From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story : The Documentary (Extended Version) • 20250419 • A film by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg
Today 80 years ago , April 19, 1945 – the Buchenwald band ‘Rhythmus’ – with Jiří Žák & Robert Clary – gave a jazz concert in the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald for their comrades and US soldiers that liberated the camp .
We , today, present the extended version of our Robert Clary documentary, now featuring also Robert Clary’s desire that Jiří Žák be nominated as a Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem…
Rhythmus was a jazz orchestra in the Buchenwald concentration camp in which a total of 23 musicians from 9 different countries played together from 1943 until the liberation. Czech prisoners around Jiří Žák took the initiative to found this orchestra in the summer of 1943.
Among the French prisoners that later joined, were Yves Darriet – the bandleader , who wrote most arrangements , and Robert Widerman – the band’s singer , who made a career as Robert Clary on Broadway after the war.
Two programs are known to have been performed in November 1944 and April 19, 1945, i.e. 8 days after the liberation of the camp (Ref 1) , including compositions by Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and pieces by Cole Porter, Fats Waller, Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong. In The Mood was performed even though this music was banned in Nazi Germany.
Ref. 3 – Jazz im KZ Buchenwald – das gab es wirrklich! | weimarer-rendezvous | Sep 25, 2022 | URL https://youtu.be/HX4X7TJ19nQ
„Rhythmus“ – Jazz im Konzentrationslager Buchenwald
At the April 11, 2022 event ‘„Rhythmus“ – Jazz im Konzentrationslager Buchenwald’ — in the Notenbank in Weimar, Germany (Ref 2, 3) — the Big Band and a jazz ensemble of the Hochschule für Musik under the direction of Prof. Gero Schmidt-Oberländer performed 9 or 10 pieces from the programs. In addition biographies of the prisoners in the Buchenwald Jazz Orchestra were made visible using excerpts from their letters and reports.
The French singer Robert Widerman ( Robert Clary ) was shown in a clip (Ref 4) from the documentary film From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story (Ref 5). Robert Clary (March 1, 1926 – Nov 16, 2022) survived thanks to several prisoners, including Yves Darriet (pseudonym Jan Rolan, Jean Roland), Claude Francis-Boeuf, and Jiří Žák. (Ref 6)
5. From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg | 2023 Edition | 20230202 | URL https://youtu.be/0tKc5T-Sw-E
New updated edition (Jan 2023) of the film by Karen and Richard Bloom and Michel van der Burg , about the Hollywood legend, internationally known actor, Broadway star, singer, artist, author and Holocaust lecturer , Robert Clary.
“Don’t think negatively.
Think Positively.
Don’t Hate.
Hate is a waste of time and energy.”
In memoriam : Robert Clary (March 1, 1926 – Nov 16, 2022)
More info at RichardBloomProductions•com
Post reference : From Buchenwald to Hollywood, The Robert Clary Story | 2023 Edition | 20230202
Rhythmus | 20221117 | 1-memo•com
Robert Clary had rhythm ! Born Robert Widerman, March 1, 1926 in Paris — he passed away yesterday Nov 16, 2022, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 96. Robert was deported from Paris at the age of 16 to the death camps. April 19, 1945 he was singing and dancing in Buchenwald with the Rhythmus Jazz Band entertaining the U.S. Army troops who had liberated the camp .
Photo (courtesy Richard Bloom Productions) copy of the Program of 19.4.1945 – Rhythmus – 1st Jazz Concert in the liberated Buchenwald – – Vocal : Widerman / France . With political prisoner , resistance fighter, Jiří Žák (bass; founder of the band) who saved Robert’s life and the life of others in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Band leader Yves Darriet came up with the nickname Clary for Robert (from the movie Les Adventures de Désirée Clary) — the artist name Robert Clary made name with on Broadway in Hollywood … the US .
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