58 | APRIL 6 • 2023 

TERRORISTS OR 
HEROES? GREASE, THE 
PREQUEL, NEWMAN’S 
NATURAL PRESERVATIVE
The indie film How to 
Blow Up a Pipeline opens 
in theaters on Thursday, 
April 7. OK, I know most of 
you are not going to rush 
out to a theater to see a 
smallish budget film. You 
should, however, put it on 
your “should stream in the 
future” list. How To got 
good advance reviews by 
respected critics following 
film festival showings. 
How To is a political 
thriller. It’s about a 
group of eight young 
environmental activists 
who try to prevent the 
development of an oil 
pipeline by resorting to 
sabotage. Most of the film 
is set in West Texas. 
The film is based on 
a 2021 nonfiction book 
of the same name. The 
author, Andres Malm, used 
the history of social justice 
movements to argue 
that property destruction 
should sometimes be 
considered a valid tactic. 
The film was co-written 
by actress Ariela Barer, 
24, and (director) Daniel 
Goldhaber, 30. He may be 

Jewish — still checking. 
Barer also co-stars in the 
film. She was born in Los 
Angeles. Both her (Jewish) 
parents were born and 
raised in Mexico. In one 
interview, Barer said that 
most of her extended 
family still lives in Mexico, 
and she frequently visits 
them.
Barer first got noticed 
for playing (2017) a 
recurring role on the 
Netflix reboot of the 
1970s sit-com One Day 
at a Time. The reboot 
made the One Day family 
Hispanic. Barer played 
Carmen, the “Goth” friend 
of the teen daughter 
in the family. Then she 
got a co-starring role 
in Runaways, a Marvel 
Universe series that 
streamed on Hulu. For 
three seasons (2017-
19), she co-starred as 
Gertrude Yorkes, one of 
six teen “runaways” with 
superpowers.
Grease: Rise of the Pink 
Ladies begins streaming 
on Paramount+ on April 
6. Rise takes place in 
1954, four years before 
the events of Grease (the 
movie), and it chronicles 
the events that led to 
the creation of the Pink 
Ladies. 
Jackie Hoffman, 62, 

co-stars as Assistant 
Principal McGee. Canadian 
actress Josette Alpert, 
28, has a large recurring 
role as Dot. Her father 
is of Hungarian Jewish 
background. Her mother 
is Dutch. It’s unclear if her 
mother is Jewish.
Last November, I wrote 
that a NY Times book 
review of Paul Newman: 
An Extraordinary Life, 
A Memoir, said that 
Newman was involved 
in an antisemitic incident 
while serving in the Navy 
during WWII. I noted 
that this incident (in the 
memoir) — or virtually 
anything else “Jewish” — 
wasn’t in an HBO series 
about Newman, which 
premiered last July. I 
wrote that I’d get the 
just-published memoir 
and report on what other 
Jewish “nuggets” were in 
the memoir. 
Sadly, there isn’t 
much Jewish stuff in the 
memoir. The reason is 
clear: Newman decided, 
ultimately, to not write a 
memoir. But audio tapes 
of some of his memories 
survived, and his children 
decided to have them 
organized into a memoir. 
But there are huge gaps in 
his life — almost decades. 
There is a lot in 
Newman’s memoir about 
the difficulties of being 
“half Jewish” before 
he was 18. But it’s sad 
stuff, and I will relay it in 
another column.
I found on the library 
shelf another, much more 
upbeat Newman bio (Paul 
and Me). It was written by 
his Jewish pal of 53 years, 
writer A. E. Hochtner 

(1917-2020). It came out 
in 2010, two years after 
Paul’s death. 
Here’s a fun part: Paul 
long made his own salad 
dressing and friends loved 
it. Newman and Hochtner 
thought they could make 
a quick buck selling it. To 
confirm it would sell, they 
asked Martha Stewart, a 
neighbor, to put on a blind 
tasting test for partygoers. 
Newman’s dressing won 
the test going-away. 
Finding a bottler was 
very tough. Finally, one 
was found. But there was 
another bottleneck. The 
bottling company CEO 
told them that they had to 
use artificial preservatives 
because no store would 
stock dressing that didn’t 
have a long shelf life. 
Newman insisted on no 
preservatives, and when 
the lab tests came back 
— Paul’s dressing had 
a natural preservative 
— the heavy dollop of 
mustard seeds he used 
in his dressing emitted a 
preservative! 
After all this tsuris — the 
two guys reacted unlike 
most people. They said: 
What the hell, give all 
the profits away! To date, 
Newman’s Own products 
have donated over $500 
million to charity. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIPEDIA

Ariela Barer

DAVID SHANKBONE/WIKIPEDIA

Jackie Hoffman

SEHERR/WIKIPEDIA 

Paul Newman in 2007

