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amother
Strawberry
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 Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:19 am
My girls watched the film on chanukah vacation with friends and they went wild!
These are kids that watch plenty of stuff already
Job well done op
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amother
Ginger
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:24 am
This thread is wow!
I grew up reading the book, Eva Vogel and Ruth Steinberg were my grandmother's good friends 
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amother
Stone
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:34 am
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Started a rewatch because of this thread and already noticed my high school chemistry teacher in the first 5 minutes (one of the ladies that comes in). I think I knew that but forgot but totally makes sense as she was a trained professional in acting before being frum and she directed our drama plays in high school as well while she worked there. Brings back some great memories.
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amother
Seafoam
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:35 am
MEEEEE
Morah Pollak's class!
how old are you?
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amother
NeonGreen
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 9:52 am
I just had fun scrolling through Abby Shapiro’s instagram.
I grew up rewatching this film so many times, since we did not watch anything secular.
Robyn garbose is a legend.
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chili-n-cholent
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 10:51 am
I have this vague memory of the first showing in BP on chol hamoed and I wonder if anybody can fill in the details.
They heavily advertised and everybody was really excited to go.
I went with some friends, the showing was in Sara Schenirer hall.
And if I recall correctly, some rabbanim or something decided to cancel the whole thing?
I'm really vague on the details I just remember sitting there for an hour waiting for it to begin and then they sent everybody home and told us to come back the next day.
We went back the next day and watched it in total overcrowding, the aisles were full and people sat on the floor but everybody was super excited about it.
Does anyone know more details about what happened?
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amother
OP
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 11:05 am
| sushilover wrote: |
Were the actors paid? (answered)
Were any of the actors not frum/ professionals hired for the part? |
Here are all the non-campers I can think of that appeared in the film:
- Russian soldier: Sabrina Mansfield (with a fake mustache), one of the producers
- Miss Grimshaw: Judy Winegard, our singing teacher at Kol Neshama. Baalas teshuva, professionally trained and performed on Broadway
- Lady Tilda Beamish (tall one): Bracha Goldschen, our dance teacher and choreographer, also a Baalas Teshuva.
- Higgins, the Coachman: Judy Winegard’s husband
- Mrs. Bevington-Pryce: Roya Geiderman, not KN staff. Professional actress (soap operas and more)
- Mrs. Wilberforce: Barb (Barbara) Heller, not KN staff. Professional actress/singer/teacher (has done voice acting for Dreamworks and Disney)
- Nero the dog: Remington!! Trained canine actor!! Will lick your face for peanut butter!
- Nurse Brown: Gita Isak, not KN staff
- Avraham Aronowitch: Elliot Kotek, professional actor
- Morris Grubner: ????? (Never met him myself)
| Quote: | | Did anyone go on to have a career in film? |
From A Light for Greytowers:
- Miriam (Abby (Shapiro) Roth) is on YouTube and Instagram as @classicallyabby
- Anya (Rivka (Siegel) Krinsky) was in more Kol Neshama films; she’s currently a professional painter who does beautiful Judaica art https://www.rivkakrinsky.com/
- Miss Grimshaw (Judy Winegard) was in more Kol Neshama films
- Chaya Solika Garbose (director’s daughter) was one of the “little orphans”, and she had major roles in The Heart that Sings and Operation: Candlelight
- several of us are in Kol Neshama’s Camp Bnos Yisroel videos, but those are more like episodes of a tv series, not “films”
Most of us are just normal people with normal jobs… even the youngest kids from the movie are 20+ by now.
Some other people who attended/worked at Kol Neshama for other years that you may have heard of:
- Shaindel Antelis (staff)
- Leah Gottfried (director/actress from the Modern Orthodox web series Soon by You)
I haven’t kept track of everyone… and I don’t know all the movies made in New York and Israel, so if alumnae from out-of-town participated in non-LA-based projects, I wouldn’t necessarily know them all
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amother
Pistachio
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 11:06 am
No, it was Miss Spiegel... guess we're not the same class then 
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amother
OP
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 11:11 am
| chili-n-cholent wrote: | I have this vague memory of the first showing in BP on chol hamoed and I wonder if anybody can fill in the details.
They heavily advertised and everybody was really excited to go.
I went with some friends, the showing was in Sara Schenirer hall.
