Beverly HillSheet
An International Look for People
Who Make a Difference
April/May 2009
Two Dollars
First Lady, Michelle Obama
Parties Around Town:
Huffington, Children’s Burn
Foundation, PDS Gypsy Awards,
YMF, The Writer The Singer
The Song, LA Opera,
Save Venice, Vanity Fair,
and The Governors Ball
Great Hotels of the World
The Peninsula of Beverly Hills threw
a great party
Barbara Lockhart
Interior Designer Extraordinaire
Washington D.C. Huffington Party
Will.i.am
Sting and Sharon Stone
Mayor Cory Booker, Arianna Huffington & daughter Christina
Arianna Huffington, Jessica Alba and Diane Von Furstenberg
Kate Walsh
Dana Delany and Marc Cherry
Teri Hatcher and daughter Emerson Rose
Sarah Silverman
Arianna Huffington and Don King
Robert De Niro
Larry King & Arianna Huffington
Jesse Jackson, Arianna Huffington & Chris Matthews
Jennifer Beals
Tracee Ellis Ross
(The Daugther of Diana Ross)
Sting and Sheryl Crow
Josh Groban
First Lady
Michelle Obama
The official White House Photograph
Professional Dancers Society Honors Bob Mackie
Gypsy Award
Carol Burnett, Florence Henderson
Bob Mackie
Mary Ann Mobley and Alton Ruff
PDS President Mitzi Gaynor, Bob Mackie, Carol Burnett,,
PDS Chair Joni Berry
B arbara Fodor
Chairman
Angel’s Night
May 16th, 2009
Century Plaza
Choreographers Joe Tremaine, Tony Charmoli, Randy Doney
Gloria Franks, Neile Adams, Kate Edelman Johnson
C
ase Scaglione, was recently appointed Music
Director and Conductor of the Young Musicians
Foundation Debut Orchestra. The 26-year-old native of Houston, Texas continues in the footsteps of
such illustrious conductors as André Previn, Michael
Tilson Thomas, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Hege,
Larry Foster, Lucas Richman, and Jung-Ho Pak, all of
whom launched their conducting careers with YMF’s
world-renowned pre-professional training orchestra.
Mr. Scaglione made his Russian debut in 2007 as an
invited guest conductor of the St. Petersburg State
Academic Symphony. He has served as guest cover
conductor for the Saint Louis Symphony, Baltimore
Symphony, and Baltimore Opera. In spring of 2009
Mr. Scaglione is scheduled to cover for the Los
Angeles Philharmonic.
YMF
Conductor
The Children’s
Burn Foundation
Has raised 14 Million in 14 years,
Bravo to Them!
Case Scaglione,
Anne Jeffreys
Sterling
Lainie Kazan
Honoree Tom Harmel & wife Marisa
Susan Egan of Disney Fame
Richard Sherman
& John Williams
Al and Lynda Fadel (Trustee)
Barbara Fodor, (Benefit Committee) in her very chic chapeau.
Barbara Friedman (Children’s Burn Foundation Executive Director)
Dick Van Dyke & Wells Fargo Executives
Elizabeth &
Richard Sherman
WCIL’S TEA
Ryan (Trustee) & Susan Lynch (Benefit Committee)
Ruth Kraft and Dascha Auerbach Stuart
June Pulcini and Marj Fasman
Barbara Gordon and
Phyllis Wiseman
Alex and Jean Trebek (Council member)
Hostess Betty Deutsch, Marcia Solomon,
and Alexis Deutsch Adler
Sue Hochberg and
Suzie Levin
Hostess Betty Deutsch and her 3 daughters, Vicky Deutsch Zakarin,
Victoria Deutsch Sutherland, Alexis Deutsch Adler
and guest writer Sandra Tsing Loh
Doug Mancino (Chairman of the Children’s
Burn Foundation), Linda and Alex Cappello
(recipients of the Giving New Hope Award)
Linda Vitale (Benefit Co-Chair), Kathy Toppino (President, The Council of the
Children’s Burn Foundation) and Brenda Gross (Benefit Co-Chair)
Save
Venice
Visits Egypt
“The Writer, The Singer, The Song”
S
ave Venice is an organization that raises funds for the restoration of buildings
and selected art works in Venice. This year’s fundraising trip to Egypt was an
adventure! There were two very lavish private quarters dinners. They visited a vast
amount of sites including, the tombs of King Tut and the longest reigning female
Pharaoh Hatshepsut.
