August 5, 2025 • 39 mins
Who is Evie McGee Colbert? Most known as Stephen Colbert's wife, in this episode of Lost in Jersey, we get to know the many other facets of this remarkable woman. Evie joins us to talk about her journey from Charleston, SC, to Montclair, NJ—and how a lifelong love of the arts became a powerful tool for building community. As president and co-founder of Montclair Film, she has helped grow it into a nationally recognized cultural hub, with its annual October festival, robust year-round education programs, and now two movie theaters! Evie shares her infectious joy for family, food, and film, as well as her passion for creating spaces where authenticity and connection can thrive—both on and off screen.
Does this Taste Funny? A cookbook by Stephen Colbert and Evie McGee Colbert
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, Evie.
Hi, it's nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you guys.
Welcome to Lost in Jersey.
It's so great to have you on,Evie Colbert.
Thank you so much.
I'm happy to be here.
I wanted to pause there when Isaid your name because I believe
you also use your maiden nameas well.
(00:21):
Is that how?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
does.
What's going on?
How should we address you?
I honestly don't know who I am.
You know this is sort of funnybecause it's Evelyn McGee.
Colbert, without a hyphen, ismy name, but I introduce myself
sometimes as Evelyn McGee andsometimes as Evelyn Colbert, and
sometimes as Evie McGee andEvie Colbert, and so I don't
know who I am.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You're all of those things, that's what it?
Is I'm all those people.
Yes, you are yes.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And you know, to that point and I think that's what
this interview is about is thatyou are more than just the
Colbert part.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You've also got your own portion of your own life
that is fascinating in its own,yes, well it's funny that you
say that because you know,having a public husband, people
write about me and I've alwaysbeen so frustrated that they
don't know anything about me.
Like every time they writeabout me they're like well, she
was in like strangers with candyfor 10 seconds.
I was like well, I justhappened to do that on one
(01:15):
afternoon.
That is not who I am and what Ido, you know it's just weird.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's funny that that's what it picks up, because
I read that as well and I waslike huh well, now I want to ask
her about her acting, but likeI know that you do so many
things, yeah, yeah, and so, yeah, let's set the record straight.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
This is this episode.
We're setting the recordstraight.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
We're going to get to the bottom of who you are.
When I moved here, one of thefirst things was that you lived
here and we always wondered likewhy New Jersey, why?
But that's great.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And why?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It was kind of almost an accident.
So Stephen and I are both fromCharleston, south Carolina.
We met and got married longafter we'd left there.
Those were our roots.
So it was not like we were NewYorkers or New Jerseyans or
either one.
We didn't have a stake in thatfight.
Well, our oldest was born inChicago.
Then we moved to the city andwe had a rent stabilized
apartment which was unbelievableand we had this kind of pipe
(02:17):
dream that we could live in thecity.
Well, as soon as that apartmentwas over and we couldn't stay
there and we went to look forother apartments, we went oh, we
cannot afford New York City, noway, no how.
Second baby was on the way.
So we moved for a short time upnear Bronxville, new York,
right outside of Bronxville,essentially the Bronx.
We rented a house there and wejust started looking and we were
(02:40):
looking for what we couldafford.
Frankly, and at the timeMontclair did not yet have the
train, the direct train intoPenn Station.
It was about to come and we hadfriends from Montclair who
turned us on to a house thatsomeone was selling without a
broker.
So it was kind of affordableand we just snatched it up and
(03:01):
we got really lucky because thiswas in 2000.
And right then is when thetrain came and the property
values went up and Montclairkind of changed, so we got in
kind of down at the wire when itwas still slightly affordable.
So the answer is it was becauseit was affordable.
Yeah, but also I will say I washome with the kids.
Then we had two at that time andthen a third was born right
(03:23):
after we moved here, and so Ispecifically was looking for a
place, a community that hadthings going on, that wasn't
just a commuting community, thathad things in the town that I
could sink my teeth into.
Yeah, and you did, and you didand I did, and I've grown up.
My parents were very civicallyminded and very involved in the
community I grew up with.
(03:44):
So it seemed natural to me toget involved.
We've loved living here.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's been great.
Before we get into more aboutNew Jersey, tell us a little bit
about young Evelyn.
What were you into and how didyou pursue those dreams?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
It's great that you ask actually because it kind of
segues into what I do now, inthat I grew up in Charleston,
South Carolina, right next to atheater called the Dock Street
Theater.
It is on the site of one of thefirst theaters in America and
it was very old and probably outof convenience and possibly
because I asked my mother sentme to acting classes there,
because all I had to do was walknext door.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
That is definitely convenient.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, it was so convenient for her and I loved
it and I did it forever, likefrom I don't know middle school,
all through high school, and Idid a lot of community theater,
a lot of performing as a youngperson in Charleston.
That was sort of always apassion of mine.
And then in 1977, I think itwas the Spoleto Festival came to
Charleston, south Carolina.
This is an arts and musicfestival that was founded by
(04:44):
Giancarlo Minotti in Spoleto,italy, and then they brought the
festival to America and theypicked Charleston as the
American home.
The festival is still going on,actually, all these years later
.
But again, because my familylived next to this theater, my
parents got very involvedbecause my mother hosted a daily
wine and cheese party at ourhouse for all the musicians that
(05:07):
were performing at the theaternext door.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It was really awesome and it was for the festival's
21 days and she just kind ofsaid yes, and that lasted for my
parents 20 years.
That's incredible.
They would do this for thesedays of the festival.
It starts Memorial Day, goes toearly June and we made lifelong
friends.
Yo-yo Ma and his wife camethere when they just were
(05:32):
married and they're still dear,dear friends of ours, and Paula
Robeson, a flutist, and they'reall really close friends of ours
.
But also for me as a youngteenager, I met professional
artists.
I met not just musicians, itwas really chamber musicians
that my mother got to knowbecause our house became their
(05:54):
green room.
But I mean, tennessee Williamswas there.
Oh my gosh, they were justballet dancers and actors.
Oh my gosh.
I, as the young girl who'd beentaking acting classes all her
life, thought oh, these arepeople who actually do this as a
living.
And it changed my wholeperspective because I had never
met people who were professionalartists and I got the bug, I
(06:16):
guess you could say For sure,how did you not?
I mean, it was actually a realeye-opening experience because,
you know, there weren't a lot ofprofessional artists in
Charleston in 1977, 78, 79.
And they certainly weredifferent, these people that I
met you know differentperspectives, different way of
(06:37):
living and, to my parents',credit, they were welcoming to
all these people andnonjudgmental, which I learned a
lot from my parents at thattime.
I mean, south Carolina is aconservative place now and it
still was then, but you know, my, my parents welcomed all kinds
of people into their home with avery warm and Southern you know
(06:57):
, so nice to meet you, kind ofthing.
Um, so that's kind of whatstarted me on the idea of of
being.
First I worked as an actor.
I tried to work as an actress,but also being involved in the
arts always.
I've always been involved inthe arts.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That makes a lot of sense.
That's like the through linefor you, then yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well, and the funny thing is, stephen was doing the
same thing, although we didn'tknow each other, right.
So he lived just down thestreet from me and he and his
mother actually were veryinvolved in the festival.
He performed at the festival,so we we had these kind of
parallel experiences knowingeach other without really
knowing each other, yeah, yeah,it's really funny.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I have heard this story.
I mean, or he has told thestory, he likes to talk and talk
about how we met.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
He goes on and on about it.
I like to say, oh, we just metat a party and he's like 30
minutes.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
There's always someone in a couple that's going
to give the extra.
I think that's me.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's not surprising that it's him right.
He's a talker and he likes totell a story and he's also a
huge romantic.
So you know, all of this fitsright in.
He makes it.
I mean, it's all true, it's notlike he's making it up, but he
sends a lovely story.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
It is a lovely story.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
There's just such an endearing connection between the
two of you.
It is really quite a beautifullove story, that's so sweet.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, we feel really lucky.
We really do.
What's sort of fun about thestage of life where we are now?
We're empty nesters, our kidsare grown and we have kind of
found a way to work togetherthat we never thought we would.
Really, I was determined tohave my own life.
Even though I stayed home withthe kids for a long time, I was
doing a lot of my own things.
But then when COVID hit, we hadto produce his TV show out of
(08:37):
the house and right.
So suddenly I was way up in hisbusiness.
You know, Was that hard atfirst in his business?
You know, Was that hard atfirst?
It was hard.
It was hard because it was justa weird time, right, we were
all, first of all, layer ofanxiety that we all had.
But then, in addition to that,he didn't know how to translate
even to his core.
As a performer and loves a liveaudience.
(08:58):
There was no live audience overZoom and you know you're doing
your show there and it's goingout across the airwaves.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
You don't know how it's being received and you're
holding the camera, so is hetrying to make you laugh?
