Polygoon Journalist Jo Levi • 20241107

The unique 1935 sound film of the Amsterdam’s Great Synagogue Choir (1,2,3) was made by the popular Polygoon journalist Jo Levi.

Wondering who Jo Levi was , I searched online, and found this picture below (20241107_1) with Jo Levi.
Jo Levi is the second man from the left in this postwar photo of Polygoon men, posted by former Polygoon editor Fredo Krooshof at Cinecentrum Hilversum (4).

Polygoon Men • Miracles•Media • 20241107_1 | Source Cinecentrum Hilversum : Left to Right : Cees v.d. Wilden – Dir. Polygoon Haarlem; Jo Levi – Red. Pol.jnl; Philip Bloemendal – Red. and comm. Pol.jnl; Man in the background – name unknown; Gé Bresser – Procurator Polygoon; RVD man – name unknown (4).

Jo Levi together with Philip Bloemendal directed the Dutch cinema news for Polygoon. Philip Bloemendal , nicknamed “The voice of the Netherlands” , was for 40 years (from 1946 to 1986) the Dutch cinema newsreel announcer, voice-over, and editor . His voice-overs are The Voice of the postwar Dutch Polygoon news reels.

“Where they are not, nothing is happening” was the motto (5) of the cameramen of the Polygoon newsreel company in Holland.

May 1931 , two dutch newsreel companies, Polygoon in the city of Haarlem, and Profilti in The Hague, were competing to have the premiere of the first Dutch cinema newsreel with sound.
Below a May 17, 1931 Polygoon interview (6) with former cyclist and sportsman W.W. van der Vet on the occasion of his 85th birthday (20241107_2).

Polygoon News Reel May 17, 1931 • Miracles•Media • 20241107_2 • TakeNode 1967b92c-e090-40b3-84fb-d713aebddcc2

The interviewer, most likely Jo Levi, looks at the camera for a moment , captured in this film still shown below ( 20241107_3).

Polygoon May 17, 1931 Interview • Miracles•Media • 20241107_3 . TakeNode 9d87a032-0112-4e8d-822e-d805c5fdc168

Notes

1. Amsterdam’s Choir of the Great Synagogue 1935 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • 20190830 • URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2019/08/30/amsterdams-choir-of-the-great-synagogue-1935/

2. 1935 Sound Film Amsterdam’s Great Synagogue Choir • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • 20241025 • URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/10/25/1935-sound-film-amsterdams-great-synagogue-choir-20241025/

3. 1935 Sound Film Amsterdam’s Great Synagogue Choir • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • 20241025 • URL https://michelvanderburg.substack.com/p/1935-sound-film-amsterdams-great

4. Cinecentrum Hilversum. URL https://www.cinecentrum-hilversum.nl (Retrieved Oct. 25, 2024).

5. Polygoon (newsreel). Wikipedia (Retrieved 20241107). URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygoon_(newsreel)

6. Opa Vet (sportopa) voor de microfoon. Published 17 May 1931. Polygoon Hollands Nieuws (producer) / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid (Open Beelden archive)

Citation info : Polygoon Journalist Jo Levi • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media • 20241107

Swinging Stars 1935 | 20240122

After the monster film congress in Berlin, a swinging Saturday night 23 March 1935 in the Amsterdam Carlton Hotel at The First Dutch Film Ball (Het Eerste Nederlandsche Filmbal) organized by the dutch film world (with Loet Barnstein, …Ehrlich…Hamburger…Willy Mullens…Max Tak…Abraham Tuschinski…Kor Postma) both to celebrate the film world and especially to collect money for their foundation ‘Bio Vakantieoord’ ( Cine Holiday Resort ) — founded in 1927 by the cinema owner Abraham Tuschinski and the Dutch Cinema Association (Nederlandse Bioscoopbond; NBB; association of cinemas , distributors and producers) to facilitate holidays in their seaside ‘castle’ on the dutch coast, each month for 90 poor lower class children living in the big cities like Amsterdam. At that time, also , twice a year (the Christmas and Easter weeks), money was collected for that Bio Holiday Resort foundation in the dutch cinemas, but because of the Great Depression donations are shifting from ‘silver’ to nickel …copper . The fundraising went hand in hand with promotional films made by the Dutch Profilti and Polygoon cinema newsreel companies . Next week people would watch this Polygoon news in the cinemas. The newspapers wrote, those present will be filmed, and if allowed by the police , the film will be shown the same night, and many movie and theater stars, filmschlagers, to be present … Harry Baur, Henriette Davids, Jopie Koopmans, Kid Johnson, Reri, Johan Kaart, Frits van Dongen, Henk Alsem.
Dutch news bulletin De groene Amsterdammer had a picture (collage?) with prominent guests (or impersonations?) : Gloria Swanson, Max Tak, Jean Harlow, Loet C. Barnstijn, Norma Shearer, Dr. M. de Hartog, Lupe Velez, Louis Davids, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Sylvain Poons, Myrna Loy, Mariene Dietrich, Wethouder Boissevain, Kor Postma, Theo Ketelaar. And a dutch cinematography news bulletin reported ‘the expected foreign stars were conspicuous by their absence’.

