The Television Movie Based on Fania Fénelon’s Playing for Time

Abstract

In this chapter Eischeid details the inception and production of the CBS television film based on Fania Fénelon’s Holocaust memoir Playing for Time. Major figures in its development are discussed, including executive producer Linda Yellen, and famed playwright Arthur Miller, who was engaged to write the screenplay. Additionally, the controversy over the hiring of actress Vanessa Redgrave to play the role of Fania is explored. Fénelon’s subsequent rejection of the film and the way it presented her story is detailed, as is the premiere of the film and the subsequent emotional fall-out for the other survivors who had fought valiantly to prevent its broadcast.