August 22, 2000

It's raining books by and about Trumps

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

TRUMPS AND BOOKS: Now that her restaurant and various other ventures have gone belly-up, it seems that Marla Maples Trump has a new dodge in the works - penning yet another book.

The title is supposed to be “Not Everything that Glitters Is Gold," but we think that's kind of awkward. Here are some alternative suggestions:

- "Everything that Glitters Isn't Gold, Necessarily"

- "If it Glitters, Don't Go Assuming its Gold"

- "Gold? Glitter? What's the Diff?"

- "I Got Divorced from One of the Richest Men in the World and All I Have to Show for it is This Stupid Book Contract"

TRUMPS AND BOOKS, PART 2: That's nothing, though, compared to word that some woman named Gwenda Blair is all set to publish a book titled "The Trumps: Three Generations that Built an Empire," and that Donald isn't at all happy with its contents.

For instance, here he is commenting on a bit of Blair prose that says he more or less forced Ivana, his first wife, to undergo cosmetic surgery, then didn't care for the results.

"That's total nonsense," Donald tells the New York Daily News. "Ivana always looked beautiful to me. How would a woman that I don't know be able to write such garbage?" it’s easy, Donald - you take the dust cover off the keyboard and start typing.

SALARIES OF THE STARS: Someone will write in to Parade mag's Walter Scott this Sunday and ask if it's true that Katie Couric and Matt Lauer of the "Today" show don't get along, and Walter will counter by insisting that they do. Then he'll admit that Katie pulls in $7 million per annum from NBC, while Matt garners the drastically less munificent sum of $3 million.

A network "insider" assures Waiter that the pay discrepancy doesn't pose a problem in Katie-and-Mattland.

"He doesn't begrudge Katie her salary," this nameless individual insists, "She's a nice person, and he knows he'll be getting big raises. Matt considers himself a lucky guy."

AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL: Jennifer Lopez - merely the name makes you think of a bodacious movie siren who hangs out at dangerously glamorous nightspots with a top rap dude (a.k.a. Sean "Puffy" Combs). But what, according to People mag, is uppermost in Jennifer's mind these days?

"I want a family," she says. "That would be the ultimate goal for me."

Nor would she even consider having "a family" with the Puffster, or, presumably, anyone else, without benefit of legal sanction.

"I wouldn't have a baby out of wedlock," she confirms. "My parents would kill me." We can see the headlines now: MOVIE STAR MURDERED BY MOM, DAD.

HAIR NEWS: According to an item in the New York Post, Vogue magazine recently got a mess of models to cut their hair short for the cover of an ish about short hair, which makes perfect sense. But that has resulted in rumors that Vogue is on some kind of oppressive regime of forcing its mannequins to trim or go somewhere else for print exposure.

"We definitely encourage girls to get their hair cut," a Vogue "rep" offers by way of clarification, "but 'encouraged' is not 'forced.'"

ROMANCE NEWS: Rolling Stone, the publication that once provided the youth of America with cutting-edge coverage of the late '60s outlaw rock 'n' roll scene, wants you to know that superstar Beck is currently going steady with Winona Ryder, having come to a parting of the ways with previous Beck baby Leigh Limon, a hair stylist.

BROADCASTING BRAINSTORM: Someone over in the Mother Country has hatched the brilliant scheme of creating a TV show for the BBC called "The Human Face," with the first episode focusing on the famous physiognomies of Catherine Deneuve and Leo DiCaprio, and Liz Hurley to be paid a half a million U.S. dollars to do the hosting chores for all six episodes.

NOW, BOYS: Haley Joel Osment, the adorable youngster who starred with Bruce Willis In "The Sixth Sense," and Jude Law, the somewhat older boy who played opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," are going to star in the movie project Steven Spielberg plans to finish up for the late Stanley Kubrick, "Al" (which stands for "artificial intelligence").

Accordingly, the two actors recently got together with Steve and his wife, Kate Capshaw, for dinner at an eatery in West Hampton, N.Y., and a good time was had by all - until Steve had to send Haley and Jude to their rooms for flicking bits of tuna casserole at each other.

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

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