40 | JULY 8 • 2021 

continued from page 39

will be returned to use as the 
Hudson City Market, a food and 
home furnishings marketplace 
filled with dining and entertain-
ment options.
Phase II located along 
Northwestern Highway and 
J.L. Hudson Drive will include 
townhomes. The landmark 
power plant will become a com-
munity playhouse. Northland’s 
iconic water tower will remain 
in place.” 
Initial work, including dem-
olition of JCPenney and other 
structures, is already underway. 
Groundbreaking may occur this 
fall.
You’ve written other books?
My first book was about Oak 
Park, launched on 12/12/12. I 
then wrote the Northland first 
edition in 2016. My third book 
was an homage to a book I read 
as a kid … The Hill That Grew, 
a children’s learn-to-read book 

published in 1959 that described 
the making of the Oak Park 
sledding hill. 
The copyright had expired, 
so I filed my own and published 
the book on the 60th anniver-
sary in 2019. I added articles 
and photographs about the hill 
and the David Shepherd Park. I 
published an expanded version 
in 2020. I’m currently writing 
the story of Farrell’s Ice Cream 
Parlours.
How can people purchase 
your books?
The first editions of Oak 
Park and Northland Mall are on 
Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 
All books, including second 
editions and The Hill are only 
available from me. People can 
contact me via Facebook or my 
website, JerryNaftaly.com, or 
email GNaftaly@att.net directly 
to purchase signed and personal-
ized copies of all the books. 

Northland was 
the home of 
Ross Music 

NAFTALY

A rendering of the proposed 
Hudson City Market

CONTOUR DEVELOPMENT GROUP

BLACK WIDOW IS BACK; 
ANOTHER LANSKY FLICK
Black Widow opens in 
theaters on July 9 and 
starts streaming on Disney 
Premiere+ on the same 
day. It’s another tale about 
Natasha Romanoff aka the 
Black Widow (BW). Marvel 
Universe fans know that BW 
died in Avengers: End Game 
(2019). However, this film is 
an End Game prequel, set 
between the events depicted 
in Civil War (2016) and Infinity 
War (2018). The new flick 
finds BW battling a serious 
conspiracy. 
Once again, Scarlett 
Johansson, 36, plays BW. 
Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz, 
51, co-stars. She plays Melina 
Vostokoff, a veteran member 

of the Black Widow organi-
zation, a seasoned spy and 
a mother-figure to Romanoff. 
 
 
 
 Lansky, a bio-pic about 
famous Jewish gangster 
Meyer Lansky, (1902-83) 
opened in a few theaters 
on June 25 and is avail-
able on-demand. Reviews 
range from so/so to com-
plete pans. However, every 
reviewer says that Harvey 
Keitel, 82, is superb in the 
title role. The premise is that a 
terminally ill Lansky agrees to 
a frank run-down of his career 
with a reporter. But nothing 
about their conversation will 
be published until after his 
death.
Variety says of Keitel: “[He] 
commands attention not by 
resorting to showboating…
but rather by conveying the 
sometimes ingratiating, some-
times intimidating self-assur-
ance of someone who has 
seen it all.”
The director and scriptwrit-

er, Eytan Rockaway, 35ish, 
says he was inspired by 
interviews with Lansky that 
his father, Robert Rockaway, 
81, an Israel-based historian, 
did in 1973. Robert, a Detroit 
native, earned his undergrad-
uate and grad degrees in 
Michigan and is the author of 
The Jews of Detroit: From the 
Beginning (1986). 
Almost all critics say that 
flashbacks featuring the 
young Lansky and subplots 
involving the reporter and the 
FBI just don’t work (the young 
Lansky is played by John 

Magaro, 38. He was raised 
in his mother’s Jewish faith). 
I want to believe Lansky’s 
“Jewish avenger” stories 
(repeated in the film). But 
I take them with a grain 
of salt because the main 
source is Lansky and other 
criminals. How many times 
did Lansky (really) help 
break up prewar American 
Nazi rallies and how many 
guns did he (really) run to 
Israel during the Israeli War of 
Independence?
Wanting clarity led me to 
speak to Lansky’s grandson 
a few years ago. He didn’t 
know anything interesting 
that he learned by virtue 
of being a Lansky. What he 
knew came from secondary 
sources, and he had no clue 
where Lansky’s reputed mil-
lions went after his death. He 
was, however, smart enough 
to trade on his family name 
via TV and other paid appear-
ances. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

IMDB

Black 
Widow

