When Victims Rule (pdf)

JEWISH INFLUENCE IN THE MASS MEDIA (PT. 3)
chairman of Britain’s Jewish Care organization. [BRIGHT, p. T2] Levy “made his
personal fortune propelling pop acts – Alvin Stardust, Chris Rea, Darts and Bad
Manners – to stardom.” [DAVIS, D., 2-10-2000, p. 5]“At one point [he] was selling
8% of all records in the UK.” [RED STAR RESEARCH] In 1991 British producer
Ian Levine began recording old Black Motown record label acts for his new
Motorcity label. Levine gathered over 100 former stars to Detroit. “I was in control
of the entire Motown family,” he chortled, “[I brought] it back together again,
and the press and the fans were standing there in awe.” [BULL, p. 14]
Perhaps the most famous agent/manager/record executive is David Geffen
(also Jewish), former manager of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and many others,
who founded Asylum, and later, Geffen Records (the artist stable included
Jackson Browne, the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, and many others).
(Alan Cohen “structured the Asylum Records joint venture buyout [with Warner
and] left Warner to become head of Madison Square Garden”). [KING, T.,
2000, p. 287] Dennis McDougal notes that Geffen “spotted Aerosmith, XTC,
Nirvana, and dozens of other pop acts in their infancy and nurtured them to
monied maturity and more than fifty gold record albums … In 1989 alone, Geffen
worldwide record sales came to over $225 million.” [MCDOUGAL, p. 474]
A key Geffen partner was Elliot Roberts (Rabinowitz) – he was the “pre-eminent
manager of L.A.-based folk rock in the seventies,” including, even later,
Neil Young and Tracy Chapman. [GRAHAM/GREENFIELD, p. 553] The president
of Geffen Records was Eddie Rosenblatt. Geffen’s business manager was
Jerry Rubenstein. Gil Segel helped to get him into real estate. [KING, T., 2000,
p. 160, 184] “The funny thing,” says Geffen, “is that I had to forge a letter that I
graduated from UCLA [to get an early job], and today I’m on the Board of Regents
of UCLA.” [SMITH, p. 303] (“He used his friendship with [his client]
Linda Ronstadt, who was then dating California governor Jerry Brown, to obtain
a seat on the University board of regents.”) [KING, T., 2000, p. 316]
Jews even came to prominence behind the scenes in the world of country
music. The first important Jewish figure in Nashville was Paul Cohen, the A&R
man for Decca in 1945-58 (the Decca company in the United States was founded
in Chicago by Jack Kapp in 1934). Cohen, who lived in New York and visited
Nashville for a few weeks at a time, was “called by some ‘the King of Nashville.’”
[JONES, M., p. 73] Margaret Jones notes that
“As head of A&R for Decca’s country division, Cohen was responsible
for a blue chip roster of talent that included the top acts of the time:
Ernest Tubb, Red Foley and Webb Pierce … In 1952, Cohen signed the
one and only female star of country to Decca, Kitty Wells, and by 1954
he had two other solo girl performers under contract: Goldie Hill and
Wanda Jackson … After Cohen signed Webb Pierce, Pierce became the
hottest artist in country … [JONES, M., p. 74] … Nashville was Cohen’s
‘fishing hole,’ and he galvanized the town, convincing Ernest Tubb to
record there; soon all the other acts fell into line.” [JONES, M., p. 73]
“Paul was one of the first Jewish guys who actually came in to Nashville,
once they saw country music was getting to doing something,” recalled singer
1408