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Community Currents
Southwestern Jewish Press, October 26, 1951,  page 2

By Albert Hutler, Executive Director, United Jewish Fund

We were glad to see that San Diego had no pickets and no official protests about the film "Oliver Twist." At the request of several people, a few of us went to see it on opening day. We must confess that we did not find very much in Oliver Twist to get worked up about. a very heavy film depicting life during that period in England, with a portrayal of Fagin, in this revised edition that could have been a portrayal of any individual in any group.

What seems to be more important is that the Gee family (Chinese family that had been given eviction notice) have been notified by their North Dakota landlord that that eviction notice was not given by them by by their agent and the notice has been withdrawn. Contact was made with the landlord through the Anti-Defamation League and when the matter was called to his attention he was pretty angry, since he did not believe in such procedure. The real kick to the whole matter is that the landlord, though having a Jewish name, is not Jewish but Scandinavian.

Phil Lerman, of the Southern California Office of anti Defamation League is going to spend October 28, 30 and 31 in our town to lead a work shop for B'nai B'rith members and their friends. The original idea is to be credited to Dave Sugarman, ADL Chairman for Samuel I. Fox Lodge. Theme of the Work Shop will be the use of the Rumor Clinic and "Watch the Rumor Grow."

The 1951 Crusade for Freedom is over. Jewish organizations in the community through the President's Council worked very hard securing signatures and contributions for the Crusade.

The MacIver Report is gaining momentum as one of the big issues in American Jewish life. A number of people in the community have expressed an interest in knowing more about it. Some of the community's leadership has been speaking about it.  This is a dangerous precedent to set and we therefore have requested the National Community Relations Advisory Council to forward to our office 5 copies which will be loaned to individuals interested. The report has many ramifications and it is very unfair to speak about the report from the Press Notices it has received in the Anglo-Jewish Press, or from statements of any individual organization.

Elder Citizens—Henrietta Rubenstien just came back from the Governors Conference on care for the Aged held in Sacramento, and I returned from a Professional Conference held in Tuscon in which one of the main subjects was Care for the Aged. We both agree a program should be developed in San Diego for the older citizens who do not live in the San Diego Hebrew Home and that there should be a leisure time and recreational program for those people. Many communities are carrying this out and experimenting with a great deal of success. It can be done here in San Diego and it is the job of our Hebrew Home for the Aged Board to begin investigating possibilities.