tagged: celebrities

Jews in the News: Chelsea Handler, Monica Lewinsky & Vidal Sassoon

Posted by Nate Bloom in Arts & Culture

Nate Bloom blogs on this week’s Jews in the News

New Flicks

The following movies open on Friday, October 26

“Fun Size” is the first feature film directed by JOSH SCHWARTZ, 36. When he was 26, he was the youngest person to create a network TV series (“The O.C.”, a hit for the CW TV network). Schwartz is also the creator of “Gossip Girl.” “Fun Size” is a comedy whose lead character is “Wren” (Victoria Justice), a nice teen girl who stuck at home on Halloween, babysitting her little brother, while her mother (CHELSEA HANDLER, 37) goes out to party. While trick-or-treating with her brother, Wren stops in at Halloween party and loses her brother in the crowd.  Frantic to locate him before her mom finds out he’s missing, Wren enlists an unlikely teen foursome (nerd, sassy friend, etc.) to aid her.

“Cloud Atlas,” co-directed by Andy Wachowski of “Matrix” film fame, is described “officially” as a film which: “Explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future…Each member of the ensemble appears in multiple roles as the stories move through time.” This almost 3-hour movie co-stars Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, and Halle Berry. In one “incarnation”, Berry (in heavy make-up) appears as a white Jewish woman who lived in the 1930s.

Midler on Glee and More

The Divine Miss “M”, better known as BETTE MIDLER, will guest star on the hit Fox series, “Glee”. On Oct. 15, while appearing at a charity awards show, “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy told the crowd that he asked Midler to be on “Glee” and then exclaimed, “I hope she says yes!”  Not long after, Midler tweeted her agreement to appear on “Glee”.

In a follow-up tweet, Midler seemed open to the idea of playing the grandmother of lead character Rachel Berry (Lea Michele). When I saw that, I wondered if Midler was old enough to credibly play the mother of actress IDINA MENZEL, who has guest starred on “Glee” several times, playing Shelby Corcoran, the coach of a rival glee club. Corcoran is also supposed to be the biological mother of Rachel and if Midler played Rachel’s biological grandmother, she would also have to be Corcoran’s mother.

Well, Midler is now 66. Menzel is now 41. So, Midler certainly could be her mother. I guess this proves that despite her “divinity,” Midler, like us mere mortals, is getting older. When celebs, divine or not, get to a “certain age” they often get featured in AARP magazine. The Sept./Oct. issue of the magazine features an interview with Midler. She offers nuggets of wisdom that age has brought her. Here’s the most lighthearted one—about “beauty”: “You should stop beating your hair into submission, even if you don’t like it. Everyone should exfoliate, every day, even guys. More than two drinks a day will ruin your skin. And if you don’t have a full-length mirror, you’re going to get fat. Period.”

Short Takes: Monica & Vidal

You knew it had to happen eventually and, oddly enough, the timing is pretty perfect now. I refer to credible reports that MONICA LEWINSKY, 39, is writing a tell-all book about her affair with President Clinton.  Lewinsky is no longer old news now that the former President is soaring in opinion polls and Hillary has the inside lane for the 2016 Demo nomination (should she run).

On Oct. 12, a number of British celebrities gathered at a memorial service for VIDAL SASSOON, who died last May, age 84. While the famous hairstylist’s Jewish funeral was held in Los Angeles where he died, the London memorial was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Prince Charles wed Princess Diana.  Among those attending were Sir Michael Caine, Jeremy Irons, and famous hairdresser JOHN FRIEDA, 61 (whose father was Jewish).

Baroness Rabbi JULIA NEUBERGER, 62, recited kaddish in the Cathedral and called Sassoon, “a proud Jew who had left a great legacy.” (He fought in the Israeli War of Independence and he founded an international center for the study of anti-Semitism). Neuberger is, by the way, the second woman ordained a rabbi in the UK and the first with her own synagogue. She was made a “life member” of the House of Lords in 2004. (I guess she has to be extra nice to avoid complaints about “lording it over” her congregants). Her husband, ANTHONY, is business professor, and one of his brothers, DAVID NEUBERGER, AKA Baron Neuberger, was just made (Oct. 1), the President of the Supreme Court of the UK.

Nate Bloom writes a weekly column on Jewish celebrities, broadly defined, that appears in the Atlanta Jewish Times, the Cleveland Jewish News, the American Israelite of Cincinnati, the Detroit Jewish News, and the New Jersey Jewish Standard. It also appears bi-weekly in j., the Jewish news weekly of northern California. Most of the items in Bloom’s weekly newspaper column differ from the items in his bi-weekly column on interfaith celebrities for InterfaithFamily.com. If you wish to contact Nate Bloom, e-mail him at middleoftheroad1@aol.com .  The author welcomes questions and celebrity “tips,” especially about people you personally know.