Film edited from dutch Polygoontoon (Polygoon Hollands Nieuws) cinema news reel week 13, 1935 | Sound & Vision (Open Images).

Citation info : Swinging Stars 1935 | 20240122 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode fd5f1650-98fb-4c7f-a90b-ea83a16a5d6d

Notes

Jazzy Film Ball 1936 | 20240121 | Miracles•Media

Het Eerste Nederlandsche Filmbal. De Gooi- en Eemlander 13-03-1935. URL https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011171806:mpeg21:a0107

Een filmbal in Carlton. Het Volk, 19-03-1935. | Delpher | URL https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?coll=ddd&identifier=MMKB15:000891066:mpeg21:a00076

Het eerste filmbal in Nederland. Delftsche courant 19-03-1935. URL https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB08:000076473:mpeg21:a0043

Het eerste Nedrlandse filmbal in Carlton. Het Volk 25-03-1935. URL https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB15:000891071:mpeg21:a00067

Nieuw weekblad voor de cinematografie, jrg 13, 1935, no. 26, 29-03-1935 | URL https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMEYE02:001535013:00039

De groene Amsterdammer, jrg 59, 1935, no. 3016, 23-03-1935 URL https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB30:021531012:00014

Jazzy Film Ball 1936 | 20240121

‘Everything’ song with movie stars Dolly Haas, Pierre Blanchard and dancing star imitators Saturday night 21 March 1936 in the Amsterdam Carlton Hotel at the second annual ‘film ball’ organized since 1935 by the dutch film world both to celebrate and especially to collect money for their foundation ‘Bio Vakantieoord’ ( Cine Holiday Resort ) — founded in 1927 by the cinema owner Abraham Tuschinski and the Dutch Cinema Association (Nederlandse Bioscoopbond; NBB; association of cinemas , distributors and producers) to facilitate holidays in their seaside ‘castle’ on the dutch coast, each month for 90 poor lower class children living in the big cities like Amsterdam. At that time, also , twice a year, money was collected for that Bio Holiday Resort foundation in the dutch cinemas . The fundraising went hand in hand with promotional films made by the Dutch Profilti and Polygoon cinema newsreel companies . Next week people would watch this Polygoon news in the cinemas.

Film edited from dutch Polygoontoon (Polygoon Hollands Nieuws) cinema news reel week 13, 1936 | Sound & Vision (Open Images).

Citation info : Jazzy Film Ball 1936 | 20240121 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode 869e9686-14c9-4f9e-802a-9aa49d670213

Notes

Filmbal Carlton. De Zaanlander 14-03-1936. Delpher | URL
https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMGAZS01:000093042:mpeg21:a00044

Voor het Bio-vacantieoord. Algemeen Handelsblad
18-03-1936. URL https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010664659:mpeg21:a0209

Een filmbal in Carlton. Het Volk, 19-03-1935. | Delpher | URL https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/view?coll=ddd&identifier=MMKB15:000891066:mpeg21:a00076

Bio en de Bioscopen. URL https://www.biovakantieoord.nl/nl/over-ons/bio-en-de-bioscopen

Nederlands(ch)e Bioscoopbond. Eye. URL https://filmdatabase.eyefilm.nl/en/collection/film-history/article/nederlandsche-bioscoopbond

Turn .. “Draaien” .. Filmland 1934 | 20170724 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2017/07/24/turn-draaien-filmland-1934/

Breaking News – Polygoon sound film David Hamburger 1931 | 20190826 | Michel van der Burg | michelvanderburg•com | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2019/08/26/breaking-news-polygoon-sound-film-david-hamburger-1931/

Blackout…Johnny and Jones 1940 | 20240118

In 1940, the dutch teen idols Johnny and Jones, even though they were Jews, were able to continue performing under the Nazi occupation without too many problems.
The Amsterdam duo sang jazzy Dutch songs with a mock American accent and a parody of current events.

Blackout means black!

July 1940 Johnny and Jones sang a parody on the Blackout , the dutch song ‘Maak het donker in het donker’ (make it dark in the dark).

Later during World War 2, in 1943, they were deported to the Nazi death camps. They died of exhaustion in the last days of the war in 1945 (see Notes).

Notes

Swing & Hot – Johnny and Jones 1938 | 20240114 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/01/14/swing-hot-johnny-and-jones-1938-20240114/

Still image in film : Poster for the single ‘Maak het donker in het donker’.

