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I Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

New Face
Actress Zoe Weizenbaum, 14, has
had an eventful two years. In 2003, the
young local theater veteran, who lives
in Amherst, Mass., was cast as Danny
Glover's co-star in the feature film
Missing in America. She is now appear-
ing in movie theaters as "Young
.
Pumpkin" in Memoirs of a Geisha.
Weizenbaum, born to a "Jewish
mother and a Chinese
dad," originally had her
bat mitzvah scheduled
for October 2004, but
filming for Memoirs
forced a postponement
until March 2005.
Her family's rabbi,
David Bauer of the
Zoe
Reconstructionist
Weizenbaum
Jewish Community of
Amherst synagogue, told me that Zoe
had to learn two bat mitzvah haftorot
— one for the original date of her bat
mitzvah and one for the new date.
Nonetheless, he said, she did a sterling
job and can really sing a haftorahl
He added that her bat mitzvah
speech was one of the best he had ever
heard: She gave an Oscar-quality heart-
felt statement about what being Jewish
means to her.

Trump's Big Man
Viewers of The Apprentice starring
Donald Trump must have taken notice

Barry's
World

EMU art
professor's works
shown in Ann
Arbor, Chelsea.

46

January 5 a 2006

of Trump's senior counsel and execu-
tive vice-president, George Ross.
Sitting in the boardroom near "the
Donald," he advises Trump about the
show's competitors.
Ross, 76, has been a real estate
laiAryer-investor for more than 50 years
and Trump's "right-hand man" for more
than 20. He co-wrote 2005's Trump
Strategies* Real Estate (John Riley &
Sons; $24.95) and recently spoke to
business students at Yeshiva University
about the show..
In addition to giv-
ing the students
investment advice,
he also told them:
"I'm not as short as I
look on TV."
Ross explained
George Ross
that Trump is taller
than he is, but also
sits on a platform while in the show's
boardroom, which makes the advisers
flanking him look tiny He also revealed
that one week, when it was announced
that Ross was "away on a business trip:'
it was actually a cover for his Yom
Kippur observance during that week's
taping.

MNF Moves
After 35 years, Monday Night Football
broadcast its last game Dec. 26 on ABC.
Next year, MNF will be seen on ESPN
cable.
Jewish sportscster Al Michaels,
who has called MNF games since 1986,
will move over to ESPN. Suzy Kolber,

T

wo exhibits, running almost
simultaneously, showcase the
drawings and paintings of Barry
Avedon, who teaches both techniques at
Eastern Michigan University.
"Kindred Spirits:' at Ann Arbor's
Washington Street Gallery, joins Avedon's
drawings with the works of two other
professors and calls attention to recent
projects. "Barry Avedon Artwork," at
Chelsea's River Gallery, presents a 40-
year retrospective of his oil renderings.
The Ann Arbor exhibition continues
through Feb. 5, and there will be a panel
discussion about the works at 2 p.m.

also Jewish, will do side-
line reporting for the •
ESPN Monday Night
team.
Michaels., while an
excellent reporter, could
never really replace
Suzy Kolber
Howard Cosell, the
color commentator from
1970-1982. Despite, and sometimes
because of his quirks and flaws, Cosell
gave MNF a flair that made it "event"
TV. After he left, MNF lost its signature
style, and that loss was a big cause of
its slow, but steady, ratings decline.

Kids Are Alright

Seth Green and Fred Savage,
share a lot in common, including new
network TV shows.
Green, 31, co-stars in Four Kings, a
sitcom about four
young slacker guys
who inherit a great
apartment (the
show debuts 8:30
p.m. Thursday, Jan.
5, on NBC). •
Growing up in
Seth Green
Philadelphia in a
middle-class Jewish
family, Green started acting in movies
when he was 11. He was a bar mitzvah
and credits a cool Jewish youth group
with giving him a place where he could
be "normal:' as opposed to the "weird
child actor" he was made to feel in
school.

Sunday, Jan. 22. The
Chelsea display can be
seen Jan. 21-Feb. 26.
"I'll be showing eight
drawings in colored pen-.
cil on paper in Ann
Arbor:' says Avedon, 65,
whose works contrast
with the constructions of

Barry Avedon:
Bathroom Odyssey, at
Ann Arbor's Washington

Street Gallery.

Not a leading-man type, Green
carved out a career. He turned in
really memorable performances
whenever he managed to snare a
character part in a big-budget
project (Buffy the Vampire Slayer
and Austin Powers). He.also
sought out parts in good small
indie films like Club Kids and has
done some producing.
Like Green, Fred Savage, 28, comes
from a middle-class Jewish family and
also was a bar mitzvah. As the star of
the hit show The
Wonder Years, Savage
was a much more
famous child actor
than Green. While that
gave him a leg up on
Seth, it also meant that
Fred probably had
Fred Savage
more "head trips"lo
deal with.
Well, Savage seems to be just fine. He
graduated from Stanford before head-
ing back into TV in the series Working.
After Working ended, he took up direct-
ing, most notably as the lead director of
Phil of the Future, the hit Disney series.
Last year, he married his Jewish child-
hood sweetheart.
Savage co-stars in the new ABC
series The Crumbs (debuting 9:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 12) as a prodigal son
who returns home when his Hollywood
career fails. Veterans William Devane
and Jane Curtin co-star as Savage's par-
ents. ❑