In Memory
George Harrison
Former Beatle George Harrison has died in Los Angeles at the age of 58 after a long battle against
cancer, a family friend said Friday.
Long-time family friend Gavin De Becker said: ``He died with one thought in mind -- love one another.''
He died at a friend's home. His wife, Olivia, and son, Dhani, were at his side.
The star was treated for cancer in 1997 after he found a lump in his neck.
He also had surgery for lung cancer in 2001 and was reportedly treated at a Swiss clinic for a brain tumor.
When Harrison first disclosed that he had been treated for throat cancer, he said: ``It
reminds you that anything can happen.''
As well as his recent struggle with cancer, Harrison's life was also threatened when he was
stabbed by an intruder at his English country home in 1999.
George Harrison
www.allthingsmustpass.com
Thanks, Mike.
Newest Line Of Collectibles - Playboy Dolls
And They're 'Anatomically Correct'
Former playmate of the year Victoria Silvstedt holds a 16-inch replica of herself, the first in
what is expected to be a line of collectible playmate dolls. "Anatomically correct" doll replicas
of some of the most famous of the bare-all playmates from Playboy magazine will soon be available
under a deal signed by Los Angeles marketing firm The Stronghold Group and adult entertainment
company Playboy Enterprises Inc.
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
''Who Owns What''
Columbia Journalism Review - ''Who Owns What''
Life Provides The Face One Earns
linda tripp
Same Old
Linda
Before
After
The L.A. plastic surgeon who botched Linda Tripp's facelift so badly she needed a second doctor to
repair the damage is being sued by another unhappy customer - just like 19 patients who came before her.
Chicago school teacher Kay Marchioni has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking unspecified
damages from Dr. Geoffrey R. Keyes, who performed a minor eye job on her.
According to the complaint, Marchioni's eye tuck left her with swollen purple bruises on her neck and
chin, an oddly shaped earlobe, loss of feeling in one leg, raised scars on her scalp, and loss of
hearing - plus one ear that sticks out while the other sits flat against her head.
Marchioni claims she sought Keyes' expertise after all the press he got for Tripp's new face in 1999.
Keyes never mentioned that the Monica-gate snitch had to have nine hours of reconstructive surgery
performed by Maryland M.D. Mark E. Richards six months later.
In the wake of her alleged disfigurement, Marchioni wanted to know why Tripp had never gone public about
Keyes. She managed to track down the former ghostwriter of Tripp's still unpublished autobiography, Marinka Peshmann.
"The first thing Kay said to me was, 'Why didn't Linda warn us?' " Peshmann told PAGE SIX's Ian Spiegelman.
"Linda never talked about it because she was so mortified."
Peshmann added that Tripp couldn't sue now if she wanted to, since the statute of limitations has already run out.
Since the early 1980s, 19 lawsuits have been filed against Keyes in California and Illinois. In a 1992 case,
Keyes was sued for $10 million by a woman claiming he left part of a pair of scissors in her body. That suit
was settled for an undisclosed sum.
Linda Tripp's 2nd Face Lift
www.dancingmonica.com
linda tripp mug shot
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Since it was the open of rerun season, I celebrated by changing the water in the aquarium.
Found out about George Harrison & forgot about everything I watched all night.
Tonight, Friday, CBS has old 'Frosty The Snowman' and Figure
Skating.
NBC has lots of the 'Jane Pauley Show' and a rerun on 'Law & Order'.
On ABC 'Once & Again' is fresh, but who cares.
Faux airs 'The Sound Of Music'.
AMC has a 50's classic, with new meaning - The original 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Honored
Bill Accepts The Award
Bill Clinton accepted an award on behalf of his wife, who was honored by the American Health Foundation
at a Manhattan hotel.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received the organization's President's Award for "outstanding
leadership in the support of health promotion and cancer research."
The former president told a crowd of about 250 people on Wednesday night that he is very proud
of his wife for having "the guts" to run for the Senate, for absorbing the grief of the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks and for her commitment to health care.
"Throughout my presidency, she was an enormous inspiration to me and always prodding me to do more
in the area of health care," he said. "And now, she's out there, doing it on her own, and I try to
be an inspiration and a prod to her."
The senator was in Washington, where the Senate was in session.
Senator Clinton Honored, Represented By The Former President
Updated!
BartCop TV!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot' never seems to rest - and doesn't let little things like laundry or
housekeeping get in the way!