Is that what he was trying todo?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
This is kind of what I realized.
When I say he was anxious, Irealized it's like when your
child is up on stage and you'relike, I just needed to be, like
you're going to be okay, we gotthis, you got this, and so it
was two things.
Most of what I feel like Ineeded to do was just laugh and
tell him that he was at leastmaking one person laugh.
(09:33):
But I also needed to pretendlike I knew what I was doing,
which was totally impossible,because all I would do is put on
headphones and listen to hiscrew and they would tell me what
to do.
But if something went wrong, Ihad no idea.
I can remember interviews wherethere was no audio and Stephen
(09:53):
couldn't hear the guest and he'dlook at me and I'd go I don't
know.
I'll unplug it and plug it backin, which most of the time
actually worked, that's a verygood idea.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It usually works Always.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, we're very good at that.
I actually did that rightbefore my mic wasn't working.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
But so all of that created this kind of you know
camaraderie, that that was a newstage of our relationship.
That sort of happenedsimultaneously with also our
children growing and leaving thehouse and having more free time
and me as a person looking forsomething, something else to do.
You know I've been.
(10:25):
I know we're going to talkabout it later, but I've been
working with Montclair Film fora long, long time.
But I was ready for somethingelse as well.
We created a production companyand now we produce together and
we have a first look deal withCBS.
So we're really workingtogether now, which is actually
kind of lovely and we neverthought it would happen ever.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, my parents worked.
They didn't at first worktogether and then they ended up
being in the same company andworking together as partners for
most of my life.
And do you feel like you had totransition to be able to have
conversations at home thatweren't about work, Because that
was a hard thing for them tomanage?
My parents would always bringwork home to the dinner table
(11:05):
and we were like, okay, you guyslike I felt like I knew their
whole portfolio of companies.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know which company is going to go under.
Who are they, what tech they'reworking on?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I will say it's interesting.
Very early on I would say toSteven like your job stops at
the door, you're not the bosswhen you come in this house, and
that you know there's a littleswitch there when you've been,
when you are, you know, theleader of an organization, and
yet I also was always eager tohear about how things were going
and always sort of, uh, wewould share a lot of that.
(11:36):
So I mean, our kids might saywe did do a lot of talking at
the table, but um, but now,since they're not around, uh, we
probably do too much of it.
It is sometimes hard to to turnit off you know?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, what else is there to talk about, rachel?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You know what, jeanette?
That's so true.
I I I told Bill to stop talkingabout work a while ago too,
like come in the door and let'sjust I don't know if I want to
hear about that.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That is true, that is true, but then we just talk
about our kids.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So then you're right.
I don't know, I don't have theanswer.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
And there are just so many things, right now in
particular, that are just sohard to talk about.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh, that's very valid .
Talk about the news, your workor the kids.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
We got nothing.
You guys are the news right now.
That must be hard to not.
I mean, I'm sure that living inthe world that you live in, you
always are somewhat a newstopic, but right now it's
probably hard to live throughall of this.
This is very strange.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
We've never really sort of lived through a moment
like this.
I mean we were sort of laughingthat.
I think you could kind of thinkof the bookends of Stevens at
least his, his career in latenight is bookended by in 2006.
I think it was he.
He gave the White HouseCorrespondents Dinner and it
went crazy, viral and likeYouTube was just starting and it
(13:01):
was.
It was a huge moment, butnowhere, nowhere near what's
happening now.
But there's sort of like thebeginning and the end kind of,
and now it's because of socialmedia is just so much bigger,
and so we've never lived throughanything quite like this and I
actually think for our kids it'skind of weird because they said
our youngest son said dad, itfeels like you died.
(13:23):
Everything I read is like oh, hewas so great and you're so
great and he's like but you'restill around and this is weird.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's true.
It does have that tinge to itwhen you're reading the
headlines and obviously it's notover.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I mean, that is over, decidedly over.
But there'll be a lot more thatwe'll do.
We just don't know what it'llbe.
But I think, even for Stevenand for me and for the kids,
when you read these things it'slovely.
It's like again being able toread what people say about you.
Often after you're gone, youdon't have this chance, so I
suppose that's nice, but it alsofeels emotional.
(13:58):
It feels really emotional.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Like I'm over here, guys, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm
okay, I'm okay.
You know, that is interestingbecause maybe it's because I've
been kind of diving into yourbeing a producer and things that
you have cooking.
You did a cookbook and you guyshave been working together.
I feel like I was like oh,what's next?
What?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
are they going to do?
I think that's true too.
I have also had the samefeeling like, well, maybe it's
liberating.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, that's true too .
I have also had the samefeeling like, well, maybe it's
liberating.
Yeah, I think it's kind of itfeels a little bit like the
future arrived sooner than Iexpected it.
It's very sad in the way it'shappening.
You know, stephen has workedwith a lot of these people for
20 years and we've known themand we're really close to them
and it's just the end ofsomething really magical.
And I think what no one willreally ever truly understand is
how beautiful the team is thereand I give Steven a lot of
(14:47):
credit because it comes from thetop down.
There's just a wonderfulatmosphere there of support and
fun and humor and openness andthey all work together
beautifully and it's a group ofpeople working together to
create something that they lovedoing.
A real work family, a real workfamily, a real work family, and
(15:08):
that is what is tearingeverybody up.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
It's such a moment of change for media in general.
I mean it's just fascinating.
What is going to happen to thislandscape of interviewing
people, the format in which hehas been working and all of the
people on the set have beenworking?
Where do they go?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
No, I mean it was funny.
I was talking to our youngest,who's 24.
Cause I said I feel like youguys are the problem.
I know you don't.
You don't have television.
Not one of our three kids havehave television.
They watch everything you knowon their laptop and they watch a
lot of things over YouTube, butthey watch a lot of podcasts.
So I was like explain to me why.
(15:47):
No offense A podcast taken.
But I said to my son, like why apodcast TV show?
And he said well, it feels morereal.
We're having right now is hardto duplicate when you've got
cameras and lights and all ofthe things.
That provides that kind ofglitz and glamour, which is what
(16:09):
I think my generation was drawnto back in the day.
I think for whatever now Ithink, particularly younger
people they don't care aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You're totally right.
That generation feels like allof that is inauthentic and they
want something real.
And they feel like this longform conversation where people
say uh and um and are thinkingabout what they want to say is
real.
They don't want any glitz,glamour or pretense.
We also wonder, you know, is itbecause well, for us, is it
(16:40):
because we don't make any money?
We're like two middle-agedwomen doing this for fun that
it's authentic, but like if youmake money still be authentic.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, I think money would make it even more
authentic.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
That's, that'll be our ad.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
If you want us to be more authentic, please donate to
the GoFundMe page.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Oh my God, you guys, but you know, the thing that's
great, though, is thateverybody's learning this new
medium, and some people arelearning it faster than others,
and for us, we're having to getrid of some of our old ideas.
You know, yeah, I mean as inbeing more polished, or being
professional.
You're like, oh, the way you'resupposed to do.
And they're like, actually, no,that isn't the way you do it
anymore.
You're supposed to just throwit out there and it's an
(17:29):
interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
We've learned a lot in this process.
I mean, we're going up, we'llbe doing this for almost three
years coming up in.
When is it In?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
February, we're in about two and a half years, yeah
.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Thanks, and it's been such a great journey because
not only have we met so manyamazing people, but we've also,
yes, like learned okay, we wereso from that generation of.
It has to be perfect.
It has to look like this and wedidn't want to even do video at
first and we didn't because itshouldn't be about looks.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
It should be just about the quality, and then well
, no, no, you can get morepeople if you have a YouTube
channel.
That's also I find sointeresting is the video aspect.
I'm still like podcast or whatI do when I walk or exercise.
It's in my ear.
I don't plan to look at it.
So now I feel like every, oreven this, is happening with,
(18:20):
like sub stacks, things I wantto read, or suddenly now they're
all video and I'm like wait aminute, I just want to read that
or listen to it.
Why do I have to look at it?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It's so true, but I think that's totally our
generation.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Isn't it interesting?
I mean, certainly people arestill fascinated with celebrity
and all of that, but this kindof they don't want the here's
so-and-so coming out of the redvelvet curtain, that kind of
Broadway-esque, I don't know Ithink it's probably layered on
to the society of people wantingtruth.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
They want to know behind the curtain of everything
and it's like everything hasbeen so manipulated.
I guess they feel that theywant to just hear from regular
people so manipulated.
I guess they feel that theywant to just hear from regular
people.
They're also seeing.
I was talking to Rachel.
It seems like everything thatyou learn about like marketing
in this industry is it's it hasto help people, it has to give.
