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

