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6 unusual facts about Moses Mielziner


Kenneth MacKenna

the son of a prominent Reform rabbi, Moses Mielziner, and Ella Lane McKenna Friend (March 18, 1873 – February 2, 1968).

The Moses Mielziner family, Kenneth's paternal grandfather, immigrated from Posen, Prussia, and Kenneth's grandfather was a Reform Rabbi, Moses Mielziner associated with Hebrew Union College Moses Mielziner was a descendant of Joseph Caro.

Much about the life of Kenneth MacKenna, the history of Moses Mielziner, his grandfather, and the life of his brother Jo Mielziner can be learned through the respectful and accurate descriptions given in Mary C. Henderson's book about his brother, Jo Mielziner, Mielziner: Master of Modern Stage Design (2001).

Moses Mielziner

In 1857 he was called as principal of the religious school to Copenhagen, where he remained until 1865, when he was called to the rabbinate of the Congregation Anshe Chesed in New York ("New Yorker Staats-Zeitung," 1865, No. 215).

Leo Mielziner would marry Ella Friend McKenna and become the father of five-time Tony Award winning stage designer, Jo Mielziner and of the noted actor and MGM Story Director, Kenneth MacKenna.

The American Israelite

Other noted contributors to the paper in this era included Rabbi Moses Mielziner and Jewish history scholar Gotthard Deutsch, as well as other prominent rabbis and Jewish thinkers within the country.



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