Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

Antisemitism and Hollywood—Part 1:
Gentleman’s Agreement
Daniel Vahab*
In the 1947 Academy Awarding–winning film Gentleman’s Agreement,
a star reporter is assigned a series on antisemitism. The editor of the
magazine tells Phil Green that he doesn’t just want the pieces filled with
statistics, that anyone can find facts and figures to make a case on the prevalence
of antisemitism. Instead, he wants Green to explore the human
aspect of the hate, the visceral feelings against Jews. In order to really,
personally experience the emotions needed to write the exposes right, to do
them justice, Green must feel the injustice of being a Jew. Thus, he pretends
he and his family are Jewish. After he goes to check into a country club and
is revealed as Jewish, he finds the place is suddenly at full capacity. Other
times, he applies for jobs that are vacant for non-Jews but not Jews. His son
is called a “dirty Jew” at school and comes home crying. There are neighborhoods
where no Jews reside, and it’s no coincidence. Some people simply
won’t rent to Jews.
In the end, Green fools everyone. His secretary believes he’s Jewish,
the staff reporters, his super, everyone. But nothing about him has changed.
He looks the same; he has the same hair, face, bone structure, personality,
sounds the same—everything, in fact, is the same.
Only now he’s Jewish.
And while Green delved deep into antisemitism and personally felt the
pinch, critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times complained, in 1947,
that Green’s character failed to fully explore antisemitism. Crowther noted
that Green’s purview of observation and analysis was flawed in that it was
based solely on high society in business and social settings. This, he
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