A controversy has developed between the film industry and the “Sunday Express” over the alleged anti-Semitism of the paper’s film critic, Cedric Belfradge, formerly of Hollywood, who is also the critic of the government controlled radio station.
Speaking over the radio last week, Belfradge attacked the “oligarchy of rapacious Jews of filmland in America and England.”
While Jewish leaders are contemplating drawing the attention of the government to racial prejudice over the government controlled radio, the film trade has taken matters into its own hands and demanded of the “Sunday Express” that it withdraw Belfradge as film critic. This the paper refused to do. Whereupon the largest American film producers, such as Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, Universal and Warner Brothers all united to boycott the paper and have withdrawn their advertisements.
Negotiations which have been going on between the management of the “Express” and the film producers have failed to produce any compromise.
Today’s “World’s Press News” discusses the matter and expresses disapproval both of the Belfradge attack and the manner in which the film trade has chosen to meet it. It expresses doubt that the trade’s action will produce the proper results.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews contemplates raising the question of anti-Semitic broadcasts in Parliament.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