You have to give peoplesomething.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Oh interesting.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, it's like you're, you're.
You're either going to tellthem how to be healthier you
know how to do this, how to dothat or go behind the scenes and
learn what really happened.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yes, it's like self-help to the nth degree,
like give me the five things,like those are the podcasts, or
the things that go viral, thefive things that will make you
happy, or the five things thatyou know help your morning, or
it's always like how this canhelp you or that you're seeing
like a CEO or a fabulouslywealthy person.
(19:46):
How did they get there and howcan I do that?
It's all self-improvement, whichis kind of intense and very,
very American you know, it'slike uniquely American of like
you don't like what you have,let's fix it.
And fix, fix, fix, fix.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, I mean, that's interesting, I mean the other
thing that's kind of interestingabout this moment that we're in
, stephen and I and sort ofeveryone writing about us, is
it's being on the inside of it.
I am realizing how manymistakes people always make.
This era of disinformation isso rampant that I don't know how
anybody gets accurateinformation anymore, because
(20:23):
everybody says they're an expert.
Everybody says I have theinside facts and I read these
things and think you're wrong.
That is not true, and what youjust espoused is saying these
are the facts about you know,they're talking about the late
show and they're talking aboutlate night and they're talking
about the economics of it, whichis all what they're saying is
wrong.
And what I find fascinating isthat then how do you know where
(20:47):
to go?
Because everybody's got alittle bit of a mistake.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It seems like you have to just decide to live in
your reality.
Rachel and I were having thisconversation.
Of course, you know we all knowabout our bubbles, but it's
almost like you now have thismultiple gods, like we're going
to go with this one and you guysare going with this one, and
you just decide to believe.
It sounds like it fits withinyour theory about where you
(21:10):
should be in life, and thatperson's talking in your
language, so I'll believe that.
How have we ever?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
as a country.
How are we ever going to cometogether?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Right, I feel like it has to all blow apart.
I mean, it sort of is blowingapart.
We're not listening to eachother, obviously, but the way
people are speaking to eachother is terrible.
So totally.
But why would you want tolisten if you're being spoken to
like that?
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
Well you're.
You're definitely in the veryyou know center of something
right now, but I, as we all havelearned about this society, it
will just be forgotten soon.
You know center of somethingright now, but, as we all have
learned about this society, itwill just be forgotten soon.
You know it will just be overand on to the next thing, and
you're just right now kind of inthe eye of a storm, you know.
Yeah, we want to know more aboutwhat you've been doing in
(21:58):
Montclair since you've been here.
You are the kind of the firstlady of New Jersey film in my
mind.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yes, thank you, I'll take that title.
Yeah right, it's a good one.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Well, I mean, you have been the head of the
Montclair Film Festival and thepresident of the board and
you've been there since thebeginning.
The founder of.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Montclair Film was a guy named Bob Feinberg who had
the idea of bringing a festivalto Montclair.
He sat down with me about 16years ago now or something and
said I have this idea.
I was like, let's do it, I'llhelp you.
So, he and I together, thefirst thing we did was we
recruited other board members.
We established it as anonprofit 501c3.
(22:39):
We raised some money and westarted with just a four-day
festival in May, and now we'reabout to have our 15th festival.
And so for all those years, wehave grown now into a five and a
half million dollarorganization and I'm now the
president of the board.
I've been an officer of theboard since we started.
Bob moved to New York and he'sstill on the board, but he's no
(23:00):
longer in a leadership position,and so, yeah, it's been a long
time I've been working on thisand it's been joyful for me.
I love it.
I think it's a fabulousorganization and nobody not one
of us expected we'd be where weare in 2025, all those years ago
, you know.
I mean it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Is it beyond your wildest dreams, Like what were
youron to the, not justMontclair?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
but Montclair and the surrounding areas.
And again I went back to myexperience growing up with the
Spoleto Festival and I saw howrestaurants had come and artists
had moved to Charleston and ithad really changed Charleston in
a significant way.
(23:45):
And not that I thought we wouldchange Montclair.
But the thing that's differentfrom a festival than a
year-round thing is the sort ofexcitement right.
So what we wanted was kind ofthat just excitement of a
festival.
But what we immediately did,even at the very first idea, was
that we also wanted aneducation component, and that
has been something that hasexpanded way beyond our wildest
(24:07):
dreams.
So we're now a year-roundorganization, we have a very
robust film education programand we're running all kinds of
production assistant programs aswell to give people real
hands-on experience in film.
But now we operate a movietheater and, as we're going to
talk about, we're taking over asecond movie theater, so we do
so much more than just a smallfestival, so I don't know to
(24:30):
answer your question.
I don't know that we everthought we'd be that big, but we
always thought it'd be morethan just a festival.
Because we wanted education tobe a part of it, we started a
kid's short competition.
The very first thing we did washaving kids submit short films
for a contest.
So it's always been part of theidea was to grow into something
that would be meaningful inlots of ways.
(24:51):
And here we are.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
And here you are, and it's such good timing too, that
you have learned so much andthe education program has grown
so much, because it sort ofcoincides nicely with Governor
Murphy's tax credits andbringing so much film and TV
production to New Jersey.
With Netflix and all of that,you'll have educated people on
how to participate in crew.
(25:14):
That's what we want.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
That's what we're trying to do.
We've we've done a little bitof it and we're hoping to expand
it more.
They sort of that, what youcall below the line jobs, jobs
that aren't the director, thescreenwriter or the or the actor
.
They're all really good unionjobs.
They're all really good unionjobs.
They're all the kind of people,like we were saying, that work
on Stephen's show.
All those people the scriptoperators, the editors, the
(25:35):
camera operators, all of thosepeople in film have great jobs
and usually they can be steadywork and you can join a union
and have security.
So we think about it sort of atMontclair Film, about meeting
this moment, this moment you'retalking about in New Jersey,
(25:57):
where New Jersey is seeking toreally become Hollywood, a
Hollywood of the East, or atleast a second or third place
where film is happening and filmand television production and
you can see it happening, eventhough we are working very
consciously to kind of becomethe preeminent film organization
I mean, we think we are.
There are not a lot of nonprofitfilm organizations in New
Jersey and we really think ofourselves as a preeminent one
(26:19):
that is basically working withstudios, partnering with Netflix
and the other studios, toreally be a presence here for
people in New Jersey who workand want to work in this
business.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Right, you have this festival to highlight some of
the films worldwide.
I know that a lot of the filmsthat come here are from very
impressive directors and filmsthat are at Cannes Film Festival
that have won come here andthey open up along with local
films that are done by people intown, also New Jersey-based,
(26:51):
but you also have a theater thatyou have one downtown.
Yeah, claridge, the Claridgethat was remodeled recently and
is lovely and beautiful.
Yes, yes, thank you, and now youhave moved to take over a
historic Bellevue theater.
Everyone that lives in thistown has wondered when it will
(27:11):
come back, and it finally didthis last month.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
It finally did.
Well, we've been trying for along time, so the theater closed
in 2017, I think it was Bowtiemoved out, broke their lease
from the gentleman who owns thebuilding and it has been dark
since then.
And so, after a lot ofnegotiation, we have signed a
five-year lease to startoperating the movie theater.
We will probably have what youcall like a soft opening right
(27:34):
before the festival in October,but we'll officially start
showing films during thefestival and then, after the
festival, right around the 1stof November, we will full-time
be operating that as a full-timetheater like the Claridge.
So it's really exciting for usbecause there's synergy between
the two.
You know, operating twotheaters in the same town allow
you to have some flexibility,but it also gives us an
opportunity to have slightlywell a presence in Upper
(27:56):
Montclair, where we used to rentthat during the festival.
All the time we want to bringfilm back to there.
I mean the families that livein Upper Montclair.
I mean, when my kids werelittle, I would drop them off at
the Bellevue and it was a greatlittle reprieve because they
could go to get pizza and icecream and a movie and you got
like hours before.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
You could come get them and we could walk to the
theater.
Yes, and you can walk to thetheater.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Right.
So we're excited too.
We're really excited.
It's risky, you know, and we'rereally hoping that the
community will help us.
We're going to be launching acapital campaign for some
support, because it's hard.
People aren't going to themovies the way they did before
COVID.
Hopefully we'll reach newpeople.
We won't just take the samepeople who are going to the
Claridge and have them come tothe Bellevue.
The goal is that more peoplewill start coming, and that's
(28:41):
what we hope.
We're really hopeful that thecommunity turns out.
I know they've been eager forit to come back and now is the
chance to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
I think everybody is aware that movie theaters are,
you know, not getting the kindof patronage that they used to
get and everybody, I think, issimultaneously like not going
and also worried that they'regoing to lose the movie theater,
like you're, like you're notdoing your part, but you also
don't want it to go away.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's like we're like a little, it's like I said to my
son about you're part of theproblem, since you don't watch
the television show.
