A FLAG IS BORN
There is no question that the epitome of WWII was the brutal
slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews in the Nazi Holocaust. The leader of the free world
President Roosevelt callously chose to close his nation’s eyes to this inhuman
tragedy during the war, and refused shelter to survivors following the actual
fighting. The infamous White Paper of the British Government denied entry of
these victims to their promised homeland.
A strong force was needed to rescue the European remnant of the
Jewish nation. The “Mossad for Aliyah Bet” was formed in Palestine, in which
the American and Canadian members took an active part.
In the summer of 1946, a musical opened at New York’s Alvin
Theatre. Like other Broadway entertainments, “A Flag is Born” had stars,
scenery, script, professional management and an advertising budget. But this
production was different in one major respect; the show was frankly intended to
promote a cause.
It was not written mostly to entertain. It was written to make
money - to provide ships to get Jews to Palestine. It wanted to arouse American
public opinion to support the fight for Jewish freedom and independence being
instigated in Palestine.
“A Flag is Born” was produced by the American League for a Free
Palestine, in its campaign to bring refugees to Palestine in defiance of the
British blockade. Its President was a US Senator, and some of its other
non-Jewish members were Americans who supported a militant stand against the
British on behalf of Jewish nationalism. Its Jewish members came from a variety
of backgrounds. The driving force was provided by followers of the Revisionist
Zionist movement .
The author and initiator of the
musical was Ben Hecht, who was perhaps the most successful Jewish writer in the
movie capital. The leading character was the popular Jewish actor, Paul Muni. An
unknown actor, Marlon Brando played a Jewish concentration survivor. The musical
score was composed by Kurt Weill, a cantor’s son, who had become a leading
Broadway and Hollywood composer after fleeing the Nazis. What made Hecht a
controversial figure was his inclination to argue Zionist issues in front of
the whole world. He passionately championed the Revisionist cause.
The musical was given rave reviews
by the prestigious critics of both the NY Daily News and the NY Times. At a
testimonial dinner in Paul Muni’s honour, the American League for a Free
Palestine announced that $74,00 had been raised and would be used to buy ships
for Jewish immigration to Palestine. Muni concluded his speech at the dinner by
delivering some of Tevya’s lines from “A Flag is Born”:
“Remember, Englishmen, that you have never won a war against a
people that wanted to be free! So why make such another war and lose it? And
lose your own honour also......Listen to me, Americans, my people were killed
in Europe by the Germans... Let them into Palestine or they die – all that are
left. Why did you fight the Germans – so you could take over their work of killing
the rest of the Jews?......Tevya says, open one little door for the Jews who
have opened so many big doors for everybody else. Open one little door to
Palestine.”
Scheduled to play for four weeks, the show extended its Broadway
run to ten weeks, and then went on the road. When it was scheduled to play in
Washington, racial segregation was the rule at the time. The American League
announced that it would not allow the play to be performed at the National
Theatre if Negroes were barred from the better seats. After obtaining a
commitment for unsegregated seating from the Maryland Theatre in Baltimore, a
press release was announced. “For the first time in the history in the State of
Maryland, negroes were permitted to attend the legitimate theatre without
discrimination. About ten negroes witnessed the performance from choice seats.”
“The incident” Hecht said, “is forceful testimony to the
proposition that, to fight discrimination and injustice to one group of human
beings, affords protection to every other group.”
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