Drawn to Paradise - Jewish Musicians in Los Angeles

Since antiquity, Jewish people have been driven from their ancestral homeland or drawn to other geographic regions, either by choice or out of necessity. The Jewish diaspora refers to the global dispersion of Jewish people and the impact they have in their new communities. Throughout the twentieth century, many settled in the burgeoning city of Los Angeles, which now holds the fourth-largest Jewish population in the world. Drawn to Paradise highlights prominent and little-known Jewish musicians who made important contributions to musical and cultural life in Los Angeles.

The exhibition includes materials from the UCLA Music Library, Library Special Collections, Young Research Library, Biomedical Library, and the Southern Regional Library Facility. The exhibit highlights prominent and little-known Jewish musicians who made important contributions to musical and cultural life in Los Angeles. The opening  of the physical exhibit coincided with the UCLA American Jewish Music Festival events that took place in the Music Library on March 1st. Please excuse the quality of some of the included images, which were taken hastily in the transition to remote library services because of Covid-19. 

Drawn to Paradise was curated by Chantel Diaz and Matthew Vest and designed by Vest, with additional research by Alexander Hallenbeck. This virtual exhibit was designed by Vest. Katherine Kapsidelis and Hannah Sutherland managed installation, Doug Daniels printed graphics, and Chris Brennan and Alan Lee handled graphic installation. Peggy Alexander, Molly Hemphill and Jet Jacobs consulted for Special Collections materials and Molly Haigh managed Special Collections duplication.

Fania Borach, known as Fanny Brice, was the child of Jewish immigrants who settled on New York's Lower East Side. She performed on stage with the Transatlantic Burlesquers, the Ziegfeld Follies and on film and radio. She created and starred in the hit  radio comedy series The Baby Snooks Show. Barbra Streisand portrayed her in the musical Funny Girl. 

Alfred Levi changed his name to Leonard after immigrating to the United States from Germany in 1933. He was the director of symphonic programs on local radio station KFAC, a radio host for The Golden Hour in 1935, the owner of a Los Angeles music store, and the founder and director of the Los Angeles Music Guild in 1944. 

Born in Zvolen, Czechoslovakia, Feri Roth graduated from the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest. He was concertmaster of the Budapest Opera and the Berlin Volksoper. His ensemble the Roth String Quartet debuted in Paris and first toured in Europe and Africa, then coming to the United States, Canada, and Mexico on an invitation from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Roth immigrated to the US, where he was faculty at Westminster Choir College and, later, UCLA. 

Dena Bat- Yaacov was born Dena Heller in Denver, Colorado. She began piano lessons at age seven, the same year she entered Hebrew school, and made her public debut at thirteen. As a concert pianist she specialized in the work of Jewish composers, particularly Charles Alkan. She relocated to Los Angeles in her twenties and spent the rest of her life contributing to musical life here. 

Jewish musicians have contributed to many music genres and traditions, including metal and punk rock music - Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons created distinctive rocker aesthetics. The punk zine, Plotz: The Zine for the Vaclempt, covered Jews in music and pop culture. 

In the mid-20th century, many prominent Jewish musicians and composers settled in Los Angeles, including Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Arnold Schönberg, Ernst Toch, Franz Waxman, and Erich Zeisl. They made lasting contributions to music in Los Angeles as well as in the city’s film, TV, and music industries.