T
Benefit The Blue Ribbon of the Music Center
he Blue Ribbon of The Music Center and The Songwriters Hall of Fame presented the fourth “The Writer, The Singer, The Song” The evening was, hosted by
Eunice and Hal David, followed by dinner in the Grand Hall of The Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion. Donanne Kasikci and Suzanne Kayne co-chaired. Paul Williams again emceed the evening which featured multi-award winning songwriters Ashford & Simpson, Jeff Barry, Alan Bergman, Felix Cavaliere, Hal David and Williams accompanied
by the vocal talents of Seidah Garrett, Darlene Love, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.,
Kenny Rankin and Steve Tyrell. Karen Sherry produced with Walter Grauman and
Ron Rosen co-producing.
“The evening was a huge success
because of the intimacy of the individual stories and the renowned
artists that participate,” said Eunice David. The Proceeds from
the benefit when to the Educational Programs of The Blue Ribbon, a major support group of The
Los Angeles Music Center, and
The Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Caroline Bassett at the entrance og King Tut’s Tomb
Cat Pollon & Dr. Bruce Horten
Dr. Lanny Bell & Robert Wilk
Bob & Bea Guthrie
Blue Ribbon President Judith Krantz &
Evening Co-host Eunice David
Marilyn & Alan Bergman
Nickolas Ashford & Alan Bergman
Michel Langlois
de Langlade
Carol & Frederik with Molly & David Borthwick
Hal David & Kenny Rankin
Marilyn McCoo,
Billy Davis Jr.,
Eunice David
Cat Pollon & pals in the desert
20 min. outside of Cairo
Bea Guthrie & Caroline Firestone
Aaron Lieber
Barbara de Portago & Randy Fishburn
Deep inside a tomb where the color is somewhat well preserved
Hal David, Donna & Felix Cavaliere
Judge Malcolm Lucas & Fiorenza Lucas
Darlene Love’s 2 backup singers,
Jeff Barry, Darlene Love
Barbara Lockhart
Interior Designer Extraordinaire
B
arbara Lockhart is one of America’s
preeminent Architectural Interior Designers.
Barbara Lockhart is not only one of America’s
best Interior Designers, she is a very elegant
dresser who speaks to the word “Designer”.
Recently, Lockhart was recognized at the International Design Awards, with the Lifetime
Achievement of Interior Design. A few months
back Lockhart was the first Recipient of the
Interior Design Lifetime Achievement Award
for Recognition of Outstanding Practice and
Contributions to the Profession.
The inimitable designer has been bestowed with
the most coveted awards in her field, such as the
National S.M. Hexter Most Outstanding Interior Designer in America Award for the New
York Central 20th Century Limited Train design.
Lockhart was highlighted by the State of CaliforBarbara Lockhart Receiving Double
nia, the City of Los Angeles, the City of BevHonorary Doctorate for Fine Arts and
erly Hills, and the City of West Hollywood naming Humanities from the University of Akron, Ohio.
May 13 Barbara Lockhart Day.
Lockhart was graced by Christies as one of 20 innovators of the 20th Century style and was selected as one of Americas Elite 1000.
The unparalleled designer has been granted a
double Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts and
Humanities from the University of Akron in Ohio.
The American Society of Interior Designer’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Design Excellence.First
designer to receive
this award.
arbara Lockhart
Commercial projects
of note include the
Stephen S. Wise
Temple, The Original Le Dome Restaurant for which she was rendered the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Design Award, The reborn Chasen’s Restaurant
with the Private Jockey Club in Beverly Hills, and The Marriot View Restaurant
in Washington D.C.
