OG Hollywood Zionism – Waaaaay before Madonna.

Marlon Brando: Ardent Zionist. Who Knew?

Louie Kemp did, and he recalls it in an article in this week’s Jewish Journal of Los Angeles:

Marlon explained that in 1946, two years before Israel achieved statehood, he desperately believed that the survivors of the Holocaust deserved to have their own land where they could live free from oppression and the anti-Semitic tyranny of the outside world.

True to form, Marlon put his money where his mouth was and donated all of his proceeds from the play, “A Flag Is Born,” to the Irgun, a Zionist political group dedicated to rescuing European Jewry and the establishment of Israel as an independent sovereign nation. He continued his donations and charitable work over the entire two-year run of the play as it went from Broadway to touring destinations around the United States.

“A people that have fought so hard to survive need and deserve their own land,” he told me. “ I did all that I could and actively supported Israel’s statehood anyway I was able.”

Louie also goes on to talk about when he employed Brando’s son, Christian, at the caneries he owned in Alaska:

Christian was a great kid. He worked hard, had a good attitude and earned the respect of all his co-workers.

Christian also went on to kill his sister’s fiance, leading to her suicide, after which he then followed suit, but whatevah…