64 | DECEMBER 8 • 2022 

SWEET CAROLINE 
AT THE WORLD CUP, 
MENZEL AND BELLOW 
DOCUMENTARIES
Neil Diamond, 81, retired 
from performing in 2018 
following a Parkinson’s 
disease diagnosis. But I 
recently read he made 
a special appearance 
(6/18/22) at Fenway Park in 
Boston to lead the Red Sox 
crowd in singing “Sweet 
Caroline,” a Diamond tune 
that just about everyone 
knows Red Sox fans sing at 
every game. 
 I found a YouTube 
video of Diamond singing 
“Caroline” last June. To 
my surprise, “surrounding” 
the Fenway video were 
many YouTube videos of 
U.K. soccer fans singing 
“Sweet Caroline” to boost 
their local or national team. 
Yes, some American col-
lege team fans also sing 
“Sweet Caroline,” but the 
number of U.K. soccer fans 
singing “Caroline” dwarfs 
the American “singer” num-
bers. It is amazing to see 
packed European stadiums 
with thousands singing 
“Caroline.” 

 “Caroline” became 
popular (around 2005) 
with boosters of Northern 
Ireland teams. Then it 
spread to English teams. 
In 2020, the fans sang it 
when the English National 
(soccer) team played in the 
“Euros” final. In 2022, the 
English National Women’s 
team, the Lionesses, won 
the Euro Cup. Right after 
the victory, fans and play-
ers “screamed-out” “Sweet 
Caroline.” 
Just posted is a YouTube 
video of American and 
English fans jointly singing 
“Caroline” at the U.K./U.S. 
World Cup match (Nov. 25). 
 I think “Caroline” is 
popular for a few reasons. 
Over the last 20 years, Sox 

fans “morphed it” into a 
crowd-participation song 
(such as repeating, several 
times, the lyric so good). 
Also, “Caroline” is easy to 
sing-along-to and it’s sweet. 
It isn’t some hyper- 
masculine, fight song. It’s 
for everybody and not hos-
tile to anyone.
Backstory: In 1997, Amy 
Tobey, who was in charge 
of music played at Sox 
games, added “Sweet 
Caroline.” But she would 
only play it once a week. 
Enter Dr. Jack Steinberg, 
who became the Sox VP for 
public affairs in 2002. He 
quickly noticed how popu-
lar the song was with fans 
and he directed that it be 
played at every game. The 
rest is history.
Dr. Steinberg, now about 
75, had a pro baseball 
background (a sort-of office 
intern), before he became 
a dentist. He maintained 
a hand in dentistry and in 

pro baseball public affairs 
for a long time. When he 
was interviewed by the 
San Diego Jewish paper 
in 1999, he was the San 
Diego Padres team dentist 
and their public affairs VP. 
He is now the owner of 
a Red Sox minor league 
team. 
On Dec. 9, Disney+ will 
begin streaming a doc-
umentary about singer/
actress Idina Menzel, 51. 
Titled Which Way to the 
Stage, the film will cover 
her life and career. It will 
end with her headlining a 
Madison Square Garden 
concert.
Menzel’s first big break 
came as a star of the hit 
stage musical Rent (1996). 
She became nationally 
well known as a star of the 
musical Wicked (2003). 
Worldwide fame followed as 
she provided the voice of 
Elsa in the mega-hit Frozen 
series of animated flicks.
Nobel Prize winner Saul 
Bellow (1915-2005) is the 
subject of a new American 
Masters documenta-
ry profile. It’s titled The 
Adventures of Saul Bellow 
and it premieres on Dec. 
12 (Check your local PBS 
station for exact time. Also, 
on the PBS app/website). 
Many prominent writers, 
including Salman Rushdie 
and the late Philip Roth, 
were interviewed for the 
documentary.
Bellow was born in 
Canada. His parents were 
very poor immigrants. 
When he was 9, his 
(Orthodox) family “sneaked” 
into America (they even-
tually got legal status) and 
settled in Chicago, where 
Bellow lived most of his life. 
The title of the PBS 
special references The 
Adventures of Augie March 
(1953), a novel that won 
the National Book award 
for best fiction and estab-

lished Bellow as a major 
author and a key “player” in 
the flowering of American 
Jewish literature in the ’50s 
and ’60s.

 The American Master 
site says: “[The film covers] 
Saul Bellow’s impact on 
American literature and 
how he navigated through 
issues of his time, includ-
ing race, gender and the 
Jewish immigrant expe-
rience … He illuminated 
20th-century American 
life through philosophical 
depth and a wild sense of 
humor. Some of the great-
est American writers alive 
today credit him as their 
main inspiration.”
Bellow had tremendous 
energy. He kept on writ-
ing and teaching well into 
his 80s. He had energy 
in another way: He was 
married five times. Four 
wives were Jewish. All his 
marriages, save his last, 
ended in divorce. He had 
four children, all with Jewish 
wives. First, he had three 
sons. Then he had a daugh-
ter with his last, Jewish 
wife. Bellow was 84 years 
old when his daughter was 
born (2000).
I couldn’t find another 
Nobel Prize winner who 
became a father at such 
an advanced age. Other 
“geniuses,” like Charlie 
Chaplin and Picasso, had 
children in their 70s. But not 
in their 80s. 

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE

U.S. NAVY PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS CHAD J. MCNEELEY 

Idina Menzel

ANGELA GEORGE

Neil Diamond

JEFF LOWENTHAL

Saul Bellow