Lockhart was the owner and designer of the popular restaurant Colors On Bedford and has received the Beverly Hills Architectural Award for Interior and
Exterior Design.
Since selling Colors On Bedford Barbara Lockhart has resumed her Interior Design
Career full time and is currently working on exciting and challenging projects (her
passion). For 30 years Barbara has been collecting antiques and pieces of unique
cultural importance which now occupy several warehouses.
Barbara Lockhart and Diego Giacometti
B
For more information 310.276.8228
Lockhart’s impressive residential resume includes: the William
Randolph Hearst/Marion Davies Estate and private residences
designed with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Her projects
are worldwide.
Lockhart’s extraordinary talent, diversity and deft design integrity is
evident throughout many of the world’s top residential properties,
fashionable restaurants, hotels, and notable personalities.
Barbara Lockhart has been active as a Founder of the Los Angeles
Music Center, A Founding Member of The Blue Ribbon 400 sponsored by Dorothy Chandler, A Charter Founder of the Museum of
Contemporary Art – MOCA, Co-Founder of the Friends of Southeast Symphony. She is a Board Member of several charity organizations including Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler’s Giving Vision.
Equally, Barbara Lockhart has been the honoree of many charitable organizations including The City of Hope “Woman of the
Year” Spirit of Life Award for Pediatric Cancer Research. The
same altruistic attention and acumen that she applies to her work,
she applies to charitable causes.
Barbara has established the Barbara Lockhart Educational Foundation for the Arts which supports Fine Arts thru Martial Arts.
Barbara at Christies with
Personal Collection of Signed
Diego Giacometti. Exhibited at
Christies in New York
Dr. Irene Kassorla and Dr. Norman Friedmann.
Barbara helped Irene with her home when they
were both students at UCLA.
Standing Room Only
Jimmy,
Gila Michael
and Annie Murphey
Barbara with Fernando Diaz at the Century Club
(one of her outstanding design projects) receiving
the American Society Interior Designer's (ASID)
First Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sandy and Stuart Newmark.
Devoted clients and friends
for more than 30 years.
Hostess Gila Michael, honoring
party for Barbara Lockhart
and her friends, had an
overflowing crowd.
Ambassador Isaq & Hafizah Shahryar. Enthusiastic clients.
Barbara designed their Palisades Residence, Afghanistan
Embassy in Washington D.C. and Solar Business Offices.
Barbara's Lovely Daughter Liz Blackman Mason.
Lester Lofton
President of Kent State University
Douglas Mancino
Trustee of Kent State University
Barbara Lockhart and Stephen Sokany Kent State University
Vice President of Institutional Advancement.
Barbara Lockhart’s Design Projects
New York Apartment at the Essex House Central Park South
The Beverly Hills resident of Stuart and Sandy Newmark
Barbara with
Rabbi Isaiah
Zeldin at the
Stephen S.
Wise Temple.
(An edifice of
her designs)
Barbara Lockhart
New York Central
20th Century Limited
Train won the
National S.M.
Hexter Award for the
Most Outstanding
Interior Designer in
America.
Barbara was the owner and designer of the
popular restaurant Colors On Bedford and has
received the Beverly Hills Architectural Award for
Interior and Exterior Design.
The Original Le Dome Restaurant won the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Design Award.
Lockhart’s impressive resume includes the William Randolph Hearst/Marion Davies Estate
and private residences designed with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
The Private Jockey Club at Chasen’s Restaurant in Beverly Hills.
(The most beautiful entertainment room in Beverly Hills)
Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin
Tina Fey, Must have
had a stomach ache?
Jessica Biel, this looks
like a real Towel Rack
Angelina Jolie, The Emeralds of the night,
the ring 44cts. maybe all of this belongs
to the Colombian Government?
The text on her arm is the location
of birth of each of her children.
Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet,
Where is the other half of her Lace Gown?
Amy Adams, needs a younger hairdo,
to go with her gown split
Miley Cyrus, This is the first time Tinka Bell has
ever left Disneyland to go to the Oscars,
she is missing her crown and wand.
Anne Hathaway
Mermaid on the run
Reese Witherspoon,
How many gowns is this?
