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Pop Culture: Articles for the Scripps Howard News Service & "Seen, Heard, Said"

Why the top-365-songs list isn't a stupid idea

Actors sink their teeth into vampire roles

Gregory Corso: My encounter with a Beat legend

Golden Globes: Sleazy and proud of it

In the offing, Clinton continent looms

"NYPD Blue" opener: The misery continues

 New movie genre: Reclusive authors anonymous

"West Wing," "Ally," et al.: Words, words, words

When TV shows outstay their welcome

Film critics dig their own graves with "Angels" review

Great Robert Altman films you never
heard of


Famous folk, next week in the arts, show business briefs

"Time regained": Proust in the multiplex

Glitterati is dead, long live Popfocus

Carl Barks: The man who put the ducks in Duckburg

"Almost Famous": Lester Bangs rises from the dead

Liz Hurley wins in war of words with Jane mag

Douglas poses with Zeta-Jones, and baby-makes three

Weddings that aren't: Douglas, Zeta-Jones, Madonna, Ritchie

The Emmy War: A half-century of coast-to-coast feuding

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays the Iglesias odds

It's raining books by and about Trumps

What's in a mane? Blond woman in the news

Liz Hurley denies dissing ex-beau

Rock Hall of Infamy: Anti-heroes from Elvis to Eminem

Barbra tix bankrupt fans

Laurels for Kathie Lee to rest on

Hillary "In bed" with De Niro, Cruise, Kidman

How "Sopranos," "West Wing" will divvy up awards

This just in: Donald Trump is not a dope

Walter Matthau: A rumpled old dog in the heart of the city

Sampras to take a stroke at wedding bells

Who wants to host "Monday Night Football"?

Queen rewards Tina Brown for demoralizing American readers

How the Korean War cane to TV land 20 years late

Ivanka Trump: From catwalk to commencement line

Lester Bangs: The troublesome punk who wouldn't die

Rags clash over Ted Turner "romance"

With straight face, Trump deems Marla's move "tacky"

"Friends" re-up for another season of top ratings, top money

Madonna in denial, and rightly so

"Suburbia": The continental subdivide

Howard Stern, Sly Stallone in bizarre, apocryphal triangle

Easter video viewing: "Spartacus" to "Harvey"

Billy’s in the news: Bob, Joel in love but not with other

"Charles's Angels" movie: Dispiriting news for old-time fans

Innovative career move for 'NYPD Blue' co-star

Top model: Why I gave oldish rocker husband the heave-ho

Unpleasantville: The awful truth about old-time TV families

Tina Brown held captive in desert by demanding children

Anybody's Oscar: Unusually suspenseful awards show looms

Oscar telecast: Looking for a few good hosts

"Lambs," "Beauty": Oscar's love affair with unacceptable behavior

Brad Pitt, Oscar to be in same room at same time

Letterman bites guest-host bullet: Andrew "Dice" Clay, call your agent

Seinfeld eyes East Hampton manse: Where's the welcome wagon?

"Mod Squad" Immortal dishes couple du jour

Brad Pitt's second thoughts about Oscar

Mike McCurry praises "West Wing": It's not entirely demeaning,,,"

Memo to "Hannibal" producers: Get Najimy while the getting's good

Don't Invite Gwyneth and Oscar to the same party

True or false: Douglas, Zeta-Jones don't even know each other

Ex-Clinton honcho linked to ex-"Cheers" costar

Third party cited in Trump-Knauss breakup

 Gossip queen goes to bat for Talk mag

20th century's No. 1 hit: "Satisfaction" hits the spot

Statement: Spice girl's marital problems insoluble

Charlie Brown, Pogo and me

From Howdy to Charlie Brown, we hate to say goodbye

The Beatle George: While his guitar gently weeps

Jodie Foster's people in mild tiff with CBS

A Peanuts trivia Q&A

Publicist: Boyle still joined at hip

There's video in your future and future in your video

"The future is now": Hit rewind

Whitney Houston presides over confluence of talent

Jim Carrey's flack earns A "D," Cher's A "B-minus"

Geraldo: bye-bye, doghouse

Michael Douglas does nothing much, reporters go wild

Ricky Martin on Menudo: Look back in anger

How to outsmart Halloween crowds at the video store

Tom Cruise puts himself in harm's way, only not really

1800-1900: Steaming towards revolution

1700-1800: Liberty, equality and bloodshed

1600-1700: The earth moves; North America is settled

Trump mulls travel plans, from altar to White House

"Faces of Impressionism" Time machine made of canvas, paint

Major quakes aren't personal unless they happen to you

Brad Pitt gracious about character assassination

Director insists Harrison Ford is not a brainless hulk

Costner, Willis, Douglas. Branagh, Sting_ in that order

Streisand: Color her ready to plug her new album

Julia and Benjamin's rings devoid of significance, flack says

Literary mud wrestling, featuring Geri and The Spice Girls

Urgent news: Ford to replace Gibson on "GMA" eventually

She married a monster from outer space

Never mind Godzilla VS. Mothra, Here's Trump VS. Cronkite

Spurned by Pitt, Redford pays court to Damon

Celebrity coyness is bustin' out all over

"Detroit Rock City": Kiss of death

Talk is cheap? Not with Tina Brown at the helm

The Beats: Remembered, Lionized and Unread

Real estate beat, starring Woody Allen and Donald Trump

Mood Music, or how we learned to stop worrying

Sex in the cinema: From "Last Tango" to "Eyes Wide Shut"

