BITS AND PIECES...11/12
PUSSSYKATT
--SNEAK PEEK: George Lucas has released the first poster for the new Star Wars
prequel on his official Website. The movie's due next May.
--YOU OUGHTA KNOW: Alanis Morissette's latest album beats out U2's greatest
hits for the No. 1 slot on the pop charts.
--ATTENTION MONICA: Debuting today: the official Elvis Presley Cigar. Available
in Robusto, Corona and Churchill sizes. 'Nanna sandwiches not included.
--CASE CLOSED: Authorities in Florida drop a battery complaint against
actor/rapper/athlete Shaquille O'Neal because the alleged victim hasn't gotten
back to police.
--CHEAPSKATES? Politico Bob Dole accusing Hollywood honchos of not opening
their wallets to a proposed World War II memorial.
--LIFER: Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman tapped for the American Film Institute's
Life Achievement Award.
--RECOUNT: Overnight ratings for The X-Files were deceiving. Final numbers show
Sunday's premiere was down 26 percent from last year's.
--IT'S OFFICIAL: Charlie Rose and Vicki Mabrey officially named correspondents
for CBS' upcoming 60 Minutes II.
--THE SUB: NBC News' John Hockenberry reportedly to inherit the MSNBC slot to
be left vacant by Fox-bound Keith Olbermann.
--GUILTY: In New York, a 20-year-old man convicted of second-degree murder in
the slaying of Time-Warner chief Gerald Levin's son.
--ELEPHANT MAN: Comic Richard Pryor asking South African President Nelson
Mandela to help free 30 baby elephants being held in a compound there.
USA TODAY...
--MIAMI SHORES, Fla. — Luther Campbell got stripped of his $40,000 Mercedes.
The 37-year-old former front man for the rap group 2 Live Crew left the car
running while he paid for his purchase at a gas station Monday. Campbell told
police the silver 1993 500 SEL contained $20,000 in jewelry and clothes, as
well as his credit cards and identification. It was found stripped Tuesday 17
blocks from the gas station. "Now I know how ladies feel when their purses get
stolen," he said. Campbell and 2 Live Crew gained notoriety in 1990 when he was
acquitted of giving an obscene performance at a nightclub.
--NEW YORK — Sylvester Stallone is cleaning house. He sold his oil painting
Alma Parens, by William Adolphe Bouguereau, for $2.6 million to a private U.S.
collector Tuesday at Sotheby's. The work is a patriotic allegory of Mother
France. Stallone "wants to collect smaller pieces, and he's more interested in
Old Masters at the moment," says Raul Suarez of Sotheby's.
DAILY DISH...
--RAY LEADS THE WAY: Saying that musical legend Ray Charles likes to be in
control is an understatement. The multitalented Charles used to fly his own
plane, despite the fact that he is blind. "I made it my business to know what
was happening in the air," Charles tells the Miami Herald, adding that if
something happened to the pilot, "I could land that plane."
--CENSOR SLAMS PULP FICTION: Someone should tell British film censor James
Ferman that his recent slamming of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is about
four years too late. According to BBC News, Ferman says that in retrospect, he
wishes the flick had been cut because it "glamourized drug-taking so much it
may have increased heroin abuse." But aside from that, he thought Pulp Fiction
was "wonderful."
--EEEEWWW: If you've been searching for a pair of Bob Barker's underpants,
you're in luck: The Price Is Right host's drawers are among the items up for
bid in Chicago radio station WCKG-FM's Celebrity Panty Raid and Auction. Also
on the block: the smalls of Mark Harmon, George Carlin, Fran Drescher and Ray
Romano, to name a few. Proceeds from Thursday evening's festivities will go to
the Sammy Sosa Hurricane Relief Fund.
--JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS: Having trouble thinking up gift ideas? Mötley
Crüe can help. The rockers will open their first retail outlet, S'Crue, in L.A.
on Thurs., Nov. 19. S'Crue will feature merchandise from the various Crüe
tours, plus clothing designed by band members Nikki Sixx and Vince Neill. No
word on whether it will carry the Pam 'n' Tommy tape. — Karen Burns
NY POST...PAGE SIX...
