At the movies, on TV
“Charlie Countryman,” opening Friday, Nov. 15, stars Shia LaBeouf, 27, as a nice American whose late mother appears to him in a vision and tells him to go to Romania. On the plane, he talks to another passenger, who dies midflight. Charlie then conveys the man’s body to his daughter Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood, 26). He falls in love with Gabi, but she’s claimed by a vicious gangster, and he has to descend into the gangster’s violent world to try and rescue her. At one point, Charlie has to take LSD. LaBeouf, a method actor, recently said he filmed the “acid” scenes while on LSD. The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, calling its mix of romance, comedy and action “gratifyingly” outside strict genre classification.
The Nov. 11 episode of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” was a shocker with actress Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, 41, eliminated in the ninth week of the 11-week competition along with her pro dance partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy, 27. They lost despite judges scoring them higher than other couples still in the competition. However, as the TV audience for “DWTS” has shrunk, it appears the number of viewers who vote based on an affinity to a celeb has grown, and it’s become more of a popularity contest and less a dance contest.
Lauren, who was in the ’80s TV show “Saved by the Bell” and imfamously starred in the 1995 movie “Showgirls,” wed artist Greg Lauren, 43, nephew of Ralph Lauren, 74, in a lavish 2003 Jewish wedding. After being eliminated from “DWTS,” Lauren said she “felt a little sucker-punched,” but added that the silver lining was being able to spend more time with her son, who was born last year.
Boychik, I gotta take you out of the game
When the Detroit Tigers recently named Brad Ausmus, 44, their new manager, readers asked me: Who were the other Jewish Major League Baseball managers? Here’s my list, vetted by Jewish Sports Review magazine. All except Phillips were, like Ausmus, former MLB players: Lipman Pike (1845-1893), a player/manager of two teams in the 1870s and the first player of any faith to sign a pro contract; Andy Cohen (1904-88), Pittsburgh, one game, 1960; Harold “Lefty” Phillips (1919-72), Angels, 1969-71; Norm Sherry, 82; Angels, 1976-77; and Jeff Newman, 65, 10-game interim manager, Oakland, 1986. Many readers will remember Newman, who converted to Judaism, as a pretty good catcher for Oakland from 1976 to 1982. After retiring in 1984, he joined the A’s as a coach and managed while the team awaited the arrival of new manager Tony LaRussa. He held various baseball jobs until he retired in 2000.
Managers who had one Jewish parent but were not raised Jewish include Lou Boudreau, Larry Rothschild and current Oakland manager Bob Melvin, 52, a Palo Alto native. Melvin’s mother (Judyth Melvin) is Jewish. The obituary of his maternal Jewish grandmother, Leah Levitas, appeared in J. in 2007.
Local Hollywood connection
Novelist and memoirist Joyce Maynard, 60, will appear at the Montclair Branch of the Oakland Public Library at 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 26 to speak about her career and her newest novel, “After Her,” which she describes as “part love story, part thriller, part family drama.” This critically praised tale is loosely based on the Trailside Killings that took place in Marin in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Long a Marin resident, Maynard moved to Montclair last year. “Labor Day,” a film based on her 2009 novel of the same name, opens on Dec. 25. Directed by Jason Reitman, 38, the romance stars Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin.
Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at [email protected].