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He was barely 4’9″ tall, he arrived in the United States when he was nearly 30 years old, so he spoke English with a heavy accent for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, the entire motion picture industry in Hollywood owes him its existence. His numerous inventions include the forerunner of foundation cream, false eyelashes, lip gloss and compact powder. Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner and other film stars got their dramatic look from him. But he believed that glamour should be within reach of every woman, making her look like a star. That may explain why his line of cosmetics[…]

The Miss America pageant was founded in 1921, initially as a bathing suit contest. Later on, it became a beauty, talent and poise pageant whose contestants sought to bring about world peace, which is how we know it today. The competing and winning criteria have, however, changed a bit every few years. No one remembers most of the Miss America winners, but there some who are unforgettable, including Bess Myerson. It took close to 25 years for a Jewish girl to win the coveted title. Bess Myerson, who was crowned in 1945, was the first Jewish Miss America, and the[…]

Adolfo Kaminsky, probably the most famous Jewish forger in the world, died earlier this month. For nearly three decades, from 1940 to the end of the 1960’s, he was involved in every important underground movement or revolution across the globe. With the skill of a true artist, he falsified official documents of dozens of countries, but never sought payment for his services. Even though he produced forged papers for so many years, he was never caught. After decades of keeping out of the limelight, he decided to share the details of life story – first in a biography written by[…]