Just as working class Sicilians formed the Mafia to give themselves a sense of togetherness and protect themselves from bullying landowners, so the Jews who created Hollywood did so partly as a buffer against the protestant elite. Hollywood become a kingdom of their own. And, like Sicilian immigrants, the first generation studio bosses decided to police themselves rather than let outsiders in.
Mafia and the studios have sometimes structured themselves in the same way, with a nominal chief executive acting as a lighting rod-deflecting away from the powerful board. Therefore, Louis B. Mayer may have been the public face of MGM-and for many years, the highest paid executive in America-but its real boss was Nick Schenck, chairman of holding company Loew's in New York. In much the same way, Frank Nitti was the supposed head of the Chicago Outfit, but the real power lay with board members Joe "Batters" Accardo and Murray "the Camel" Humphreys.
Even today, there are similarities between Hollywood and the Mafia. Although there are few barriers to entry into the movie business, at the highest levels Hollywood becomes Costa Nostra, literally translated as 'This Thing of Ours'. One of the famous lines in
The Godfather is 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' So today's studio heads attend each other's charity dinners, celebrity golf matches and even go to holiday together.
When former agent Brad Grey took over Paramount in 2005, one of the first things that he did was pay his respects to the other studio bosses-the new godfather doing the rounds of the other dons.
Variety, Hollywood's daily newspaper, refers to studio producer executives as 'capos', an abbreviation of the Mafia term
capo regime, or street boss.
The key resemblance between Hollywood and the Mafia is that both are to an extent secret societies, whose members never peak to outsiders. In Mafia parlance, the inner circle has sworn to keep
omerta. Don Corleone tells his son never to let anybody outside the family know what he is thinking. In much the same way, Hollywood expels those who break the Sacred Code of Silence. When producer Julia Philips, who won an Academy award for The Sting, wrote an autobiography,
You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, ridiculing studio executives, the community shunned her. Philips died of cancer in 2002.
Casey Anthony's brother Lee Anthony has deposed in the case against his sister filed by the ex nanny Zenaida Gonzalez. He firmly said that he believe what his sister says. That has more than helped Casey's case. But on the other hand, he also denied recognizing Zenaida Gonzalez as the baby sitter whom his sister described as the one who took Caylee, Casey's daughter.
Zenaida Gonzalez's lawyer is going to take up the issue of Lee not answering one vital question. Lee Anthony was asked straight whether he believed that his sister Casey killed her daughter Caylee. Lee didn't answer this question.The Caylee marie Case: Three years old Caylee Marie went missing in June 2008. He mother Casey Anthony didn't report her disappearnce for a month, which is suspicious and led the police to make a case against Casey. In December last year the cops found out Caylee's remains buried some houses away from her home.
That's news to me. The mainstay of Philadelphia Eagles'defense is leaving his team for better pay check at Denver Broncos. Well this is the trend now a days. But it is more heart wrenching in this case. Brian Dawkins has been with Philadelphia Eagles from the first day of his professional career. Rumors are rife that he will be taking Ray Lewis along with him. The aging star is likely to retire with Denver Broncos as there is no other alternative for him now. Make hay while the sunshine. Brian Dawkins
We used to watch Ankahi, Tanhaiyaan and Dhoop Kinare at least once every year on rented video player. I never got the names of actors as they were in Urdu. Years later when Marina khan acted in an Indian serial Tanha,that I got to know her name. I was googling about her today and Shehnaz Shekh's name turned up in one of her interviews.It is really surprising that Shehnaz Shekh acted in only two dramas. She is one of my favorite Pakistani actresses. I was also surprised to find out that she was the original choice for Heena. I am sure if she had accepted the role, the movie would have been one of the biggest hits instead of the dud flop that was made.
Sometimes when I hear a song played somewhere, I get nostalgic feelings related to the song. Most often the past memory associated with the song is related to a place I lived before. Sometimes a song reminds me of my state of mind at a particular time. Whenever I hear the song Awaaz do humko, hum Kho Gaye, kab neend se jage kab so gaye from the movie Dushman( starring Kajol, Jas Arora and Sanjay Dutt), I feel a jab of pain in my heart. I was passing through a low period in my life at the time when this movie was released. The song became a major hit and used to play everywhere.
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