--WHAT will Monica Lewinsky's voice sound like when The Tapes are finally
released? Will the portly pepperpot remind us of Mae West or Marilyn Monroe? We
asked literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, who's responsible for Linda Tripp's
fateful decision to tape the conversations with her pal, for a preview.
Monica's voice is a little harsh and a little nasal, said Goldberg. It's bored
Valley Girl, and there's a lot of sighing. Goldberg noted that Monica has a
very youthful, sort of teen-aged voice with a rising inflection. And to which
actress can it be compared? No actress we've ever heard of unless it's Meg
Tilly, said Goldberg.
--MARTINA Hingis, in town for the Chase Tennis Championships, gamely trying to
roll her own sushi at the uptown Match ...
--CALVIN Klein, Sandy Gallin and Barry Diller at Ross Bleckner's opening at the
Rachel Lehmann Gallery in Soho ...
--ANN-Margret in costume jeweler Erwin Pearl's Fifth Avenue shop buying a
French enamel goldtone pin inspired by Monet's garden at Giverney ...
--JANET Jackson, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston simultaneously at separate
tables at Mr. Chow's ...
--ROSIE O'Donnell at theme restaurant Mars 2112 with daughter Chelsea.
--C-SPAN - which normally doesn't provide many laughs - had viewers chuckling
Tuesday during the Judicial Committee impeachment hearing that featured
historians and Constitutional scholars. At one point in the windy proceedings,
the director cut to a shot which showed Rep. Jerrold Nadler apparently asleep,
eyes shut, head down on his chest. I find that difficult to believe, said Amy
Green, chief of staff for the Upper West Side Democrat. Nadler may have just
appeared to be unconscious. Sometimes he looks down and reads, Green explained.
--MOST guests on the Today show are careful not to remind host Katie Couric of
the recent death of her beloved husband, lawyer Jay Monahan. Not Joan Rivers.
Appearing yesterday to plug her new book of advice to her daughter Melissa
Rivers, who is engaged to be married, Joan immediately burst into tears when
she mentioned her own late husband Edgar Rosenberg, who committed suicide a
decade ago after the failure of Joan's late-night TV talk show. Katie
maintained her self-composure, even after Joan said to her, You must know how I
feel. Finally, Katie, with exquisite aplomb, suggested, I hate to see you cry
like this, Joan. I might suggest something - try waterproof mascara.
NY POST...NEAL TRAVIS...
--YOU wouldn't figure rumpled director Francis Ford Coppola for a J. Peterman
kind of guy, but tonight, the film auteur is being given a cocktail party by
the man satirized in Seinfeld for his wacky catalogs and esoteric clothing.
Peterman is celebrating the opening of his first New York retail store, in the
refurbished Grand Central Terminal. Coppola will be reading from Gabriel Garcia
Marquez' forthcoming memoir, Living to Tell the Tale, and encouraging guests to
try the Rubicon wines from his Napa Valley vineyard. Coppola's buddy Robert De
Niro will be lending moral support.
MR. SHOWBIZ...
--There's a guardian angel looking out for 7th Heaven. The family-friendly
drama became the first show in WB history to break a 6 rating in households,
besting the 5.9 it earned for its season finale last May, says Daily Variety.
Monday's episode, in which minister Eric Camden is shot by a young assailant,
also beat out NBC (Suddenly Susan, Conrad Bloom) and Fox (Melrose Place).
--CBS has given the thumbs up to L.A. Doctors and Maggie Winters, report the
Hollywood trades. The eyeball network has ordered nine more episodes of the
Monday night medical drama, for a full season order of 22 episodes, and has
asked for five additional episodes of the Wednesday night Faith Ford sitcom.
E Varden
>
> Campbell told
> police the silver 1993 500 SEL contained $20,000 in jewelry and > clothes,
Yeah right. A regular rolling safe-deposit box, I'm sure!