Oral History interview with Albert Melul. He speaks French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, English, and some Ladino. He grew up in Tangiers. He was a scout and scout master as a teenager. When Israel was established, he helped move people there but decided to go see the world before settling. When he first came to Canada he worked in a factory in Toronto. He moved to Vancouver for a job with the JCC and National Council. He talks about the Sephardic community as well as the general community in Vancouver.
Oral interview with Alex Kliner. Interviewed by Peter Doolan for SLAIS Oral History class. Kliner was born in Philadelphia in 1930. His parents were from Rusia and he talks about his parent’s life and growing up in Philadelphia. At 20 he was drafted to fight in the Korean War. He came back and studied acting at Hedgerow. After he graduated, he went to New York to work on Broadway. Morris Schwartz told him not to go into Yiddish Theatre because it was dying. He talks about McCarthyism and the blacklist in Hollywood and on Broadway. A friend convinced him to move to Hollywood. Here he went to Los Angeles Community College and UCLA and got a master’s degree. His teachers told him not to get his PhD and got into teaching instead. He moved to Vancouver to work at the Peretz School. He then became the program director at JCC. With Tova Sneider he started the Jewish Heritage Theatre Company. Later he became the Executive Director of State of Israel Bond. He also worked with Chelm Cultural Club