And if I recall correctly, some rabbanim or something decided to cancel the whole thing?
I'm really vague on the details I just remember sitting there for an hour waiting for it to begin and then they sent everybody home and told us to come back the next day.
We went back the next day and watched it in total overcrowding, the aisles were full and people sat on the floor but everybody was super excited about it.
Does anyone know more details about what happened? |
The fact that there were male actors in the movie was very controversial.
https://m.jpost.com/arts-and-c.....nette
When the film debuted in Borough Park during the Pessah vacation a major crisis was barely avoided.
After the first screening for a crowd of about 700 women, Garbose answered questions. "I spoke about the beauty of creative expression and I mentioned Hollywood studios like Warner Brothers and Disney," recalls Garbose, who has vowed to never again hold a Q and A for a haredi audience.
“One woman stood up and asked why there were men in the film. I explained that the few men were simply there to serve the plot, and it was done under rabbinic supervision. She did not like the idea that there were any men at all on screen." Garbose says that artistically it does not work to have a woman dress up as a man in a film. "It is simply not convincing and it hurts the credibility of the characters. Furthermore, I had followed strict guidelines as to how the men would be cast and filmed. I tried to explain to the woman that the film had received the approbation of leading rabbis. But she was unconvinced."
The woman who queried Garbose complained to the highest levels of the Bobov Hassidic movement, the strongest in the Borough Park area. Garbose received word that her film was causing some concern. She realized that if a ban was issued, crime scene tape would be wrapped around the entrance to the yeshiva where the film was being shown and "modesty police" would announce on bullhorns that her movie was prohibited.
Garbose's distributor contacted Bobov's leadership and pleaded that her livelihood was at stake and that she would be forced to sue for lost ticket revenues. She arranged for rabbis from Los Angeles who gave their approbation to the film to contact Bobov in Borough Park to convince them of the film's purity. It is rumored that the wife of Bobov's leader was a key participant in the discussions.
"I was in a major crisis," recalls Garbose. "It seemed to me that everything I had worked for was in danger of being destroyed. If Bobov banned my film, it would be a death kiss for other haredi venues. I said to myself, 'I have to see the rebbe.'"
As the threat of a rabbinic boycott loomed in Borough Park, Garbose drove out to Montefiore Cemetery in Queens where Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last head of Chabad Hassidism, was buried. During the ride, she learned that due to the film's modesty, positive message and the financial risk involved, it would not be prohibited; rather a mild disclaimer was put out. "When I drove back to Borough Park for the screening, the hall was a mob scene. If anything, the notices sent out by Bobov had created a tremendous buzz and the place was packed with over a thousand women and girls.
"And when the movie was over and all those holy women with their radiant faces exited the theater and showered me with blessings, I was overcome with emotions."
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amother
OP
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 12:00 pm
| Rappel wrote: | | Have you gone on to do other performing arts in life, or was this just summer fun? |
Performing arts and creative expression are foundational parts of my personality, even when I’m not actively involved in public showcases.
In addition to Kol Neshama in the summer, I taught in KN’s school-year Sunday programs and participated in all my school productions (BYLA Halleli).
I got married shortly after my second year in Eretz Yisrael, and though I left Los Angeles and wasn’t on camera in any more Kol Neshama productions, I worked as remote office staff for them while getting involved in the frum female arts wherever I lived.
Resume off the top of my head:
- choreographer on Comedance 2 (Brooklyn)
- backup dancer for Malky Giniger concert
- drama club/production director for Reenas Bais Yaakov in Edison, NJ (at least 3 shows)
- co-choreographer for at least 2 schools in Lakewood (at least 2 shows for each school)
- acting teacher in a summer camp in Lakewood
- director/producer/choreographer for 4 shows at HSBY Chicago
- performed in women’s Orot Dance Studio performance (2 years)
I haven’t done any big projects lately.
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yellowroses
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 12:02 pm
| amother OP wrote: | The fact that there were male actors in the movie was very controversial.
https://m.jpost.com/arts-and-c.....nette
When the film debuted in Borough Park during the Pessah vacation a major crisis was barely avoided.
After the first screening for a crowd of about 700 women, Garbose answered questions. "I spoke about the beauty of creative expression and I mentioned Hollywood studios like Warner Brothers and Disney," recalls Garbose, who has vowed to never again hold a Q and A for a haredi audience.
