By Nate Bloom
Contributing Columnist
“The Ritual,” a horror film, opens in theaters on June 6. Here’s the premise: Two Catholic priests (Al Pacino and Dan Stevens), work together to complete a series of exorcisms on Emma (Abigail Cowan), a young woman who’s allegedly experiencing demonic possession. This film was based on a real Catholic exorcism in Iowa in 1928.
The film was co-written by DAVID MIDELL, 35ish, and he directed the film. He is on the autistic spectrum and, before he worked in films, he was a teacher of autistic children. He talked to a Catholic Church online newspaper recently. He said he is Jewish, and he got a lot of help from Catholics in making this film. I got the sense that the Church appreciates his sensitive take on the 1928 exorcism.
“I Don’t Understand You,” a comedy, also opens on June 6. Here’s the premise: a wealthy Los Angeles gay couple, Dom (NICK KROLL, 46) and Cole (Andrew Rannels), are planning to adopt a baby while vacationing in Italy. A pregnant Italian woman (Amanda Seyfried) has told the couple (on the phone) that they can come to Italy and adopt her baby. However, things go haywire shortly after the couple arrives in Italy.
MORGAN SPECTOR, 44, has a biggish role as Massimo, the son of a restaurant owner in Italy. Spector, whose father is Jewish, has a starring role (very wealthy businessman George Russell) in “The Gilded Age,” a hit HBO series.
I missed writing, a couple weeks ago, when “Polaroid Man,” a PBS “American Masters” special documentary, premiered. But the good news is that “Polaroid Man” can be seen, free, on the PBS app and it was also was posted on Youtube by PBS (just search for “Polaroid Man”).
EDWARD LAND (1909-91) is the Polaroid Man. He was the founder of the Polaroid Company and the head of the company from 1932 until 1981. I will just give a very short summary of Land’s work. It’s very easy to watch this documentary and it’s only an hour long. So, if you want more about his professional career — watch the documentary.
Most of this column is about Land’s personal background — which is virtually not in the documentary. The documentary had almost no information about Land’s background before he began studying at Harvard University in 1927.
The documentary hardly mentions his parents and it never mentions that Edwin Land was Jewish, or that his only wife, HELEN MAISLEN (1906-2004), was Jewish, too. She was the mother of his two children (daughters). Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants and her father made a good living in real estate in Connecticut.
From other sources, I learned that Land’s father, HARRY, was born in the Ukraine, when it was controlled by Russia. His mother was born in Russia, too. Harry was only 3 when he came to America. As an adult, he did well as a scrap dealer in Connecticut.
Edwin’s mother, MATTIE, was also Jewish. Her parents were also Russian Jewish immigrants. Edwin and Helen’s respective parents were buried in Jewish cemeteries.
Edwin and Helen were married in a Conservative synagogue in Brookline, Mass. in 1929. They are buried in a secular, Boston-area cemetery.
Short summary of Land’s career: He went to Harvard for one year (1927) and then moved to New York City where he developed “polarized” film/lenses (with some aid of Helen). Polaroid lenses for sunglasses were his first big thing. He returned to Boston in 1932. His company was re-named Polaroid in 1937. It did well in providing products (goggles etc.) for Allied armed forces in WWII.
After WWII, he led his company as it developed the first instant photograph cameras (1948) and film. This was followed by better and better instant photography until the late ‘70s.
Land was very much the most important scientist/innovator in his company. He was unlike almost all CEO’s in one respect: he hired many women for research jobs. His “right-hand man” was a female chemist. In the late ‘60s, he began hiring a large number of Black employees.
Here’s just two of my Jewish-related kvetches: Bias against women and Black Americans during Land’s life is clearly mentioned in the PBS profile. But not a word about Jews in the 1920s and later. First kvetch: there’s Land getting into Harvard after a “quota” of Jewish students was secretly set in 1923 (15% of a class). Was he admitted because he was brilliant (he was) or because he seemed “more WASPy” than some other Jews? (His very “WASPy” high school, etc.) Second: Land probably opted to run his own company because that was built in within him. But, if he had opted to work for an optic or chemistry company during the ‘30s — well, they weren’t hiring many Jews and Jews rarely climbed the ladder in companies they hadn’t founded.
