Nate Bloom blogs on this week's Jews in the News.

 

Billionaires, Funny?; Funny Golfers?; Frank-ly Goode; and More

 

“Mountainhead”, an original HBO film, begins streaming on May 31. Here is the official description: [The film] “follows a group of tech billionaires who get together on a remote mountaintop during an international crisis. With nations teetering politically and economically, these titans game out the crisis for their gain, with each potential move impacting their net worths, their friendship, and the future of humanity as we know it.”

 

This sounds totally serious, but other publicity says that “Mountainhead” is a (high-level) satirical comedy.

 

Four billionaires are the main cast. They are played by Steve Carrell, Cory Michael Smith, Rami Youseff, and JASON SCHWARTZMAN, 45.

 

This film may be special: it was directed and written by Jesse Armstrong, the creator and writer of “Succession” (2018-23), a hit HBO series. Armstrong won four Emmys for “Succession” (best writing for a drama series).

 

NICOLAS BRITELL, 44, composed the film’s music. Hiring him is another sign that this film is aiming to be very good. Britell has 8 Emmy nominations (won once, for “Succession”) and 2 Oscar nominations.

 

“Stick” is a sports “feel-good” comedy series (10 episodes) that begins streaming on AppleTV+ on June 4. Premise: Price Cahill (Owen Wilson) is a  washed-up pro golfer.  But, maybe, he will revive his golf-related career by coaching Santi, a troubled 17-year-old golf phenom. MARC MARON. 61, has a big supporting role.

 

“Dept. Q” is a Netflix original series that begins streaming on May 29. The central character is Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), a very sharp Scottish police detective who screws-up and is sent to the department’s cold case unit. This is the unit that most police officers are assigned to after they screw-up. They call it “purgatory”.  But, there’s a way out of purgatory: a cold case Morck is assigned to  “heats-up” and he runs with it.

 

“Dept. Q” was written by, and was directed by SCOTT FRANK, 65, an American Jew. He wrote and directed two of the best Nexflix original series: “Godless” (2018), a Western that got 5 Emmy nominations and “The Queen’s Gambit” (2021). It was about a top female chess player in the ‘60s. “Gambit” won the Emmy for Frank’s directing and it won the best limited series Emmy. Bottom line: Its Frank. It has to be good.

 

Here’s a Scott Frank “Jewish sidelight” worth noting. In 2018, Frank gave a radio interview about “Godless” with TERRY GROSS, now 74, the radio host of “Fresh Air”, an acclaimed NPR program. I wrote this in 2018: Frank was asked about the moving last scene of the series in which a pastor recites a beautiful prayer for those killed saving their mining town. Frank surprised Gross by saying that it was a poem, “Tis a Fearful Thing” by JUDAH HALEVI (1075-1141), the famous Spanish Jewish physician, poet, and philosopher. He said he came across it, years ago, and he knew it would work in this scene.

 

“Godless” created a burst of internet publicity for the poem.  Here’s the poem. Save it for the right time(s) in your life:

 

‘Tis a fearful thing to love what death can touch./A fearful thing to love, to hope, to dream, to be –/to be, And oh, to lose./A thing for fools, this,/And a holy thing, a holy thing to love./ For your life has lived in me, your laugh once lifted me, your word was gift to me./To remember this brings painful joy.

 

I recently found out that the poem was not written by Halevi. Many sources long said Halevi was the author--and some still say that. I don’t know how this error began.

 

This very moving, short poem was written by Rabbi CHAIM STERN (1930-2001), a prominent Reform rabbi and scholar. “Google” him and you’ll find long bio/obits (JTA and many others).

 

A friend of mine recently “dug-out” the Jewish background of a newly-popular singer-songwriter and shared that info with me. The artist goes by the name Sombr. His birth name is SHANE BOOSE. He’s 19.

 

Music: Sombr’s first songs were released in 2023. In 2025, his songs “Back to Friends” (100 million streams on Spotify) and “Undressed” (more than 100 million Spotify streams) became breakout hits, leading to his first appearances on multiple charts across the world, including the Billboard Hot 100.

 

My friend told me that Shane’s maternal grandfather was Sephardi (Morrocco) and his maternal grandmother was Ashkenazi (Poland). His parents (BETHANN SERFATY and Andrew Boose, Jr.) were employed by AMFAR, the foundation for AIDS research, when they wed in 2003. The NY Times said a village justice presided over their wedding.

 

I missed writing, a couple weeks ago, when “Polaroid Man”, a PBS “American Masters” special documentary, premiered. But the good news is that “Polaroid Man” can be seen on the PBS app and it was also was posted on Youtube by PBS (just search for Polaroid Man”).

 

EDWARD LAND (1909-91) is the Polaroid Man. He was the founder of the Polaroid Company and the head of the company from 1932 until 1981.

 

In this column, I will just give a very short summary of Land’s work. It’s very easy to watch this documentary and it’s only an hour long. So, if you want more about his professional career—watch the documentary.

 

Most of this column is about Land’s personal background—which is virtually not in the documentary.

 

The documentary had almost no information about Land’s background before he began studying at Harvard University in 1927.

 

The documentary hardly mentions his parents and it never mentions that Edwin Land was Jewish, or that his “only’ wife, HELEN MAISLEN (1906-2004), was Jewish, too. She was the mother of his two children (daughters). Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants and her father made a good living in real estate in Connecticut.

 

From other sources, I learned that Land’s father, HARRY, was born in the Ukraine, when it was controlled by Russia. His mother was born in Russia, too. Harry was only 3 when he came to America. As an adult, he did well as a scrap dealer in Connecticut.

 

Edwin’s mother, MATTIE, was also Jewish. Her parents were also Russian Jewish immigrants. Edwin and Helen’s respective parents were buried in Jewish cemeteries.

 

Edwin and Helen were married in a Conservative synagogue in Brookline, Mass. in 1929. They are buried in a secular, Boston-area cemetery.

 

Short summary of Land’s career: Went to Harvard for one year (1927); moved to New York City where he developed “polarized  film/lenses”  (with some aid of Helen). Polaroid lenses for sunglasses were his first “big thing”.

 

He returned to Boston in 1932. Company was re-named Polaroid in 1937. It did well in providing products (googles etc.) for Allied armed forces in WWII.

After WWII, he led as his company as it developed the first instant photograph cameras and film. This was followed by better and better instant photography until the late ‘70s.

 

Land was very much the most important scientist in his company. He was unlike almost all CEO’s in one respect: he hired many women for research jobs. His “right-hand man” was a female chemist.  In the late ‘60s, he began hiring a large number of black employees.