Non­fic­tion

Lit­tle Cae­sar: A Biog­ra­phy of Edward G. Robinson

Alan L. Gansberg
  • Review
By – July 21, 2015

Born Emanuel Gold­en­berg in Bucharest, Roma­nia in 1893, Edward G. Robin­son lived what at first glance seems the Amer­i­can dream. He achieved world-wide fame on both stage and screen through the Hol­ly­wood stu­dio sys­tem of the 1930’s and 40’s, became an art con­nois­seur, and host­ed lav­ish par­ties for fam­i­ly and friends that includ­ed Frank Sina­tra, Charl­ton Hes­ton and Mar­lene Diet­rich. Robin­son also lived through sev­er­al night­mares, though. His per­son­al life was con­stant­ly wrought with pain and embar­rass­ment; he often felt sti­fled as an artist since the only roles he was offered were gang­sters and thugs; and he painful­ly suf­fered at the hands of the Com­mu­nist witch hunt” in Hol­ly­wood in the 1950’s. Alan L. Gansberg’s remark­ably detailed biog­ra­phy leaves few stones unturned in telling Robinson’s sto­ry, which is as much a tale of the his­to­ry of the first two-thirds of the 20th cen­tu­ry as it is Robinson’s per­son­al saga. Robin­son is a prism through which the read­er can view the mores of two gen­er­a­tions of Amer­i­ca. Audi­ences dur­ing the Depres­sion flocked to see his often nuanced por­tray­als of lit­tle guys com­ing out on top (although fre­quent­ly gunned down in the final reel). The McCarthy-era cru­sade against any fig­ures in the enter­tain­ment indus­try with any con­nec­tions or affil­i­a­tions that smacked of Red” is a case study in nation­al para­noia. How­ev­er, whether the recov­ery of Robinson’s career in the 1960’s indi­cates a health­i­er state of the 24 JEW­ISH BOOK WORLD Win­ter 5765/2004 NON­FIC­TION Union or is instead a trib­ute to one man’s abil­i­ty to over­come all per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al obsta­cles is a ques­tion that Gans­berg does not attempt to answer. Robin­son was always proud of his Jew­ish iden­ti­ty and main­tained strong con­nec­tions with the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty in Los Ange­les and in his beloved State of Israel. Gansberg’s work details not only Robinson’s accom­plish­ments in enter­tain­ment, but also his work on behalf of the polit­i­cal and social caus­es he held dear through­out his life. The book is not a Hol­ly­wood tell-all,” but rather a lov­ing por­trait and trib­ute to a fine actor and true sur­vivor. It will sat­is­fy not only film buffs, but seri­ous stu­dents of the mod­ern Amer­i­can Jew­ish expe­ri­ence as well. 

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Rab­bi Jef­frey Kobrin is the Prin­ci­pal of the North Shore Hebrew Acad­e­my in Great Neck, NY. In addi­tion to Ordi­na­tion from RIETS, he has a BA and MA in Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture from Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty, where he is cur­rent­ly pur­su­ing a Ph.D. Rab­bi Kobrin lives in Riverdale, NY with his wife and four daughters.

Discussion Questions