Beyonce, “The Worst Dress” of the evening.
Meryl Streep, Gray means Sad,
Meryl has been nominated 15 times more than any other
person and has won four times, she could not be Sad,
so where it is this gown coming from?
Marisa Tomei, This reminds me of going to the linen
closet and having everything fall out including all
the sheets and pillowcases.
Penelope Cruz, This beautiful Pierre Balmain gown is older
than some Countries (60 years old) it was bought at a Thrift Shop
Bravo to Her!
The County’s New Face
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas
M
ark
RidleyThomas: A New Force
on LA County’s Board
of Supervisors.
Mark Ridley Thomas is
well known to Angelenos. However, for all of
his political accomplishments Mark has always
believed in neighborhood participation in
government
decision
making. Mark’s latest
fight on behalf of the
community is the reopening of the Martin
Luther King hospital. He
is on a mission to raise
two hundred million dollars in both public and
private funds, to reopen this vital hospital
the community so desperately needs. Mark
has never been one
to see a critical wound
in the community and
not try to heal it. The
Mark Ridley-Thomas
community knows that
Mark is the leader they can depend on to get the job done. L.F.
The community knows that Mark is the leader they can depend on to get the
job done. Mark Ridley-Thomas was overwhelmingly elected Los Angeles County
Supervisor for the Second District on November 4, 2008. With nearly 2.3 million people, the Second District includes Carson, Compton, Culver City, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lynwood, portions or all of ten out of fifteen Los
Angeles City Council Districts and the unincorporated communities, of Alondra
Park, Athens, Del Aire, Dominguez, East Compton, El Camino Village, Florence,
Ladera Heights, Lennox, View Park, West Athens, West Carson, West Compton
and Willowbrook. Against the backdrop of a nationally historic election, voters of
the Second District made their own mark on history by electing the first African
America male ever to serve on the County Board of Supervisors.
Prior to his election to the Board, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas served the 26th District in the California State Senate where he chaired the Senate’s Committee on
Business, Professions and Economic Development and its two subcommittees
on Professional Sports and Entertainment, and The Economy, Workforce Preparation and Development. In addition to his chairmanship duties, Ridley-Thomas
served on the Senate Appropriations, Energy, Utilities and Communications,
Health and Public Safety committees.
In January 2008, he became Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus and
led the Caucus in unprecedented levels of cooperation and collaboration with
counterparts in the Latino, and Asian-Pacific Islander Legislative Caucuses.
His legislative work addressed a broad range of issues with implications for economic and workforce development, health care, public safety, education, budget
accountability, consumer protection and civic participation. (See here for legislative accomplishments).
Mark Ridley-Thomas was first elected to public office in 1991 and served with distinction on the Los Angeles City Council for nearly a dozen years and departing as
Council President pro Tempore. He later served two terms in the California State
Assembly, where he chaired the Assembly Democratic Caucus.
He is widely regarded as the foremost advocate of neighborhood participation
in government decision-making. By virtue of his founding of the Empowerment
Congress, arguably the region’s most successful experiment in neighborhoodbased civic engagement, he is considered the founder of the Neighborhood
Council movement,. Ridley-Thomas’ political career was preceded by a decade
of service as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
of Greater Los Angeles, which followed a brief but successful five-year stint as a
high school teacher. He is a graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles
and earned a baccalaureate degree in Social Relations (minor in Government)
and a master’s degree in Religious Studies (concentration in Christian ethics)
from Immaculate Heart College. Mr. Ridley-Thomas went on to receive his Ph.D.
in Social Ethics and Policy Analysis from the University of Southern California.
He is married to Avis Ridley-Thomas, the Director of the Los Angeles City
Attorney’s Office Dispute Resolution Center. They are the proud parents of
twin sons, Sebastian and Sinclair who are seniors at the historic Morehouse
College in Atlanta, Georgia.
