Texas Jews — now and then
Kinky Friedman, the best-selling mystery writer and former leader of the country band The Texas Jewboys, has announced his independent candidacy for Texas governor. Friedman’s celeb supporters include Texans Billy Bob Thornton, Willie Nelson and Robert Duvall. Thornton, meanwhile, opened last week as Davy Crockett in the Disney blockbuster “The Alamo.”
The film’s opening night party in San Antonio featured music by country singer Ray Benson, who recently recorded a CD of music related to the Alamo. Thornton took over drumming duties for part of Benson’s set.
The fate of Michael Eisner as head of Disney is tied into this flick. Big biz will shore up his position. A flop may force him out. This is not the first time, by the way, that a Jew has financed the Alamo. Adolphus Sterne was a major financial backer of the 1835-36 Texas revolution. Among the other estimated 200 Texas Jews in 1836 was Dr. Albert Moses Levy, who treated Sam Houston for his war wounds, actively fought in the revolt and still has Jewish descendants in Texas.
Weinermania
Last fall, we told you that Jennifer Weiner‘s best-selling first novel, “Good in Bed,” about a young Jewish woman’s romantic and career adventures, may be turned into an HBO series. Weiner’s second novel, “In Her Shoes,” has begun filming. We caught up with the author for an interview.
“Shoes” is the story of two very different twentysomething Jewish sisters. One is heavy-set (like the heroine of “Good in Bed”) and successful. The other is thin and beautiful, but her personal life and career are a mess. Both novels end on a happy note.
Cameron Diaz plays the wild sister. Weiner told me that she pointed out to the studio that Diaz doesn’t “look Jewish.” The solution was to make the sisters “half Jewish” on their father’s side. (Shirley Maclaine is playing their maternal grandmother.)
So far, Weiner has met one cast member: Marc Feuerstein, who plays the Jewish mensch boyfriend. She has visited the set, and says, “They are doing an amazing job.”
Not everything in the book is in the film, “But the bones of the book — its heart and soul, its themes and even some of my dialogue — is very much intact.” Weiner added that the Jewish wedding at the end of “Shoes” will be “performed by an actual rabbi.”
“Shoes” comes out in 2005. Meanwhile, the HBO project is still alive, but Weiner is not allowed to talk about it.
Re-enlisting
Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central’s program “The Daily Show,” has signed on to stay with the show through 2008. This means his politically oriented program will be around for at least two full presidential election cycles. It is by the far the highest-rated show on the basic cable channel and his ratings compare favorably with network TV shows.
Stewart’s show, by the way, is the only major one that doesn’t feature idiotic members of the audience laughing at anything and piercing the air with screams at anything remotely sexual. He should get another Emmy for that alone.
Columnist Nate Bloom is the Oakland-based editor of www.Jewhoo.com.