Damn near every show on TV must is listed - days & days worth of great reading.
If you have any questions about nearly any tv program, check out
BC TV!
More Auction News
J. D. Salinger Letters
Few value their privacy as dearly as J.D. Salinger. Now his daughter, Margaret, is putting her own price
on that commodity, joining his former lover, Joyce Maynard, by offering letters from him to the highest bidder.
Margaret Salinger, nicknamed Peggy, plans to auction a cache of 32 letters at a Sotheby's auction in New York
next month. The correspondence, which began when Peggy was 2 and ended when she was 36, document a relationship marked by turmoil.
The letters are "truly extraordinary," said Marsha Malinowski of Sotheby's in New York, adding that in the
latter part of the correspondence, Salinger "becomes his character. He kind of goes into another world. You
see flashes of Holden Caulfield--his humor, his wit that sometimes have a slightly childish nature to it."
Malinowski, a 16-year manuscript veteran at the auction house, said the letters "reveal more about Salinger
than [anything] I've ever read. They give a more detailed image of Salinger as an author, a father
and a tortured soul in a lot of ways."
"We have been very careful that every T has been crossed, that we are not violating any copyright that
Mr. Salinger has," Malinowski said. "The bottom line is that Peggy owns the letters ... he has the right to the words."
The letters are expected to fetch up to $350,000. When Maynard's letters of Salinger's courtship went on
sale in 1999, they brought $156,000. Peter Norton, the Los Angeles philanthropist, bought the letters,
only to return them to their author.
Salinger Letters To Be Auctioned
Regrets? She Has A Few...
Joan Collins
Joan Collins said she regrets posing in a corset and stockings for photos to publicize the West End
farce ``Over the Moon,'' in which she stars.
She resisted posing for the shots, but eventually gave in to her producer's ``badgering,'' she wrote
in latest issue of The Spectator magazine, published Thursday.
The glamorous 68-year-old star said she complained to producer Bill Kenwright that she wears the saucy
ensemble for less than two minutes in the play. ``It's gratuitous and undignified to use it for
publicity,'' she said.
``I finally and reluctantly gave in,'' she said.
Collins said box-office receipts for ``Over the Moon'' rose for a while after the picture appeared,
but then critics started to complain that she should not have posed. That, and the decline in tourists
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, caused bookings to drop, and the play,
which had been expected to run at the Old Vic Theatre through January, will now close on Saturday.
``I ruefully realized I should have listened to my own common sense rather than the advice of others
who have the less-than-altruistic motive of making money,'' Collins said.
Joan Collins Regrets...
LOL....from the star of 'The Bitch'!
Re-Marriage News
Alison (The Ex-Mrs. Howard) Stern
Howard Stern's ex-wife, Alison, remarried on Friday to the garment center gazillionaire she's been
seeing since her divorce. The King of All Media, who has been dating luscious 6-foot blonde actress
Beth Ostrowsky, is said to be very happy for the mother of his three daughters.
Alison Stern Remarries
'Christian' Broadcasting Network In China
Marion Pat
U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson said his Christian Broadcasting Network is talking with Chinese officials
about cooperation to increase programming about ``moral values'' shown by state television.
Robertson said he would meet Thursday with Chinese television officials to discuss possible cooperation.
He said CBN family-oriented programs have appeared on Chinese cable channels.
``I hope that something positive will come out of the meeting,'' he said. ``We are seeking to see more
programming for television get on the national broadcaster that would convey positive moral values
that Chinese leaders support.''
CBN, based in Virginia Beach, Va., says it provides programming to more than 90 countries in 65 languages.
Robertson also founded Regent University and ran unsuccessfully for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.
Robertson is in Beijing for meetings aimed at expanding charity work in China by CBN, which supports
health care, orphanages and other activities.
China needs a ``spiritual and moral foundation'' to complement its rapid economic growth, said Robertson,
who first visited China in 1979.
CBN has 28 staff members in a Beijing office opened in 1998 to oversee its charity work.
Pat Robertson Looks For $ouls In China
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
A Nation With The Proper Idea
One For The Brits
The British government kept the door shut on the ambitions of Rupert Murdoch and other media moguls
on Monday, saying it did not intend to lift a ban on non-European ownership of its terrestrial broadcasters.
Fleshing out proposals made last year for new legislation aimed at modernizing Britain's media industry,
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell also confirmed plans that will eventually allow U.K. broadcasters
Granada and Carlton to merge.