Lyrics ‘Maak het donker in het donker’ | Johnny and Jones (1940)

De overheid heeft het publiek bevolen
Als het donker is dan moet het donker zijn !
Er mag geen enkel licht naar buiten schijnen
Doe verduisteringspapier voor je gordijn
Anders staan ze ’s avonds aan je bel te bellen
En dan komt de luchtbescherming je vertellen :

Refrein:
Maak het donker, maak het donker in het donker
Ook al gaan de sterren door met hun geflonker
Ik loop langs de huizenkant
Met mijn luchtbeschermingsband
Een lantaren in mijn hand
Om te kijken waar iets brandt
Houdt dus rekening met de verduisteringswensen
Maak het donker, reuze donker beste mensen !
Refrein

Het blokhoofd van blok zeven uit wijk negen
Zag de dochter van het wijkhoofd uit blok tien
Met een rood hoofd kwam hij blokhoofd negen tegen,
Hij zei hoofd, heb jij het wijkhoofd ook gezien ?
Ik heb in het hoofd gezet het wijkhoofd te gaan vragen ,
Of die wijkhoofd-(griet/strike?) mijn blokhoofdnaam wil dragen : Refrein

Van Zanten zag een meisje in het duister,
Zij was slank gevormd en toch niet dik van lijn.
Hij dacht, dit is de jonkvrouw mijner dromen,
Binnenkort zal zij mevrouw Van Zanten zijn.
In de duisternis vroeg hij haar om een kusje,
Flip van Zanten zei zij toen, ik ben toch je zusje !
Refrein

Music : Maak het donker in het donker | Text & Music by Johnny and Jones (1940). Recorded in Vara-studio, Hilversum, 19 july 1940. DH2051. (Varagram 7175). | Wikimedia Commons

Film (image) : edited from Polygoon-Profilti cinema news reel week 36, September 1940 (under nazi rule) | Sound & Vision (Open Images).

Citation info : Blackout…Johnny and Jones 1940 | 20240118 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode 17a685fd-9944-471b-992f-47be88ead857

PEN Club 1931 | 20240112

The 9th Annual International Congress of the PEN Club — Poets, Essayists, Novelists — in 1931 in the townhall of Rotterdam, Holland, with a focus on the Flemish writer Felix Timmermans, Dutch writer Dirk Coster (?), Dutch poet P.C. Boutens, Dutch writer Anthonetta (Top) Naeff, and in the final scene : the English author John Galsworthy (Nobel Prize Literature 1932) talking with the Dutch journalist and writer Lord Jan Feith, and the French author, critic and literary historian Benjamin Crêmieux — secretary of the French section of the PEN Club (see below).

From its inception in 1921, PEN was intended to be a non-political organisation. However, with the rise of the Nazis in Germany, and of fascism in Spain and Italy, it became increasingly difficult for PEN to stay away from the political; and that year 1931, the PEN Committee made a public ‘Appeal to All Governments’, which protested the plight of those imprisoned for political or religious reasons.

In 1940 Benjamin Crêmieux joined the French underground and became a leader of the Maquis resistance fighters.
In April 1943, two Gestapo agents detained Crémieux in Marseilles. He was arrested, imprisoned, and deported to Nazi Germany, where, in April 1944 he was executed in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Notes

P.E.N.-club . poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, novelists

PEN International. URL https://www.pen-international.org

Honderd jaar PEN (CLUB) Nederland: een beknopte geschiedenis. Liliane Waanders | Hanta. URL
https://www.hanta.nl/hanta/2023/04/10/honderd-jaar-pen-club-nederland-een-beknopte-geschiedenis/

A Brief History of PEN International. Cathal Sheerin. URL https://www.pen100archive.org/explore-the-exhibition/pen-internationals-history/

Benjamin Crémieux. Wikipedia. URL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Crémieux

Een sportieve jonkheer: Jan Feith en Den Haag. De Oud-Hagenaar- De krant voor de 50-plusser. Dinsdag 27 dec 2016. URL https://www.desportwereld.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016-12-27_Een-sportieve-jonkheer-Jan-Feith-en-Den-Haag_De-Oud-Hagenaar.pdf

Amsterdam 1939 | 20240110

Screenshots from the film Amsterdam 1939 a trip through the canals and along the old facades of Amsterdam in 1939 , published first by Polygoon in 1940 a few months before World War II. Images are discussed in detail in the film.

Notes
1. Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | URL https://michelvanderburg.com/2024/01/09/amsterdam-1939-20240109/
2. Resolution is low, since the original archive footage from Sound & Vision (Open Images) is only 352 × 288 pixels.

Citation info : Amsterdam 1939 | 20240110 | Miracles•Media

Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109

Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109 | Miracles•Media
Documentary – Dutch spoken , English subtitles.

EN – In 1939 with Polygoon film company through… the canals and along the old facades of Amsterdam. Published in 1940 a few months before World War II.

NL – In 1939 met de Polygoon filmfabriek door de grachten en langs de oude gevels van Amsterdam. Gepubliceerde in 1940 kort voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
Tocht langs de Stadsbank van Lening, Vondels huis, huis op 3 grachten, Kolkje, schuilkerk Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder, Schreierstoren, Montelbaanstoren, Gooyer molen, Jordaan, Lange Jan, Westertoren, Bickerseiland, Waaggebouw, Amsterdamse universiteit, Agnietenschool, gildekamer chirurgijnen.

Film edited (image and sound) from a 1940 Polygoon-Profilti documentary | Sound & Vision (Open Images).
Music : (1) RAF March String Chorus, and (2) Roses in the Garden , both by Jean-Miles Carter | Artlist.
Citation info : Amsterdam 1939 | 20240109 | Miracles•Media | @michelvanderburg | TakeNode 057550f0-a29a-4696-9b7d-a9a7825300d2