Caroline Hakim, 83, daughter of film producer William Bacher
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Caroline Hakim, 83, died of congestive heart failure on May 31, 2007
at her home in Old Las Palmas, Palm Springs. She was born October 30,
1924. An impresario of children's music education programs for many
years, she had been President of the Chamber Opera Society of Palm
Springs where she worked with her friends, Dr. Martin Russell and the
late Theresa Hudson to create the Alliance for Children's Arts. In
this she was influenced by her mother, the late Henrietta Bacher, who
was a leader in the effort to bring opera to Palm Springs, and her
father, the late William Bacher, a prominent radio and film producer
for 20th Century Fox where he brought to the screen Wing and a Prayer
(1944), Leave her to Heaven (1945), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947)
among others. After stints in New York and Chicago, the Bachers lived
in Bel Aire, CA during Caroline's formative years. She had a picture
of herself among the children attending Shirley Temple's eighth
birthday party. The somewhat contradictory romances of Hollywood
stardom and artistic excellence were a guiding force in her life, and
she defended her admittedly "elitist" tastes and efforts to bring
children to appreciate great works of music and theater in a 1993
opinion piece in the Desert Sun: "We offer--to children of the
appropriate age and with extensive preparation-- encounters with the
classics come scritto (as written). We do not censor, simplify, adapt,
modernize, improve, clean up, make culturally correct or relevant.
Really great art is always, in some sense, relevant. But we do not
make it so." However, her elitist taste did not rule out her efforts
to include the Twenty Nine Palms Marine Corps Band as a regular
feature in her program for children. Her grant-writing efforts in
support of these children's programs brought the classics to over
30,000 students each year-often dressing up in period costume to
entertain the students. She also wrote dozens of illustrated
children's study books explaining the history of opera, composers, the
historical background, and traditions. "Let me tell you," she said in
an interview with her longtime college friend, Harriet Trueblood in
the Mills College Quarterly, " the arts are not for prissies or
sissies. The arts are full of blood, guts, gore, pillage, kinky sex,
and war. Being quizzed about castrati, codpieces, chastity belts, and
how medieval knights went to the bathroom in all that armor test the
mettle of the already-terrified docent." Before moving to Palm Springs
in the mid-1970's, Hakim had been a food consultant and publicist,
writing cookbooks and supervising food photography. She often
described her efforts to make vegetables look enticing in
advertisements. She handled advertising accounts for Adolph's Meat
Tenderizer, Galliano Liqueur, and the California avocado, strawberry,
and Brussels sprouts industries. An avid collector of costumes,
dresses, hats, and shoes, she is remembered by successive generations
of girl relatives for teaching them the "proper" way to put on
lipstick, using three layers to insure long-lasting color. In 1958,
Caroline married Edgar Hakim, an advertising executive. They divorced
in 1971, but remained close friends until the end of her life, often
visiting one another and their friends Harriet and Dr. Sam Trueblood
in Los Angeles. A graduate of Mills College in 1946, Hakim was
attached to her alma mater where "I learned to craft and present
speeches to any audience, anywhere" But her great joy was bringing
music to children. A few days before she died, she told Harriet
Trueblood that she was still working, recording music for the
children. She is survived by her former husband, Edgar Hakim of Los
Angeles; cousins, Ralph Glasgal of Rockleigh, NK, Ann Snitow of New
York, Alan Snitow of Berkeley, Gerry Weinstein, and Martin Weinstein,
both of New York; her dear friends Harriet and Dr. Sam Trueblood of
Los Angeles; Dr. Martin Russell of Palm Springs; and her wonderful
family of caretakers, Mila Acu and Tessie Lacbay. A memorial ceremony
was held at her home on June 14, 2007.
Published in The Desert Sun on 6/26/2007