In 1947, when John Garfield starred in one of the great film noirs of all time, Body and Soul, he was a Broadway and Hollywood legend who had racked up a filmography of impressive achievement in spite of having to work within the constraints of the studio system. He brought Method acting to the silver screen, a shocking breath of fresh air that ear…

Our protagonist, finding himself back home and at loose ends after graduating from college, has hit upon a Life Plan concocted with a friend while both were tripping on acid -- a rural egalitarian commune. He visits his old college housemates, Carol and Alan, building a retirement home for Alan's parents in the Santa Ana mountains. He proceeds to r…

In the fall of 1972 it happened. I graduated from college. This wasn’t unexpected and yet I was unprepared. I was not aware that the train of events which I thought of as 'my life' had been running along pre-built tracks: elementary school, middle school, high school, college. I did not realize that once I left the last station, there were no more …

My grandmother on my mother's side was the only grandma I had—my other grandma died the year I was born. She was in my life for my first 35 years, so she had an impact. Initially, she was accompanied by my grandfather, Meyer, who was a joy to be around. (Jeanette, not so much.) When Meyer died, Jeanette continued her life in Chicago. She'd come out…

When does a house become a home? How does a house become a home? In the recent L.A. fires, around 10,000 houses were destroyed. When a house is also a home, much more goes up in flames than the structure and its contents. The house itself has a dialectical relationship with its inhabitants, expressed through furniture, decor, and a greater or lesse…

From 1934 to 1951, Canada Lee was the most famous and revered Black actor of his day, associated -- and frequently starring -- with every landmark African American Broadway production. He broke barriers again and again by being cast in non-Black productions. Unlike Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters, African American actors who also had huge midcentury …

But have you heard of any Jewish boxers? Did you know that almost 30% of professional boxers in the 20s and 30s were Jewish? As for Jewish athletes, you may have heard of Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, but why not Barney Ross, one of the few boxers ever to clinch a championship in three weight classes (lightweight, junior welterweight, and welter…

"I was an American again, had been for the decade since we had returned from our sojourn in France. Nothing, it seemed, had stuck from my wonder years in the City of Light except for something of the language I had learned to speak by the end of our time there." How does an eleven-year old, knowing only the suburban life of Pasadena, experience Par…

Sam and Daniel are in Israel, circa 1969. They are on a kibbutz, learning Hebrew in the morning and working for their room and board in the afternoon. Sam follows Daniel in his effort to deepen his Jewish identity. They go to Mount Tabor, site of a battle between the Israelites and the Canaanites, spend a weekend at a Chassidic yeshiva where Daniel…

America 1968. Everything was up for grabs. All passion and creativity seemed to gush from the counterculture. "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive/But to be young was very heaven." I was young, 18, and enrolled as an undergraduate in the fourth year of the great experimental campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz. The spirit of the …

What's in a bedtime story? More than you might imagine. As we were growing up, my father introduced his version of imaginary creatures, the goops, into our household and family life. Created as negative role models to teach manners to Victorian children, the goops first saw life in books of moralistic doggerel published in 1900 and after. "But it w…

Dr. Philipson interviews playwright and lesbian activist Jewelle Gomez about the life of the famous blues singer, Alberta Hunter, and the play Jewelle wrote based on that life. Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shoga_films; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilmsBy Robert Philipson

"I have concluded from the melancholy nature of my subsequent development that the artifacts hung up on a child's wall can have a permanent effect on his life." So begins the essay on the role the Art played in my formation, an evolution spanning Southern California, France, the groovy Sixties, Africa. "Still Life" will reveal the malefic influence…

Christian, Jew, or undeclared, all are subjected to the music, the rituals, the legacy of the Victorian Christmas which exercises an annual month-long grip on American culture. How can one not be warped, influenced, sentimentalized by this slow-motion avalanche. We can take "Christ" out of Christmas, but we cannot remove it from our hearts. Website…

Meet Doris Hale, the most intimate and important African American that my famlly knew and trusted, in her own words. Dr. Philipson conducted and transcribed the interview back in the early 90s. In anticipation of releasing the manuscript of the family memoir, we present certain chapters as podcasts performed by voice actors. "Skinny" was recorded a…

The topic is an exposition of my diffuse yet distinct identity as a non-practicing Jew, as the son of non-practicing Jews, and as the great-nephew of the once-famous Rabbi David Philipson, one of the first Reform rabbis to be educated and ordained in America. Where does Shylock fit in? You know who he is; everyone knows who he is. If he figures in …

Dave Drexler of the San Diego's Jazz88.3 FM conducted an interview with Dr. Robert Philipson when his documentary, "Body and Soul: An American Bridge" was selected as the closing night offering of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and was watched by over 1000 people. Philipson discusses the composition of the song "Body and Soul" by Jewish compose…

In 2019, the Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, spread her fame to tens of thousands of Americans. The film starred Viola Davis as the bisexual blues diva and enshrined Chadwick Boseman's final performance before his untimely death to cancer. In a blog post I wrote about the film at the time, I prophesied that V…

Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson discusses the question, "Can Classical Music Be Black" with African American composer Ozie Cargile. Does there need to be something recognizably “Black” in classical music compositions by Black composers? Indeed is there anything “Black” about the classical music tradition or is it, as Dr. Philipson contends, a wh…

Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson holds a dialogue with African American composer Ozie Cargile about the possibilities of Black classical music. Find out what an orchestra "hit" is. Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shoga_films; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms…

Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shoga_films; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilmsBy robert