Celebrity Jews

War Stories

Give Steven Spielberg a ball cap saying: "I'm good for the Jews." His new flick, "War of the Worlds," which opened July 1, led to a raft of charming interviews in which he didn't seem at all like a mogul, but simply a self-described former "geeky Jewish kid" who makes neat movies. When reporters weren't describing his model family life and niceness, they were catching the director singing a Yiddish song with his cinematographer.

No less admirable is Spielberg's defense of "War of the Worlds" star Tom Cruise from the charge that Cruise's highly publicized romance with actress Katie Holmes is a PR stunt — Spielberg saying, in effect, "I am genuine and so is Tom."

Nonetheless, Cruise came off as weird in a recent Radar magazine item that says that Holmes was just the last of several young actresses that Cruise recently tried to romance and lure into Scientology. The first being Scarlett Johansson, who was set to star with Cruise in "Mission Impossible III." According to Johansson, Cruise invited her to a meeting to discuss the film, but instead lectured her for hours on Scientology and "didn't even offer me a cookie." (Obviously, her Jewish mom taught her how impolite this is.) Not long after, Johansson left "Mission," citing "scheduling conflicts."




Live 8 Hebrews

"Live 8," Bob Geldorf's worldwide concerts for African debt relief took place July 2. Among those playing the Philadelphia concert were Maroon 5 (lead singer Adam Levine); Bon Jovi (keyboarist David Bryan); and Linkin Park (with Rob Bourdon and Brad Delson). Meanwhile, up in Canada, Barenaked Ladies, featuring Steven Page, hit the stage.

Delson's father, by the way, is a former Hollywood exec who founded a booming firm that sells high-quality souvenirs in cooperation with big music acts. Brad's younger brother, Jeff, who just graduated from U.C. Berkeley, had his bar mitzvah party in the building that later became the company

headquarters.




Fairway phenom

Congrats to Morgan Pressel, 17, for finishing a close second at the recent U.S. Women's Open golf championship. Despite a heartbreaking loss in the final holes, it was a great showing for the still-amateur golfer who has been a top player since she was 12.

Pressel, who had a bat mitzvah, is the niece of '70s top tennis player Aaron Krickstein, and her grandfather, Dr. Herb Krickstein, was out on the course cheering her on.




Seeds of Justice

Paul Simon must have been among those who said "finally," when an ex-Klansman was convicted last month for the 1964 murders of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney. Simon was a college classmate and acquaintance of Andrew Goodman. In 1963, Simon wrote a song, "He Was My Brother," about an unnamed, murdered civil rights worker. Goodman's slaying led Simon to dedicate the song to Goodman when it appeared on the first Simon and Garfunkel album in 1964.

A rabbi, speaking at a Mississippi interfaith memorial service just before the verdict, said of the trio, "What were they doing if not searching for the hidden spark, the seeds of justice buried in the dust and ashes of a Mississippi summer?"




Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).