12 Beverly Hills Sheet
DALE OLSON
One of the first icons of entertainment I met when I moved to California in
l953 was the naughty and delicious MAE WEST, a meeting and continuing
relationship that is chronicled in CHARLOTTE CHANDLER'S new personalized biography of the enduring show business superstar, “SHE ALWAYS
KNEW HOW.”And, as usual, Charlotte gets it right in the most intimate way
as she allows us to feel part of personal conversaations with Mae in her
famous Ravenswood apartment and glamorous silken while bedrooom. We
learn all about the inner Mae West, her unwavering self-confidence even in
the face of the morality charges of the time, and the uncanny ability to function beyond her time. Chandler brings years of interviews and conversations
with West and her closest colleagues to experience the glamour and, yes,
sexual exuberance of West, whose bold, provocative films were credited with
saving Paramount Pictures during the great depression, and her unabashed
style for opening avenues for women in personal and professional life. Never
compromising and always aware of who she was and who her audience was,
she flouted and changed the rules at a time when they were never meant
to be bandied with. Chandler, as in her earlier books (Groucho Marx, Billy
Wilder,Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman) that have made her the
widely respected Biographer of the entertainment industry, mixes the intimate
comments and observations of West’s closest associates for the first time
in this best reflection of the star to date, including her longtime companion
Paul Novak, the LA Times critic Kevin Thomas, whom she so admired, her
beloved and tragic sister Beverly, and Tim Malachosky, the teenage fan who
became her most trusted associate for her last l2 years and has himself
amassed a vast collection of West costumes and memorabilia preserved in
his own coffee table tribute to his idol. . Yes, it is true Mae West and Charlotte Chandler shows us that she truly “Always Knew How.” A must read for
anyone interested in show business feminine fortitude long before her time…
KIRK DOUGLAS invited us into his life for the most intimate inspection of a
human soul I have ever experienced when he presented four performances
of a remarkable reflection of achievement and vulnerability a no holds barred
autobiographical oral essay at the theatre bearing his name and financed by
the Anne and Kirk Douglas Foundation in Culver City. Calling it “BEFORE I
FORGET,” the 92-year-old actor, author and uber philanthropist (theatre for
young talent, 50 renovated playgrounds for children, Motion Picture Relief
Home Alzheimer’s unit) proved he has forgotten nothing and can still deliver
with gusto, elan and an unwavering sense of humor. It was warts and all
as he movingly discussed his birth as a ragman’s son, a lifelong need of approval from an uneducated immigrant father incapable of emotional support,
and a healthy drive for personal achievement. Just as he has shown in 87
movies, plays and personal appearances and in a remarkable understanding
of what life really is, he tells it straight and with dignity, giving much of the
credit to his remarkable wife of 50 years, Anne, who never let him stop believing in himself. Even when felled by a stroke, her support was unwavering, to
the degree, “I wanted to have breakfast in bed and feel sorry for myself,” he
admits, when she said “O.K., sleep in the kitchen!” Bravo, Anne! What Kirk
may not have known all these years is that his father in his inabilities gave him
a gift, the gift of himself becoming a remarkable father to four extraordinary
boys, the gift of motive and achievement and the ability to strive for perfection, and a love for humanity that resulted in extraordinary philanthropy. After
all, it was Kirk Douglas who boldly hired Dalton Trumbo to write “Spartacus,”
putting the unfairly blacklisted writer’s name on the screenplay and breaking
the blacklist in Hollywood. If he had done only that, he would be the hero of
Hollywood, but he was impelled to turn his own financial gains into aid for
those in need and a projection of hope for the children who he knows are our
future. What a gift his unknowing father gave him, an example of how to live
life to the fullest and then to transfer to all of us. Thank you, Kirk, and your
Dad, for this before we forget. I pray there were cameras to record this for
those young people who can profit by the example he and his family project…CENTER THEATRE GROUP and MICHAEL RITCHIE brought us Kirk
Douglas and now they are bringing us one of my favorite musicals in a revival
of “AIN’T MISBEHAVIN,” the Fats Waller musical with Armelia McQueen
from the original cast ad the fabulous Roz Ryan. I’ll be there and you should
be, too, opening April 24 at the Ahmanson. Great!...I’ve known Shirley MacLaine’s daughter, SACHI PARKER, who lived her first l2 years in Japan with
producer dad, Steve,almost since birth and watched her build a successful
film, TV and stage career until 15 years ago when she married Greenwich,
Ct. businessman/entrepreneur FRANK MURRAY and started her own family. Now, Sachi is starring in the hottest film in Japan, “THE WITCH OF THE
WEST IS DEAD” which was the talk of this year’s Palm Springs Film Festival.
