April 13, 1999

STREISAND EMPLOYEE REALLY UPSET ABOUT RUMORS

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

OOPS: We feel awful because last week we passed along scuttlebutt to the effect that Barbra Streisand's people were in the middle of nailing down a $20 million deal whereby she would play a couple of New Year's sets at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The reason we feel bad is that here's Babs' main Guy, Marty Erlichman, expressing a bit of unhappiness over such rumor-mongering.

"There's no contract yet," Marty explains to a reporter at USA Today. "The negotiations are not finalized. I don't know why people won't understand and accept that. I have no history of lying ... but I never give out numbers.”

Nor is this the extent of Marty's fulmination.

"If we make a deal," he goes on, "and I believe we will ... then you marshal your forces to let the public know everything at the same time. This piecemeal stuff is inaccurate, and it's disturbing." Kind of like "Scream 2," only less bloody.

SUPERMODEL ROMANCE: Speaking of rumors, here's a good one saying that Naomi Campbell is lately pitching woo with an "Italian industrialist" named Flavio Briatore who is no less than 50 years of age as compared with Naomi's 28. Reached for comment by a diligent journalist, the top mannequin has only this disclaimer to file:

"'I went out with someone much older than my boyfriend when I was 18."

This means she was two-timing her then-boyfriend with some old guy?

"I'm very happy in my relationship."

We wish we were happy with her syntax, but we're not.

HOUSING NEWS: We're sure you’re perfectly cognizant of the fact that media gazillionaire Rupert Murdoch has his 17-room L.A. manse on the market, but your specific knowledge may not extend to the fact that film director Richard Donner and his wife recently walked through the place with a view to making an offer on it.

"The warmth of the house - it's hard to describe," says Richard. "It's an emotional experience. But then the Realtor told us the asking price. And we said, 'Oh, my God, it's beyond us.' "

In case you're wondering, the asking price is $19.5 million.

CELEBRITY ROMANCE UPDATE: We've attempted to be especially reliable about keeping readers posted on the latest developments on the love affair that may or may not be evolving between songbird Mariah Carey and Latin crooner Luis Miguel. The latest piece of information to cross our desk is that the two recently spent some quality time together at a fancy-schmancy resort in Cabo San Lucas, where Luis got a free stay by selling more Saturns than the other guys at his lot.

CELEBRITY METAPHORS: Probably by the time you read this, Cate Blanchett of "Elizabeth" fame will be appearing in a movie titled "Pushing Tin" opposite John Cusack. The film was helmed by director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral"), who waxes poetic in his assessment of Cate's performance, which he implicitly likens to a precious stone.

"She takes herself out of the black velvet setting," Mike rhapsodizes, "and holds different facets of her talent up to the light."

MORE ROMANTIC NEWS: Now that her former husband is thoroughly embroiled in relationships with goodness knows how many beautiful actresses, starlets, and models, Maria Maples Trump is perfectly at liberty to bill and coo with any person she desires - so who does she desire? According to the New York Post, the woman who is compared to a peach at least as often as Cate is identified with a diamond is dating Michael Mailer, a film producer whose honor it is to be the male progeny of novelist Norman Mailer.

BUSINESS NEWS: According to the financial pages of some of this country's most distinguished journals, previously lucrative entertainment and food franchises like Planet Hollywood are in the process of going the way of the stegosaur.

"The themed restaurant concept is dying," warns one observer. "It's going to be very tough as consumer demand wanes." So we were right to put our money in vacuum tubes.

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

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