Do you know what Jews like? No, not money, you anti-Semites. tradition! And also to marry our daughters, it turns out. At least that’s how the mythological musical “Fiddler on the Roof” went, which exposed the world to Shalom Aleichem’s story about Tovia the milkman and the life of the Jews in the Entebbe shtetl. On the face of it, not exactly the most interesting raw material for a musical. In practice – an international hit to this day makes the Japanese say “cheers” in a perfect Ashkenazi accent.
In 1971, the successful musical was adapted into a Hollywood film which itself became a hit, launched Haim Topol’s international career and became a symbol of Jewish tradition around the world. “The Violinist’s Journey to Hollywood” is a documentary by director Daniel Reim (“Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story”) that goes back to the story of the film’s production and tries to understand how a story about a Jewish milkman living in Tsarist Russia became a huge hit.
During the film, Reim interviews the creative director Norman Jewison, the composer John Williams (who is also responsible for some unknown performances, for example the theme songs of “Superman”, “Jaws”, “Harry Potter”, “Schindler’s List” and more) and of course Tovia himself , Haim Topol. These three, by the way, won Oscar nominations thanks to the film, with Williams even taking the statuette. During the film we learn several spicy stories, for example why Topol was preferred over Frank Sinatra, or how Jewison’s meeting with Ben Gurion took place. How would Tobias say? for life!
“The Violinist’s Journey to Hollywood” will be broadcast tonight (2.8) on Hot 8 (21:15) and Yes Doco (22:00) as part of the Jerusalem Festival broadcasts