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Wednesday, May 21, 2025

The Museum of Jewish History opens tomorrow the exhibition "Jewishwood. The Jewish contribution to the birth of Hollywood"

The exhibition tells the story of the Jewish pioneers who became the fathers of the Hollywood industrial production system

The Museum of Jewish History opens tomorrow afternoon (5:30 p.m.) the exhibition “Jewishwood. The Jewish Contribution to the Birth of Hollywood.” The exhibition tells the story of the Jewish pioneers who became the fathers of the Hollywood industrial production system. This exhibition is the result of the collaboration between the Cinema Museum and the Museum of Jewish History and can be visited until February 1, 2026.

Carl Laemmle (Universal), Adolph Zukor (Paramount Pictures), William Fox (Fox Film Corporation), Louis B. Mayer, Samuel Goldwyn, Marcus Loew (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Harry Cohn (Columbia Pictures Corporation) and the Warner Brothers (Warner Brothers) worked in many trades before entering the film exhibition business. All of them promoted popular cinema and challenged Edison’s monopoly. Fleeing the pressures of the trust, they decided to move to Los Angeles to found different studios there. There they created a large industry that controlled the production, distribution and exhibition of films between 1920 and 1960.

The exhibition also presents different prominent producers such as Irving G. Thalberg, David O. Selznick, Sol Wurtzel, Hal B. Wallis, John Houseman, Sam Spiegel, Samuel Bronston, Arthur Krim and Robert Evans, all of whom were significant in the renewal and consolidation of the industry and in their technological and cultural contribution to the golden age of Hollywood.

“This exhibition allows us to discover the fundamental contribution of the Jewish world to the birth of Hollywood, a fascinating and often little explained part of the history of cinema. From the City Council I want to celebrate the collaboration between the two reference museums of the city to offer a first-class cultural proposal that connects Girona with the memory, creativity and transformative force of the city”, remarked the Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Culture of the City Council, Quim Ayats Bartrina.

The production was carried out by the Museum of Jewish History (Patronat Call de Girona) and was curated by Jordi Dorca Costa. The concept and design were carried out by Cristina Masferrer, from the creative studio El Vol. The images and objects on display come from the Museu del Cinema - Col·lección Tomàs Mallol and the Col·lección Vicenç Arroyo. The documentation of the collections was carried out by Montse Puigdevall Noguer and Júlia Jordan Sánchez. The audiovisuals were produced by Salvador Àngel Batlle, while the graphics were developed by Brugué Marco S.L. The locksmithing was carried out by Joan Bosch Matamala.