Entertaining The Nation is a tribute to a Jewish gift

Jewish heritage: Carry On star Sid James was born Solomon Joel Cohen
Veronica Lee5 April 2012

To tell the full story of the Jewish contribution to British entertainment - from Victorian music-hall stars such as Lottie Collins (of Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay fame) to today's comics including Sacha Baron Cohen and Simon Amstell - would require a very large exhibition but this small yet fact-laden show gives a nice overview.

Packed with posters, props, archive footage and TV clips, it's full of "I didn't know that" moments.

For instance, there was a thriving Yiddish-language entertainment industry at the turn of the previous century in the East End, and comic Bud Flanagan, born Chaim Reuben Weintrop in Whitechapel, took his stage name from the anti-Semitic officer he served under in the First World War.

The soundtrack as you walk around includes music from band leaders Joe Loss and Sid Phillips, through crooners Alma Cogan and Frankie Vaughan up to Amy Winehouse and Justine Frischmann. There are sections on impresarios including Larry Parnes and Simon Cowell, the Grade and Bernstein TV dynasties, and "Playing Jewish" - how representations of Jews fall into two camps; "good Jew" (Maureen Lipman's Beattie) and "bad Jew" (Ron Moody's Fagin).

"More English than the English", meanwhile, records how some of this country's most "English" films, including Ealing comedies and Gainsborough Studio films, were produced by Alexander Korda, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Balcon, all Jewish, while Carry On star Sid James was born Solomon Joel Cohen.

Until January 8, 2012 (020 7284 7384, jewishmuseum.org.uk).

Entertaining The Nation. Stars Of Music, Stage And Screen

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