The Jewish Museum opened an exhibit last night of photographs, paintings, documents, posters and voice tapes portraying “The Lower East Side: Portal in American Life (1870-1924)” of the immigrant Jews who settled in that part of Manhattan.
One of the highlights is a film of Zero Mostel reading, mostly in English, letters from the Bintel Brief, the complaints and queries sent in by readers of the Jewish Daily Forward. The photographs depict the streets, homes, schools, work and theater of the lower East Side.
The paintings include works by William Gropper, Jacob Epstein, Edward Hopper, Childe Hassam, Chaim Gross, John Sloan, Charles Ulrich, Max Weber and others depicting the lower East Side during its Jewish heyday. The exhibit will continue until November 6.
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