66 | JULY 11 • 2024
J
N
FLY ME TO THE MOON
(MOVIE & SONG);
SAUSAGE PARTY SERIES
Fly Me to the Moon is a
romantic comedy that
opens in theaters on
July 12. It’s set in the late
1960s, when the U.S. and
the Soviet Union race to
land on the moon first.
A relationship develops
between the NASA director
in charge of the Apollo 11
mission (Channing Tatum)
and a marketing specialist
(Scarlett Johansson, 39)
brought in to fix NASA’s
public image and stage a
“back-up” fake moon land-
ing.
Curious, I looked up
who wrote the hit (1954)
song “Fly Me to the Moon.”
Long ago, I became inter-
ested in the Golden Age
(c. 1920-1970), during which
most of the most famous
song standards were writ-
ten. I figured out that about
70% of those songs were
written by Jews and, along
the way, I noticed that a
big percentage of Jewish
composers were gay and
a huge percentage of the
non-Jewish composers
were gay.
It would take three col-
umns, at least, to try and
give my reasons why this
is so. Suffice it to say that
“Fly Me” was not written
by a Jew. But it is a sweet
story. Composer Bart
Howard (1915-2004) was
born Howard Gustafson.
He was born and raised
in a small Iowa city. He
left home when he was 16
and he made a living, for
decades, as the accompa-
nying pianist for top sing-
ers.
Howard dedicated “Fly
Me,” his only big hit, to
Thomas Fowler, his life-
long partner (together for
58 years when Howard
died). Kaye Ballard had
a hit (1954) with the first
recording of “Fly Me” and
Frank Sinatra sang it fre-
quently when the Apollo
moon missions were ongo-
ing. Howard said that “Fly
Me” royalties allowed him
and Fowler to have a com-
fortable life.
Sausage Party:
Foodtopia is an animated
adult, eight-episode Apple
TV+ series. It premieres
on July 11. It’s based on
the animated film Sausage
Party (2016). This pretty
raunchy film was a surprise
big hit with critics and with
filmgoers (cost $19 million,
made $141 million). The film
was written by Seth Rogen,
42, Evan Goldberg, 41, Ari
Shaffir, 50, and Jonah Hill,
40.
The animated characters
in the film, and series, are
foods that are sold out
of a grocery store’s deli
counter (like a hot dog,
sausage and bagel). As the
film opened, the food item
characters don’t know that
they get eaten by humans.
They think that they go to
a fictional heaven. Frank,
a sausage (voiced by
Seth Rogen) discovers the
“truth” and “tells all.”
About half the charac-
ters in the film are in the
series. Here are some
of the returnees: Rogen,
as Frank; Kristen Wiig as
Brenda Bunson, a hot dog
who is Frank’s love inter-
est; Michael Cera as Barry,
a deformed sausage and
Frank’s pal; Edward Norton
as Sammy Bagel Jr., a neu-
rotic Jewish bagel; and
David Krumholtz, 46, as
Kareem Abdul Lavash, a
Middle Eastern lavash who
has on-and-off spats with
Sammy.
Me is a 10-episode Apple
TV+ series that premieres
on July 12. It follows
Ben, a 12-year-old who is
deep into the usual mid-
dle-school stuff (bullies,
crushes, dances). He’s cop-
ing with this school stuff
and a newly blended family
when he realizes he has
superpowers.
Ben goes on a journey
to find out what his
superpowers truly mean.
He finds an ally in Max, his
16-year-old stepsister. She
helps him harness these
powers to uncover secrets
behind his town’s mysteries
and tragedies.
The series creator and
writer, Barry Levy, 51, told
MSN.com: “This is a family
show, and it is so important
to make sure that the show
we made could be watched
by adults with or without
their kids, that there was
enough depth and enough
emotion and realism that
there was something for
everyone.”
Levy grew up in Newton,
Massachusetts, and in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. His father
was a cardiologist and his
mother, who had a Ph.D.
in biochemistry, was a col-
lege dean. Levy graduated
(1990) from Greenfells, a
private Ann Arbor school.
He got his B.A. from
Washington University, St.
Louis (1994) and he fol-
lowed with a USC degree
in producing films and TV.
He did well as an industry
producer, but after a few
years, he concentrated
on script writing. Finally,
in 2008, a thriller film he
wrote, Vantage, was made
and made some money.
In 2005, Levy married
Stacy B. Davis, 52, a top
public relations agent. Levy
has taught Hebrew and
social justice classes at
Temple Israel of Hollywood
(Los Angeles), in between
writing jobs.
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE
GAGE SKIDMORE
Scarlett Johansson
STEPHEN MCCARTHY/COLLISION
Seth Rogen
THEDEMONHOG
Barry Levy