42 | SEPTEMBER 5 • 2024 
J
N

BEETLEJUICE, AGAIN; WINONA 
AND WALZ; MAYBE A JEWISH 
FAKER?
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a 
sequel to Beetlejuice (1988), a 
big hit fantasy/comedy/horror 
flick. Michael Keaton again plays 
Beetlejuice. Winona Ryder, 52, 
who had a biggish role (as Lydia 
Deetz) in the 1988 film, is a star 
of this sequel, which opens in 
theaters on Sept. 6.
The original film, a critical and 
box-office hit, was a huge step 
up in Ryder’s career. Before 
Beetlejuice, she had just one film 
credit (a minor role). 
Here’s the first film plot: The 
Maitlands, a young couple, are 
killed in an accident near their 
home. They realize they are now 
ghosts, and a “ghost adviser” 
tells them to stay on at their old 
home and scare away new, living 
occupants. 
The (living) Deetz family 
moves in and the Maitlands hire 
Beetlejuice, a “bio-exorcist” to 
get the Deetzes out. A lot of stuff 
happens, including Beetlejuice 
almost blackmailing Lydia into 
marrying him. At the film’s end, 
the Deetz and Maitland families 
are co-existing, and Beetlejuice is 
stuck in a sort of supernatural jail.
In the new film, Lydia’s 
father suddenly dies. Lydia, 
accompanied by her rebellious 
teen daughter Astrid, returns 
to the family home. Astrid 
accidentally opens a portal and 
Beetlejuice is released. 
It’s no secret that Ryder was 
born Winona Horowitz. As I have 
noted before, her father was 
a secular Jew, and her mother 
wasn’t Jewish. As an adult, 
Winona identifies as Jewish but 
isn’t religious. 
She took the last name “Ryder” 
almost on a whim. An agent asked 
if she wanted a stage name and 
she picked Ryder because her 
dad liked Mitch Ryder, an early 

’60s rock star. 
What about her unusual first 
name? She was born in Minnesota 
and lived there until she was 10. 
She was named after Winona 
County, her birthplace. Her family 
lived in a farmhouse near the city 
of Winona (the county’s seat). 
I imagine almost everyone in 
Winona knows where the actress 
was born.
Winona County was formerly 
represented in Congress by 
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 

Democratic VP nominee. I 
stumbled on a very recent piece 
that said the city of Winona is a 
“Walz bastion” of Democrats in a 
“very red” area. 
No doubt, Ryder is proud of her 
“homeboy” and wishes Walz well. 
In 2020, she co-starred in The 
Plot Against America, an HBO 
series based on a Philip Roth 
novel. The novel and series depict 
a Nazified America ruled by an 
antisemitic demagogue. Ryder 
played a Jewish woman.
Last week, a movie called 
Reagan opened. The movie script 
is based on the book Crusader: 
Ronald Reagan and the Fall of 
Communism by Paul Kengor, 
a very conservative political 
scientist. 
It’s a serious movie with a lot of 
name actors (Dennis Quaid, Jon 
Voight, Kevin Dillon and others).
Elya Baskin, 74, a Russian 
Jew who defected to the United 
Staes in 1976, has a small role in 
the film. He described it in a long 
article he wrote for Fox News. He 
wrote: “My character, Kertchman, 
managed to escape the USSR and 

traveled around the U.S. giving 
speeches, trying to enlighten 
Americans about the real life in his 
home country and about the lies 
they had been fed by the Soviets 
with the assistance of easily 
manipulated westerners. Quite 
often, Kertchman was met with 
skepticism, but one who was not 
skeptical was a young preacher 
in the small town of Dixon, Illinois, 
named Ben Cleaver who invited 
him to speak at his church — the 
home church of a 17-year-old 
named Ronald Reagan.” 
Other online articles say his full 
name is “B.E. Kertchman.”
Curious, I looked up on 
“Ancestry” anyone with the 
unusual last name “Kertchman.” 
There is a Benjamin Emanuel 
Kertchman who shows up in 
all sorts of U.S. government 
documents (naturalization record, 
draft cards, etc.). It can’t be a 
coincidence that there is another 
“B. E. Kertchman.” Well, the 
Benjamin Emanuel I found was 
born in Russia. But he came to 
the states before the Russian 
Revolution (1918), and his WWI 
draft card says he was living in 
Chicago in 1917-18! 
I don’t think that a small-town 
Christian minister would knowingly 
put on a fake Jewish refugee from 
the Soviet Union. My guess is that 
Mr. Kertchman was a con man, 
and he got something out of his 
“testimony.” A fee of some sort. 
I will approach the filmmakers 
and Professor Kengor and see 
what they have to say. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

PICCOLO MISSIONARIO

Winona Ryder

Elya Baskin

IMDB

Philip Roth

ANTONIO MONDA 

