Local journalist and author Neal Karlen writes in the Washinton Post about the mysteriously fertile ground of St. Louis Park that has nourished an impressive group of Jews: filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman and political maven Norm Ornstein.
The WaPo article, which delves into the Yiddish prologue scene in A Serious Man, (the Coens consulted with Neal’s father, Dr. Markle Karlen, about the script), also drops other local Jewish names — Amdur, Samsky, Turchick — which relate to Karlen and the Coens.
Karlen mentions the little-known fact that the Coens financed their first feature film, Blood Simple, by enlisting investors in the local Jewish community.
In another St. Louis Park note, the American Jewish World offices are located around the corner from B’nai Emet Synagogue, where the Coens shot the movie’s Bar Mitzva and funeral scenes. We published photos of local extras in their 1960s finery last fall. About 250 extras were hired for the shul scenes.
Also, the film’s prop department contacted the AJW about providing copies of the newspaper from 1967; but the film company did not have a budget for the scanning of archival copies and a small printing run. So, the Jewish World was not in the picture. It would have been a wonderful, culturally specific detail. Perhaps, we can work something out for the sequel, Son of a Serious Man. — Mordecai Specktor
Ethan and Joel Coen discuss a scene for A Serious Man, which brought them back to their hometown of St. Louis Park. (Photo: Wilson Webb)
Ethan and Joel Coen discuss a scene for A Serious Man, which brought them back to their hometown of St. Louis Park. (Photo: Wilson Webb)
