July 13, 1999

TWO EASY STEPS TO LOOKING EXACTLY LIKE RICKY MARTIN

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

HAIR IN THE NEWS: Quite suddenly, a singer named Ricky Martin has become the most important person on the planet. That being the case, USA Today devotes several column inches to the crucial matter of his hairstyle.

"When I first met Ricky," recalls his stylist, Jonathan Antin, "he had this really long Tarzan hair. Over the years, we've gone shorter and shorter. It's a classic cut that can go with Armani or jeans, on a skateboarder or a Wall Street broker."

Of course, one of the most extraordinary things about the Rickmeister's 'do' is its gold highlights - a subject on which Jonathan is not loath to comment.

"I wanted his hair to look like he had spent a summer on the North Shore of Hawaii, catching waves," Jonathan explains. "I use a highlight tint or a little bleach and paint it in."

What can males not so affluent as Ricky do to duplicate this tonsorial elegance?

"Let your hair grow out a bit on top," Jonathan advises, then paint the tips with the bleach." OK, but the bleach thing will be hard to do while we're typing.

UNSOLICITED TESTIMONY: For reasons that remain for us unclear, Donald Trump recently was at pains to assure CNBC that he has no intention of running for president.

"Can you imagine how controversial I'd be?" Donald posits. "You think about (President Clinton) and the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?" We can, but we don't want to.

THEY CALL THE GAL MARIAH: A woman gamed Cindi Berger, who has the enviable job of serving as songbird Mariah Carey's publicist, is perfectly happy to tell the New York Post that the New York Observer is right to report that her client has finally found a suitable Manhattan condo to purchase. But Cindi is less agreeable on the Observer's quoted price of $9 million.

She didn't pay $9 million," Cindi insists. "It was less than that."
Which scarcely narrows it down.

MORE ON MARIAH: Meantime, the New York Daily News has something REALLY juicy on the Carey woman - namely, that a caller to a radio show claims to have seen her making out with some guy on a cross-country flight, even though she is thought to be going steady with a singer named Luis Miguel.

"That caller must have seen a Mariah look-alike and not the real thing," remarks Mariah's publicist, who apparently doesn't have a name.

MORE NAMELESS FLACKS: Other retiring spokespersons who decline not only to provide their names but to make direct quotes for the record include one who works for Julia Roberts. Latest deal is that wedding plans are rumored for Julia and her boyfriend, Benjamin Bratt, who recently took a hike from the TV show "Law & Order.” Julia's publicist ruins the whole thing by telling a reporter that Julia and Benjy are "too busy" to consider such a move.

Then there's gossip that Mick Jagger and his estranged missus, model Jerry Hall, have been seen getting reacquainted with one another on what appear to be very friendly terms indeed. Yet Mlck's unnamed spokeswoman actually declines to venture any information whatsoever on the notion that the pair are fixing to "patch things up," says the Daily News.

NEWS THAT MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER: Speaking of rumors, here's one that says Michael Douglas and his current girlfriend, Catherine Zeta-Jones, are going to do a remake of the John Updike tale, "The Witches of Eastwick." (Their reps deny it.)

NEWS THAT ACTUALLY DOES MAKE A LITTLE SENSE WHEN YOU STOP TO THINK ABOUT IT: Also we are privy to a report that Johnny Depp is going to star in a biopic about Liberace.

FUN WITH WORDS: Remember Al Roker? He's the worthy fellow who reports the weather on NBC's "Today" show, and apparently some people have been opining that CBS wants to woo him away to be reteamed with his old pal, the underemployed Bryant Gumbel.

"As far as (talking to) anyone else is concerned," Al remarks to a reporter, "I don't want to comment, but NBC has made it be known that they want me to stay."

If anyone out there is curious about the distinction between "made it be known" and “said," good luck to you.

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

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