84 | MARCH 30 • 2023
PAINT, A MOVIE, AND THE
AMAZING SCHOENBERG
FAMILY
Paint opens in theaters on
April 7. The film centers on
Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson),
who has hosted Vermont’s
No. 1 painting (TV) show for
about 30 years. (The Nargle
character is clearly inspired
by the late Bob Ross of PBS
fame. But Carl is not nearly
as famous as Ross was).
Things change when Carl’s
TV station hires a young
woman to do a similar show.
It’s clear that she’s a better
painter than Carl. She pro-
ceeds to “steal” everything
(and everyone) that Carl
loves, and he goes into quite
a funk.
Michela Watkins, 51, who
has worked regularly on TV,
has second billing in the
credits as “Katherine.” The
trailer implies that she has
some romantic connection
to Carl.
On March 15, the New York
Times ran a very long profile
of Dr. Marlena Schoenberg
Fejzo, 55, a UCLA genet-
icist. It focused on her
decades-long quest to find
the cause of what physicians
call hyperemesis gravidarum
(“HG”). The Times says: “It is
a condition whose hallmark
symptoms include nausea
and vomiting so severe and
relentless that it can cause
dehydration, weight loss,
electrolyte imbalances and
hospitalization.”
Two percent of all pregnant
women suffer from HG, and
some actually die from it. It
can ravage the physical and
mental state of those with the
condition. Dr. Fejzo had HG
during her two pregnancies.
During her first pregnancy,
the symptoms were mild
enough that she carried her
son to term. But she suffered
greatly during her second
pregnancy and miscarried.
For decades, the Times
article said, women suffering
from HG were maltreated
by many physicians — they
were told that the symptoms
were imaginary and/or they
were just looking for atten-
tion. Dr. Fejzo said that her
doctor pretty much thought it
was all in her head.
Dr. Fejzo did research in
many fields, including ovar-
ian cancer, and worked on
HG largely in her “spare
time.” She suspected that
HG had a genetic compo-
nent — it ran in families. She
gathered statistics on HG
patients, aided by her broth-
er, Rick Schoenberg, 51, a
UCLA statistician.
Research money was
tight, even though HG costs
patients and hospitals about
$3 billion a year.
Long story short: She man-
aged to do some surveys of
HG patients. Then she asked
23 and Me if they would
include a few questions
about nausea and vomiting in
pregnancy on their customer
survey, and they agreed. The
23 and Me data showed a
connection between HG and
a genetic mutation.
The Times says: “A hand-
ful of gene mutations were
flagged as significantly differ-
ent, but the most striking was
for one that makes a protein
called growth differentiation
factor 15, or GDF15. (It) acts
in a part of the brainstem
that suppresses appetite and
sets off vomiting, and it had
already been shown to cause
appetite and weight loss in
cancer patients. Blood levels
of the protein are naturally
increased in pregnancy and
have since been found to
be even higher in those with
severe nausea and vomiting
… GDF15 may have evolved
to help pregnant women
detect and avoid unsafe
foods that might harm fetal
development early in ges-
tation. But in HG, this nor-
mally protective mechanism
seems to run in overdrive
… In a study published in
2022, Dr. Fejzo and her
colleagues confirmed the
link between hyperemesis
and GDF15 in the (studied)
patients.”
Drug companies have
begun testing GDF15
drugs to reduce nausea
and improve appetite in
cancer patients with, Fejko
says, “promising early
results.” A smaller number of
drug companies are working
on similar drugs for HG.
Here’s the cool story: I
wondered if Dr. Marlena
Schoenberg Fejzo was relat-
ed to the famous Austrian
Jewish composer Arnold
Schoenberg (1874-1951). I
checked in other sources,
and she is the granddaugh-
ter of Arnold Schoenberg.
The Times article mentioned
her brother, Rick, and her
sister, Melanie Schoenberg,
45, a public defender, but it
didn’t mention her brother, E.
Randol Schoenberg, 56, a
famous attorney. He special-
izes in the recovery of looted
or stolen art works, particular-
ly those stolen from victims of
the Holocaust.
I’m quite sure that most of
you have seen The Woman
in Gold (2015), a critical and
box-office hit. The film follows
Randol’s legal representation
of Maria Altman, the niece
of Gustav and Adele Bloch-
Bauer. The title refers to a
famous Gustav Klimt painting
of Adele that came to be
called The Woman in Gold.
The Austrian government
refused to return five Klimt
paintings to Altman, the only
surviving member of her fam-
ily. The paintings, including
the Woman in Gold, were
“legally” stolen by the Nazis.
When Randol took the case,
most said that Altman had
little chance of getting the
paintings back. But she, and
Randol, persevered and won
the case.
The paintings were sold,
and Randol’s contingency fee
was $120 million. He gave a
portion to the Los Angeles
Museum of the Holocaust.
He is very active in Jewish
ancestry organizations
and is a board member of
JewishGen.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/STAFF SGT. LAKISHA CROLEY
Michela Watkins
HER FOUNDATION
Dr. Marlena Schoenberg Fejzo
RANDOL SCHOENBERG - OWN WORK, CC
E. Randol Schoenberg