“One woman stood up and asked why there were men in the film. I explained that the few men were simply there to serve the plot, and it was done under rabbinic supervision. She did not like the idea that there were any men at all on screen." Garbose says that artistically it does not work to have a woman dress up as a man in a film. "It is simply not convincing and it hurts the credibility of the characters. Furthermore, I had followed strict guidelines as to how the men would be cast and filmed. I tried to explain to the woman that the film had received the approbation of leading rabbis. But she was unconvinced."
The woman who queried Garbose complained to the highest levels of the Bobov Hassidic movement, the strongest in the Borough Park area. Garbose received word that her film was causing some concern. She realized that if a ban was issued, crime scene tape would be wrapped around the entrance to the yeshiva where the film was being shown and "modesty police" would announce on bullhorns that her movie was prohibited.
Garbose's distributor contacted Bobov's leadership and pleaded that her livelihood was at stake and that she would be forced to sue for lost ticket revenues. She arranged for rabbis from Los Angeles who gave their approbation to the film to contact Bobov in Borough Park to convince them of the film's purity. It is rumored that the wife of Bobov's leader was a key participant in the discussions.
"I was in a major crisis," recalls Garbose. "It seemed to me that everything I had worked for was in danger of being destroyed. If Bobov banned my film, it would be a death kiss for other haredi venues. I said to myself, 'I have to see the rebbe.'"
As the threat of a rabbinic boycott loomed in Borough Park, Garbose drove out to Montefiore Cemetery in Queens where Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last head of Chabad Hassidism, was buried. During the ride, she learned that due to the film's modesty, positive message and the financial risk involved, it would not be prohibited; rather a mild disclaimer was put out. "When I drove back to Borough Park for the screening, the hall was a mob scene. If anything, the notices sent out by Bobov had created a tremendous buzz and the place was packed with over a thousand women and girls.
"And when the movie was over and all those holy women with their radiant faces exited the theater and showered me with blessings, I was overcome with emotions." |
Wow, I am so glad that she did not cave under this pressure. It really is stupid having women play men in a movie.
Her movies are alle very deep and moving and one hundred percent tzanua.
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chili-n-cholent
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 12:20 pm
| amother OP wrote: | The fact that there were male actors in the movie was very controversial.
https://m.jpost.com/arts-and-c.....nette
When the film debuted in Borough Park during the Pessah vacation a major crisis was barely avoided.
After the first screening for a crowd of about 700 women, Garbose answered questions. "I spoke about the beauty of creative expression and I mentioned Hollywood studios like Warner Brothers and Disney," recalls Garbose, who has vowed to never again hold a Q and A for a haredi audience.
“One woman stood up and asked why there were men in the film. I explained that the few men were simply there to serve the plot, and it was done under rabbinic supervision. She did not like the idea that there were any men at all on screen." Garbose says that artistically it does not work to have a woman dress up as a man in a film. "It is simply not convincing and it hurts the credibility of the characters. Furthermore, I had followed strict guidelines as to how the men would be cast and filmed. I tried to explain to the woman that the film had received the approbation of leading rabbis. But she was unconvinced."
The woman who queried Garbose complained to the highest levels of the Bobov Hassidic movement, the strongest in the Borough Park area. Garbose received word that her film was causing some concern. She realized that if a ban was issued, crime scene tape would be wrapped around the entrance to the yeshiva where the film was being shown and "modesty police" would announce on bullhorns that her movie was prohibited.
Garbose's distributor contacted Bobov's leadership and pleaded that her livelihood was at stake and that she would be forced to sue for lost ticket revenues. She arranged for rabbis from Los Angeles who gave their approbation to the film to contact Bobov in Borough Park to convince them of the film's purity. It is rumored that the wife of Bobov's leader was a key participant in the discussions.
"I was in a major crisis," recalls Garbose. "It seemed to me that everything I had worked for was in danger of being destroyed. If Bobov banned my film, it would be a death kiss for other haredi venues. I said to myself, 'I have to see the rebbe.'"
As the threat of a rabbinic boycott loomed in Borough Park, Garbose drove out to Montefiore Cemetery in Queens where Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last head of Chabad Hassidism, was buried. During the ride, she learned that due to the film's modesty, positive message and the financial risk involved, it would not be prohibited; rather a mild disclaimer was put out. "When I drove back to Borough Park for the screening, the hall was a mob scene. If anything, the notices sent out by Bobov had created a tremendous buzz and the place was packed with over a thousand women and girls.