Two easy steps to looking exactly like Ricky Martin

Close encounters of the Muppet kind

Upcoming Brad Pitt movie not garbage, insiders say

Kathie Lee's eyewear excites Islanders' ire

Back to the future, continued

"Wild Wild West": Buck Rogers in the 19th century

Sculptures by Roy Lichtenstein: Fun, Fun, Fun

An expert's verdict:" Austin Powers" is pretty neat

Click here for pointless celebrity gossip

P. Dempsey Tabler of the jungle: The many faces of Tarzan

Kirk Douglas' Ex tells all about Errol Flynn fling

New twist in TV programming: Ax profitable shows

Private jet fees spell the end for another celebrity union

Killer serials: "Flash," "Buck" and a boy named George Lucas

Top nonfiction books: A message from two old men

Celebrity Dream dreams: Monica, Donald, Barbara, Georgette

Two divas, publicist form bizarre show-biz triangle

Johnny Cash tribute: Ring of fire, ring of friends

Streisand employee really upset about rumors

Grande Dame Eyes MGM Grand Gig

Secretive celebs? Not by a long shot

NBC honcho bristles at notion that Brokaw is not a saint

Barbara Walters not keen on daily dose of Monica

"Seen, Heard, Said"

David Letterman, Donald Trump, Eddie Murphy, Elton John

Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Prince Charles, Maj, Ronald Ferguson, Fergie, Miranda Richardson, Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, Axl Rose, Stephanie Seymour

June 4, 1999

PRIVATE JET FEES SPELL THE END FOR ANOTHER CELEBRITY UNION


By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service


PITFALLS OF CELEBRITY MARRIAGE (1): It is being widely reported that Supreme songstress Diana Ross and her husband, Arne Naess, have decided to call it a marital day. Unfortunately, a third party - Paul Bloch, who bills himself as Diana's spokesman - will only say, "We're not commenting on this at all." Which pretty much leaves us high and dry.

Wait, though. Here's the New York Daily News saying that the Daily Mirror of London is claiming the reason Arne is taking a powder is his belief that Diana's typical expenditures of $25,000 per week for private jets, $20,000 per month for vacation lodging and $50,000 per month for clothes are a bit on the excessive side.

PITFALLS OF CELEBRITY MARRIAGE (2): One day Donald Trump's long-standing divorce from Ivana seems like the most amicable split in the history of high finance. The next, the estranged pair are taking unseemly potshots at each other. For instance, here's Donald responding to a rumor that his ex is down to write an autobiography which will make scant mention of him for the excellent reason that he could turn around and sue the pants off her if it did.

“I'm happy she could have garnered the knowledge it takes even to write this kind of book,” Donald remarks to a columnist. We're happy that Donald has garnered the knowledge to use the word "garnered” correctly in a sentence.

PITFALLS OF CELEBRITY MARRIAGE (3): According to statements Jerry Hall's sister has made to a London tab called The Mail, this idea that Jerry and her husband, Mick Jagger, are supposedly in the middle of a tempestuous breakup is a lot of hooey.

"When it looked on the outside as if the whole marriage was falling apart," explains Rosy Hall, recalling the occasion late in November when the press began saying Mick had something going on the side, "there we were with bodyguards at the door and the paparazzi out front, but inside Mick and Jerry were getting along better than they had in months. All their close friends and children were there, and Mick was dressed like a dandy, reading poetry and giving a speech about the history of Thanksgiving."

WEDDING BELLS: On the plus side of the matrimonial theme, here we have Don Johnson finally becoming hitched with his San Francisco socialite lady love, Kelley Phleger, down at the Getty mansion in San Francisco, the city where Don's ho-hum TV program, "Nash Bridges,” is lensed.

Don's flack, Elliott Mintz, remarks that "if we're talking storybook wedding here, if we're talking about what I presume women dream about, this was it.” Presumably, that's unless you're a woman whose dream is to marry someone Melanie Griffith hasn't already dumped twice.

THE FORMER MRS. SONNY BONO: The hilarious new Italian comedy, "Tea with Mussolini," will be in theaters soon, starring Cher, Lily Tomlin, Joan Plowright, Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.

"Cher did say she was frightened to death at the thought of working with us," Joan, a.k.a. Mrs. Laurence Olivier, recently told USA Today, "and I said, 'You don't realize how in awe of you we are, with this multimedia career, the way you get it all together brilliantly.'" (Apparently Cher's infomercials never aired in Britain.)

LITERARY NEWS: You'll be overjoyed to learn that the publishing folks at Simon & Schuster have convinced Tina Sinatra to write a book about her late dad.

"It will have true insights and lots of new stuff nobody knows or has seen," S&S big shot Michael Korda tells gossip dowager Liz Smith, "but let's get this straight - Tina saw her father through realistic eyes, but she isn't about to write a "Daddy Dearest." What a relief that we got that straight.

ROYALTY NEWS: Finally, Parade mag's Walter Scott disabuses an inquiring reader of the notion that Prince William of Britain has got some kind of romantic thing going with Emma Parker Bowles, the niece of his dad's steady date. He cites the fact that William is 16 while Emma is 22.

"The story of this romance," Walter quotes royals columnist Nigel Dempster as saying, "comes from the febrile invention of journalists." We're going to take exception to that as soon as we've looked up "febrile."

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

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