BITS AND PIECES 04/25 Part 1
AGC Queen
--With talks now in their eighth week, there are rampant rumors that a
settlement between the Writers Guild of America and TV and movie producers is
imminent. The writers say they'll strike May 1 if no deal is done.
--The Goo Goo Dolls, Ani DiFranco, 10,000 Maniacs and other musicians appear on
Liberation: War Is Over, a new CD to benefit safe school and youth leadership
programs in New York state.
--After a seven-year absence, Sade is returning to the concert circuit. The
British singer and her band will kick off a North American tour July 14 in
Vancouver. The first U.S. date will be the next day in Seattle.
--The Walt Disney Co. is planning major cutbacks in its feature animation unit
with hundreds of jobs to be eliminated and salaries to be slashed by 30 to 50
percent, according to the Los Angeles Times.
--Universal is expected to spend more than $20 million advertising the video
release of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The video and DVD are out
November 20.
NY POST/MICHAEL STARR....
--Hey, if Jay Leno could poke fun at his prominent visage in his autobiography
("Leading With My Chin"), what's to stop him from taking it one step further?
Apparently nothing, because Leno will make a voiceover cameo as "The Crimson
Chin" on Nickelodeon's new animated series, "The Fairly Oddparents," this
Friday at 8:30 p.m. In the show, "The Crimson Chin" is a superhero with, you
guessed it, an unusually large chin. In the episode, "Chin Up," a 10-year-old
kid asks his fairy godparents to make him just like "The Crimson Chin." That's
all I'm saying. Nick also got some good news yesterday, with ratings for "The
Kids' Choice Awards" averaging 4.2 million viewers last Saturday night - up 14
percent from last year. Rosie O'Donnell hosted the show, which included a cameo
from Tom Cruise getting "slimed."
--It's being billed as the most expensive miniseries ever - and those who've
seen the trailer for HBO's "Band of Brothers" have no doubt why. The World War
II miniseries, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, has a pricetag in
the neighborhood of $120 million - or roughly $12 million per episode for each
of its 10 installments. Tomorrow's "Access Hollywood" (7:30 p.m./Ch. 4) will
air the miniseries' entire two minute, 40-second trailer - the first time
anything on the miniseries has been seen (network, cable or otherwise).
Insiders at "AH" say it's awesome, and that "Band" recalls Spielberg's "Saving
Private Ryan" (which starred Hanks) in scope and production values. "Band of
Brothers" debuts on HBO in September, with a cast of largely unknown actors -
who probably won't be "unknown" once the miniseries airs.
--Fans can now vote online (soapawards.about.com) for their Soap Opera Digest
Awards faves for the first time.
--Dateline" has won a Sigma Delta Chi Award for Keith Morrison's report on
Vietnam vet Richard Luttrell, produced by Charmian Gilmartin and edited by
Robert Brandel.
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--THE Hollywood types behind "The West Wing" are plagued by even more scandal
than recent occupants of the White House. But that won't keep them away from
the White House Correspondents dinner Saturday as guests of Michael Bloomberg.
Rob Lowe, disgraced back in 1988 for videotaping a sex romp with two
16-year-olds, is coming. So is "West Wing" creator/writer Aaron Sorkin.
Bloomberg's other guests include Timothy Bottoms, Richard Dreyfuss and Molly
Sims. People mag has Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. John McLaughlin invited Pat
Duff, Donald Trump and Melania Knauss.
--PAUL Simon and Paul McCartney are in the far more lucrative and far less
dangerous field of popular music, but they appreciate writers. That's why they
turned up at the PEN Literary gala at Lincoln Center on Monday night as the
group celebrated its 80th year with the likes of Dominick Dunne, Morley Safer,
Arthur Miller, Eve Ensler and Nora Ephron. The big concern this year is the
writers languishing in jails in Cuba and Uzbekistan simply for reporting the
truth.
NY POST/NEAL TRAVIS...
