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NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

WHO’S THE BOSS? BETTING ON MICHIGAN

The animated film The Boss Baby: Family Business opens on July 2. Lisa Kudrow, 57, again is the voice of the Templeton brothers’ mother, and Jeff Goldblum, 68, is the voice of Dr. Armstrong, a business rival of the Templetons.

Then there’s Lady Boss. A documentary about writer Jackie Collins (1937-2015) began streaming on CNN on June 27. Check listings for encore showings, and it’s available on demand. Her first novel, The World is Full of Married Men (1968), was much “steamier” than other romance novels of the day.

Collins was born in the U.K., the daughter of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. Her

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Lady Boss Jackie Collins

sister is actress Joan Collins, now 88. Jackie and Broadway producer Oscar Lerman (19191992) were wed in 1969.

Last week, it was announced that an original Paramount+ film Jerry and Marge Go Large will begin filming this month. It is based on the true story of Jerry and Marge Selbee.

The Selbees, now retired, have long lived in Evart, Mich., south of Cadillac. The couple, who have six children, made a modest living from their convenience store. Then, in 2003, Jerry became aware of Winfall, a new Michigan lottery game. Jerry has an undergrad degree in math, and he quickly realized there was a “quirk” in the game that virtually guaranteed “net” winnings if you bet enough.

There was nothing illegal about what he planned to do, and he enlisted local friends in a “betting club.” In two years, they netted over $300K. Later, Jerry found a similar game in Massachusetts and the club played for next seven years, making another $7.7 million in profits before taxes.

The film stars Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening as the Selbees. David Frankel, 62, will direct. Frankel has helmed some really big comedy hits, including The Devil Wears Prada and Marley and Me. His father is Pulitzer Prize winner Max Frankel, now 91. Max and his family fled Nazi Germany in 1940. He began working for the N.Y. Times in 1952. He was a top correspondent and retired (1996) as the Times’ executive editor.

David married (1998) advertising executive Jennifer Beber, 62-ish, in the Spanish Synagogue in Venice, Italy. Their children Phoebe and Jake Beber-Frankel are 19-year-old twins. Last April, Jake was profiled by a Stanford University publication. A top high school golfer, Jake recently joined the Stanford golf team. Jake is not “just” a golfer; his father says he’s also a “funny writer.” The profile notes that Max took Jake and Phoebe on a b’nai mitzvah trip to Europe. They visited his hometown in Germany and several concentration camps.

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