But contrary to recent newspaper reports, the government said it was planning to maintain a ban
on non-Europeans owning Britain's free-to-air television companies.
Newspapers had reported only days ago that the government was planning to scrap laws on foreign media
ownership, which would allow the likes of Murdoch's News Corp. and media giant AOL Time Warner
Inc. to buy terrestrial TV stations.
News Corp. already owns 37 percent of Britain's leading pay-TV operator BSkyB and some of the most
popular newspapers such as the Times and the Sun, and Murdoch has made no secret of his desire to
also expand into U.K. terrestrial TV.
Current U.K. media legislation limits a non-European Union company from owning more than 20 percent
of a British terrestrial broadcaster. In the United States, no foreign company can own more than 25
percent of a broadcaster while in Australia, Murdoch's birthplace, foreign companies face a variety of ownership caps.
``The question of who owns our newspapers, television and radio is vital to democracy,'' Jowell
said in the document. ``In devising new rules, we must strike a balance between economic
growth and our nation's democratic health.''
The Brits Have The Right Idea
Back when we had a real FCC we also had rules (laws) regarding 'foreign' ownership...with enough
bribes-er, I mean lobbyists with deep pockets-citizenship may be conferred on very 'special' people,
allowing them to avoid any timed residency restrictions, become instant citizens, begin to buy up 'our' media, & spread
enough money to alter 'who owns the airwaves'...they used to belong to the citizens...well, til 1996, that is.
Operation "Rally the Troops" Begins
'Patriotic' & Self-Serving, Too
As promised, Tinseltown's doing its part to help America's troops win the war against terrorism.
With newfound patriotism the order of the day, all the major Hollywood studios have begun operations
to help keep the military smiling and ready for battle--and that means shipping out Hobbits, Shrek and Julia Roberts.
Twentieth Century Fox got things rolling by launching the international premiere of Behind Enemy
Lines over the Thanksgiving holiday aboard the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier stationed in
the Arabian Sea. The studio also dispatched costar David Keith to visit the men and women in uniform.
"You are our fists to smash their mouths, and our teeth that rip off their throats," Daily Variety
quoted Keith as telling the troops. "People in America want you to bring hell, fire and damnation
to those sorry SOBS who did that to us. When you come home and march, you should swagger."
Disney, meanwhile, has announced it will ramp up efforts to screen newly released films--among them,
Monsters, Inc.--for GIs working the front lines in Central Asia.
The Mouse House has also said it will enlist several celebrities from its shows on ABC and ESPN to meet
and greet troops in January, although no specific details were given. In addition, the studio will broadcast
several public-service announcements on its networks encouraging Americans to enlist in the armed forces.
New Line Cinema has called up the big guns, enlisting its highly anticipated good-vs.-evil epic, The Lord of the Rings.
And DreamWorks says it will send in a not-so-Jolly green giant to help battle Osama.
Hollywood has a long history of helping out Uncle Sam in times of war, and the burgeoning war on terrorism is
no exception. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, more than 40 studio heads and show-biz leaders met
with White House adviser Karl Rove on November 11 to map out ways in which the government could
utilize Tinseltown's savvy marketing machine.
Entertainment execs however were careful not to label their participation propaganda for the government
and insisted there will be no change in the content of upcoming movies or TV shows.
The war panel's next gathering with White House officials is slated for December 6.
A Lesson In How To Be 'Patriotic' And Turn A Profit, Too
The New Carson Center For Chimps
Here's Johnny....
The Johnny Carson Foundation has donated $20,000 to Zoo Nebraska to renovate the primate
building. It will be called the new Carson Center for Chimps.
Photo by Doug Pizac
The Carson Center for Chimps
Uh-Oh....Not A Good Sign
Ian On Gandalf
In "Lord of the Rings," Sir Ian McKellen plays ancient wizard Gandalf the Gray, who is fond of
hobbits and was sent by a higher power to protect Middle Earth, whatever-the-hell that all means.
Says His Sirship: "Gandalf is like 700 years old. I'm always playing old men. My next role will be God."
Another Sir Ian Quote
Audio Files From BC
Bonus Page Link
Looking for some 'Garbage'?
Here are some MP3 files from BC
Aw, come on....isn't anyone curious?
Does Regis Want Out, Or Is He Being 'Prompted'?
Millionaire's Future
A prime-time ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' on ABC without Regis Philbin? It could happen.
