60 | SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022 

BRITISH BRETHREN 
MOURN, BLAIR KNOCKS 
THEM OUT, AND A VERY 
GAY (AND QUITE JEWISH) 
MOVIE
I have long admired the 
Jewish Chronicle (UK). It’s 
more commonly known as 
the JC. Its website, thejc.
com, posts the whole news-
paper and its entirely free 
(including back issues). I’ve 
cited the JC as a source 
many times. I recommend 
that you click over and read 
their “wall-to-wall” cover-
age of the death of Queen 
Elizabeth II and the succes-
sion of her son, King Charles 
III. Check out the most 
recent three issues. 
Of course, you don’t 
have to read every arti-
cle. But I found it quite 
interesting to read the 
British Jewish “take” on so 
many things related to the 
Queen’s death. Here’s just 
a sampler of the headlines: 
“Palace Moves Event to 
Accommodate Shabbat” (the 
timing of a meeting of “faith 
leaders” with King Charles 
III was changed a bit so the 
UK Chief Rabbi had to time 
get to shul before Shabbat 
began); “Jewish Stars 
Remember a Much Beloved 
Monarch” (the “stars” are not 
well-known in the States, but 
pretty well known in the UK 
for their TV roles/journalism); 
and “When Buckingham 
Palace Went Kosher” (in 
1997, a “crack team” of 
kosher caterers was flown 
in to furnish the food for 
a state dinner for Israeli 
President Ezer Weizman).

Dancing with the Stars, 
which premiered on ABC 
in 2005, moved over to 
Disney+ this season. The 
first Disney+ episode 

streamed on Sept. 19 and 
new episodes premiere on 
following Mondays. This 
season’s contestants include 
actress Selma Blair, 50.
Blair, a Detroit-area native 
and University of Michigan 
graduate, was clearly the 
studio audience’s senti-
mental favorite. Few in the 
audience didn’t know her 
backstory. In 2018, Blair 
revealed she had recently 
been diagnosed with mul-
tiple sclerosis (MS). In her 
2022 book, Mean Baby: A 
Memoir of Growing Up, and 
in a recent documentary, 
she detailed how her phys-
ical state declined until she 
opted (2019) to try a risky 
and arduous stem-cell treat-
ment. Fortunately, it appears 
to have put her MS in remis-
sion. 
Well, her first dance 
couldn’t have gone better. 
Blair put down her cane and 
leaned for a few seconds on 
her professional dance part-
ner, Sasha Farber, 38. Then 
they danced beautifully to 
the music of a Viennese 
waltz. Blair and Farber fin-
ished third, a very good 
showing. 
Carrie Ann Inaba, a dance 
judge, also suffers from an 
“invisible” disease (lupus). 
Inaba was in tears as she 
told Blair: “Seeing you come 
out here with your circum-

stances and just making 
everyone aware that you are 
fully able to do and achieve 
anything you put your mind 
to.”
Like Blair, Farber attend-
ed Jewish day schools. 
Except his schools were in 
Australia. He was born in 
Moscow and, with the rest 
of his (religiously observant) 
family, he moved to Australia 
in 1986.
Blair’s “comeback” 
and courage is simply a 
great story that everyone 
embraces. She was given a 
standing ovation when she 
presented the best drama 
series Emmy a couple of 
weeks ago and, earlier this 
month, she became the face 
of a major new Gap fashion 
campaign. 
Bros, which opens in the-
aters on Sept. 30, has been 
heralded as the first main-
stream Hollywood movie to 
feature gay men as the lead 

characters. This romantic 
comedy was co-written by 
comedian Billy Eichner, 44, 
and he co-stars. 
The entire cast, except for 
a few celebs who play them-
selves, identify as a member 
of the LGBTQ community. 
“Famously” gay Harvey 
Fierstein, 68, has a support-
ing role. Ben Stiller, 56, and 
Debra Messing, 54, have 
cameo roles as themselves. 
The film got mostly good 
reviews after playing the 
Toronto Film Festival. 
Capsule plot “set-up”: 
Eichner plays Bobby, a 
40-year-old Jewish New 
Yorker who hosts a popular 
LGBTQ podcast. He has 
spent most of his life hook-
ing up instead of looking 
for long-term commitment. 
That is until he meets ath-
letic CrossFit jock Aaron at 
a club. They hit it off, start 
seeing each other but agree 
to not commit to any sort of 
relationship. 
The film was produced 
by Judd Apatow, 54, a 
master of the “rom-com,” 
and it was co-written and 
directed by Nicholas Stoller, 
46. Stoller’s films (as a writ-
er and director) include 
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 
Get Him to the Greek and 
The Five-Year Engagement
(which was set in Ann 
Arbor).
Stoller and his wife of 17 
years, novelist Francesca 
Delbanco, 48, co-created 
and co-wrote Friends from
College, a Netflix series 
that ran from 2017-2019. 
The couple have three 
children. Francesca has an 
MFA from the University 
of Michigan. Her father is 
Nicholas Delbanco, 80, a 
highly esteemed novelist 
and prose writer. His many 
top academic posts included 
heading-up the U-M MFA 
program. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

DISNEY+

Selma Blair and 
dancing partner, 
Sasha Farber

ANDREW H. WALKER/GETTY IMAGES FOR YAHOO NEWS

Billy Eichner

