B’nai mitzvah tales
Last week, Gabrielle Birkner, a reporter with the Forward newspaper, wrote an item about how now-famous actor Paul Rudd (“I Love You, Man,” “Dinner for Schmucks”) had been a DJ at her 1992 bat mitzvah. She said that Rudd “turned out to be the perfect choice for the event.” I had long known that Rudd worked as a bar and bat mitzvah DJ while trying to break into acting, but I never saw him in action until Birkner posted, online, the parts of her bat mitzvah video that included Rudd. (You can view the video at www.vimeo.com/13856676.)
A Rochester, N.Y., newspaper recently reported that local dentist Stephen Korn, 50, had just fixed the teeth of former child actor Brandon Cruz, 48, a co-star of the hit ’60s TV show “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.” The back story is that Cruz and Korn met in Israel in 1972 and became friendly. Korn was in Israel for his bar mitzvah and Cruz was making a movie. The two didn’t keep in touch; but Korn recently decided to visit Cruz’s website just to say hello. On the website, Cruz had posted a dental SOS — he asked fans to help him raise $40K to fix a lot of teeth Cruz broke while singing with punk bands. Korn responded by offering to fix Cruz’s teeth for free — which he did.
The Independent, a British paper, just ran a long profile of Mark Zuckerberg, 26, the founder and CEO of Palo Alto–based Facebook (now valued at $40 billion). The paper reports that Zuckerberg, the son of a dentist father (who billed himself as the “painless Dr. Z”) and a psychologist mother, had an early passion for Hebrew and for the sport of fencing. The latter interest might have been inspired by “Star Wars” — which was the theme of Mark’s bar mitzvah.
Finally, the website Backstage.com recently ran a charming profile of actress Cameron Diaz, written by Fern Champion, the casting agent who discovered her. Diaz, a model, was looking to break into acting in 1994. Champion was looking for an actress to co-star opposite Jim Carrey in “The Mask.” Long story short: Champion took a big chance on the inexperienced Diaz and gave her the part because she was bowled-over by Diaz’s naturalness, good humor and infectious giggle. In 2001, Diaz attended the bar mitzvah of Champion’s son, Spencer. Diaz was a big star by then and she made the bar mitzvah boy feel really special by refusing to dance with anyone but him. Last summer, Fern and Spencer were honored guests at the ceremony in which Diaz was given her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Comings and goings
Jeff Goldblum, 57, has announced that he doesn’t plan to return for a third season as the co-star of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” The whole future of the show is in flux, which may have influenced Goldblum’s decision. The show was moved from NBC to the (cable) USA Network station in 2007 to save on costs. (New shows premiere on USA and eventually get re-run on NBC.) Now, “Criminal Intent” may not continue on any network. A couple of months ago, the original “Law and Order” was canceled in favor of a cheaper-to-make Los Angeles–based version that will start in this fall on NBC.
Actress Amanda Bynes, 24, caused a bit of media uproar last month when she posted a tweet saying that she was retiring because “acting was not fun anymore.” A week later, she tweeted that she had “un-retired.” I think Bynes, whose mother is Jewish, was having a low day when she put out her first message and didn’t think before she tweeted. She had a hit TV show as an adolescent (“The Amanda Show”) and two teen-oriented hit films before she was 21, including “She’s the Man.” She also got good reviews as the co-star of the film version of the musical “Hairspray.” In the last two years, however, her career has stalled for reasons mostly beyond her control, like canceled projects. She’s talented and bright, and with some luck she’ll bounce back.