--PUTTING all his nasty court battles behind him, good son Ron Perelman gave a
lovely 80th-birthday party at his parents' Palm Beach home the other night for
his mom, Ruth. Revlon Ron put up a big tent on the lawn, and the Neal Smith
orchestra played for the 150 guests, who included the colony's classiest
designer, the statuesque and beautiful Ann Downey, Rena and Vic Damone and
Marianne and John Castle. The Palm Beach season is lasting longer than usual.
The Castles have just had a bunch of parties at their oceanfront mansion to
celebrate the marriage of their son William to Tracey Diemer, and to welcome
dear Countess Rayne Spencer, who now fronts for Harrods in London.
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS...
--NANCY SINATRA called the Scognamillos of Patsy's for "a sauce fix." They
shipped her cases of their Fra Diabolo, Puttanesca and Marinara sauce. That,
too, beats a fuzzy pink Orlon sweater.
--Yasser Arafat celebrated his birthday and lit 72 candles. His aide yelled,
"Make a wish and blow up the cake!"
--After touring 23 years, The Village People do 35 concerts this summer. They
tee off at Vegas' Riviera and hit Madison Square Garden July 18.
NY POST/LIZ SMITH...
--MARRIAGE DOESN'T bother Rod Steiger. He was living it up at his 76th birthday
party, a barbecue held recently at his hillside Malibu mansion. His wife of
less than a year, Joan Benedict, gave him a gold antique pocket watch, two
small paintings of the beach, and a silver Tiffany business card holder and key
ring. (Now what would an Oscar-winner need with a business card?) Pierce
Brosnan and Keely Shaye-Smith were there with their baby in its first outing.
Everybody enjoyed Rod's Ukrainian housekeeper's cooking. The menu featured
ribs, chicken, shrimp, potato salad and verenike (potato pierogi), plus
strawberry cake, with one candle. Rod also received a small bust of Napoleon
from his hilarious friend Jonathan Winters, plus a wooden fruit bowl from
Brosnan and a pair of Uggh boots, said to be the chic beach footwear. Steiger
started filming "A Month of Sundays" this week, so there's a dance in the old
boy yet.
--ONE OF MY personal loves - Jon Bon Jovi didn't renew his wedding vows to wife
Dorothea last weekend. Bon Jovi was working at the MGM Grand, so he invited
loyal fans via a massive radio contest to join him at the Graceland Wedding
Chapel, where he serenaded this grand turnout of others who said "I do" all
over again.
USA TODAY...
--The Irish band U2 is trying to keep American tourists coming to the Emerald
Isle by dismissing foot-and-mouth disease, the BBC reports. At a concert in Los
Angeles Bono read the following statement, "We would like to tell everyone that
Ireland is a perfectly safe place for a vacation. All of us in the band live
and work there. It's a great place for a vacation and we hope you will continue
to visit." The endorsement is part of the Irish Government's attempt to
maintain its tourist industry.
USA TODAY...JEANNIE WILLIAMS...
--Montel Williams, who has multiple sclerosis, talks today on his show to
organizer Nancy Davis about the May 18 Race to Erase MS in L.A. Joan Rivers has
bought a country house in Connecticut and is keeping a diary of renovation
disasters bound to occur, with an eye to a future book. She's probably paying
for it in part with her new fragrance, Now and Forever, back on sale today on
QVC. Not to mention the $412,350 she and daughter Melissa made from their
Fabergé sale at Sotheby's last week.
ASSOCIATED PRESS...
--Following complaints from construction workers, an artist has painted a
loincloth over a nude figure of the crucified Jesus in a new mural at Kennedy
International Airport. The figure's nudity prompted a worker to contact the
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Newsday reported Tuesday. David
Sigman, development general manager for terminal builder and operator JFK IAT,
said that Deborah Masters, the mural's artist, willingly changed the mural. "We
didn't bring it before the mayor's panel," Sigman said, referring to Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani's newly established committee charged with setting a "decency
standard" for art in city-funded museums. Masters created 28 sculpted reliefs
for the airport's new international arrivals building. She said the Christ
image "was intended to have a loincloth. (The painting) wasn't finished. This
is a quarter-inch thing, and I just forgot." The 8-by-10-foot reliefs depict
city street scenes. The image of Jesus about 18 inches high. The mural is to be
unveiled when the new terminal opens May 24.
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