An ABC executive, who said it's not certain the game show will be back on the network schedule
next fall, raised the possibility Thursday that someone other than Philbin will be asking for final answers.
Complicating matters is the launch of a half-hour, syndicated version of the game show next fall.
No host has been named for that show.
Ultimately, it will probably be up to Philbin to decide whether he wants to be on the five-night-a-week
syndicated show or any prime-time version of ``Millionaire,'' Braun said.
Philbin complained during his daytime talk show, ``Live with Regis and Kelly,'' on Thursday that ``Millionaire''
was given two tough time slots this fall, on Monday and Thursday nights. Thursday, in particular,
it's up against strong programming on CBS and NBC.
Philbin predicted that ``Millionaire'' would go away in prime-time ``and then they'll bring it back with a
comedian, a red-hot comedian, which is really what they want. They want it to become a comedy show.''
Jon Stewart, host of ``The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central, is among those being considered to do
``Millionaire'' if Philbin is not involved.
``You can't make more celebrity shows than you do regular people shows, which is what we've
done this year,'' he said. ``Millionaire'' just finished a poorly-received run of shows with supermodel guests.
New Host For 'Millionaire'?
New Video With Justin, No Britney
And Elton John
At 54, Elton John has figured out a new way to seduce a young audience: Turn himself into
20-year-old Justin Timberlake.
With the help of big, round glasses, platform shoes and a few hours in hair and makeup, the
'N Sync heartthrob has morphed into the Rocket Man (circa 1974) in a new video that
winks at some of Elton's past scandals.
Just shot in L.A. by director David LaChapelle, the clip for "This Train Don't Stop There
Any More" won't air for at least a month. But Elton and Justin gave Kevin Spacey and other
friends a peek at their collaboration Tuesday night after Elton's show at Madison Square Garden.
"Elton didn't want to be in the video," LaChapelle tells us. "But I wanted him — from the days
when he was hanging on the wall of my bedroom.
"I thought I'd have to coach Justin," the director added. "But he ended up blowing everybody away.
He knew so many of Elton's mannerisms. Even Elton said, 'My God, the hair stood up on my neck.' "
Lip-syncing as Elton sings, Timberlake is seen working his way from his dressing room to the stage.
Shielding him from hangers-on (who look suspiciously like Liza Minnelli, Halston and Britt Ekland)
is Paul Reubens, taking the role of Elton's manager, John Reid, whom Elton sued without success
last year for financial negligence. Handed a contract, Timberlake signs it — only to see Reubens rip up the document.
Elton, Justin - No Britney...
Picked Up For The Season
''24''
Despite a lackluster beginning, Fox isn't quite ready to call it a day on 24.
The network announced Wednesday that it's picking up both the real-time thriller and its
promising new comedy The Bernie Mac Show for full seasons, or 22 episodes.
Ordering the "back nine" episodes of Bernie Mac was a no-brainer. Since its premiere on November
14, the Original King of Comedy's family series has averaged a healthy 10.8 million viewers--Fox's
best numbers in the time slot since the Party of Five days--and the show has finished in second
place behind only The West Wing on Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
But 24 posed a more difficult decision. The series, starring Kiefer Sutherland, received mounds of
media (and network) hype for its groundbreaking format, in which the action takes place in real
time over the course of just one day. Time, however, hasn't been on the show's side, as it stumbled
in a tough 9 p.m. Tuesday slot and averaged a disappointing 9.5 million viewers.
In addition to the double airings, viewers can also check out reruns on cable's FX network Sundays and Mondays.
'24' & 'Bernie Mac' Picked Up
NY Times & 'POEtry'
Lou Reed Review
New! Updated!
(20 Nov, 2001)
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has provided another eye-opening set of charts!
A brief excerpt: " In January 2002, New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani will intimately know an experience and feeling that more and more of us are reluctantly facing: He'll join the ranks of the unemployed. Due to term limits Giuliani has not been able to seek re-election, after 8 years as one of New York's more popular mayors.
The question on most New Yorker's minds and lips is "What is Rudy going to do NOW?" Well, maybe The Stars can give us some clues.
"
Very interesting reading!
Dan's On The Road, Tom Wants To Go...
Peter Has 'No Plans'
Tom Brokaw, 61, who is still in New York, joins Dan Rather on the list of newsies who have asked the
Navy for permission to meet up with U.S. soldiers at a Dolangi airstrip about 65 miles southwest of
Kandahar. The strip was seized by Marines earlier this week and is being turned into the U.S. forces'
"Forward Operations Base."
