Two Photographers of Merit; AI with Oprah; and the Odd Mr. Kretchman

 

“Lee” is a bio-pic about Lee Miller (1907-1977), a top model and top fashion photographer before WWII who became a top WWII photographer and reporter. It opens in theaters on Sept. 13.

ANDY SAMBERG, 46, has a supporting role as DAVID E. SCHERMAN (1915-97), a Life magazine photographer. He frequently teamed-up on WWII photographic stories with Lee (played by Kate Winslet). She primarily worked for Vogue magazine.

They both did outstanding work as they photographed at Dachau and at Buchenwald concentration camps right after they were liberated.

I gather, from the film’s trailer, that it re-creates a famous Miller/Scherman moment. On April 30, 1945, they managed to get into Hitler’s private apartment in Munich (Miller knew where it was). There Miller got the “dust of Dachau” off her by taking a bath in Hitler’s bath tub. Scherman took a famous photo of her in the bathtub. It was a “sort of” conquest over Hitler photo (It was artfully done so that Miller seemed to be bathing, but there was no nudity) 

By coincidence, April 30 was the day Hitler committed suicide.

“AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special” airs on ABC on Sept. 12 (8PM) and is posted the next day on Hulu. Her  most famous guests are Bill Gates and FBI director Christopher Ray.

Her first guest is SAM ALTMAN, 39, the billionaire CEO of “Open AI”. He explains how AI works in lay terms and discusses the immense personal responsibility that must be borne by AI executives.

AZA RASKIN, 40, and Tristan Harris, the co-founcers of Center for Humane Technology, walk Winfrey through the risks posed by AI, which can be powerful and superintelligent. They tell Winfrey how we need to confront those risks now.

Raskin’s father, JEF RASKIN (1943-2005). was major computer pioneer. He was the leader of the Apple MacIntosh project in the late ‘70s. He met Steve Jobs when Jobs was still working out of his garage. Jef mentored Aza, and, at time of Jef’s death, Jef and Aza were colleagues.

In my last column, I wrote about a bio-pic about President Ronald Reagan (“Reagan”), which opened on August 30. I focused on a real person in the film, Benjamin Kretchman.

EYLA BASKIN, a Jewish actor who played Kretchman in the film, wrote for Fox News:  “Kretchman managed to escape the USSR and traveled around the U.S. giving speeches, trying to enlighten  Americans with the real life of his country.” Baskin went on to say that Kretchman spoke to the small, Illinois church (1927) that a 17-year-old Reagan went to.

I saw “Reagan” last week and the Kretchman scene was very short. A title (like a subtitle) appeared ‘ on’ Kretchman: “Defector from the Soviet Union.” Then Baskin, as Kretchman,  said a few sentences about how the Russian Communists were shutting down churches.

The film didn’t mention that Kretchman was Jewish. But Paul Kengor, who wrote the book the film was based on, did say that Kretchman was Jewish in a 2007 article he wrote about “how much Reagan liked Jews” for the  Jewish Press, a conservative, “very Jewish” newspaper.

Here's the bottom line from public documents and books. Kretchman was born in Russia. But, according to his WWI draft card, he was living in Chicago in Sept. 1917, months before the Russian Revolution broke-out. His draft card also said he was living in the McCormick Seminary, then-and-now a Chicago Presbyterian seminary.

You can access compilations of Presbyterian magazines (in book form) on Google Books. These go back a century or more. Kretchman is described as a Reverend and, the “Superintendent of the Mission to the Jews” (1919, Montreal). He was in Montreal for about a year.

Kretchman does say in an official document that his native tongue was Yiddish and, in his naturalization form, he says his “race” is “Hebrew”. I have no doubt that Kretchman was born Jewish. But he chose to become a very active Christian.

I don’t know if Mr. Kengor knows about the “Reverend Kretchman” and withheld that information from his Jewish Press article. I doubt that Mr. Baskin knows any of this.

Kretchman, an apostate Jew, and devout Christian, would have no reason to leave America and visit militantly atheistic Russia after the Soviet Reds won a civil war (1918-20) .Even if he did visit Russia, he was not a “Soviet defector”. He was living in America before and after the 1917 Revolution.

I simply don’t know if Kertchman held himself out as a Soviet defector to church audiences. But it didn’t take me very long to find out that he wasn’t a defector. Others could have checked, too.

 

The Most Complete Guide to Jewish Tony Nominees

 

 

The Emmy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, Sept. 15.  It starts at 8PM (on ABC). This year’s co-hosts are EUGENE LEVY, 77, and DAN LEVY, 41. This is the first time that a father and son will share the honor of being Emmy hosts.

Here are the “verified” Jewish Emmy nominees.

Actors and Actresses

There are twelve acting categories. The number of nominees varies from one category to another (6 or 7).

There are six Jewish nominees in five categories:

LARRY DAVID, 77, lead actor in a comedy series (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”, HBO). Of course, David plays a “version” of himself in “Curb”.  Surprisingly, David was only nominated once before for his acting in “Curb” (2012). His only two Emmy wins were for writing “Seinfeld”.  The “Curb” series ended with this past season. So, David has some sentimental support behind him and he could win this year.

MAYA RUDOLPH, 52, lead actress, comedy series. She stars as Molly Novak in “Loot” (Apple+).

PAUL RUDD, 55, supporting actor, comedy series, “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu). Surprisingly, this is Rudd’s first Emmy nomination and he hasn’t been Oscar-nominated. However, at age 52, he was “People” magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive”. That’s pretty good.

EBON MOSS-BACHRACH, 47, supporting role, comedy series, “The Bear” (FX/Hulu). In 2023, he won the Emmy in this category.