Right, I actually think peoplewill come back because the
Bellevue Theater is in thisgreat location, like we just
said, it's in the heart of.
Upper Montclair.
It's so community focused.
There are so many neighborhoodorganizations that people want
(29:31):
to go to that it just kind ofyou can walk by it in a way that
just open up for people as achance to say let's pop in and
see what's happening Will theprogramming be more like indie,
or is it going to be a range?
It'll be a range.
We're probably going to doslightly bigger sort of more
studio films, morefamily-focused films there at
(29:53):
the Bellevue, which is the wayit used to be, just because
they're bigger theaters and itnow has three it used to have
four.
There'll only be three screensnow because the landlord took
one of the downstairs screens tomake it into a separate retail
space.
So we'll have three screens,but they are bigger.
Tom Hall, our artistic director, does all the programming
himself of the Claridge and hewill program the Bellevue, and
(30:16):
he's a genius.
He's absolutely a genius he's sogood at this, and he has
figured out what makes aMontclair audience show up you
know, and I always like to tellpeople, particularly when I'm
looking for sponsorship orsupport, that Montclair has a
(30:36):
very unique audience.
It's a very discerningpopulation, half of the New York
Times lives here.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Half of the people who live here work in you would
have too many reviewers comingto that opening.
You would you would.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
But certain movies that don't play well nationally
play really well in Montclairand then there might be some
movies that play well nationallythat don't do as well for us.
So I think what Tom has done isfigure out what really draws
people here.
So it's working for theClaridge, we're doing well and I
think and hope it will workwith the Bellevue fingers
crossed.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Has the theater been renovated or the screen's?
New Is the sound?
How is?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
that it has been partially renovated.
The landlord has done some work.
We're probably not going to dothe kind of work we did at the
Claridge, so it'll be able tolook a little different because
he did the work.
But the equipment is workingand the screens are working and
all of that.
There's just a little cosmeticdifferences.
That we might go in and zhuzhit up a little bit, make it look
a little bit more likeMontclair film Depends, frankly,
(31:29):
on how much that would cost.
We're still getting quotes.
But it's functioning and itlooks great and there'll be
popcorn and there'll be DietCoke and there'll be eventually
maybe alcohol we have to applyfor a non-profit liquor license.
It took us three years to getthat at the Claridge.
Hopefully it won't take threeyears to get it at the Bellevue,
but we're going to start thatprocess as well, because who
(31:49):
doesn't want to take a glass ofwine in for a movie?
Right, that's kind of fun.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
It is fun yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
What I'll say is that I have complete faith that it's
going to be successful, becauseyou have carried the festival
through strikes, covid, allthese things, and you did go
through the closure of theBellevue as well.
I had to, you know, reconfigurepeople in the festival Well
thank you for that.
You've handled many differentchallenges and, yeah, I mean
(32:16):
things are different, but Ithink how the idea that you
don't have right now that'sgoing to make people get back to
theaters or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
That's true.
You just don't know, you reallydon't know what it is.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
It might be candy, we'll see, we'll just keep
trying A little trail of candy.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Sugar helps, sugar helps, popcorn helps.
We have really good popcorn.
I love our popcorn.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Could I buy a Montclair film t-shirt there too
?
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Absolutely.
We love our swag.
Well, we're excited and we'rejust so happy that you chose
Montclair, chose New.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Jersey to move to way back when.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
We are too.
One of the questions I'm goingto throw this in is that what is
it like living You're kind of abig fish in a small pond.
What has that been like livinghere you?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
know, I think Montclair is lovely that way.
Most people just let us beourselves.
And you know, I think it wasnice for our kids that we were
already here and Stephen's kindof celebrity-ism happened over a
period of time so that most oftheir friends already knew him
as their dad, you know.
And so you know, stephen becamemore famous and it was just
(33:24):
like, well, that's what his daddoes or her dad does, but you
know it's not.
Montclairians are a little bitlike New York City folks.
They kind of give you the likethey're not demonstrative, you
know Although.
Stephen did say, after therecent unpleasantness, he went
to Whole Foods and he was likehe had like a crowd of people
following him around.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Whole Foods Really With sad expressions on their
face With sympathy.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Sympathy like oh, how are you?
Okay, you know, I'm so glad youbrought up the grocery store
because both Rachel and I canattest to being the calm locals,
because Rachel recently had awhole entire event at King's
with you.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Oh, it was King's.
It wasn't an event With me, no,with Steven.
He was for avocados, which I'malways looking for, by the way.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
It's really hard to find them.
It's hard to find them, andwhen you get them, it's hard to
eat them on time.
It's just the worst thing.
It's an avocado saga.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yes, it is, it is.
So I think I was out because mydaughters were adamant that I
was going to make this taco,whatever with that.
So I'm looking at avocados andI guess I don't have a poker
face.
I must have looked extremelydisappointed.
And then I hear a voice behindme say oh yeah, no, it's hard to
find good avocados.
(34:40):
I actually got too many.
Do you want my avocados?
I didn't even know who it wasthat I turn and I'm looking in
Steven's face and I was like, uh, yeah, I do want them, That'd
be great.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
It's so funny.
Well, just yesterday I was atKing's and the produce manager
came up to me.
I don't remember.
I think he said his name wasTony.
I can't remember.
He couldn't have been sweeter.
And again he's like I'm sosorry, oh, that's so nice.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
I know it's really sweet.
Oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
It's kind of nice that everybody you know they
left you alone, but now theyknow that you're going through
with something.
They're going to just say alittle something that's true.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
These are our people.
Yeah, these are your people.
That's pretty nice.
Speaking of groceries, though,I love the title of your
cookbook.
Yes, oh, do you?
Thank you, phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, because we all say it.
We're like does this tastefunny?
Does this taste funny?
I know exactly.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
It has so many good meanings.
Yeah, and Stephen threw thatout early and then we kind of
forgot about it and then cameback to it.
But that was such a fun project.
We had so much fun.
I'm doing that.
It was really great.
And did you, did you ever likethink of things that you didn't
(35:58):
include?
You're like, yeah, that that,yeah, well, we had, we cut.
We cut some for sure Cause wewere too long.
And then we did have a littlebit of a rule, because there are
a lot of family recipes in itand we did say nothing.
That is a recipe off a box oror includes a um an ingredient
that comes in a box.
You know what I mean.
Like no Lipton soup things.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Take the Lipton onion soup, no onion dip, and all
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
So that actually cut out a lot of family stuff,
because both my family and hisfamily.
You know, raising your kids inthe 60s, 70s, 80s, like there
was a lot of that.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
That was a lot.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah, it was a lot, but then you know, then there
were definitely things that I'ma creature of habit and I have
all the things I fed my kidsover the years and some of them
I would look at and think thatis just dated.
You don't want to.
Lemon bunk cake that I've madethem with I can make with my
eyes closed Really feels likeit's 1980 something and I don't
(36:47):
think we need it.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So did you put in any Southern like ambrosia?
Speaker 3 (36:56):
You know it's funny, you say ambrosia.
I thought about it.
My grandmother would bringambrosia every Christmas day and
she would put sliced coconut init, which I guess you have to
and I hated the coconut so Iwouldn't eat it.
But we thought about ambrosia.
I found my other grandmother.
That was my mother's mother,but my father's mother was a
really great cook and I foundher recipe box.
She died when I was very, verylittle but I found it with my
(37:18):
mom and we went through andfound some of her old recipes
which we did put in.
We put in like a chest pie anda huguenot torte, some really
old classic Southern recipeswhich are really fun and then of
course my children cried fraud.
They're like you never made that.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
But I could, you know what?
Speaker 3 (37:37):
I could read my book.
You know how to do it and I didwhen I.
When I made the cookbook, Imade it several times.
You just didn't happen to livehere then, but yes.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Oh God.
Well, I'd say that if peoplewant to help support, go get the
cookbook and make recipes andpost them online in support of
the Colberts.
That's so nice of you and alsosupport Montclair Film.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
If you want to support the Bellevue, please
help us Any financialcontribution.
How can we tell people to do itWell, our website is
montclairfilmorg and there'sinformation there on how to
donate.
But we will be launching anofficial Bellevue campaign, but
you could just right now sayit's in support of the Bellevue
Theater and it will go tohelping us.
You know it's all one pot,essentially one nonprofit pot,
(38:22):
but we would love any help andplease come to the movies, come
to the.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Claire's, come to the Bellevue.
We're ready, we're ready.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
We're ready, we'll be there.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us and sharing a look
into your life and also to howthe film festival and how you
got to New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
I really appreciate it.
