I start with a catch-up film. “Kraven the Hunter” opened in theaters on Dec. 13. It is based on a character in Marvel Comics. Here’s the official premise: “Kraven has a complex relationship with his father which sets him on a path of vengeance and motivates him to become the greatest and most feared hunter.”
AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON, 34, a (very handsome) British Jew, plays Kraven. He’s had some good roles and even won a Golden Globe award in 2016 (supporting actor, “Nocturnal Animals”). However, Kraven may be Aaron’s first breakthrough as an action film star.
FRED HECHINGER, 25, plays Dmitri Smerdyakov aka the Chameleon. Dmitri is Kraven’s estranged half-brother and a master of disguise. Last month, Hechinger had a biggish role (Emperor Carcalla) in “Gladiator II.”
Well, I don’t think the Disney animated film “Mufasa: The Lion King” (in theaters Dec. 20) will be as big a theater hit as “Moana 2”, but it probably will be a big hit.
The film is about how Mufasa (the Lion King) became the Lion King. The story is told, by a mandrill, to Mufasa’s grandchildren, after Mufasa’s death. Simba, Mufasa’s son, is now the king of Pride Rock.
SETH ROGEN, 42, provides the voice of Pumbaa, a good-humored warthog, and BILLY EICHNER, 46, voices Timon, a wise-cracking meerkat. Timon and Pumbaa befriended Simba when he was a cub.
PRESTON NYMAN, voices Zazu, an uptight, red-and-yellow hornbill who served as Mufasa’s “majordomo.” He’s supposed to uphold order, but is rarely taken seriously (he’s small and has a fragile temper.)
Nyman is English. His father, ANDY NYMAN, 58, is an English actor, director, writer, singer and magician. His Jewish roles include Tevye, in a British 2019 revival of Fiddler on the Roof and as a Polish-Jewish freedom fighter in “Uprising” (2001).
JEFFREY D. NATHANSON, 59, wrote the Mufasa screenplay. He’s written or cowritten 15 films, including big hits like “Catch Me if You Can” (2002) and “The Lion King” (2019).
Here’s the rest of the story (that I know) about JACKIE GERLICH, who played one of the three members of the Lollipop Guild in the “Wizard of Oz.” DAVE FOX, Jackie’s older brother, gave several interviews to the Leo Baeck Institute in the 1990s. He said that his parents agreed to let LEO SINGER, a vaudeville impresario, take Jackie to America in 1936. Singer told Jackie’s parents that Jackie (then 10-years old) would be well paid in America. Sadly, Singer gradually stopped writing to Jackie’s parents and Singer “stiffed” Jackie — i.e., almost no wages.
Singer was often awful, but he did save Jackie’s life — he got Jackie out of Austria before the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. Plus, the exposure Jackie got with the “Singer Midgets,” and in the Wizard of Oz, got the attention of the Ringling Brothers management. Jackie was hired as one of the several (dwarf) clowns in the famous touring circus.
Dave Fox and his brother, JACOB, escaped Austria shortly after the Nazi takeover and made their way to America. The brothers’ parents managed to get out of Austria in 1939 and they finally had a reunion with their three sons in America. Dave became an engineer and in 1943 he married a German Jewish refugee from a prominent family. He became a respected artistic painter in his later years.
Jackie died in 1960, age 35. He lived in Sarasota, Florida, the “winter home” of the Ringling circus. He owned a home in Sarasota. Sadly, he died, suddenly, of violent cramps. (I’m now trying to get the transcript of a 1957 MIKE WALLACE/Jackie Gerlich interview.)
Recently, I read a November issue of the New Yorker magazine and it briefly mentioned that Madonna’s (adopted) twin daughters had bat mitzvahs, last September, at the New York Kabbalah Centre. I then found a long, September, 2024 People article, with many photos, of the bat mitzvahs. In that article, I learned that Madonna’s adopted son, David, 18, and her biological son, Rocco Ritchie, 24, had Kabbalah Centre bar mitzvahs.
I don’t know if these four young people converted to any wing of Judaism — and I don’t know if any mainstream rabbi would find these bar/bat mitzvahs kosher. It’s best if you read the People article yourself. Here’s the title to Google: “Madonna Celebrates Twin Daughters Stella and Estere at Their Bat Mitzvah Surrounded by Family and Friends — See Photos!”
Final word: “A Complete Unknown,” the BOB DYLAN bio-flick, opens on Dec. 25. I will cover it in detail in my Dec. 26 column.
