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