"And when the movie was over and all those holy women with their radiant faces exited the theater and showered me with blessings, I was overcome with emotions." |
Wow that is a fascinating backstory!
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amother
Blushpink
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 12:48 pm
My 4th grade daughter's teacher still reads it to them everyday! Tradition!!
My HS did this play over 25 years ago. Best play ever, best memories ever, especially the dog scene.
Thank you OP for this truly entertaining thread!
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amother
OP
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 4:10 pm
| Quote: | | gr82no wrote: | | Something ive always wondered about what is the point of that thing that you snap shut right after before every scene |
This thing? 🎬
Good question!
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Continuing with more double-system recording info:
The director has earphones and a monitor on set so that she can hear exactly what the microphones are picking up, and what image the camera is capturing.
(The cinematographer sits behind the camera, moves it, etc. The director has to take in everything at once.)
The microphones are very sensitive, and even if we couldn’t hear it, the director or sound technician would often call out “pause for plane” if the mic was picking up the sound of a plane flying overhead. Besides interfering with dialogue, it would be distractingly anachronistic to hear an airplane in Victorian England!
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amother
OP
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 7:38 pm
There were entire musical numbers that we rehearsed but ended up “on the cutting room floor”.
The song that plays during the credits had an entire dance number that would have taken place in the dormitory. We learned and rehearsed it in the dance studio, but the audience never got to see it.
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jayle
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Thu, Dec 28 2023, 8:07 pm
This is funny, I grew up in Manchester and Ruth Steinberg and Eva Vogel used to write and direct the plays yearly, I was in two of them as an ex sem girl.
Ruth Steinberg was also my teacher in school.
Funnily enough this past year my children's school in Europe used A light of grey towers as their production, I directed 2 of the scenes, but I didn't remember the original.
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amother
Burntblack
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Sat, Dec 30 2023, 5:48 pm
I used to have a crush on Raizy Marquis who acted in Operation Candlelight and The heart that sings! OP please post more pics from behind the scenes 
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amother
DarkRed
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Sat, Dec 30 2023, 7:13 pm
| amother DarkCyan wrote: | Thank you op for this thread! I feel like I’m a child again and it brings up so many memories.
In a very young grade, our teacher read us the book every day a few minutes before dismissal. Later when my mom bought the film I was ecstatic! Miss Grimshaw was an official character throughout my childhood. |
Same!!! Loved the movie! We still have the DVD.
And my 3rd grade teacher in Brooklyn would read this to us every day too.
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amother
DarkRed
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Sat, Dec 30 2023, 7:20 pm
| amother OP wrote: | Totally understandable questions.
The tech crew (lights, sound, camera) were all professional and unionized, and there were strict union rules and child labor laws that we had to follow.
None of the actresses, not even Miriam, was truly working 12 hours a day. Yes, we had to be there for our call times, but there was downtime during the day that we spent with our friends. The littlest kids were only in a few scenes total and had just a few very busy days the entire summer.
Cuz that’s what it comes down to - none of us were child actors doing this for the money, or to “make it” in show business. This was a labor of love, and all of us felt lucky to be part of something groundbreaking.
We signed up for it because this was something all of us loved to the point of mild insanity, even as kids/teenagers. We all learned so much, like having a film school internship! It wasn’t a school play where participation is mandatory. No girls were forced to be in this movie - we all knew it would be grueling at times, but we were passionate about what we were creating, and passionate to be doing it together. We all cried on the last day of camp, just like at sleep away camp, even though many of us would see each other at school in September.
To call Kol Neshama a “summer camp” isn’t really accurate, and they never advertised it as such. It was the Kol Neshama Performing Arts Conservatory, and it meant it. The first 4 years of the program, when we did stage shows, was a good indication of what would come.
We had no swimming, no arts and crafts, no sports, no bowling or ice skating trips. This was a intensive program for girls who wanted to have an hour-long dance class followed by an hour-long improv class, then lunch, then singing class then rehearsal til the end of the day. It’s not for everyone, but for the girls it’s for, there’s nothing like it! |
I WISH I would have known about this camp when I was a kid/teenager. This is my dream camp!!!
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