PAT AND PAT, 
BERNSTEIN’S KADDISH 
AND HIS NOSE, DOWN-
LOW MARRIAGE

The original Comedy 
Central film Office Race pre-
mieres on Sept. 4 (8 p.m.). 
The two main characters 
are Pat (Beck Bennett) and 
Spencer (Joel McHale). Pat 
is a pushover who coasts 
aimlessly through life until 
he’s goaded into running 
a marathon. He soon dis-
covers that he loves the 
sport. Spencer is Pat’s 
co-worker and rival. He’s a 
“brown-noser” and fitness 
nut.
Alyson Hannigan, 49, 
has a large supporting 
role as Pat, the girlfriend 
of Pat. Everyone calls her 
“Girlfriend Pat,” which 
makes it easier to distin-
guish her from her boy-
friend. As the film begins, 
Pat has clearly grown weary 
with (boyfriend) Pat’s lacka-
daisical approach to life. 
Hannigan is best known 
for playing Jason Segal’s 
wife on the hit sit-com How 
I Met Your Mother (2005-
14). Older readers might 
remember her playing 
Willow Rosenberg, a major 
(Jewish) character on the hit 
series Buffy: The Vampire 
Slayer (1997-2003). 
Hannigan’s mother was 
Jewish; her father was 
not. Her parents, she said, 
weren’t very religious, 
but they celebrated a few 
Jewish and Christian holi-
days. 
PBS drives me crazy with 
its failure to adequately 
flag its new programs in 
advance. A case in point 
is Leonard Bernstein’s 
Kaddish Symphony. It pre-
miered on Aug. 21. But I 

didn’t learn about it until the 
day it premiered.
 The good news: because 
it is so new, Kaddish is 
“free” for anyone to watch 
(no PBS membership 
required). Just go to the 
PBS site or app to watch. If 
you have a TV that allows 
you to add “apps” or “app 
channels” — like Roku or 
Amazon Fire —you can 
watch it on the PBS app. 
It will be “free” for several 
months.
Kaddish was filmed in 
2002 at a Chicago festival. 
The Chicago Symphony 
was directed by Marin 
Alsop, a protégé of Leonard 
Bernstein. The orchestra 
“backed” two choruses — a 
children’s chorus and the 
Chicago Symphony cho-
rus. They mostly sang in 
Hebrew. 
African American actress 
Jaye Ladymore narrated an 
explanatory text. The soloist 
(singer) was Janai Brugger, 
another African American. 
The PBS publicity says: 
“The symphony examines 
questions of humanity and 
faith, exploring the com-
plicated nature of a higher 
power who governs mor-
tality.”
The trailer for the upcom-
ing Maestro, a biopic about 
Bernstein, was released 
last week. Bradley Cooper 
wrote the film, and he 
plays Bernstein (opens in 
December). In the trailer, 
Cooper (as Bernstein) had a 

makeup device (a prosthe-
sis) that made his nose look 
much bigger. There was 
some criticism that Cooper 
was playing into the antise-
mitic stereotype of Jews 
with “big noses.”
There was a big backlash. 
Basically, the response 
was that Bernstein had a 
large nose, and Cooper 
is a huge fan of Bernstein 
with no intent to be in the 
least antisemitic. Bernstein’s 
three children issued a 
statement supporting 
Cooper.
I think the critics and the 
responders are both kind-
of wrong. My first “gut” 
response was Leonard 
Bernstein had a large nose, 
but it worked for him. Some 
men, like Bernstein, had/
have a large nose that fits in 
with their face and head. Of 
course, it’s hard to judge his 
physical beauty. You can’t 
separate it from his vitality 
and talent.
Then, last week, I saw a 
photo of Bernstein at about 
the same age (young) that 
Bernstein is supposed to be 
in the trailer, and I realized 
why I hated the “Bernstein 
nose” in the trailer. The 
nose in the trailer is close 
to the nose in the photo — 
but it’s just not right. The 
nose in the trailer looks 
like a nose that would 
grow if Bernstein told a lie 
(Pinocchio-ish). 
If Maestro is good — I will 
probably not be distracted 

by Cooper’s “Bernstein 
nose.” But I think it would 
have been better if they 
had just left the “nose 
prosthesis” on the makeup 
table. 
I “monitor” the com-
ings-and-goings of news 
people on the broadcast 
and cable/streaming chan-
nels and, three years ago, 
I was surprised to learn 
that NY Times reporter 
Michael S. Schmidt was 
dating Nicole Wallace, the 
host of the popular MSNBC 
program Deadline: White 
House. Schmidt is an occa-
sional guest on Deadline. 
For months, I heard noth-
ing more about their rela-
tionship and assumed they 
broke up. Then I stumbled 
on a very short People arti-
cle that said they married 
in April 2022. For whatever 
reason, the couple never 
acknowledge their marriage 
when Schmidt is a guest on 
Deadline. 
Schmidt, 40, is a two-time 
Pulitzer winner (the James 
Comey firing and the Bill 
O’Reilly sexual harassment 
story). Wallace, 51, was 
White House aide in the 
George W. Bush adminis-
tration. She’s no longer a 
Republican. 
Wallace had a son with 
her first husband. Schmidt’s 
story is murky. Some sourc-
es say he has a child. Also 
unclear is why he always 
wears a black zip-up, “sort 
of” wind breaker jacket. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

76 | AUGUST 31 • 2023 

Alyson Hannigan

BY RACH 

Leonard Bernstein, circa 1977

JACK MITCHELL

Michael S. Schmitt

ANDREW LIH

