Who, What & Where with Scarlett Johansson, fake survivor and 102-year-old magician
Included in this week's entertainment roundup is Storyville’s Misha And The Wolves, kosher cards for Valentine's Day and this month's snippet of Jewish history!
Big Bad Wolf
There’s a fine line between fiction and downright lies. Author Misha Defonseca discovered this when she wrote a Holocaust memoir that took the world by storm – until a fallout with her publisher revealed a darker truth.Misha’s audacious deception in the early 1990s is the subject of Storyville’s Misha And The Wolves this Sunday and it will fascinate and offend.
The Massachusetts Jewish community was certainly fascinated when Misha told them her compelling story of survival during the Holocaust, as she spent it ‘hidden’ in the house of a Catholic family, before running away to search for her deported parents. Walking east across Europe, befriending wolves, evading the Nazis – Misha’s story ran the full gamut, and local publisher Jane Daniel implored her to write the tale. Once it was complete, Misha became the celeb du jour as even Oprah came calling, but she suddenly became uncooperative and refused to go on TV.
The resulting court feud between Misha and her publisher spurred Jane into delving deeper and the gripping documentary reveals the truth, lies, history and imagination, asking how and why we believe the stories we’re told. Director Sam Hobkinson says: “Although I didn’t set out to make a Holocaust documentary, as it progressed, I realised that I was, in fact, making a Holocaust documentary.
I was just making a different kind – a postmodern one, which is less about the terrible events themselves than it is about the cultural shadow they cast in journalism, the memoirs, the documentary films and everything that goes with it.”
Misha and The Wolves is on BBC Four on Sunday 2 February, at 10pm
Be My Valentine
The date February 14 started out as a Christian holiday with some attachment to a saint, but then Hallmark took it over. You’re unlikely to find a synagogue decorated in red hearts and Cupid’s arrows any time soon, but don’t let communal reluctance stand in the way of love.
Your partner will be expecting something on the day assigned for lovebirds, so why not blend the sentiment with some old-fashioned chutzpah to tell your dolly chops how much they mean to you? These are from Etsy and you’d better order now – you know there’ll be a broigus if the post doesn’t arrive in time.
Cards by OnceUponATeaCup, www.etsy.com
It’s Magic
Mazeltov to magician Henry Lewis who this week received an MBE from Prince William at Buckingham Palace for services to fundraising and charitable causes. Aged 102, Henry is honorary vice president of the Magic Circle and the oldest person to receive an honour in this year’s list. He was born in Hackney, one of eight children. Henry has perfomed magic all over the world, and these days entertains fellow residents at the Jewish Care home where he lives. He says: “It was very nice to receive the honour. When I was eight years old, I found a magic book in a pile of rubbish and that’s what got me interested in magic.”
Meet 102-year-old magician Henry Lewis from London.
Henry has entertained audiences around the world for over three decades and today received an MBE for his services to fundraising and charitable causes.
Congratulations Henry! pic.twitter.com/838d6GdHrS
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) January 25, 2022
Sing Out Scarlett
Still cute even when animated, Scarlett Johansson – the actress most favoured by Jewish men – is back as teen porcupine Ash in Sing 2. Koala Buster Moon has got another big show to put on and Ash is part of a line up that should include reluctant lion rock star Clay Calloway, voiced by less reluctant rocker Bono. A new take on U2’s hit song Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, performed by Cab and Ash (Scarlett sings, Bono does too), is worth the ticket price alone. You’ll enjoy it more than the kids.
This Month in Jewish History, with Jewish News’ historian Derek Taylor!
The Domus Conversorum was a house in Chancery Lane where Jews who converted to Christianity could live and enjoy free maintenance. It was
needed because, until 1280, all Jews who converted to Christianity forfeited their possessions to the Crown.
Henry III founded it in January 1232 on a site that later became home to the Public Record Office. In 1280 there were 97 inhabitants. A number of the converts achieved offices of state and the organisation was only abolished in 1891. The keeper of the Domus Conversorum was known as the Master of the Rolls – a royal title rather than a legal one. The home had two chaplains and the crown paid all the costs, which included pensions for the converts.
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