I appreciate the time and yourinterest so much.
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
This podcast was produced by Rachel Martens and
Jeanette Afsharian.
You can find us on Spotify,itunes and Buzzsprout.
Thanks for listening.
See you next week.
Hi, Evie.
Hi, it's nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you guys.
Welcome to Lost in Jersey.
It's so great to have you on,Evie Colbert.
Thank you so much.
I'm happy to be here.
I wanted to pause there when Isaid your name because I believe
you also use your maiden nameas well.
(00:21):
Is that how?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
does.
What's going on?
How should we address you?
I honestly don't know who I am.
You know this is sort of funnybecause it's Evelyn McGee.
Colbert, without a hyphen, ismy name, but I introduce myself
sometimes as Evelyn McGee andsometimes as Evelyn Colbert, and
sometimes as Evie McGee andEvie Colbert, and so I don't
know who I am.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You're all of those things, that's what it?
Is I'm all those people.
Yes, you are yes.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And you know, to that point and I think that's what
this interview is about is thatyou are more than just the
Colbert part.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
You've also got your own portion of your own life
that is fascinating in its own,yes, well it's funny that you
say that because you know,having a public husband, people
write about me and I've alwaysbeen so frustrated that they
don't know anything about me.
Like every time they writeabout me they're like well, she
was in like strangers with candyfor 10 seconds.
I was like well, I justhappened to do that on one
(01:15):
afternoon.
That is not who I am and what Ido, you know it's just weird.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's funny that that's what it picks up, because
I read that as well and I waslike huh well, now I want to ask
her about her acting, but likeI know that you do so many
things, yeah, yeah, and so, yeah, let's set the record straight.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
This is this episode.
We're setting the recordstraight.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
We're going to get to the bottom of who you are.
When I moved here, one of thefirst things was that you lived
here and we always wondered likewhy New Jersey, why?
But that's great.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And why?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
It was kind of almost an accident.
So Stephen and I are both fromCharleston, south Carolina.
We met and got married longafter we'd left there.
Those were our roots.
So it was not like we were NewYorkers or New Jerseyans or
either one.
We didn't have a stake in thatfight.
Well, our oldest was born inChicago.
Then we moved to the city andwe had a rent stabilized
apartment which was unbelievableand we had this kind of pipe
(02:17):
dream that we could live in thecity.
Well, as soon as that apartmentwas over and we couldn't stay
there and we went to look forother apartments, we went oh, we
cannot afford New York City, noway, no how.
Second baby was on the way.
So we moved for a short time upnear Bronxville, new York,
right outside of Bronxville,essentially the Bronx.
We rented a house there and wejust started looking and we were
(02:40):
looking for what we couldafford.
Frankly, and at the timeMontclair did not yet have the
train, the direct train intoPenn Station.
It was about to come and we hadfriends from Montclair who
turned us on to a house thatsomeone was selling without a
broker.
So it was kind of affordableand we just snatched it up and
(03:01):
we got really lucky because thiswas in 2000.
And right then is when thetrain came and the property
values went up and Montclairkind of changed, so we got in
kind of down at the wire when itwas still slightly affordable.
So the answer is it was becauseit was affordable.
Yeah, but also I will say I washome with the kids.
Then we had two at that time andthen a third was born right
(03:23):
after we moved here, and so Ispecifically was looking for a
place, a community that hadthings going on, that wasn't
just a commuting community, thathad things in the town that I
could sink my teeth into.
Yeah, and you did, and you didand I did, and I've grown up.
My parents were very civicallyminded and very involved in the
community I grew up with.
(03:44):
So it seemed natural to me toget involved.
We've loved living here.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's been great.
Before we get into more aboutNew Jersey, tell us a little bit
about young Evelyn.
What were you into and how didyou pursue those dreams?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
It's great that you ask actually because it kind of
segues into what I do now, inthat I grew up in Charleston,
South Carolina, right next to atheater called the Dock Street
Theater.
It is on the site of one of thefirst theaters in America and
it was very old and probably outof convenience and possibly
because I asked my mother sentme to acting classes there,
because all I had to do was walknext door.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
That is definitely convenient.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, it was so convenient for her and I loved
it and I did it forever, likefrom I don't know middle school,
all through high school, and Idid a lot of community theater,
a lot of performing as a youngperson in Charleston.
That was sort of always apassion of mine.
And then in 1977, I think itwas the Spoleto Festival came to
Charleston, south Carolina.
This is an arts and musicfestival that was founded by
(04:44):
Giancarlo Minotti in Spoleto,italy, and then they brought the
festival to America and theypicked Charleston as the
American home.
The festival is still going on,actually, all these years later
.
But again, because my familylived next to this theater, my
parents got very involvedbecause my mother hosted a daily
wine and cheese party at ourhouse for all the musicians that
(05:07):
were performing at the theaternext door.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
It was really awesome and it was for the festival's
21 days and she just kind ofsaid yes, and that lasted for my
parents 20 years.
That's incredible.
They would do this for thesedays of the festival.
It starts Memorial Day, goes toearly June and we made lifelong
friends.
Yo-yo Ma and his wife camethere when they just were
(05:32):
married and they're still dear,dear friends of ours, and Paula
Robeson, a flutist, and they'reall really close friends of ours
.
But also for me as a youngteenager, I met professional
artists.
I met not just musicians, itwas really chamber musicians
that my mother got to knowbecause our house became their
(05:54):
green room.
But I mean, tennessee Williamswas there.
Oh my gosh, they were justballet dancers and actors.
Oh my gosh.
I, as the young girl who'd beentaking acting classes all her
life, thought oh, these arepeople who actually do this as a
living.
And it changed my wholeperspective because I had never
met people who were professionalartists and I got the bug, I
(06:16):
guess you could say For sure,how did you not?
I mean, it was actually a realeye-opening experience because,
you know, there weren't a lot ofprofessional artists in
Charleston in 1977, 78, 79.
And they certainly weredifferent, these people that I
met you know differentperspectives, different way of
(06:37):
living and, to my parents',credit, they were welcoming to
all these people andnonjudgmental, which I learned a
lot from my parents at thattime.
I mean, south Carolina is aconservative place now and it
still was then, but you know, my, my parents welcomed all kinds
of people into their home with avery warm and Southern you know
(06:57):
, so nice to meet you, kind ofthing.
Um, so that's kind of whatstarted me on the idea of of
being.
First I worked as an actor.
I tried to work as an actress,but also being involved in the
arts always.
I've always been involved inthe arts.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That makes a lot of sense.
That's like the through linefor you, then yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well, and the funny thing is, stephen was doing the
same thing, although we didn'tknow each other, right.
So he lived just down thestreet from me and he and his
mother actually were veryinvolved in the festival.
He performed at the festival,so we we had these kind of
parallel experiences knowingeach other without really
knowing each other, yeah, yeah,it's really funny.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I have heard this story.
I mean, or he has told thestory, he likes to talk and talk
about how we met.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
He goes on and on about it.
I like to say, oh, we just metat a party and he's like 30
minutes.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
There's always someone in a couple that's going
to give the extra.
I think that's me.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It's not surprising that it's him right.
He's a talker and he likes totell a story and he's also a
huge romantic.
So you know, all of this fitsright in.
He makes it.
I mean, it's all true, it's notlike he's making it up, but he
sends a lovely story.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
It is a lovely story.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
There's just such an endearing connection between the
two of you.
It is really quite a beautifullove story, that's so sweet.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, we feel really lucky.
We really do.
What's sort of fun about thestage of life where we are now?
We're empty nesters, our kidsare grown and we have kind of
found a way to work togetherthat we never thought we would.
Really, I was determined tohave my own life.
Even though I stayed home withthe kids for a long time, I was
doing a lot of my own things.
But then when COVID hit, we hadto produce his TV show out of
(08:37):
the house and right.
So suddenly I was way up in hisbusiness.
You know, Was that hard atfirst in his business?
You know, Was that hard atfirst?
It was hard.
It was hard because it was justa weird time, right, we were
all, first of all, layer ofanxiety that we all had.
But then, in addition to that,he didn't know how to translate
even to his core.
As a performer and loves a liveaudience.
(08:58):
There was no live audience overZoom and you know you're doing
your show there and it's goingout across the airwaves.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
You don't know how it's being received and you're
holding the camera, so is hetrying to make you laugh?
Is that what he was trying todo?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
This is kind of what I realized.
When I say he was anxious, Irealized it's like when your
child is up on stage and you'relike, I just needed to be, like
you're going to be okay, we gotthis, you got this, and so it
was two things.
Most of what I feel like Ineeded to do was just laugh and
tell him that he was at leastmaking one person laugh.
