Throughout Omaha’s history, Jews both as individuals and as a community have been deeply involved in arts and culture, offering abundant opportunities for the public to attend and participate in theater, exhibits, and cultural events. They have been leaders in all aspects of art, from literature to television, visual arts to performance, and creators like Rachel Shukert and Bryan Greenberg carry on this legacy today. Jewish participation in the arts has strengthened the broader community, bringing together people of all ages, races, nationalities, and religions.
MILTON WOLSKY
Omaha native Milton Wolsky studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and devoted his entire life to art. He spent much of his career as a successful illustrator for major magazines, including lime, Esquire, and McCall’s, during the golden age of illustration advertising. His contemporary and abstract paintings have been exhibited at numerous art galleries and museums, including the Smithsonian Institution.
HARRY FRIEDMAN
Early in his life, Harry Friedman developed a fascination with television programming and TV personalities such as Johnny Carson. Friedman is best known for producing game shows, executive producing both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune until he retired from both in 2020. His work won fourteen Emmy Awards.
TILLIE OLSEN
As a young adult, renowned feminist author Tillie Olsen worked in Omahas meat-packing plants and helped organize unions. Her successful first book, Tell Me a Riddle (1961), earned an O. Henry Award. Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills (1861) motivated Olsen to lobby for literary gender equality. These efforts, combined with her struggles to write caused by economic and family pressures, led to Silences (1978), her groundbreaking exploration of the absence of women, minorities, and working-class writers from literature.
Postcard for exhibition
ANN RONELL
Ann (Rosenblatt) Ronell graduated from Central High School and studied music at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As an early composer in Hollywood, she worked for and was close friends with George Gershwin. She wrote scores for many shows and was the first woman to write both the music and lyrics for a Broadway production. Ronell’s most famous song, “Willow Weep for Me,” was recorded by Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, Lena Horne, and many other singers. Pictured: Ann Ronell, Ava Gardner, and Olga San Juan rehearsing for the film One Touch of Venus
JOAN MICKLIN SILVER
Joan Micklin Silver moved to New York City in 1967 where she began her career writing for The Village Voice and creating scripts for children’s educational films. One such film, The Immigrant Experience, about Polish immigrants in America, is considered to be the predecessor of her film Hester Street, performed almost entirely in Yiddish. Silver wrote and directed many more films, most notably Crossing Delancey.
JAY MILDER
Born and raised in Omaha, Jay Milder moved to New York in the 1950s and traveled in Europe before training in American Figurative Expressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago. In Europe, Milder was inspired by the work of Chaim Soutine, a French painter of Belarusian-Jewish origin. Drawn to mystical and biblical themes, Milder completed 250 paintings for his “Messiah Series,” based on the Hebrew Bible, and he has explored these themes and Expressionism throughout his career.
