fed Up With Hunger, and are trying to spread awareness to stop the hunger.  I’m involved directly, making videos, like this one at an event where we screened Ghostbusters in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (admission was 5 cans of food and we brought into almost 5,000 pounds), and others you’ll find on the FedUpWithHunger.org website, which I produced.

So what can YOU do to help fight hunger? Forward the video on the site’s homepage to as many people as you can, to help educate people to the problem. 

What do you get, besides satisfaction that you’re doing your part? Well, everyone who forwards the video will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a free iPod Nano (did you know they now shoot video?). But there’s more: the three hunger-fighters who forward the video to the most people (only legit e-mails please!), will all win autographed copies of my novel, Behind Everyman.

How do you get started? Simple: go to FedUpWithHunger.org and watch the homepage vid. You’ll see an option to forward it to your friends. The Web site tracks all the results, so be sure to enter your real e-mail address, or at least one where we can contact you if you win.

Bragging rights to the first person who can recognize the band and the song used in the video.Drop the answer in the comments below, if you know. Meantime, please post this to your FB/Twitter, etc. and help us get the word out!

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Theresienstadt concentration camp, or Terezín as it was usually called, was an oddity, even by the Nazis’ standards. They used it as transit camp, before carting people off to Auschwitz. But more than that, they used it as propaganda, the “model Jewish settlement”—the beautiful, special place where Jews would be resettled under Hitler’s plan, before he went full-steam ahead with "The Final Solution." As such, people placed in Terezín were given privileges that the others were not. Concerts, theater, books to read—even opera.

The words opera and Holocaust very rarely make their way into the same conversation, let alone the same sentence. It is difficult to imagine, then, that an Austrian composer and pianist by the name of Viktor Ullmann not only contemplated the great operatic tradition while imprisoned in Terezín, but was actually able to compose one. Scribbled on the back of camp records and lists of prisoners to be sent to the gas chambers, Ullmann penned a work called The Emperor of Atlantis, which is largely about life and death having lost their meaning. And while both the composer and the librettist, Peter Kien, were ultimately murdered in Auschwitz, the score was miraculously smuggled out and resurfaced in London before ultimately receiving its premiere some 30 years later in Amsterdam.

I don’t have any excerpts of the piece, but I do have another piece Ullmann wrote, and others by four more composers who were part of the unusual, sadly surreal musical scene at Terezín.

1. Gideon Klein

Klein was studying music in Prague when the Nazis closed all institutions of higher learning in the occupied Czech territories. He was sent to Terezín in December, 1941, but was then sent to Auschwitz and ultimately to Fürstengrube, where he was murdered in the gas chambers. Check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post from his Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello.

2. Karel Svenk

Svenk was an actor, director, writer, and composer before the war. Svenk was one of the artists who helped mount many productions at Terezín, including an all-male cabaret. He was murdered in 1945. Check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post from his song, “Pod destnikem.”

3. Erwin Schulhoff

Schulhoff studied piano with Debussy for a short spell. He was even awarded the Mendelssohn Prize in 1913 for his piano achievements and won the same prize as a composer some years following WW I. He was sent to Terezín in 1941 and then murdered in the Wülzburg concentration camp in August, 1942. Check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post from Schulhoff’s Suite for Chamber Orchestra.

4. Pavel Haas

Haas was sent to Terezín in 1941, and composed several pieces during his stay, although only three of them have been preserved. One of them, Study for String Orchestra, was immortalized when a performance, in the presence of the composer, was included in the Nazi propaganda film, Der Führer Schenkt den Jüden eine Stadt. (Hitler gives the Jews a Town) Haas died in Auschwitz in October, 1944. Check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post from his Suite for Piano, Op. 13: Pastorale

5. Viktor Ullmann

Ullmann kept very busy at Terezín. Besides composing and accompanying, he also penned critiques of some of the musical events that Klein and others put on. In 1944 he was deported Birkenau at Auschwitz, where he was killed in the gas chambers. Check out the excerpt at the bottom of this post from his String Quartet, Op. 46

FYI: Many more composers were killed during the war and even more blacklisted. This list is only a partial representation.

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