April 6, 2009 | 2:47 am

Peter Bart, ‘Variety’ Editor-in-Chief Pushed Out

Posted by Danielle Berrin

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Of course the trade itself handled Peter Bart’s Variety demotion with the most charity.

The headline, a soft: “Peter Bart gets new Variety role.’” Though the subhead was more revealing: “Tim Gray to oversee news wing.”

Earlier tonight, the industry’s most prestigious trade reported that their longtime editor-in-chief would take on a new, lesser position.

Variety reports:

Peter Bart will assume a new role as vice president and editorial director of Variety, it was announced by Tad Smith, CEO of Reed Business. In his new position, Bart will report directly to Smith, assisting him in furthering Variety’s editorial mission in print and online and expanding the brand’s position in new revenue streams.

Bart also will continue to contribute his weekly column as well as his blog and serve as Variety’s ambassador in public venues, on television, on the web and at industry events.

Leave it to Deadline Hollywood Daily‘s Nikki Finke to be more direct.

Bart’s new title is “vice president and editorial director of Variety”, but it’s meaningless. He and the company are playing this like it’s voluntary, but Peter has been pushed “essentially up and out” of the newsroom, as one of my sources puts it. But he’ll be allowed to continue as the “face” of Variety in public—which is something Bart cares a lot about.

Hollywood can now safely ignore Bart. Gray is the guy to suck up to there.

An industry power player, Peter Bart was also something of an enigmatic figure—especially when it came to his Judaism. He managed to avoid identifying, discussing or even admitting he was—ethnically speaking—Jewish. In Amy Wallace‘s 2001 profile of Bart for Los Angeles Magazine, he more or less accused her of “outing” him when she reported that his parents were Austrian Jews.

Bart tells Wallace:

“What concerns me is if you are characterizing me as a runaway Jew,” he says. “It’s not that I don’t acknowledge it. I just don’t talk about it. It’s not a part of my life. Isn’t this the equivalent of outing someone?” he asks.

Bart eventually tried to recant his flippancy.

“Do me one favor,” he says. “To avoid me being blackballed, quote me saying, ‘I have no problem saying my ethnicity is Jewish.’ Otherwise you’re going to get me into trouble with all these people.”

It’s unclear whether Bart is anti-religionist, atheist or ultimately a self-hating Jew. His apparent fear of professional reprisal, however, indicates a shift in Jewish pride from the early days of Tinseltown. Bart might have fit in better with Hollywood’s founding moguls, many of whom wished to escape their Jewish past and reinvent themselves as simply American. Likewise, some perceived Bart’s work ethic as a thing of the past, saying he didn’t have the foresight to carry Variety into its digital future.

More from Wallace’s profile:

But there’s another commonality that Bart does not wish to talk about. Cohn, like many of Hollywood’s founding fathers, was Jewish. When I ask Bart about his own ethnicity, he turns elusive. It’s peculiar, to say the least. Of all American industries, Hollywood has historically been a place where Jews have not only achieved acceptance but thrived.

But following his parents’ dictum, Bart keeps his ancestry a secret.
…
Here are a few things Bart wouldn’t tell me: Both his parents were born in Austria. His mother, whose maiden name was Clara Ginsberg, arrived at Ellis Island in 1914. Her passenger record includes this notation: “Ethnicity: Austria (Hebrew).” There is no record of a Max S. Bart entering the United States through Ellis Island. Bart’s father may have traveled under another name. But there is a listing for a Moses Bart, which was the name of Bart’s paternal grandfather. Moses came to America in 1913, when he was 57 years old. His ethnicity: “Austria, Hebrew.”

Bart has kept even his closest friends confused about his past. “He was brought up a Quaker, wasn’t he?” asks Evans. It’s an honest mistake. You can’t spend more than an hour with Bart without hearing about his attending Friends Seminary and Swarthmore College—both Quaker institutions.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Bart says of his religious heritage, as one of his knees begins bouncing up and down. “I resent people’s militancy on these issues. Everyone wants to peg everyone else because everyone is predictable. And I’m not.”

Over several months he will volunteer that he has never once dated a Jewish girl, never attended a seder, and has been inside a synagogue only once, for the bar mitzvah of then-agent Michael Ovitz’s son. (“I wanted to see what one was like.”)

“Listen, I got berated by the vice president in charge of business affairs at Paramount,” he says, “because I did not take off Jewish holidays. And I was affronted. I basically told him to mind his own damned business.”
...
“A lot of people in Hollywood—let’s say if they happen to be Jewish people who come from Brooklyn—they are most comfortable with those people. Which is fine. It just doesn’t happen to describe me.”

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April 3, 2009 | 5:09 pm

Madonna’s Kabbalah-backed fundraiser missing millions

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Call her “Esther” or Madonna and still, the high priestess of Jewish mysticism is wading in troubled waters.

This morning, the Malawian government rejected Madonna’s petition to adopt a second Malawi-born child. The ruling judge said he felt the 4-year-old child, Chifundo “Mercy” James, was being well taken care of in a Malawian orphanage where she was receiving an education and lived near her relatives.

Seriously? An ORPHANAGE better than the life Madonna could provide?

Not so fast. It looks like there may be another reason why the Malawian government is incensed at the Material Girl, and perhaps, used a routine adoption as an opportunity for revenge.

