Jack H. Skirball
| Jack H. Skirball | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jack Harold Skirball 1896 Homestead, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died |
December 1985 Century City, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Hebrew Union College |
| Occupation | Rabbi, film producer, real estate developer, philanthropist |
| Religion | Reform Judaism |
| Spouse(s) | Audrey Marx |
| Children | 2 daughters |
Jack H. Skirball (1896-1985) was an American rabbi, film producer, real estate developer and philanthropist.
Early life
Jack H. Skirball was born in 1896 in Homestead, Pennsylvania.[1][2][3] His father was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia.[4] His mother was an immigrant from England.[4] His father died when he was seven years old.[4] Shortly after, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio with his mother and nine siblings.[4]
Skirball attended the University of Cincinnati and Western Reserve College in Cleveland, Ohio, but he dropped out.[1][3] He studied at the Hebrew Union College, and he was ordained as a rabbi, following his mother's wishes.[3][4][5] He then attended graduate school at the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and sociology.[1]
Career
Skirball went to Israel with Abba Hillel Silver in 1919.[4] Back in the United States, he served Reform synagogues in Cleveland, Ohio and Evansville, Indiana in the 1920s.[2]
After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1938, he became a film producer.[2] He served as general manager of the Educational Films Corporation of America, where he produced The Birth of a Baby, an educational film about childbearing in 1938.[6][7]
Skirball served as vice president of Grand National Pictures, followed by president of Arcadia Pictures.[1][2] He was associate producer of The Howards of Virginia, a 1940 film starring Carry Grant.[5] A year later, in 1941, he produced This Woman is Mine.[2] By 1942, he was associate producer of Saboteur, a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.[5] A year later, in 1943, he produced Shadow of a Doubt, another film directed by Hitchcock.[2] He also produced Magnificent Doll in 1946, The Secret Fury in 1950, and Payment on Demand in 1951.[2] He also produced A Matter of Time starring Liza Minnelli in 1976.[5]
Skirball was the co-producer of Jacobowsky and the Colonel, a Broadway musical, alongside Jed Harris in 1944.[2]
Skirball was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[4] He believed that all films should be educational and that they should convey information in a way that is understandable to any audience member.[7]
Skirball was also a real estate developer.[4] In 1962, he developed the Vacation Village Hotel in Mission Bay, San Diego, California.[4] By 1983, he sold it for US$51 million.[5]
Philanthropy
Skirball founded the Los Angeles School of Hebrew Union College.[2] By 1972, he founded the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum,[4] a museum of Jewish life near the campus of the University of Southern California.[5] His goal was to show Christians and Jews that they shared much in common, and to ""dissipate" anti-Semitism."[4] He later donated US$3.5 million to move it to a 15-acre plot of land in Brentwood, off the Sepulveda Pass, where it was renamed the Skirball Cultural Center.[5]
In 1985, Skirball founded the Skirball Institute on American Values, a program of the American Jewish Committee.[8] He appointed rabbi Alfred Wolf was its director until 1996, when the latter was replaced by Eugene Mornell.[8] The Skirball Institute organized inter-faith conferences, essay contests for high school students, academic research on American values, and offered scholarships to college students.[8]
Personal life
Skirball married Audrey Marx (1915–2002).[2] They had two daughters, Sally Cochran and Agnes Skirball.[2] They resided in a condominium in Century City, Los Angeles.[2][4] Their horses competed at the Santa Anita Park.[4]
Death and legacy
Skirball died in December 1985.[2] His funeral was held at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.[5]
The Alliance Jack H. Skirball Middle School in Los Angeles and the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City are named in his honor.[3][9] Moreover, in 2011, the Skirball Foundation donated US$10 million to the Los Angeles School of Hebrew Union College, which was renamed in his honor.[1][10]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Chottiner, Lee (January 14, 2011). "L.A. Reform seminary renamed for Homestead–born rabbi". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "JACK H. SKIRBALL". The New York Times. December 10, 1985. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "About Our Namesake". Skirball Cultural Center. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Beyette, Beverly (November 17, 1985). "Film Maker, Philanthropist : For Ex-Rabbi Skirball, Life's a Big Production". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Folkart, Burt A. (December 10, 1985). "Left Rabbinate to Produce Films : Philanthropist Jack Skirball Dies at 89". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
- ↑ Sartain, Geraldine (November 1938). "The Cinema Explodes the Stork Myth". The Journal of Educational Sociology. 12 (3): 142–146. JSTOR 2261881. (registration required (help)).
- 1 2 "Regent Theatre To Show "The Birth of a Baby"". The Ottawa Journal. Ottawa, Canada. June 9, 1942. p. 15. Retrieved December 15, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 "A Finding Aid to the Skirball Institute on American Values". American Jewish Archives. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
- ↑ "Jack H Skirball Middle School". Alliance College-Ready Public Schools. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
- ↑ "The President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion cordially invites you to the naming of our Los Angeles campus in tribute to and in loving memory of Jack H. Skirball". Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion. Retrieved December 18, 2015.