Harry Spindel Memorial Lecture: Neal Gabler, “How the Jews Invented Hollywood and Why”

Author  Neal Gabler focuses on the psychological motivations of these  film moguls, arguing that their background as  Jewish immigrants from  Eastern Europe shaped their careers and influenced the movies they made.

Gabler’s main thesis is that these  producers (whom Gabler terms ‘Hollywood Jews’) generally came from poor, fatherless backgrounds, and felt like outsiders in America because of their Jewishness. In  Hollywood, these producers were able to run their own industry, assimilate into the American mainstream, and produce movies that fulfilled their vision of the American dream. Gabler asserts that the nature of their business and their movies can often be traced back to their feelings of alienation as immigrants.