Jewish Influence on American Entertainment: The First 50 Years

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Jewish influence of the entertainment industry began on Broadway, which for its first 50-year period of its development, its songs were created almost exclusively by Jews. It has rooted itself into jazz, popular Christmas tunes and one song almost became the national anthem. 🧵

George Gerwshin, a descendant of Russian Jews, was a highly influential songwriter, famous for his 1935 Broadway play called Porgy & Bess where black performers were made to "debunk the Bible" using lines from the Jewish liturgy.

The relationship between blacks and Jews in the entertainment industry goes as far back as the early 20th century with Gerswin's influence on jazz, described here as a "cordial but contentious battle" between black musicians and Jewish songwriters.

Have you ever heard of Irving Berlin? Well you've definitely heard his music. He was a Russian Jewish immigrant composer who adapted to American culture so well that he wrote "God Bless America", a staple in American pop culture still to this day.

Berlin's song "God Bless America" was met with a nationwide protest from Christian leaders once the song had reached mainstream success, to the point where it nearly replaced the national anthem. This led to a series of military propaganda plays written by Berlin.

The Russian Jewish immigrant Irwing Berlin also wrote the music for "White Christmas", a film by a Hungarian Jew named Michael Curtiz. It became one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time, making no mention of Christ whatsoever.

Every one of these Christmas songs is written and performed by Jewish composers, completely undermining the purpose of the holiday by taking the focus off the incarnation of Christ and onto snow, romance and cartoon characters.

From using black performers to "debunk the Bible", to rallying military support through Broadway propaganda, to undermining Christian traditions, the Jewish influence on American entertainment has been subversive from its inception, even to the honest admission of its writers.