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