S10.E09: In the Blood [Michael Douglas & Lena Dunham]

[shapeshifter]

S10.E09: In the Blood 
Episode premiered on PBS: 8 p.m. ET, Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Watch episode: pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/watch/episodes/in-the-blood

Quote

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the roots of actor Michael Douglas & writer-director Lena Dunham. Both are the children of famous artists, but their family trees contain a cast of fascinating characters whose lives were forgotten—until now.

Edited April 4 by shapeshifter

[PRgal]

Is it possible to move some of the replies from the other thread referencing this episode over here? 

[tessaray]

50 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Is it possible to move some of the replies from the other thread referencing this episode over here? 

Someone would need to flag the posts and request a mod move them, as there aren't mods assigned to specific forums anymore. 

----

Moved from the general thread:

The cousin reveals were good.

Spoiler

Wasn't another guest also related to Larry David?

 

Edited April 4 by tessaray

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, PRgal said:

Is it possible to move some of the replies from the other thread referencing this episode over here? 

Using a laptop browser, it's possible for us to bring them over as quotes. 
I'm not sure if a mod can do it without deleting the top post here because the timestamp of the first post on the general thread referencing this episode precedes the timestamp for the top post of this thread.

And I thought the bulk of your long comment, @PRgal,  fit well in the "General" thread and wondered if you purposely limited your comments until someone started an episode thread? 
But I have a mental habit of creating narratives that aren't grounded in fact.😉 
You could just copy and paste that info here too.

Anyhoo, doing what we can do on laptops:

8 hours ago, Suzn said:

I was impressed by Lena Dunham's thoughts on what she learned about her ancestors.  Reconciling the things to be proud of with unfortune slave ownership was something she was working out and coming to terms with it. 

Yes, Lena's award-winning talents as a writer who can convey ideas came through in her responses.

 

7 hours ago, buckboard said:

I saw in passing that one of Michael Douglas's ancestors was named Rutgers.  Any relation to Henry Rutgers, for whom the college was named?

I noticed that and wished for the same info too, especially since my Dad graduated from Rutgers. 

 

The stories of the Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors were almost uncannily similar to those I heard about mine. Like when HLG Jr. said to Michael Douglas:
“And let’s go back to the story your father told you. That his father came to America to escape the Army.”
Michael Douglas' grandfather was born in 1883, which would mean he'd have grown up with stories of young men from the previous generation having changed their names to escape conscription into the Tsar's army, and so might have seemed a good cover story to escape prison. 
— This was the story that was passed down through my family explaining why our last name was changed in the 1860s — a story also passed down to every other person with our rare last name who I've encountered, none of whom were related to my family or to any other family with that story and name who they in turn had met, but all with the same ethnic heritage. Weird. Probably not some criminal organization though, LOL. 

And then Lena Dunham's great-great grandmother Regina Seltenwirth on her father’s side immigrated to America alone when she was 14 in 1883 — leaving behind family who suffered the Holocaust. 
This is very similar to my Mom's story explaining why her family was so small.
But they didn't all marry, and didn't have that many kids either, so I don't really know. But her mother’s family did come around the 1880s because, my mom said, "They saw the handwriting on the wall."

Some of the European place names mentioned in this episode are listed in family trees for my extended family too. 

Edited April 4 by shapeshifter
Typos

[Yeah No]

46 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

The stories of the Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors were almost uncannily similar to those I heard about mine. Like when HLG Jr. said to Michael Douglas:
“And let’s go back to the story your father told you. That his father came to America to escape the Army.”
Michael Douglas' grandfather was born in 1883, which would mean he'd have grown up with stories of young men from the previous generation having changed their names to escape conscription into the Tsar's army, and so might have seemed a good cover story to escape prison. 
— This was the story that was passed down through my family explaining why our last name was changed in the 1860s — a story also passed down to every other person with our rare last name who I've encountered, none of whom were related to my family or to any other family with that story and name who they in turn had met, but all with the same ethnic heritage. Weird. Probably not some criminal organization though, LOL. 