(09:33):
But I also needed to pretendlike I knew what I was doing,
which was totally impossible,because all I would do is put on
headphones and listen to hiscrew and they would tell me what
to do.
But if something went wrong, Ihad no idea.
I can remember interviews wherethere was no audio and Stephen
(09:53):
couldn't hear the guest and he'dlook at me and I'd go I don't
know.
I'll unplug it and plug it backin, which most of the time
actually worked, that's a verygood idea.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It usually works Always.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, we're very good at that.
I actually did that rightbefore my mic wasn't working.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
But so all of that created this kind of you know
camaraderie, that that was a newstage of our relationship.
That sort of happenedsimultaneously with also our
children growing and leaving thehouse and having more free time
and me as a person looking forsomething, something else to do.
You know I've been.
(10:25):
I know we're going to talkabout it later, but I've been
working with Montclair Film fora long, long time.
But I was ready for somethingelse as well.
We created a production companyand now we produce together and
we have a first look deal withCBS.
So we're really workingtogether now, which is actually
kind of lovely and we neverthought it would happen ever.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Yeah, my parents worked.
They didn't at first worktogether and then they ended up
being in the same company andworking together as partners for
most of my life.
And do you feel like you had totransition to be able to have
conversations at home thatweren't about work, Because that
was a hard thing for them tomanage?
My parents would always bringwork home to the dinner table
(11:05):
and we were like, okay, you guyslike I felt like I knew their
whole portfolio of companies.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You know which company is going to go under.
Who are they, what tech they'reworking on?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I will say it's interesting.
Very early on I would say toSteven like your job stops at
the door, you're not the bosswhen you come in this house, and
that you know there's a littleswitch there when you've been,
when you are, you know, theleader of an organization, and
yet I also was always eager tohear about how things were going
and always sort of, uh, wewould share a lot of that.
(11:36):
So I mean, our kids might saywe did do a lot of talking at
the table, but um, but now,since they're not around, uh, we
probably do too much of it.
It is sometimes hard to to turnit off you know?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, what else is there to talk about, rachel?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
You know what, jeanette?
That's so true.
I I I told Bill to stop talkingabout work a while ago too,
like come in the door and let'sjust I don't know if I want to
hear about that.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That is true, that is true, but then we just talk
about our kids.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
So then you're right.
I don't know, I don't have theanswer.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
And there are just so many things, right now in
particular, that are just sohard to talk about.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Oh, that's very valid .
Talk about the news, your workor the kids.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
We got nothing.
You guys are the news right now.
That must be hard to not.
I mean, I'm sure that living inthe world that you live in, you
always are somewhat a newstopic, but right now it's
probably hard to live throughall of this.
This is very strange.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
We've never really sort of lived through a moment
like this.
I mean we were sort of laughingthat.
I think you could kind of thinkof the bookends of Stevens at
least his, his career in latenight is bookended by in 2006.
I think it was he.
He gave the White HouseCorrespondents Dinner and it
went crazy, viral and likeYouTube was just starting and it
(13:01):
was.
It was a huge moment, butnowhere, nowhere near what's
happening now.
But there's sort of like thebeginning and the end kind of,
and now it's because of socialmedia is just so much bigger,
and so we've never lived throughanything quite like this and I
actually think for our kids it'skind of weird because they said
our youngest son said dad, itfeels like you died.
(13:23):
Everything I read is like oh, hewas so great and you're so
great and he's like but you'restill around and this is weird.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's true.
It does have that tinge to itwhen you're reading the
headlines and obviously it's notover.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I mean, that is over, decidedly over.
But there'll be a lot more thatwe'll do.
We just don't know what it'llbe.
But I think, even for Stevenand for me and for the kids,
when you read these things it'slovely.
It's like again being able toread what people say about you.
Often after you're gone, youdon't have this chance, so I
suppose that's nice, but it alsofeels emotional.
(13:58):
It feels really emotional.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Like I'm over here, guys, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm
okay, I'm okay.
You know, that is interestingbecause maybe it's because I've
been kind of diving into yourbeing a producer and things that
you have cooking.
You did a cookbook and you guyshave been working together.
I feel like I was like oh,what's next?
What?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
are they going to do?
I think that's true too.
I have also had the samefeeling like, well, maybe it's
liberating.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, that's true too .
I have also had the samefeeling like, well, maybe it's
liberating.
Yeah, I think it's kind of itfeels a little bit like the
future arrived sooner than Iexpected it.
It's very sad in the way it'shappening.
You know, stephen has workedwith a lot of these people for
20 years and we've known themand we're really close to them
and it's just the end ofsomething really magical.
And I think what no one willreally ever truly understand is
how beautiful the team is thereand I give Steven a lot of
(14:47):
credit because it comes from thetop down.
There's just a wonderfulatmosphere there of support and
fun and humor and openness andthey all work together
beautifully and it's a group ofpeople working together to
create something that they lovedoing.
A real work family, a real workfamily, a real work family, and
(15:08):
that is what is tearingeverybody up.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
It's such a moment of change for media in general.
I mean it's just fascinating.
What is going to happen to thislandscape of interviewing
people, the format in which hehas been working and all of the
people on the set have beenworking?
Where do they go?
Speaker 3 (15:26):
No, I mean it was funny.
I was talking to our youngest,who's 24.
Cause I said I feel like youguys are the problem.
I know you don't.
You don't have television.
Not one of our three kids havehave television.
They watch everything you knowon their laptop and they watch a
lot of things over YouTube, butthey watch a lot of podcasts.
So I was like explain to me why.
(15:47):
No offense A podcast taken.
But I said to my son, like why apodcast TV show?
And he said well, it feels morereal.
We're having right now is hardto duplicate when you've got
cameras and lights and all ofthe things.
That provides that kind ofglitz and glamour, which is what
(16:09):
I think my generation was drawnto back in the day.
I think for whatever now Ithink, particularly younger
people they don't care aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You're totally right.
That generation feels like allof that is inauthentic and they
want something real.
And they feel like this longform conversation where people
say uh and um and are thinkingabout what they want to say is
real.
They don't want any glitz,glamour or pretense.
We also wonder, you know, is itbecause well, for us, is it
(16:40):
because we don't make any money?
We're like two middle-agedwomen doing this for fun that
it's authentic, but like if youmake money still be authentic.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, I think money would make it even more
authentic.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
That's, that'll be our ad.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
If you want us to be more authentic, please donate to
the GoFundMe page.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Oh my God, you guys, but you know, the thing that's
great, though, is thateverybody's learning this new
medium, and some people arelearning it faster than others,
and for us, we're having to getrid of some of our old ideas.
You know, yeah, I mean as inbeing more polished, or being
professional.
You're like, oh, the way you'resupposed to do.
And they're like, actually, no,that isn't the way you do it
anymore.
You're supposed to just throwit out there and it's an
(17:29):
interesting thing.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
We've learned a lot in this process.
I mean, we're going up, we'llbe doing this for almost three
years coming up in.
When is it In?
Speaker 1 (17:37):
February, we're in about two and a half years, yeah
.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Thanks, and it's been such a great journey because
not only have we met so manyamazing people, but we've also,
yes, like learned okay, we wereso from that generation of.
It has to be perfect.
It has to look like this and wedidn't want to even do video at
first and we didn't because itshouldn't be about looks.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
It should be just about the quality, and then well
, no, no, you can get morepeople if you have a YouTube
channel.
That's also I find sointeresting is the video aspect.
I'm still like podcast or whatI do when I walk or exercise.
It's in my ear.
I don't plan to look at it.
So now I feel like every, oreven this, is happening with,
(18:20):
like sub stacks, things I wantto read, or suddenly now they're
all video and I'm like wait aminute, I just want to read that
or listen to it.
Why do I have to look at it?
Speaker 2 (18:30):
It's so true, but I think that's totally our
generation.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Isn't it interesting?
I mean, certainly people arestill fascinated with celebrity
and all of that, but this kindof they don't want the here's
so-and-so coming out of the redvelvet curtain, that kind of
Broadway-esque, I don't know Ithink it's probably layered on
to the society of people wantingtruth.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
They want to know behind the curtain of everything
and it's like everything hasbeen so manipulated.
I guess they feel that theywant to just hear from regular
people so manipulated.
I guess they feel that theywant to just hear from regular
people.
They're also seeing.
I was talking to Rachel.
It seems like everything thatyou learn about like marketing
in this industry is it's it hasto help people, it has to give.
You have to give peoplesomething.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Oh interesting.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, it's like you're, you're.
You're either going to tellthem how to be healthier you
know how to do this, how to dothat or go behind the scenes and
learn what really happened.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yes, it's like self-help to the nth degree,
like give me the five things,like those are the podcasts, or
the things that go viral, thefive things that will make you
happy, or the five things thatyou know help your morning, or
it's always like how this canhelp you or that you're seeing
like a CEO or a fabulouslywealthy person.