HANNAH EINBIDER, 29, supporting actress in a comedy series, “Hacks” (HBO). Einbinder is the daughter of LARAINE NEWMAN, 71, an original “SNL” cast member. Einbinder has been nominated twice for this role (2021, 2022). Basically, “Hacks” is a two-woman show: Einbinder and Jean Smart. Smart has won two Emmys for “Hacks” and it gets ‘real old’ if Einbinder keeps on losing.

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR., 59., supporting actor in a limited series, “The Sympathizer” (HBO). I always “wobble” when I include Downey as Jewish. In common terms, he is 3/8 Jewish (his father had three Jewish grandparents). Downey wed his Jewish wife in a Jewish ceremony and calls himself “Jewish Buddhist”. This is his third Emmy nomination.

Directing

RANDALL EINHORN, 60,  directing for a comedy series, ‘Abbott Elementary” (ABC); episode: “Party” (directing nominations cite a specific episode). Einhorn was born and raised in Cincinnati. He’s an acclaimed TV jack-of-trades: directing, cinematography, and producing.

MIMI LEDER, 71, directing for a drama series, “The Morning Show”; episode: “The Overview Effect”. Leder’s mother was a classical pianist and an Auschwitz survivor and her father was a director of indie, low-budget films—he tutored Mimi and her siblings in the “family trade.” Leder’s TV and film credits are really extensive. She has won two Emmys. “The Morning Show” is nominated for the best drama series Emmy. Leder, an executive producer, will share that Emmy if it wins.

SAUL METZSTEIN, 54, directing for a drama series, “Slow Horses” (Apple+); episode:” Strange Games”. “Slow Horses” is a British spy thriller. The series has now shown three, six-episode seasons. Metzstein directed all the season 3 episodes.

He’s a Scottish Jew, born and raised in Glasgow. He made his first film in 2001 and has gradually built a strong career (TV series, feature films, and documentaries). He’s also a producer. His late father, ISI METZSTEIN, was a renowned modernist architect. Isi fled Germany in 1938, with his four siblings, and his mother. They moved to the U.K. and settled in Glasgow.

Writing

It’s a surprisingly “bad year” for Jewish TV writers. Just three Emmy nominations, two in (best) writing for a ‘variety special’ and one dramatic series.

ALEX EDELMAN, 35, for “Just for Us” (HBO). This “Variety Special” was the “video version” of “Just for Us”. It began (2022) as an off-Broadway, one-man stage play. It did so well that it moved to Broadway in 2023. Edelman’s Jewish background (Modern Orthodox) is an important theme in the show.

JACQUELINE NOVAK, “Get on Your Knees” (Netflix); Variety special. Novak is the daughter of a non-Jewish father and a Jewish mother. She has written, eloquently, about the difficulty of being raised totally secular. “Knees” began as a one-woman play in 2018, It got good reviews and opened in New York (2019). Natasha Lyonne, a friend of Novak, directed the Netflix film. The Washington Post said: “It’s a blisteringly intellectual, deeply funny sermon examining the absurdity of our longest-held notions about the power dynamics of sex — one that had a longer journey from stage to screen than anyone involved expected”.

PETER MORGAN Morgan, 61, is the creator, head producer, and the main writer of “The Crown”, a long-running series about the British royal family. His writing Emmy nomination is for the episode “The Ritz”. Morgan’s Jewish father was a German Jew who fled to the U.K.  in 1933. His mother was Polish Catholic. My sense is that he’s secular.

The Emmy for a “best” series (or TV movie) goes to the executive producers. Here’s my list and notes.

(Best) Comedy series

“Abbott Elementary"; Director Randall Einhorn, is also an executive producer.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm”; LARRY DAVID and JEFF GARLIN ,62 (who also acts in the series) are the two producers always listed “on top” of the list of Curb’s many executive producers.

“Hacks”: Six executive producers. One is MICHAEL SCHUR, 48. He’s a former SNL writer, and a prolific comedy director and producer.

“Only Murders in the Building”. ‘Top line’ producer is DAN FOGELMAN, 48. He’s a big-time comedy screenplay writer/producer (“Cars”;  “Crazy, Stupid Love”).

“Reservation Dogs”: Taika Waititi, 49. He co-created this series focused on Native Americans, and he co-produces it. Waititi is half Polynesian and half “European”. He is “only” 1/8th Jewish, but he really ties himself to his Jewish background in many, positive ways. I have to note that three actress sisters, SARAH, JENNIFER, and TAMARA PODEMSKI, have large recurring roles in “Reservation”. Their father is Jewish. Their mother is a Canadian “First Nation” member (Objibwe).

“What We Do in the Shadows”. Co-produced and co-created by Mr. Waititi. Another “What We” executive producer is SCOTT RUDIN, 66. He’s a very important showbiz producer, period.

Outstanding Drama Series

“The Crown”. Peter Morgan, exec. producer

“Slow Horses”, Saul Metzstein, a director, is also an executive producer.

“3 Body Problem” (Netflix) is a science fiction series that was created by and produced by Alexander Woo, DAVID BENIOFF, 52, and D.B, WEISS, 52. These three have also written a number of the show’s scripts. Benioff and Weiss are famous as the writers, producers, etc. of “Game of Thrones”.

Just two programs were honored with a nomination for best scripted variety program: “Last Week with John Oliver” and ‘Saturday Night Live”. I don’t think any producers of “Last Week” are Jewish.

The chief SNL producer, for the last 50 years(!), is LORNE MICHAELS, 79. But “they” always gives the Emmy to John Oliver.

The “Other” Emmys

There are so many Emmy categories that a large number of Emmys (including guest actor/actress awards) are given at the “Creative Arts” Emmys ceremony. Those awards were given on Sept. 7 and  8.

Next week, in my regular column, I will mention the Jews who won “Creative” Emmys.