And then Lena Dunham's great-great grandmother Regina Seltenwirth on her father’s side immigrated to America alone when she was 14 in 1883 — leaving behind family suffered the Holocaust. 
This is very similar to my Mom's story explaining why her family was so small.
But they didn't all marry, and didn't have that many kids either, so I don't really know. But her mother came around the 1880s because, my mom said, "They saw the handwriting on the wall."

My father told me that same story about why his father's family left - that they were escaping having to enlist in the Tsar's army.  Plus that phrase "the writing was on the wall" - I've heard that before too.  I didn't hear about any name change, although I don't doubt that might have happened.  And my family came here en masse, but not until 1909 after living in London's East End from the 1880s until then.

My father's DNA profile is a lot like Michael Douglas's except without the Eastern European element and the French and German is a little higher.

[tessaray]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm not sure if a mod can do it without deleting the top post here because the timestamp of the first post on the general thread referencing this episode precedes the timestamp for the top post of this thread.

This is true. There used to be a kludge-y workaround where you recreate the episode topic using an old existing post but it's nitpicky and time consuming, so I can't imagine anyone doing it for a low traffic forum. 🙂

[carrps]

13 hours ago, Yeah No said:

My father told me that same story about why his father's family left - that they were escaping having to enlist in the Tsar's army. 

My grandfather also said that he was avoiding the army -- the Austro-Hungarian army. He was Hungarian and not Jewish, so it's probably a pretty universal immigrant story. 

[meep.meep]

And my ancestors were avoiding the Prussian army.

In terms of the DNA cousins - Larry David also matched with Bernie Sanders and Scar Jo with Isabella Rossellini in previous episodes. 

[Driad]

The joke among my German relatives was that the emigrants left (in the 1800s) because they couldn't stand Wagner's operas.  The joke probably started after they got to the US, though.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Driad said:

The joke among my German relatives was that the emigrants left (in the 1800s) because they couldn't stand Wagner's operas.  The joke probably started after they got to the US, though.

Was this perhaps a coded joke for Wagner's reputation as a racist?
 

[buttersister]

My grandfather was born around the time of Michael’s, but in one of the Baltic states. Tsar’s army? No thanks! Came on his young man’s own, much of his family stayed, some surviving the next war, some not. I do think conscription was a major reason for many leaving, so it might have covered a few other reasons, as well.

Edited April 4 by buttersister

[buckboard]

shapeshifter, I was interested in the Rutgers angle because I went to graduate library school there.

And like so many others, my grandfather had a story of avoiding army service.  I think the main difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish men was that long term mandatory service for Jewish men meant they would be away from home for decades and lose touch with their religion.  So my grandfather left the farm and followed his brother to New York.  Boy, was my grandfather po'd that the streets weren't paved with gold as his brother had promised.
 

 

Edited April 8 by buckboard

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, buckboard said:

I think the main difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish men was that long term mandatory service for Jewish men meant they would be away from home for decades and lose touch with their religion.

That’s my understanding too.

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, buckboard said:

And like so many others, my grandfather had a story of avoiding army service.  I think the main difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish men was that long term mandatory service for Jewish men meant they would be away from home for decades and lose touch with their religion.  So my grandfather left the farm and followed his brother to New York.  Boy, was my grandfather po'd that the streets weren't paved with gold as his brother had promised.
 

Yes, thanks for bringing that last part up about the long term service away for decades.  My father told me this too although I forgot that part until you just wrote it.  Now I remember and it makes perfect sense, thank you!

In my case my great grandparents went to London first, then to the US.  It makes me shudder to think that if not for that draft thing they may not have left Russia.  Although I think they might have anyway as conditions for Jews were getting worse all the time (as my father told me).

Sigh, I miss my Dad.  The 4th anniversary of his death was on the 4th so he's been on my mind a lot lately.