(19:46):
How did they get there and howcan I do that?
It's all self-improvement, whichis kind of intense and very,
very American you know, it'slike uniquely American of like
you don't like what you have,let's fix it.
And fix, fix, fix, fix.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, I mean, that's interesting, I mean the other
thing that's kind of interestingabout this moment that we're in
, stephen and I and sort ofeveryone writing about us, is
it's being on the inside of it.
I am realizing how manymistakes people always make.
This era of disinformation isso rampant that I don't know how
anybody gets accurateinformation anymore, because
(20:23):
everybody says they're an expert.
Everybody says I have theinside facts and I read these
things and think you're wrong.
That is not true, and what youjust espoused is saying these
are the facts about you know,they're talking about the late
show and they're talking aboutlate night and they're talking
about the economics of it, whichis all what they're saying is
wrong.
And what I find fascinating isthat then how do you know where
(20:47):
to go?
Because everybody's got alittle bit of a mistake.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It seems like you have to just decide to live in
your reality.
Rachel and I were having thisconversation.
Of course, you know we all knowabout our bubbles, but it's
almost like you now have thismultiple gods, like we're going
to go with this one and you guysare going with this one, and
you just decide to believe.
It sounds like it fits withinyour theory about where you
(21:10):
should be in life, and thatperson's talking in your
language, so I'll believe that.
How have we ever?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
as a country.
How are we ever going to cometogether?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Right, I feel like it has to all blow apart.
I mean, it sort of is blowingapart.
We're not listening to eachother, obviously, but the way
people are speaking to eachother is terrible.
So totally.
But why would you want tolisten if you're being spoken to
like that?
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
Well you're.
You're definitely in the veryyou know center of something
right now, but I, as we all havelearned about this society, it
will just be forgotten soon.
You know center of somethingright now, but, as we all have
learned about this society, itwill just be forgotten soon.
You know it will just be overand on to the next thing, and
you're just right now kind of inthe eye of a storm, you know.
Yeah, we want to know more aboutwhat you've been doing in
(21:58):
Montclair since you've been here.
You are the kind of the firstlady of New Jersey film in my
mind.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yes, thank you, I'll take that title.
Yeah right, it's a good one.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Well, I mean, you have been the head of the
Montclair Film Festival and thepresident of the board and
you've been there since thebeginning.
The founder of.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Montclair Film was a guy named Bob Feinberg who had
the idea of bringing a festivalto Montclair.
He sat down with me about 16years ago now or something and
said I have this idea.
I was like, let's do it, I'llhelp you.
So, he and I together, thefirst thing we did was we
recruited other board members.
We established it as anonprofit 501c3.
(22:39):
We raised some money and westarted with just a four-day
festival in May, and now we'reabout to have our 15th festival.
And so for all those years, wehave grown now into a five and a
half million dollarorganization and I'm now the
president of the board.
I've been an officer of theboard since we started.
Bob moved to New York and he'sstill on the board, but he's no
(23:00):
longer in a leadership position,and so, yeah, it's been a long
time I've been working on thisand it's been joyful for me.
I love it.
I think it's a fabulousorganization and nobody not one
of us expected we'd be where weare in 2025, all those years ago
, you know.
I mean it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Is it beyond your wildest dreams, Like what were
youron to the, not justMontclair?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
but Montclair and the surrounding areas.
And again I went back to myexperience growing up with the
Spoleto Festival and I saw howrestaurants had come and artists
had moved to Charleston and ithad really changed Charleston in
a significant way.
(23:45):
And not that I thought we wouldchange Montclair.
But the thing that's differentfrom a festival than a
year-round thing is the sort ofexcitement right.
So what we wanted was kind ofthat just excitement of a
festival.
But what we immediately did,even at the very first idea, was
that we also wanted aneducation component, and that
has been something that hasexpanded way beyond our wildest
(24:07):
dreams.
So we're now a year-roundorganization, we have a very
robust film education programand we're running all kinds of
production assistant programs aswell to give people real
hands-on experience in film.
But now we operate a movietheater and, as we're going to
talk about, we're taking over asecond movie theater, so we do
so much more than just a smallfestival, so I don't know to
(24:30):
answer your question.
I don't know that we everthought we'd be that big, but we
always thought it'd be morethan just a festival.
Because we wanted education tobe a part of it, we started a
kid's short competition.
The very first thing we did washaving kids submit short films
for a contest.
So it's always been part of theidea was to grow into something
that would be meaningful inlots of ways.
(24:51):
And here we are.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
And here you are, and it's such good timing too, that
you have learned so much andthe education program has grown
so much, because it sort ofcoincides nicely with Governor
Murphy's tax credits andbringing so much film and TV
production to New Jersey.
With Netflix and all of that,you'll have educated people on
how to participate in crew.
(25:14):
That's what we want.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
That's what we're trying to do.
We've we've done a little bitof it and we're hoping to expand
it more.
They sort of that, what youcall below the line jobs, jobs
that aren't the director, thescreenwriter or the or the actor
.
They're all really good unionjobs.
They're all really good unionjobs.
They're all the kind of people,like we were saying, that work
on Stephen's show.
All those people the scriptoperators, the editors, the
(25:35):
camera operators, all of thosepeople in film have great jobs
and usually they can be steadywork and you can join a union
and have security.
So we think about it sort of atMontclair Film, about meeting
this moment, this moment you'retalking about in New Jersey,
(25:57):
where New Jersey is seeking toreally become Hollywood, a
Hollywood of the East, or atleast a second or third place
where film is happening and filmand television production and
you can see it happening, eventhough we are working very
consciously to kind of becomethe preeminent film organization
I mean, we think we are.
There are not a lot of nonprofitfilm organizations in New
Jersey and we really think ofourselves as a preeminent one
(26:19):
that is basically working withstudios, partnering with Netflix
and the other studios, toreally be a presence here for
people in New Jersey who workand want to work in this
business.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Right, you have this festival to highlight some of
the films worldwide.
I know that a lot of the filmsthat come here are from very
impressive directors and filmsthat are at Cannes Film Festival
that have won come here andthey open up along with local
films that are done by people intown, also New Jersey-based,
(26:51):
but you also have a theater thatyou have one downtown.
Yeah, claridge, the Claridgethat was remodeled recently and
is lovely and beautiful.
Yes, yes, thank you, and now youhave moved to take over a
historic Bellevue theater.
Everyone that lives in thistown has wondered when it will
(27:11):
come back, and it finally didthis last month.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
It finally did.
Well, we've been trying for along time, so the theater closed
in 2017, I think it was Bowtiemoved out, broke their lease
from the gentleman who owns thebuilding and it has been dark
since then.
And so, after a lot ofnegotiation, we have signed a
five-year lease to startoperating the movie theater.
We will probably have what youcall like a soft opening right
(27:34):
before the festival in October,but we'll officially start
showing films during thefestival and then, after the
festival, right around the 1stof November, we will full-time
be operating that as a full-timetheater like the Claridge.
So it's really exciting for usbecause there's synergy between
the two.
You know, operating twotheaters in the same town allow
you to have some flexibility,but it also gives us an
opportunity to have slightlywell a presence in Upper
(27:56):
Montclair, where we used to rentthat during the festival.
All the time we want to bringfilm back to there.
I mean the families that livein Upper Montclair.
I mean, when my kids werelittle, I would drop them off at
the Bellevue and it was a greatlittle reprieve because they
could go to get pizza and icecream and a movie and you got
like hours before.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
You could come get them and we could walk to the
theater.
Yes, and you can walk to thetheater.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Right.
So we're excited too.
We're really excited.
It's risky, you know, and we'rereally hoping that the
community will help us.
We're going to be launching acapital campaign for some
support, because it's hard.
People aren't going to themovies the way they did before
COVID.
Hopefully we'll reach newpeople.
We won't just take the samepeople who are going to the
Claridge and have them come tothe Bellevue.
The goal is that more peoplewill start coming, and that's
(28:41):
what we hope.
We're really hopeful that thecommunity turns out.
I know they've been eager forit to come back and now is the
chance to make it happen.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
I think everybody is aware that movie theaters are,
you know, not getting the kindof patronage that they used to
get and everybody, I think, issimultaneously like not going
and also worried that they'regoing to lose the movie theater,
like you're, like you're notdoing your part, but you also
don't want it to go away.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
It's like we're like a little, it's like I said to my
son about you're part of theproblem, since you don't watch
the television show.
Right, I actually think peoplewill come back because the
Bellevue Theater is in thisgreat location, like we just
said, it's in the heart of.