Sachi, who projects a sexy 30’s, stole the show as a grandmother who protects her offspring from possible suicide in this soft, moving drama the Festival was so hot on they gave it four sold-out screenings. Hey, distributors, this
year’s foreign film “Oscar” went to a Japanese film and this one is an audience winner. Let’s put it in a theatre and grab next year’s “Oscar”, too…BOB
MACKIE doesn’t dance and doesn’t sing, but he admits that he was glued
to the screen whenever the great musicals were playing and wanted to grow
up to become Ann Miller. So, the PROFESSIONAL DANCERS SOCIETY,
an affiliate of THE ACTORS FUND FOR EVERYONE IN ENTERTAINMENT,
picked Bob for this year’s Gypsy Award honoring outstanding achievement in
dance. And why not? PDS prexy MITZI GAYNOR explained, “Has made all
of us look good” and Lee Hale’s spectacular film clips of Bob’s spectacular
career proved it to be true, as we saw the amazing costumes he has provided
over the years for Mitzi, who was the first to discover his uncanny talents, to
Carol Burnett, Cher, Ann-Margret, and virtually every musical performer who
has tiptoed through films, television, stage and night clubs. Wow! Gaynor
was joined by the iconic Burnett to present the award to Mackie, as more than
600 dancers, choreographers and dance enthusiasts headed by PDS Chair
Joni Berry filled the Beverly Hilton International Ballroom to applaud the costumes that so enhanced their performances. On hand with icons of the dance
world, were Joe Benincasa, Executive Director of the Actors Fund who flew
in from N. Y. to tell the group of the monies spent for dancers in need, Bravo!
Lee Hale’s amazing film clips made it all so visually exciting and the award
winning young “Groovaloos” showed what dancers are doing today, including a fantastic youngster twirling on his head. What will they do next? I even
saw phanthropist Loreen Arbus, who has largely been responsible (along with
super actor Robert Duvall) with returning the exotic Tango to popularity. Now,
lets get a few more big musicals going on screen, huh?
8 Oscars
including
“Best Picture”
Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle and Rubina Ali Qureshi
Anil Kapoor
Dev Patel and Freida Pinto
Danny Boyle and Jim Gianopulos
Danny Boyle and cast member’s
Ben Kingsley, Best Actor for the movie, Gandhi 1982,
and Daniela Lavender
LA OPERA Opening night
Das Rheingold
Edye Broad (underwriter) and James Conlon
Margie and Dave Barry-Underwriters of Das Rheingold
Ambassador Frank and Cathy Baxter
Das Rheingold director, Achim Freyer with Carol and Warner Henry
Beverly Hills Sheet
April / May 2009
Credits
Contributing editors, Cover stories by:
Christina Basi, Jennifer Lucy,
Entertainment: Dale Olson and Anita Talbert, Starr Sisters
Terry L. King, Executive Travel Editor,
Link Mathewson Travel Editor, and Newport Beach Reporter,
Dasha Stuart Travel Editor,
Correspondents:
Earl Heath, Sports Editor, Heather Moore, Asssociate Travel Editor,
William Moore, European Travel Editor, Lester Sloan and Chonita Holmes,
Life Style and Travel Editors
Photographers:
Cover Location: William Randolph Hearst/Marion Davies Estate
First Lady Michelle Obama: White House photo
LA Opera: Lee Salem
Oscars and Vanity Fair: Berliner Studio
Save Venice: Mary Hilliard
Beverly Hills Sheet
is published bi-monthly by Forbes Publishing
Editor-in-chief, LaVetta - Editorial and Advertising offices at:
