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