Earlier this week FOX News reported that millions of dollars from Madonna’s 2008 “Raising Malawi” fundraiser had vanished:

Before Madonna ‘adopts’ another child from Malawi, maybe someone should ask her where the money went from her big star studded 2008 fundraiser for that country. We tried: this column has tried to ascertain from The Gucci Foundation and from Madonna’s Kabbalah-backed Raising Malawi, where the estimated $3.7 million has gone from the February 6, 2008 extravaganza. So far: No answers.

The 2008 event, co-sponsored by The Gucci Foundation and UNICEF was a lavish New York City affair. Many of Madonna’s A-list friends were there including fellow Kabbalists Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, as well as offbeat religionists Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

The Huffington Post reported:

Celebrities paid $2,500 to $10,000 each to dine on grappa-cured salmon, wild striped bass, tart of goat cheese, foraged mushrooms, truffled mashed potatoes and sticky toffee pudding with creme fraiche…

Tom Cruise bid $100,000 for a sports package that included the privilege of hanging out at Yankee Stadium with Alex Rodriguez and a private hour playing soccer with David Beckham, but lost out to a bidder who ponied up $350,000.

“It was an extraordinary evening. The whole evening was quite moving,” Cruise told The Associated Press, accompanied by his wife, Katie Holmes, who agreed. Cruise called the United Nations “an absolute necessity” because of the staff who dedicate their lives to building peace.

A trip to Paris with a tour of a vineyard and lunch with Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek went for $120,000. The priciest auction item was a $600,000 winning bid to tour with Madonna and take a dance class with her and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The party was clearly a success, but the benefit part was not. Perhaps the Malawian government doesn’t trust Madonna. They’ve probably been wondering why it has taken over a year to account for all that auction money – and now they’re pissed because it’s still missing.

And then there’s the highfalutin Kabbalah Centre, who is equally responsible. Raising Malawi was co-created by Madonna and Michael Berg, the spiritual guru of The Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles and is described as the organization’s official charitable foundation.

Yet according to the FOX News report, there was trouble at the get-go.

The fundraiser had some problems, however. Even though Raising Malawi had been in business for two years, it was still not approved as a sanctioned non-profit at the time. Instead, Gucci formed its own Foundation — known as a 501 c3 — to collect the money. They brought UNICEF on board to give the event a feeling of legitimacy. But in the end, the efforts expended were for Raising Malawi, an organization founded by the Kabbalah Center of Los Angeles. Raising Malawi teaches the Kabbalah curriculum, called Spirituality for Kids, to Malawi orphans.

Now, fourteen months after the fundraiser, there’s no accounting for the money that came in. At the time, Gucci claimed that they’d underwritten the entire event, that $3.7 million had been raised and that it had been split between Raising Malawi and UNICEF.

But since then, the Gucci Foundation has still not filed a Form 990 tax statement, and neither has Raising Malawi. Calls to Gucci haven’t provided any information, and calls and emails to Raising Malawi haven’t been returned.

In any case, the Kabbalah Centre should be able to answer where the $3.7 million went. But surprise, surprise – they’re not talking either.

Two phone calls I made to The Kabbalah Centre were misdirected. The person with whom I was told to speak had no voicemail. I then called Philippe van den Bossche, the L.A.-based executive director of “Raising Malawi” and was told he is currently traveling. So I emailed Mr. van den Bossche along with the foundation’s public relations contact, and so far…not a word.

Where the money went and why no one is talking is a bit of a mystery. Or really bad PR. Is it mere coincidence that in the same week this report leaked, Madonna’s Malawi adoption was rejected? She didn’t have any trouble a few years ago when she adopted David Banda. In fact, the courts then waived the residency requirement they are now insisting she comply with.

It seems the government feels Madonna’s good intentions with the African country are dubious at best and careless at worst. For her part, Madonna promises to appeal their decision.

 

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April 2, 2009 | 11:15 am

Scarlett Johansson ads to her resume

Posted by Danielle Berrin

Ever wonder how Scarlett Johansson, a beautiful, but unremarkable talent, became the perfect post-millennial movie star?

Her film career is only partly responsible. While her turn in “Lost in Translation”—the Sofia Coppola film that made her—was Johansson’s finest moment on screen, her qualities as an actress haven’t advanced much in the 16 films she’s made since then. She has, however, established a brand playing glamorous roles—the queen, the temptress, the muse—but in mostly dull films like “The Island,” “The Prestige,” and “The Other Boleyn Girl.” With only a smattering of respectable fare, and a savvy partnership with Woody Allen, Johansson has parlayed her film brand into commercial iconography.

And she chose well: There was a music video with Bob Dylan, and another with Justin Timberlake; TV commercials for Gap, Calvin Klein and L’oreal; and really sexy print ads for Louis Vuitton, Dolce and Gabbana and Estee Lauder. In each of those, she cast herself as her preferred version of starlet and the images are irresistible. The creation of her own music album solidified her status as a fully fleshed out character; Johansson wisely realized a chanteuse is more powerful than a silent type.

And now her latest role—a champagne spurting goddess for Moet & Chandon—will serve her better than any Oscar. Because bankability is everything in Hollywood and in this, Johansson is not scarlet, she’s golden. 

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