5455 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1508, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tel 323.938.9411 - Fax 323.938.1933
Not responsible for unsolicited materials Copyright 2009
Artistic Director: Free Design Studio, Hollywood
email:[email protected]
www.beverlyhillsheet.com
STARR SISTERS
Old & New Hollywood
HOLLYWOOD TRIANGLES REDUX…Oscar’s
Fickle Finger of Fate brought America’s long suffering sweetheart Jennifer Aniston within a fart’s
whiff of her ex Brad Pitt and his fertile inamorata Angelina Jolie. It looked like Jen might faint
as she did her Oscar presenting stint with Jack
Black, facing down a smiling Brad & Angelina in
the front row. Too bad for Jen there was no orchestra pit this year. An insider reported: “She
had been crying in the car on her way to the Oscars. She was very nervous and had to redo her
makeup in the garage.” Yes, we all must move on after finding out that he’s just not
that into you, but try it with two billion prying, pitying eyes transfixed on you. Tinseltown triangulation is actually a time honored blood sport. In 1958, Elizabeth Taylor
shamelessly stole hubby Eddie Fisher from her best friend, Debbie Reynolds. Then
Liz won the Oscar and public expiation by almost dying that year. Emboldened, the
married la Taylor squared her triangle in 1962 by publicly pilfering Richard Burton
from his devoted wife Sybil during the Rome shoot of “Cleopatra”. Incidentally, it was
in Rome that Angelina VERY publicly fell in love with the married Brad on the set of
“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”. That’s amore. While Burton dubbed his peccadillo “Le Scandale”,
Aniston refers to her betrayal as “the insane Bermuda Triangle.” While the Vatican
and the Pope labeled Elizabeth Taylor a “moral vagrant”, Jen is more modern about
her straying ex, noting: “He’s missing a sensitivity chip”. In a supreme irony, it was
recently revealed that Angelina and Madonna share an ex-lover, an actress named
Jenny Shimizu…And that’s showbiz!
TURNING RED ON THE RED CARPET...In the pre-Oscar show, Ryan Seacrest
asked “Slumdog Millionaire” star Dev Patel what his family back in India thought
about the movie’s success. Ryan didn’t know that Dev was brought up in Harrow,
a tony section of London, and the young actor’s parents are from Nairobi, Kenya.
Director Danny Boyle met and auditioned Patel in London.
THE CREEPY STAGE PARENT CLUB...The newest member of this lamentable
club appears to be the “Slumdog” dad of the 10 year old Indian boy who starred
in the Academy Award winning film. Since his tuxedoed attendance at the Oscars,
little Azharuddin Ismail has gone to Disneyland, arrived back to a hero’s welcome
in Mumbai and returned to his home, a makeshift shack in the slums. Azharruddin’s
father was caught on camera a few days after his acclaimed son’s return from the
Oscar ceremonies beating the weeping boy in the streets after he begged for some
rest. Azharuddin (who played Salim as a child) was reportedly paid $1,000 during the
filming with another $35,000 plus going into a trust that he can access when he turns
21. Director Danny Boyle also supplies the boy with an English language school
education, $30 a week allowance and is purchasing the boy’s family a new home out
of the slums for $30,000. The father is demanding all this money, and more, NOW.
