50 | FEBRUARY 8 • 2024 J
N
MORE THAN A ‘MEET
CUTE,’ UPDATES, A MOVIE,
TV SHOWS, MORE
Masters of the Air premiered
on Apple TV+ on Jan. 26.
It follows the Allied air war
over Europe during WWII.
Most reviews were quite
good. But some top critics
said it was “OK” but not
as good as they expect-
ed. In my Jan. 25 column,
I discussed the series
and focused on Robert
Rosenthal, a Jewish Air
Force bomber pilot who had
an incredibly heroic record.
Reviews say that Rosenthal
(the character) has a small
role in the first half of the
series and is a major charac-
ter in the second half. This
makes sense: Rosenthal
didn’t get into combat until
1943, and he joined the fight
as a replacement for a crew
member who was rotated
out or was killed.
While we wait for the
Rosenthal episodes, I
thought I’d provide some
more-than-fun facts that
almost certainly won’t be in
the series.
Rosenthal (1917-2007) was
an outstanding college ath-
lete, a lawyer and war hero.
But there’s more! His “How
I Met My Wife” story has a
Hollywood cinematic feel to
it — but it’s much more than
a “meet cute.”
Rosenthal was in the
States when “the bomb” was
dropped and WWII ended.
As previously noted, he went
back to Europe (1946), where
he prosecuted lesser-known
Nazis at the trials that
took place in Nuremburg,
Germany.
He was waiting for his
Europe-bound ship to
leave when he saw another
passenger (the future Mrs.
Rosenthal) drive up to the
ship in her jeep. Their son,
Dan, described his father’s
reaction: “She was the most
beautiful woman he ever
saw.”
That woman was Phillis
Heller (1919-2011). She was a
U.S. Navy attorney who was
joining the same American
legal team as Rosenthal.
They fell in love almost
instantly and were engaged
in 10 days.
They had their wedding
in Nuremburg and honey-
mooned near the Eagle’s
Nest, Hitler’s notorious
Alpine home. Their wedding
and honeymoon made a
statement: “We Jews are
here in Germany — as
victors.”
The couple had three
children, including Dan. He
helped provide details of
his late father’s life for the
Masters of the Air filmmak-
ers.
Here are updates on
English actor Ed Skrein and
Dutch actor Michel Huisman,
co-stars of Rebel Moon, a
big-budget Netflix film (see
my Jan. 11 column). Skrein, I
wrote, had a Jewish father. (I
am still unclear if his mother
is Jewish.) In a recent inter-
view, Skrein said his Austrian
Jewish paternal grandpar-
ents were Kindertransport
children. In 1938-39, the
British government accepted
10,000 unaccompanied refu-
gee Jewish children.
I previously wrote that
Huisman’s wife, actress
Tara Elders, has a Dutch
(not Jewish) father and an
American, possibly Jewish
mother. I have now con-
firmed that her mother is
Jewish. I previously noted
that Elders’ Dutch paternal
grandparents hid a Jewish
family during WWII and
saved their lives.
It Ends Here is a film
based on a big-selling novel
about Lily, a woman whose
father beat her mother and,
to her shock, her own hus-
band, a doctor, turns out to
be a wife beater, too. Lily’s
best friend, Allysa (played by
Jenny Slate, 41), is also Lily’s
husband’s sister. (Opens Feb.
9).
The long actors’ strike
delayed the fall return of
many series. Two hit ABC
shows are finally back: The
Connors on Feb. 7 (8 p.m.),
co-starring Sara Gilbert, 48,
and The Good Doctor on
Feb. 20 (10 p.m.). It has two
Jewish co-stars: Richard
Schiff, 68, and Noah Galvin,
27.
Last August, I wrote that
Minnesota Democratic
Congressman Dean Phillips,
54, was launching a cam-
paign to be the Democrats’
presidential candidate.
Phillips always voted with the
president, so I was unclear
why he was running.
Also mystified were New
Hampshire primary voters.
Phillips was on the ballot,
but only got 20% of the vote,
and President Biden, as a
write-in candidate, got about
80%. Phillips is very wealthy,
so he can keep on running.
“The why” is unclear.
Political junkies know
Steve Schmidt, 53. A former
Republican, he managed
John McCain’s 2008 cam-
paign. Later, he was a prom-
inent MSNBC contributor
and a fierce anti-Trumper.
Now he hosts The Warning,
a quite popular YouTube
channel. Not long ago, I
read a CNN article that said
Schmidt had been Phillips’
manager, but they parted last
December when it became
clear to Schmidt that Phillips
had no path to power and
his campaign was only help-
ing Trump.
Recently, a friend told
me surprising news: In a
July 2023 interview (on:
maxraskin.com), Schmidt
disclosed that he was well
on the way to completing
his conversion to Reform
Judaism, and he explained
why Judaism was his path.
Schmidt’s second and pres-
ent wife is Jewish.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIPEDIA
Ed Skrein
BY MINGLE MEDIA TV
Jenny Slate
U.S. HOUSE CREATIVE SERVICES
Dean Phillips