44 | JULY 1 • 2021

WHO’S THE BOSS?
BETTING ON MICHIGAN
The animated film The Boss
Baby: Family Business opens
on July 2. Lisa Kudrow, 57,
again is the voice of the
Templeton brothers’ mother,
and Jeff Goldblum, 68, is the
voice of Dr. Armstrong, a busi-
ness rival of the Templetons.
Then there’s Lady Boss.
A documentary about writer
Jackie Collins (1937-2015)
began streaming on CNN
on June 27. Check listings
for encore showings, and it’s
available on demand. Her first
novel, The World is Full of
Married Men (1968), was much
“steamier” than other romance
novels of the day.
Collins was born in the U.K.,
the daughter of a Jewish father
and a non-Jewish mother. Her

sister is actress Joan Collins,
now 88. Jackie and Broadway
producer Oscar Lerman (1919-
1992) were wed in 1969.
Last week, it was announced
that an original Paramount+
film Jerry and Marge Go Large
will begin filming this month.
It is based on the true story of
Jerry and Marge Selbee.
The Selbees, now retired,
have long lived in Evart, Mich.,

south of Cadillac. The couple,
who have six children, made
a modest living from their
convenience store. Then, in
2003, Jerry became aware of
Winfall, a new Michigan lottery
game. Jerry has an undergrad
degree in math, and he quickly
realized there was a “quirk” in
the game that virtually guaran-
teed “net” winnings if you bet
enough.
There was nothing illegal
about what he planned to do,
and he enlisted local friends in
a “betting club.” In two years,
they netted over $300K. Later,
Jerry found a similar game in
Massachusetts and the club
played for next seven years,
making another $7.7 million in
profits before taxes.
The film stars Bryan
Cranston and Annette Bening
as the Selbees. David Frankel,
62, will direct. Frankel has
helmed some really big com-
edy hits, including The Devil

Wears Prada and Marley and
Me. His father is Pulitzer Prize
winner Max Frankel, now 91.
Max and his family fled Nazi
Germany in 1940. He began
working for the N.Y. Times in
1952. He was a top correspon-
dent and retired (1996) as the
Times’ executive editor.
David married (1998) adver-
tising executive Jennifer
Beber, 62-ish, in the Spanish
Synagogue in Venice, Italy.
Their children Phoebe and
Jake Beber-Frankel are
19-year-old twins. Last April,
Jake was profiled by a
Stanford University publication.


A top high school golfer, Jake
recently joined the Stanford
golf team. Jake is not “just” a
golfer; his father says he’s also
a “funny writer.” The profile
notes that Max took Jake and
Phoebe on a b’nai mitzvah
trip to Europe. They visited his
hometown in Germany and
several concentration camps.

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Lady Boss Jackie Collins