Malibu Mafia

The "Malibu Mafia" was an informal group of wealthy American Jewish men who donated money to liberal and progressive causes and politicians during 1960s–1990s.[1] Associated with the beach city of Malibu, California, the group included economist Stanley Sheinbaum, Warner Bros. chairman Ted Ashley, television producer Norman Lear, and four businessmen: Harold Willens, Leopold Wyler, Miles L. Rubin and Max Palevsky.[2][3] Founded in opposition to the Vietnam War,[4] the group often met at Willens' beachfront house on Malibu Colony Road, and also in Sheinbaum's home in Westwood, Los Angeles, where he held a regular political salon with liberal participants, especially from the film and television industries of Greater Los Angeles. The Malibu Mafia were known for funding the failed George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign, the legal defense of Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, the successful 1973 campaign by African-American politician Tom Bradley to become the mayor of Los Angeles, the 1978 salvaging of the progressive magazine The Nation, the Nuclear Freeze campaign of the 1980s, and the Israel–Palestine negotiations that yielded the Oslo Accords in 1993.[5]

The first publication of the term "Malibu Mafia" was in Newsweek magazine in 1978: Sheinbaum was quoted complaining about the inexperience of Hamilton Jordan.[6] The moniker was applied to the wealthy men by the media, not by themselves.[1] Actors Paul Newman and Warren Beatty were associated peripherally with the Malibu Mafia, as was singer and Malibu resident Barbra Streisand.[7][8][9] Television writer Albert "Al" Ruben (known for The Defenders and more) argued positions to the left of Sheinbaum.[5]

The group was not always cohesive; they often acted individually and occasionally worked at cross purposes.[1] The Malibu Mafia was the more liberal and idealistic challenger to the 1960s–1990s fundraising efforts of Jewish political donor Lew Wasserman, chairman of MCA, whose views have been characterized as centrist and pragmatic.[10] In the late 1970s as the Malibu Mafia peaked, Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden headed an informal group of younger liberal donors and activists called "The Network". In the 1980s, Streisand joined with Fonda and other well-connected women to found the Hollywood Women's Political Committee, a nonprofit organization which funded many liberal causes.[11]

  1. ^ a b c Brownstein, Ronald (1990). The Power and the Glitter: The Hollywood–Washington Connection. Pantheon Books. pp. 203–211. ISBN 9780394569383.
  2. ^ Brownstein, Ronald (June 28, 1987). "The Man Who Would Be Kingmaker". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  3. ^ Davis, Mike (2006). City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. Verso. p. 127. ISBN 9781844674862.
  4. ^ Connelly, Phoebe (May 6, 2010). "Max Palevsky, 1924 - 2010". The American Prospect. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Navasky, Victor (September 20, 2016). "Remembering Stanley Sheinbaum, an Early Backer of 'The Nation' and a Voice for Peace and Justice". The Nation. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  6. ^ Newsweek, 1978. "'I'm told that Hamilton Jordan is the one strategizing the Middle East, and I get the feeling that the man never heard of the Middle East until two years ago,' said Los Angeles millionaire Stanley K. Sheinbaum, a member of the local Democratic fund-raising apparatus known as the 'Malibu Mafia.'"
  7. ^ Brownstein, Ronald (June 3, 2011). "Top 20 Celebrity Activists of All Time". AARP. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  8. ^ Sheinbaum, Stanley (November 13, 2012). "Hooray for Hollywood". HuffPost. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  9. ^ Bauer, Patricia E. (November 1986). "Hollywood, Inc. – The Holly-wooing of Washington". Channels. New York City: C.C. Publishing, Inc. p. 68.
  10. ^ Navasky, Victor (January 13, 1991). "Party Time in Hollywood". Los Angeles Times.
  11. ^ Alterman, Eric (September 2004). "The Hollywood Campaign". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 12, 2020.