Jack H. Skirball (June 23, 1896 – December 8, 1985[1]) was an American film producer, real estate developer, philanthropist and rabbi.
Jack H. Skirball | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jack Harold Skirball June 23, 1896[1] |
| Died | December 8, 1985 (aged 89)[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Hebrew Union CollegeUniversity of Chicago |
| Occupation(s) | Rabbi, film producer, real estate developer, philanthropist |
| Spouse | Audrey Marx |
| Children | 2 daughters |
Early life
Jack H. Skirball was born in 1896 in Homestead, Pennsylvania.[2][3][4] His father was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia.[5] His mother was an immigrant from England.[5] His father died when he was seven years old.[5] Shortly after, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, with his mother and nine siblings.[5]
Skirball attended the University of Cincinnati and Western Reserve College in Cleveland, Ohio, but he dropped out.[2][4] He studied at the Hebrew Union College, and he was ordained as a rabbi, following his mother's wishes.[4][5][6] He then attended graduate school at the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and sociology.[2]
Career
Skirball went to Palestine with Abba Hillel Silver in 1919.[5] Back in the United States, he served Reform synagogues in Cleveland, Ohio and Evansville, Indiana in the 1920s.[3]
After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1938, he became a film producer.[3] He served as general manager of the Educational Films Corporation of America, where he produced The Birth of a Baby, an educational film about childbearing in 1938.[7][8]
Skirball served as vice president of Grand National Pictures, followed by president of Arcadia Pictures.[2][3] He was associate producer of The Howards of Virginia, a 1940 film starring Cary Grant.[6] A year later, in 1941, he produced This Woman is Mine.[3] By 1942, he was associate producer of Saboteur, a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.[6] A year later, in 1943, he produced Shadow of a Doubt, another film directed by Hitchcock.[3] He also produced Magnificent Doll in 1946, The Secret Fury in 1950, and Payment on Demand in 1951.[3] He also produced A Matter of Time starring Liza Minnelli in 1976.[6]
Skirball was the co-producer of Jacobowsky and the Colonel, a Broadway musical, alongside Jed Harris in 1944.[3]
Skirball was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[5] He believed that all films should be educational and that they should convey information in a way that is understandable to any audience member.[8]
Skirball was also a real estate developer.[5] In 1962, he developed the Vacation Village resort in Mission Bay, San Diego, California.[5] In 1983, he sold it for US$51 million.[6]
Philanthropy
Skirball founded the Los Angeles School of Hebrew Union College.[3] By 1972, he founded the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum,[5] a museum of Jewish life near the campus of the University of Southern California.[6] His goal was to show Christians and Jews that they shared much in common, and to ""dissipate" anti-Semitism."[5] He later donated US$3.5 million to move it to a 15-acre plot of land in Brentwood, off the Sepulveda Pass, where it was renamed the Skirball Cultural Center.[6]
In 1985, Skirball founded the Skirball Institute on American Values, a program of the American Jewish Committee.[9] He appointed rabbi Alfred Wolf who was its director until 1996, when the latter was replaced by Eugene Mornell.[9] The Skirball Institute organized inter-faith conferences, essay contests for high school students, academic research on American values, and offered scholarships to college students.[9]
Personal life
In 1938, Skirball married Audrey Marx (1914–2002).[3] They had two daughters, Sally Cochran and Agnes Skirball.[3] They resided in a condominium in Century City, Los Angeles.[3][5] Their horses competed at the Santa Anita Park.[5]
Death and legacy
Skirball died in December 1985.[3] His funeral was held at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.[6]
The Alliance Jack H. Skirball Middle School in Los Angeles and the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City are named in his honor.[4][10] Moreover, in 2011, the Skirball Foundation donated US$10 million to the Los Angeles School of Hebrew Union College, which was renamed in his honor.[2][11]