The Jews in America Trilogy (176 page)

Sam Goldwyn.

The second generation: Edgar Miles Bronfman, to whom his father's mantle has been passed.

Benny “Bugsy” Siegel.

Acknowledgments

This book has been in various stages of preparation of more years than I care to count, and the list of individuals who have contributed thoughts and impressions to it is long. But there are a few people to whom I would like to extend a special word of thanks.

For their recollections of the great, gone motion picture moguls of Hollywood, I am grateful for the hours I was able to spend with George Cukor, King Vidor, Adolph Zukor, Minna Wallis, Roddy McDowall, Lucille Ball, Sam Marx, Ava Gardner, John Huston, Gail and Howard Strickling, Lillian Hellman, Elizabeth Taylor, and, most particularly, Frances Howard Goldwyn.

In New York, one of the few remaining people to have a tenuous impression of the sad-fated Rose Pastor Stokes was Mrs. Lettice Sands Stokes. I am also grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Roth, Sr., who supplied me with the unpublished memoir of Mr. Roth's father, Emery Roth, which is herein quoted. Other New Yorkers who deserve thanks are Mrs. Anna Potok, Jack Rosenthal, John Schiff, the late Walter E. Sachs, Robert La Vine, Ralph and Ricky Lauren, Peter Carlsen, John L. Loeb,
Jr., Ruth Proskauer Smith, Patrick O'Higgins, Theoni V. Aldredge, Dina Abramovicz of YIVO, and the particularly helpful Rabbi Ronald B. Sobel of Temple Emanu-El.

A special word of thanks to Phillip Applebaum of Detroit. Although I have had personal and business dealings with members of the Bronfman family over the years, I am indebted to longtime Bronfman observer Peter C. Newman of Toronto, who was generous with insights and whose book
Bronfman Dynasty
(published in the United States as
King of the Castle
) was an important source. This book also owes much to Allen and Beverley Gasner of Bethesda, Maryland; to Robert and Helen Gould of Cincinnati; to Isaac and Dian Levine, also of Cincinnati, for their recollections of Dr. Levine's father, Calman Levine; to Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk of Hebrew Union College; to Mrs. Meyer Lansky of Miami Beach; and to Dr. Edward Lahniers, for psychological insights. In the process of its preparation, the book was fortunate to be taken into the hands of two splendid editors at Little, Brown: my late friend Harry Sions, and the superb Genevieve Young. I would also like to thank Kate Bourne of Little, Brown for many hours of diligent and thorough picture research. As always, I am indebted to my friend and agent, Carol Brandt, for her cool guidance and support of the project from the beginning. While all of these people have helped enormously with the book, I alone must be held responsible for any errors or shortcomings.

S.B.

Source Notes

PREFACE

1. UPTOWN FIREBRAND

2. WHY THEY CAME

3. A JEWISH CINDERELLA