An NBC News spokesman confirmed that Brokaw had applied for access to the Marine base, but "he's only
going if he could advance the story and go in with the Marines," she said.
ABC News' Peter Jennings has "no plans as of now" to try and go overseas, ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said.
More journalists have been killed (eight) than U.S. servicemen (one confirmed).
The small group of journalists that have been allowed to travel with the Marines are from Reuters and the Associated
Press, news organizations that make their material available to thousands of TV stations and newspapers around the world.
Rather, who arrived in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain on Monday where the region's Naval Central Command is
based, has been pressuring Fifth Fleet Navy officials to grant CBS access to the newly established marine base
and other parts of the war theater.
A Defense Department spokesman said media access will also be considered based on logistics such as how much room is
available on the Marine base and what kind of transportation is available to get reporters in and out of there.
A source close to the situation said it was likely that Rather would be reporting the news from the deck of a Navy
warship somewhere in the Persian Gulf, possibly as soon as today.
Don't Forget The Immodium
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
'The Sideshow' by Avedon Carol
'Sideshow' By Avedon Carol
A smart site from the 'other side of the pond'. Carol has great insight, writes well, and
makes a lot of sense.
Remember 'Captain Beefheart's Magic Band'?
Zoot Horn Rollo
Zoot Horn Rollo, the legendary Captain Beefheart's Magic Band guitar player remembered from the
mists of the psychedelic era, opens the door of his ordinary house in his ordinary neighborhood.
Born Bill Harkleroad, he was renamed when he joined Magic Band in 1968, a 19-year-old guitar player
who carried 20 joints and a couple of hits of acid to his audition and who went on to help make
``Trout Mask Replica,'' a record consistently found on the lists of the best albums of the past 50 years.
Zoot at 52 is a teacher, the author of a book and the proud new papa of his first solo album, ``We Saw
a Bozo Under the Sea,'' which last month received a rave 4-1/2 star review from Rolling Stone magazine.
After five Beefheart albums, Zoot and the whole Magic Band quit Captain Beefheart and formed Mallard,
cutting their first record in 1977. But that band broke up after two records and Zoot -- acclaimed as
a guitarist whose work was ``staggering'' ''astonishing'' and compared favorably to Keith Richards of
the Rolling Stones -- was just Bill Harkleroad again.
In 1985, he arrived in Eugene, the soothing, soggy home of the University of Oregon, where he got a job at
Face the Music, a local record shop where he earned the first hourly wage of his life.
He's been in this house seven years, is married, clear-headed and forthright, ready for the next phase.
Revenant Records issued ``Grow Fins,'' in 1999, a $100 box set of rarities and ``Trout Mask'' sessions that
has sold a remarkable 15,000 copies. Today, 28 separate Beefheart music items are available on Amazon.com,
a testament to the group's musical influence and ability to attract a cult following, much like the Grateful Dead.
Zoot said each song, all instrumental, are ``sound paintings,'' portraits of people, his wife, Charlotte (''Detective
Charlo''), his 84-year-old mother (''Still Living With Mom''), Beefheart (''Don's Secret''), a friend (''John's Eyes'')
and himself (''Elvis Beans'') among others on the 14-track CD.
Zoot Horn Rollo
15 Year Old Gave Interview
Charlotte Church
She may have the "voice of an angel" but teen singing sensation Charlotte Church has a bit of
a devilish attitude.
The 15-year-old Brit was not exactly kind to New York firefighters and Paul McCartney in an
interview with a British newspaper.
The prodigy sniffed to the Times of London that she disapproved of the fact firefighters have
now climbed the ladder from anonymous heroes to American superstars.
"They are even invited here to present television awards, which I just don't agree with," the
paper quoted the classical soprano as saying.
Church - whose first album "Voice of an Angel" made her an international phenom - was in New
York Nov. 12 when Flight 587 crashed and told the paper she was not happy her interview
with "Good Morning America" was scrubbed.
Church also reportedly said people in New York were too focused on the attacks.
"Everyone there has to relate themselves to it," she said. "They are like, 'Yeah, my neighbors'
dog's owner's sister's dog was involved, but he got out just in time.'
"It was a bit sick. People overdramatize and lose perspective."
She also slammed Paul McCartney's stunned reaction to the horror at the WTC, the paper said.
