June 27, 2000

Sampras to take a stroke at wedding bells

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

MIX 'N' MATCH, SEE IF WE CARE: Following are the names of four beautiful young people who have recently become involved with one another matrimonially in one combination or another. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to match the names correctly.

PETE SAMPRAS: Tennis star, 28 years old.

KEVIN RICHARDSON: Backstreet Boy, also 28 years old.

KRISTIN WILLITS: Essentially a nobody, but a great-looking nobody, 29 years old.

BRIDGETTE WILSON: Played opposite Adam Sandier in "Billy Madison," once served as Miss Teen USA, 26 years old.

THE ANSWER: For your information, Pete and Bridgette have become engaged, although they haven't set a wedding date. Kevin and Kristin have gotten married, with Kevin's fellow Boys in attendance, at the Cathedral Domaine in Lexington, Ky.

CUTE FACT: Kevin and Kristin met when they were both working at Disney World.

BOTH SIDES NOW: The New York Daily News is in possession of somewhat contradictory reports concerning Martin Scorsese's project, "Gangs of New York," in which Leonardo DiCaprio is starring.

On the one hand, an unnamed "insider" says Leo got crosswise with Marty by making too many suggestions. "Marty is used to actors genuflecting before him," this person observes.

On the other hand, a "rep" for Marty begs to differ: "Marty wants an actor to participate."

Leo's own "rep" sounds a similar note: "Leonardo has long dreamed of working with Martin Scorsese. He's very committed to his vision."

ANOTHER COUNTRY HEARD FROM: Andy Rooney, a curmudgeon on and off camera, says that CBS “Early Show” anchor Julie Chen is out of line portraying herself in a series titled "Big Brother."

"It's wrong," Andy says. "It's a further deterioration of news standards."

However, Julie is experiencing nary a qualm, describing herself as "totally comfortable with doing it. I look at it as an extension of my job on 'The Early Show.'"

HEALTH NOTES: A women's footwear magnate named Steve Madden says that women should put on socks before they go to the fashion store to try on new kicks.

"It is very easy for warts to be transferred from one person to another by wearing shoes without socks," he explains. "The story of Fergie giving Princess Diana foot warts by borrowing her shoes is not far-fetched because people often underestimate how long the wart fungus can live in a shoe and still be very contagious."

A STAR ON THE HORIZON: A Belgian singer named Lara Fabian is, according to at least one press report, poised to assume the position in the hearts of the North American public heretofore occupied by Celine Dion.

Lara doesn't find the comparison odious in the least.

"It's only human," she says. "You compare refrigerators when you buy them, so why wouldn't you compare singers when you encounter two that you think have something in common?"

THINGS WE DIDN'T KNOW: We didn't know that Arthur Penn, the genius filmmaker who directed "Bonnie and Clyde," had been serving of late as head of the Actors Studio in New York. Nor did we know that Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel and Ellen Burstyn had been called into play to replace him. But above all we hadn't the faintest suspicion that Arthur was slated to become executive producer of the TV series "Law & Order."

CELEBRITY LESSONS: We are alarmed to see that Kelsey Grammer, the "Frasier" star who recently took an abortive stab (if you will) at playing Shakespeare's Macbeth on Broadway, apparently does not have a firm grasp of the etiquette appropriate for famous persons.

"We're folding up the tent," Kelsey says with regard to the fact that the show has been canceled in the wake of less than glowing reviews. "We put it out there and they didn't like it. It's just the way things go. A lot of people are coming and enjoying it, so I wouldn't have traded it for the world."

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

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