50 | DECEMBER 21 • 2023 
J
N

FAST CARS AND THE 
46TH KENNEDY CENTER 
HONORS

Ferrari opens in theaters 
on Dec. 25. It is set in the 
summer of 1957, when 
Enzo Ferrari’s Italian “fast 
car” empire is close to 
bankruptcy. It focuses 
on a major race that, 
without really spoiling 
things, doesn’t go well for 
Enzo (1898-1988) and his 
company. Adam Driver 
plays Ferrari. Driver was 
good as a member of the 
Italian Gucci fashion family 
in the film House of Gucci 
(2021).
Ferrari was directed by 
Michael Mann, 80. He’s 
directed many great or 
good films, most of which 
he wrote (he didn’t write 
Ferrari). They include Thief, 
Heat, Last of the Mohicans, 
Collateral and Ali. He also 
produced the ’80s series 
Miami Heat, the first TV 
series that incorporated 
the “New Wave” style (hip 
clothes, a hip soundtrack, 
etc.) In 2006, Mann 
directed and wrote a Miami 
Heat film that got mixed 
reviews but made money 
and is now a cult favorite. 
By the way, bios say that 
Enzo Ferrari’s last good 
racing year was 1979. That 
year, Ferrari team race car 
driver Jody Scheckter, 
now 73, won the World 
Championship (Formula 
1). Scheckter was born in 
South Africa, but now lives 
in England, and his large 
organic farm is well-known 
in the U.K.
Scheckter is the only 
Jew to win the World 
Championship. But look out 

for Robert Shwartzman, 
24, a Formula 1 driver who 
was born in Israel, but 
grew up in Russia and Italy. 
He’s done well since he 
began pro driving at 14! 
He is now a Ferrari team 
reserve driver. 
On Dec. 3, the 46th 
Kennedy Center Honors 
for excellence in the arts 
were awarded. There 
was a White House 
ceremony that was almost 
immediately followed by a 
gala event at the Kennedy 
Center. The honorees this 
year are Billy Crystal, 
75; pop singer Dionne 
Warwick; opera singer 
Renee Fleming; Barry 
Gibb, the last surviving 
member of the Bee Gees, 
a pop group; and actress/
musician Queen Latifah.
The gala will be 
simultaneously aired 
on CBS and streamed 
on Paramount+ on Dec. 
27 at 8 p.m. This year, I 
noticed that “pirate” videos 
of many past Honors 
programs are popping up 
on YouTube and are not 
being legally forced down. 
This includes the induction 
of Leonard Bernstein 
in 1980. Lauren Bacall 
presented a mini bio of 
his life that’s very worth 
watching. 
At the White House 
ceremony, which isn’t 
televised, President Biden 

said he had just rewatched 
Crystal’s 1991 comedy 
Western City Slickers 
and called Crystal “the 
American showman with a 
heart of gold.” 

Many articles have 
been written about the 
2023 Honors Gala, and I 
know the highlights. If you 
want to be surprised by 
some of the Billy Crystal 
highlights, don’t read the 
following three paragraphs. 
I will note that no Honors 
Gala article mentions that 
Crystal has been married 
to a Jewish woman, Janice, 
his high school sweetheart, 
for 53 years.
Meg Ryan, 62, who 
co-starred with Crystal in 
the huge hit When Harry 
Met Sally (1989) took the 
Gala stage and talked 
about the famous scene in 
a Jewish deli in which Sally 
(Ryan), sitting at a table 
with Harry (Crystal), faked 
an orgasm. She said, “It 
came really natural to me, 
and I really have Billy to 
thank for that. I’ve actually 
never been around anyone 
who made faking an 
orgasm easier.”
Rob Reiner, 76, who 
directed When Harry Met 
Sally, said: “He [Crystal] 
can be edgy, but you 
always feel the human 
side of him and he’s not 
afraid to show his emotion, 
which is rare for most 

comedians.”
Reiner also said, “Not 
only was he great as 
Harry but Bill wrote what 
I believe is maybe the 
funniest line in all of movie 
history: ‘I’ll have what she’s 
having.’” (Two facts: a deli 
customer, played by Estelle 
Reiner, Rob’s real mother, 
uttered the famous line and 
Nora Ephron wrote almost 
all the film.) 
You’ll have to watch the 
Honors to hear the nice 
things that Lin-Manuel 
Miranda and Whoopi 
Goldberg said about 
Crystal. 
Curious, I checked, for 
the first time, how many 
Jews have been Kennedy 
Center Honorees. Only 
five awards are given out 
yearly; 230 awards have 
been given out since 1978. 
But there’s a small number 
of people who “shared” 
an award (three all-Jewish 
two-man music composing 
teams; husband and wife 
actors; four music bands; 
and an award to the team 
behind Hamilton, the 
musical.) I counted the 
“sharers” (if all Jewish) as 
“one.” One Jew had “half” 
of an award, and another 
had only a quarter of an 
award. I didn’t include their 
awards as Jewish.
The bottom line: 51 
Jewish honorees; about 
22% of all awards. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GAGE SKIDMORE

Billy Crystal

IMDB

Estelle Reiner

WIKIPEDIA

Jody Scheckter