60 | JUNE 30 • 2022 

KING SOARS, A TWO-
SERIES CANADIAN, 
JIM AND A.J. CROCE
Joey King, 22, has made 
the difficult transition from 
a star child actor to a suc-
cessful young adult actor. 
This was obvious when she 
was Emmy-nominated (2019) 
as best actress in a limited 
series (The Act on Hulu).
King has the title role in 
Princess, a comedy fan-
tasy action film that will 
start streaming on Hulu on 
July 1. Here’s the capsule 
plot: When a strong-willed 
princess refuses to wed 
a cruel sociopath, she’s 
kidnapped and locked 
in a remote castle tower. 
With her vindictive suitor 
intent on taking her father’s 
throne, the princess must 
protect her family and save 
her kingdom.

King will also co-star in 
Bullet Train, an action/thriller 
starring Brad Pitt. It opens in 
theaters in August. 
It was recently announced 
that King would star in We 
Are the Lucky Ones, a lim-
ited Hulu series. It is based 
on a bestselling book by 
Georgia Hunter, 35. She 

traced how some members 
of her Polish Jewish family 
successfully fled from the 
Nazis.
Maggie, a new Hulu 
series, begins streaming on 
July 6. Rebecca Rittenhouse, 
33, stars in the title role. 
The series’ central “hook” 
is that Maggie is a genuine 
psychic. Maggie’s “powers” 
allow her to see into the 
future of her friends, parents 
and random people on the 
street. But when she begins 
to see glimpses of her own 
future, her romantic life sud-
denly gets complicated.

Adam J. Korson, 42, 
has a large recurring role 
as Daniel. He is described 
in advance publicity as “a 
sweet and self-deprecat-
ing Crossfit dropout who 
charms Maggie with his witty 
and thoughtful demeanor.” 
Daniel helps Maggie have 
fun in the present, despite 
her constant anxieties about 
the future.
Korson is a Canadian 
actor who grew-up in 
Thornhill, Ontario (about 
240 miles from Detroit). 
All his grandparents on his 
father’s side are Ashkenazi 
Jews who were born in 
Poland. His mother’s fam-
ily are Sephardi Jews. His 
maternal grandmother was 
born in Algeria. His mater-
nal grandfather was born in 
Morocco and, records say, 
he had one of those charm-
ing, almost biblical names 

that many Sephardim have. 
His name was Salomon 
BenHaim (the son of H’Dan 
BenHaim). 
Korson also co-stars in the 
Canadian TV sci-fi series 
SurrealEstate. The series 
centers on a real estate 
agent who rids “unsalable” 
properties of paranormal 
infestations. Korson and 
Sarah Levy play associates 
of the agent who help him 
with his work. Levy, 35, is 
the daughter of Eugene 
Levy, 75, and the sister of 
the now-famous Dan Levy, 
38 (thanks to Schitts Creek).
The first season (2021) of 
SurrealEstate was reshown 
by the (American) SyFy 
channel, and it got a big 
enough audience that it was 
just announced that SyFy 
would “adopt” the show and 
produce a second season in 
2023.
The June 19 episode of 
CBS Sunday Morning coin-
cided with Father’s Day, and 
they profiled a famous father 
and his son. The father 
was singer/songwriter Jim 
Croce, who died in a plane 
crash in 1973, age 30. In 
1973, Croce was “red-hot,” 
having released a string of 
hits in the two years before 
his death (“Time in a Bottle,” 
“You Don’t Mess Around 
with Jim,” “Operator” and 
“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”). He 
wrote all these songs. One 
hit song, “I’ve Got a Name,” 
released a day after he died, 
was written by two other 

Jewish songwriters, Norman 
Gimbel and Charles Fox, 
now 81. This song was writ-
ten for a TV show and ABC 
hired Croce to sing it. 
Yes, Jim Croce was 
Jewish. He converted to 
Judaism just before he mar-
ried (1966) Ingrid Jacobson, 
now 74. They wed before a 
rabbi. Croce is buried in a 
Philadelphia Jewish ceme-
tery. 

Sunday Morning inter-
viewed Jim and Ingrid’s 
only child, A.J. Croce, now 
50. He was only 2 when his 
father died. A.J. has had a 
pretty good music career in 
his own right. He has played 
with leading musicians for 
decades and also writes 
songs. Until recently, he very 
rarely performed his father’s 
songs. He told CBS Sunday 
Morning that now he is “in a 
place” where he can finally 
comfortably sing his dad’s 
songs.
In 2012, the Jewish News 
interviewed A.J. Croce. 
Here’s one interesting 
quote: “When I was studying 
for my bar mitzvah, I had 
doubts about my religion 
[and having a bar mitzvah]. 
The rabbi explained that 
questioning is what Judaism 
is about even as questions 
are answered with ques-
tions. When I understood it 
was all about carrying on a 
tradition, I fully embraced it. 
I love that quest for knowl-
edge. The conversation 
helped form my faith.” 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

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Adam J. 
Korson

BY CONDÉ NAST (THROUGH VOGUE TAIWAN)

Joey 
King

BY PHILKON PHIL KONSTANTIN 

A.J. 
Croce

JIMCROCE.COM

Jim 
Croce