"There was Paul McCartney saying, 'I witnessed the crash.' Who cares? Thousands witnessed it,"
Church is quoted as saying.
Church claimed her quotes were "taken out of context" and called the story "upsetting." She said
she visited ground zero and was humbled by the experience.
"The New York firefighters display remarkable courage. To myself and others around the world,
they are true heroes."
Charlotte Church
Temporary Ban On Pictures From England
Alice Liddell
Britain on Wednesday slapped a temporary export ban on a rare set of photographs of the little
girl who inspired Lewis Carroll to write ``Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.''
Arts Minister Tessa Blackstone made the order amid fears a foreign collector could whisk the glass
negatives and photographs, taken by Carroll himself, out of the country.
A collector from the United States snapped up the items which belonged to Alice Liddell -- the
inspiration for ``Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ``Alice through the Looking Glass'' -- and
her family at a June auction with a promise to display them at Oxford University.
``Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,'' a magical tale that has enchanted children and perplexed critics
since its 1865 publication, was inspired by and written for Liddell in 1862.
``These photographs are an important part of our cultural heritage...I very much hope they can stay
in this country,'' Blackstone said.
Carroll died in 1898 aged 66, and Liddell died in 1934.
Alice Liddell
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
Moose & Squirrel Information One-Stop
http://geocities.com/mooseandsquirrel1
What a great site! Information and reference materials of the first order!
Between 'Moose & Squirrel' and 'Google', who needs 'refdesk'!
W-a-a-a-a-y Back In The 80's...
''Star Search''
You might not remember Marty Thomas. But he's the 11-year-old who beat out Britney Spears in a
1992 episode of Star Search . Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell and 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake are
also Star Search rejects. Take a look at the unknowns who topped today's biggest stars.
Britney Spears, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell and 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake are all be big stars
now, but back in the 1980s, the judges on Star Search didn't think they had what it takes.
All of them lost on the popular TV talent competition — though their appearances ended up helping
them launch their careers.
The show, hosted by Ed McMahon, was also a steppingstone for future stars like LeAnn Rimes, Dennis
Miller, Christina Aguilera, Sinbad, Alanis Morisette, Ray Romano and Martin Lawrence. Now McMahon, 78,
has returned in the same role with a show on the cable station PAX Television called Ed McMahon's
Next Big Star. The new show was tested first on the Internet with a site (www.nextbigstar.com)
featuring contestant videos that recorded more than 30 million hits.
Back in 1992, 12-year-old Marty Thomas beat out his Star Search competitor — an 11-year-old named Britney Spears.
''Star Search'' Winners
ABC Remakes TV Movie
''Brian's Song''
``Brian's Song,'' a story about the friendship between black and white teammates on the Chicago
Bears football team, is being retold 31 years after becoming the first TV movie that made it OK for men to cry.
The original won five Emmys. It starred Billy Dee Williams as Gale Sayers and James Caan as Brian
Piccolo, who is diagnosed with a malignant tumor near his heart.
``It really is extraordinary what an impact it had on so many people,'' said Sean Maher, who plays
Piccolo. ``Everyone that I mentioned it to could remember where they were, how hard they cried, who
they were with, and how hard their sister cried.''
The remake of ``Brian's Song'' airs Sunday (Dec. 2) on ABC's ``The Wonderful World of Disney'' (7 p.m. EST).
Ben Gazzara co-stars as Bears coach George Halas.
It's no secret that Piccolo dies at the end of both movies.
What's different this time around is viewers won't hear the N-word that was the vernacular 31 years ago but
is considered unacceptable now. In the original, Sayers donates blood to Piccolo, who cracks, ``I've had a craving for chitlins.''
What is authentic are the National Football League logos and period team uniforms, some of which were
found in a Los Angeles warehouse after being used in the original. The producers had to cut a rights deal with the NFL.
''Brian's Song''
Not Such Good News On The Auction Front
Beatles Memorabilia
A Beatles memorabilia auction expected to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds failed to take
off, with many items unsold and others fetching only a few hundred pounds, auctioneers said Wednesday.
Fittings from St. Peter's Church Hall in Woolton, Liverpool, where John Lennon made his stage
debut and met Paul McCartney for the first time, went on sale in London alongside photographs,
posters and the Bechstein grand piano used to record ``Hey Jude.''
The most desirable item in Tuesday's sale turned out to be an 8,000 pound ($11,300) set of 1968
color film footage of Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono at their home in Weybridge, southern England.