Upper Montclair.
It's so community focused.
There are so many neighborhoodorganizations that people want
(29:31):
to go to that it just kind ofyou can walk by it in a way that
just open up for people as achance to say let's pop in and
see what's happening Will theprogramming be more like indie,
or is it going to be a range?
It'll be a range.
We're probably going to doslightly bigger sort of more
studio films, morefamily-focused films there at
(29:53):
the Bellevue, which is the wayit used to be, just because
they're bigger theaters and itnow has three it used to have
four.
There'll only be three screensnow because the landlord took
one of the downstairs screens tomake it into a separate retail
space.
So we'll have three screens,but they are bigger.
Tom Hall, our artistic director, does all the programming
himself of the Claridge and hewill program the Bellevue, and
(30:16):
he's a genius.
He's absolutely a genius he's sogood at this, and he has
figured out what makes aMontclair audience show up you
know, and I always like to tellpeople, particularly when I'm
looking for sponsorship orsupport, that Montclair has a
(30:36):
very unique audience.
It's a very discerningpopulation, half of the New York
Times lives here.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Half of the people who live here work in you would
have too many reviewers comingto that opening.
You would you would.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
But certain movies that don't play well nationally
play really well in Montclairand then there might be some
movies that play well nationallythat don't do as well for us.
So I think what Tom has done isfigure out what really draws
people here.
So it's working for theClaridge, we're doing well and I
think and hope it will workwith the Bellevue fingers
crossed.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Has the theater been renovated or the screen's?
New Is the sound?
How is?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
that it has been partially renovated.
The landlord has done some work.
We're probably not going to dothe kind of work we did at the
Claridge, so it'll be able tolook a little different because
he did the work.
But the equipment is workingand the screens are working and
all of that.
There's just a little cosmeticdifferences.
That we might go in and zhuzhit up a little bit, make it look
a little bit more likeMontclair film Depends, frankly,
(31:29):
on how much that would cost.
We're still getting quotes.
But it's functioning and itlooks great and there'll be
popcorn and there'll be DietCoke and there'll be eventually
maybe alcohol we have to applyfor a non-profit liquor license.
It took us three years to getthat at the Claridge.
Hopefully it won't take threeyears to get it at the Bellevue,
but we're going to start thatprocess as well, because who
(31:49):
doesn't want to take a glass ofwine in for a movie?
Right, that's kind of fun.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
It is fun yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
What I'll say is that I have complete faith that it's
going to be successful, becauseyou have carried the festival
through strikes, covid, allthese things, and you did go
through the closure of theBellevue as well.
I had to, you know, reconfigurepeople in the festival Well
thank you for that.
You've handled many differentchallenges and, yeah, I mean
(32:16):
things are different, but Ithink how the idea that you
don't have right now that'sgoing to make people get back to
theaters or whatever it is.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
That's true.
You just don't know, you reallydon't know what it is.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
It might be candy, we'll see, we'll just keep
trying A little trail of candy.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Sugar helps, sugar helps, popcorn helps.
We have really good popcorn.
I love our popcorn.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Could I buy a Montclair film t-shirt there too
?
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Absolutely.
We love our swag.
Well, we're excited and we'rejust so happy that you chose
Montclair, chose New.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Jersey to move to way back when.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
We are too.
One of the questions I'm goingto throw this in is that what is
it like living You're kind of abig fish in a small pond.
What has that been like livinghere you?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
know, I think Montclair is lovely that way.
Most people just let us beourselves.
And you know, I think it wasnice for our kids that we were
already here and Stephen's kindof celebrity-ism happened over a
period of time so that most oftheir friends already knew him
as their dad, you know.
And so you know, stephen becamemore famous and it was just
(33:24):
like, well, that's what his daddoes or her dad does, but you
know it's not.
Montclairians are a little bitlike New York City folks.
They kind of give you the likethey're not demonstrative, you
know Although.
Stephen did say, after therecent unpleasantness, he went
to Whole Foods and he was likehe had like a crowd of people
following him around.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Whole Foods Really With sad expressions on their
face With sympathy.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Sympathy like oh, how are you?
Okay, you know, I'm so glad youbrought up the grocery store
because both Rachel and I canattest to being the calm locals,
because Rachel recently had awhole entire event at King's
with you.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Oh, it was King's.
It wasn't an event With me, no,with Steven.
He was for avocados, which I'malways looking for, by the way.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
It's really hard to find them.
It's hard to find them, andwhen you get them, it's hard to
eat them on time.
It's just the worst thing.
It's an avocado saga.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yes, it is, it is.
So I think I was out because mydaughters were adamant that I
was going to make this taco,whatever with that.
So I'm looking at avocados andI guess I don't have a poker
face.
I must have looked extremelydisappointed.
And then I hear a voice behindme say oh yeah, no, it's hard to
find good avocados.
(34:40):
I actually got too many.
Do you want my avocados?
I didn't even know who it wasthat I turn and I'm looking in
Steven's face and I was like, uh, yeah, I do want them, That'd
be great.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
It's so funny.
Well, just yesterday I was atKing's and the produce manager
came up to me.
I don't remember.
I think he said his name wasTony.
I can't remember.
He couldn't have been sweeter.
And again he's like I'm sosorry, oh, that's so nice.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
I know it's really sweet.
Oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
It's kind of nice that everybody you know they
left you alone, but now theyknow that you're going through
with something.
They're going to just say alittle something that's true.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
These are our people.
Yeah, these are your people.
That's pretty nice.
Speaking of groceries, though,I love the title of your
cookbook.
Yes, oh, do you?
Thank you, phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, because we all say it.
We're like does this tastefunny?
Does this taste funny?
I know exactly.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
It has so many good meanings.
Yeah, and Stephen threw thatout early and then we kind of
forgot about it and then cameback to it.
But that was such a fun project.
We had so much fun.
I'm doing that.
It was really great.
And did you, did you ever likethink of things that you didn't
(35:58):
include?
You're like, yeah, that that,yeah, well, we had, we cut.
We cut some for sure Cause wewere too long.
And then we did have a littlebit of a rule, because there are
a lot of family recipes in itand we did say nothing.
That is a recipe off a box oror includes a um an ingredient
that comes in a box.
You know what I mean.
Like no Lipton soup things.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Take the Lipton onion soup, no onion dip, and all
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
So that actually cut out a lot of family stuff,
because both my family and hisfamily.
You know, raising your kids inthe 60s, 70s, 80s, like there
was a lot of that.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
That was a lot.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Yeah, it was a lot, but then you know, then there
were definitely things that I'ma creature of habit and I have
all the things I fed my kidsover the years and some of them
I would look at and think thatis just dated.
You don't want to.
Lemon bunk cake that I've madethem with I can make with my
eyes closed Really feels likeit's 1980 something and I don't
(36:47):
think we need it.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So did you put in any Southern like ambrosia?
Speaker 3 (36:56):
You know it's funny, you say ambrosia.
I thought about it.
My grandmother would bringambrosia every Christmas day and
she would put sliced coconut init, which I guess you have to
and I hated the coconut so Iwouldn't eat it.
But we thought about ambrosia.
I found my other grandmother.
That was my mother's mother,but my father's mother was a
really great cook and I foundher recipe box.
She died when I was very, verylittle but I found it with my
(37:18):
mom and we went through andfound some of her old recipes
which we did put in.
We put in like a chest pie anda huguenot torte, some really
old classic Southern recipeswhich are really fun and then of
course my children cried fraud.
They're like you never made that.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
But I could, you know what?
Speaker 3 (37:37):
I could read my book.
You know how to do it and I didwhen I.
When I made the cookbook, Imade it several times.
You just didn't happen to livehere then, but yes.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Oh God.
Well, I'd say that if peoplewant to help support, go get the
cookbook and make recipes andpost them online in support of
the Colberts.
That's so nice of you and alsosupport Montclair Film.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
If you want to support the Bellevue, please
help us Any financialcontribution.
How can we tell people to do itWell, our website is
montclairfilmorg and there'sinformation there on how to
donate.
But we will be launching anofficial Bellevue campaign, but
you could just right now sayit's in support of the Bellevue
Theater and it will go tohelping us.
You know it's all one pot,essentially one nonprofit pot,
(38:22):
but we would love any help andplease come to the movies, come
to the.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Claire's, come to the Bellevue.
We're ready, we're ready.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
We're ready, we'll be there.
Well, thank you so much forjoining us and sharing a look
into your life and also to howthe film festival and how you
got to New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
I really appreciate it.
I appreciate the time and yourinterest so much.
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
This podcast was produced by Rachel Martens and
Jeanette Afsharian.
You can find us on Spotify,itunes and Buzzsprout.
Thanks for listening.
See you next week.
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