Boyle contends the money is in trust to protect the young boy from fiscal predators
and to assure his future long after the sitars and stars of “Slumdog” are forgotten by a
fawning world. Jackie Coogan, wherever you are, protect this kid. Charter member
creepy stage dads include Jessica Simpson’s manager/father, Christian Pastor
Joe, who sings heavenly praises about his daughter and her earthly anatomy: “She’s
just sexy…She’s got Double D’s! You can’t cover those suckers up!” Preceding Pastor Joe in the “creepy dad” category by over 70 years was Jean Harlow’s smarmy stepfather Mario Bello. After molesting her, the original blonde bombshell’s braggadocio stepdad
pimped her out to his gangster friends including Bugsy Siegel and Abe Zwillman. The
latter got Harlow a two -picture deal with Columbia. The studio head owed Abe a lot
of money. Harlow’s smothering mother Jean and her incestuous stepfather managed
her career, siphoning off huge sums of money from her bank account. Movie star
Jean struggled to pay their bills, including Bello’s staggering gambling debts. Only
Jean’s death at age 26 severed the umbilical cord between the obsessed, emotional
blackmailer mother and “The Baby”. Gypsy Rose Lee and her sister June Havoc
had the Godzilla of all stage mothers, a loud mouthed, dangerous matriarch called
Mother Rose Hovick. Mama threw the girls out on the 1920’s vaudeville circuit when
they were barely out of diapers to fulfill her unrealized show business aspirations
and to pay the bills. The singing and dancing star of the show, Baby June, ran off at
16 to marry a boy in the act. Mother Rose had him arrested. She showed up at the
police station packing heat. In a murderous rage, Mama pulled the trigger, but luckily
for the lad the safety was on. Mommy Dearest then forced the frightened, pubescent
Louise to become a stripper. Mama Rose’s new meal ticket dutifully christened herself Gypsy Rose Lee and headlined at Minsky’s Burlesque. Known as a “high class”
stripper because she read intellectual books and wore opera length gloves, Gypsy
became the toast of the Manhattan elite and wrote a bestselling mystery thriller. The
two sisters continued to get demands for money from their lying, cheating, intimidating mother. Mama opened a lesbian boardinghouse and proved to be as good a
hostess as she was a mother when she shot one of her guests dead. According to
Gypsy’s son Erik Preminger, Mama Rose killed her own lover after she made a pass
at Gypsy. Mama beat the rap and continued to shake down her daughters until the
day she was mercifully buried six feet under.
QUOTES OF THE DAY
“Life is about creating new opportunities, not waiting for them to come to you.”
Salma Hayek, who recently breast fed a hungry black baby in Sierra Leone, edging
out Madonna AND Angelina as Africa’s Premier Star Mom
“For her (Greta Garbo) and her alone, I could have been a lesbian.”
Joan Crawford, who repeatedly tried to set up Marilyn Monroe even
after the starlet rejected her advances, protesting: “I don’t go that way.”
Oscar winning Jews reflect…
“I can’t listen to too much Wagner because I start to get the urge to conquer Poland.”
Woody Allen
“Every night I dress up like Poland and my husband invades me.”
Bette Midler on her lovelife with German spouse, Martin von Hasselberg
“Kate Winslet is always naked, sitting on the toilet or running buck naked. I want to be
the kind of actress who can really be comfortable with my body like that.”
Halle Berry
“I don’t think I will get naked in a movie again. I can’t keep getting away with it and I
don’t want to become THAT actress…”
Kate Winslet, who exposed her Full Monty in 10 films
“The best smell in the world is that of the man you love.”
Jennifer Aniston, which brings us back to her near fainting at the Oscars
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The Peninsula, Beverly Hills
T
he Peninsula is the only hotel left in Beverly Hills
that has true Old World charm, Grace and Elegance.
The beauty of the Peninsula can’t be matched for its
open, airy scenery and flowers. Superb service and
attention to fine details. It’s not a cold marble mausoleum where you feel you are in an underground cave.
This hotel is resplendent in the finer details of luxury.
Whatever your reason for coming: vacation, business
breakfast, brunch, high tea, or dinner its unparalleled
ambiance is the best the city has to offer. When you
go to the Peninsula you have truly gone home.
The Peninsula Hotel
Angeleno Publisher Alan Klein &
Spencer Yeo, Dir Marketing Peninsula BH
Aaron and Renée Kumetz
General Manager
Chefs
Judy & Gordon Davidson
Chinese Dancers
Offer Nissenbaum
Offer Nissenbaum &
Councilwoman Linda Briskman
Chinese Garden on the Patio
Offer Nissenbaum &
Miryam Janol
The Ken Kerzner Family & Bonnie Nissenbaum
Mayor Barry Brucker & Robert Zarnegin
Kazanjian
Since 1918
Diamonds and Rubies deco earrings
Kazanjian Bros. Beverly Hills
310.278.0811