Beatles autographs went for 1,000 pounds ($1,400) while seven acetates of Beatles songs sold for
more than 1,500 pounds each.
Unsold items included the hall stage, which was originally expected to raise 50,000 pounds, hall
fixtures and fittings, posters and original merchandising.
The Bechstein piano -- which has also been used on albums by Elton John, David Bowie and Queen -- and
a 1929 Baldwin grand piano given by Lennon to a friend failed to generate interest.
At a Beatle auction last year, Lennon's Ferrari 330GT sportscar went for 110,000 pounds and a pair of
his famous wire-rimmed glasses, broken during a row with Yoko, fetched 6,000 pounds.
Down Turn In Auctions?
Oh Dear
Shit!
An elderly Singaporean messenger lost almost 30,000 US dollars in cash after pickpockets smeared
feces on his pants and stole the money while pretending to help him, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Miskon Haji Taib, 71, was about to enter a bank to deposit the money for his employer when he felt
a shove from the back and the next thing he knew, his trousers were covered with feces, the Straits Times said.
Inside the bank, two men offered to help him wipe it off with tissue paper, and they stepped out to
avoid fouling up the air inside.
After thanking the duo for helping him clean up, Miskon went inside the bank to queue up and then
realized to his horror that the money was missing from one of his front pockets.
Two men who spoke broken English in a foreign accent are now being sought by police.
Fortunately for Miskon, more than half the money was covered by insurance and his employer for the
past 10 years decided to write off the rest.
Is This A Caning Offense?
In Memory
John Knowles
Author John Knowles, whose "A Separate Peace" has been read by millions of students and is considered an enduring study of an adolescent's inner conflict, died Thursday after a short illness. He was 75.
The novel, set at a New England boarding school during World War II, was voted the 67th best English-language novel in a 1998 Radcliffe College student poll. Written in 1959, "A Separate Peace" was Knowles' first novel.
It sold millions of copies and was made into a 1972 movie starring Parker Stevenson, who later appeared in the 1970s "Hardy Boys" television series, but Knowles was never able to match its success in his eight later novels.
"Knowles is intelligent, highly literate, a skilled and sensitive craftsman and stylist," the book, "Contemporary Novelists," said this year. "He is knowledgeable of the world, tolerant, a connoisseur of many cultures."
The reference book criticized Knowles' later works for lacking plausible characters, saying only "A Separate Peace" figures Gene Forrester and Phineas "stay in our memory."
"A Separate Peace" centers on Forrester and his allegiance to two fellow students: Brinker Hadley, a button-down leader who is New England conservatism personified, and Phineas, a natural athlete and eccentric who wears a bright pink shirt.
Forrester, engaged in an internal battle between his own conservative and eccentric impulses, causes Phineas to break his leg in a fall from a tree and later is the putative cause of Phineas' second, fatal fall down a flight of stairs. The pair reconcile before Phineas' death, which helps him assuage his guilt to some degree.
Students have long debated whether Forrester intentionally caused Phineas' first, crippling fall. Knowles refused to say.
"John used to say he would never answer that question," Bob Maxwell, Knowles' brother-in-law, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "He took that one with him."
Born Sept. 16, 1926, in Fairmont, W. Va., to a father who worked in the coal business, he was sent at 15 to the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, which became the model of Devon, the school in "A Separate Peace."
"(Exeter) picked me up out of the hills of West Virginia, forced me to learn to study, tossed me into Yale and inspired me to write a book, my novel 'A Separate Peace,' which, eschewing false modesty, made me quite famous and financially secure," he wrote for the school magazine in 1995.
After graduating from Exeter in 1945, Knowles enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps' Aviation Cadet Program, qualifying as a pilot. After his discharge eight months later, he enrolled in Yale. He worked at the Hartford Courant as a reporter and drama critic from 1950-52.
He then toured Europe, coming to the attention of author Thornton Wilder, who became his mentor. He returned to New York in 1955, became an associate editor at the magazine "Holiday" and quit after "A Separate Peace" was published.
In the 1960s, he served as writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina and Princeton.
He published his final novel, "The Private Life of Axie Reed," in 1986 and his final book, "Backcasts: Memories and Recollections of Seventy Years as a Sportsman," in 1993.
He moved to Fort Lauderdale 15 years ago and taught creative writing at Florida Atlantic University. He had moved into a convalescent center about a month ago.
John Knowles
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