Curt Schleier is a freelance writer and author who covers business and the arts for a variety of publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tvsoundoff.
Curt Schleier
By Curt Schleier
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The Schmooze Q&A: Jon Favreau on Spielberg, ‘Iron Man’ and Being a Model Actor
Jon Favreau (right) with Daniel Craig on the set of ‘Cowboys and Aliens.’ Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Jon Favreau, director of the big summer tentpole film, “Cowboys and Aliens,” grew up in the Forest Hills section of New York, the son of a Jewish mother and an Italian/French Canadian father. He got his first…
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The Schmooze Struggling To Be Gay and Orthodox, Without Hypocrisy
One of the first prayers at the start of the Shabbes meal is not the traditional Hamotzi on the bread, but the blessing over the wine. As one of the characters in “A Strange and Separate People” explains it, that’s why the challah is covered by a cloth: “We don’t want the bread to feel…
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The Schmooze Nica Rothschild, the Patron (Saint) of Jazz
NICA’S DREAM: THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF THE JAZZ BARONESS David Kastin W. W. Norton, 272 pages, $26.95 Pannonica Rothschild, or “Nica,” as she was called, tried very hard to be an upstanding member of the famous Jewish banking family. She went to the right schools, married the right man (a French baron, no less),…
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The Schmooze For ‘Royal Pains’ Star Mark Feuerstein, the Next Best Thing to Being a Doctor Is Playing One on TV
Courtesy of USA Network Mark Feuerstein did something he knew would thrill his, and every other, Jewish mother. Though lacking any aptitude for biology, Feuerstein became a doctor. Three times. Circuitously. “The only way I could find a way to a respectable profession was to come to an unrespectable one,” he said. By “unrespectable” he…
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The Schmooze ‘The Normal Heart’ Beats On Broadway
“The Normal Heart,” just revived on Broadway, is less a play than a sensory experience, likely to leave audiences feeling drained, exhilarated and perhaps a bit guilty. That the play is powerful is, given its subject matter, to be expected. That it is nuanced as well is a tribute to playwright Larry Kramer, a man…
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The Schmooze Gal Gadot Talks Growing Up In Israel & Her Controversial Maxim Photo Shoot
Every high-speed action flick needs a scantily clad woman to help kick some criminal butt. In the case of the newly released “Fast Five” and following Wonder Woman that woman just happens to be a former Miss Israel. Model and actress Gal Gadot, a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces and numerous magazine covers, plays…
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News Paul Reiser’s Career Imitates Life
Editor’s Note: NBC has canceled “The Paul Reiser Show.” Paul Reiser began our conversation by asking about the family. “I might as well lead with the Jewish,” he said. “We’re talking on the phone. Why be Presbyterian?” Family is important to Reiser, and it is a recurring theme of any conversation with him. During this…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: In ‘The Calling,’ the Mysteries of Faith Stay Mysterious
“The Calling,” a four-hour documentary that aired on PBS in December and screens this month in San Francisco and at Knesseth Israel Congregation in Birmingham, Al., profiles seven young Americans who have chosen to become leaders of their faiths. While the film’s intentions are good and it has interesting moments, seven lives are too many…
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