Corrected Version
Who's Going To Hell This Week
Helen A. Handbasket
Reader Review
THE BEST OF 2001 - THE REISSUES
By George Krausser
Weekly Review
from Harper's Magazine
WEEKLY REVIEW - 18 December, 2001
The White House announced that the anthrax used in recent mail attacks
probably originated in the United States; Army officials confirmed
that the bacteria was a genetic match with anthrax in the Army's stockpile
but pointed out that their supply had come from the Agriculture
Department. The F.B.I. was still trying to figure out how many
different government labs were experimenting with the bacteria.
President Bush announced that the United States will withdraw from the
1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. North Korea said it will sign five
international antiterrorism conventions. Israelis and Palestinians
continued to kill one another; a poll showed that 74 percent of
Israelis backed their government's "seek-and-kill" policy of
assassinating Palestinian militants, though just 22 percent thought it
decreased terrorism and 45 percent said it probably increased terror
attacks. American warplanes were dropping fewer bombs on Afghanistan.
Celebrities were organizing a campaign to eradicate gossip. Winona
Ryder was arrested for shoplifting and illegal drug possession.
A gynecologist in India successfully performed 68 hysterectomies within
24 hours.
There was a report that British prime minister Tony Blair
and his wife, Cherie, recently underwent a "rebirthing ritual" in a
Mexican steam bath; the ritual was said to include primal screams and
the smearing of mud and fruit all over their bodies.
A baby bear named Snickers escaped from a Minnesota animal park and broke into
a farm house because he was feeling lonely. "He was just looking for people
to hug him," the bear's owner said. "He's a huggy bear."
( continued at Weekly Review )
--Roger D. Hodge
NY City Firefighters Bike Cross Country
Hanging With Hef
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner poses with New York City Firefighters from Engine 33 Ladder 9 in Greenwich Village at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles December 17, 2001. Shown (L-R) are Matt Hornung, Ralph Perricelli, Dan "Pappy" Rowan, Hugh Hefner, Sal Princiotta, Gerard Dolan, Drew Robb. The firefighters rode their bicycles across the country in memory of their colleagues killed September 11, 2001.
Photo by Elayne Lodge
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Started the evening with the PBS spin on J.R.R. Tolkien special. What can I say...
I was outvoted 2 to 1.....Need to get better at bribing the kid, I think. The female narrator of
the program made a point of pronouncing the name 'tol - KEEN'.
After that, caught the rerun on NBC of 'Frasier', followed by a fairly amusing repeat of
'Scrubs'.
The 'People's Magazine' Special that followed felt more like an hour-long infomercial as opposed to
a 'NBC Special'...maybe they needed to involve a major alcohol advertiser (preferably one who makes
home deliveries)....
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS has '60 Minutes II', and a Roma Downey TV movie
that would seem to necessitate insulin if viewed in one sitting.
NBC regurgitates 3 reruns, 'Ed', 'The West Wing', and 'Law & Order'.
Over at the Mouse House (ABC), the first hour ('My Wife & Kids' & 'Jim') are reruns. The 2nd
hour has fresh episodes of 'Drew Carey' & 'Whose Line'. '20/20' follows.
The WB has fresh episodes of 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Felicity'.
Faux has a rerun of 'That 70's Show', but, fresh episodes of 'Grounded For Life',
'Bernie Mac', and 'Titus'.
UPN has a rerun of 'Enterprise' and a fresh 'Special Unit 2'.
TCM continues its Marx Brothers movies, and also has the W.C.Fields/Mae West Classic
''My Little Chickadee''. (2 + 2 is 5, and 5 will get you 10...)
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Matriculation Rumors
Chelsea
Chelsea Clinton could be leaving Oxford for the London School of Economics.
The 21-year-old former First Daughter, who graduated from Stanford University last spring, has been studying
for a master's degree in international relations at Oxford since September. But the British tabs are reporting
that she wants out because she thinks Oxford is too cliquey.
The papers say Chelsea has been socializing more with the Americans over there because she has experienced
anti-American feeling from many of the British students. Apparently, she believes the LSE, where her father
once gave a guest lecture, has a more diverse mix of foreign students.
A spokeswoman for Bill Clinton declined to comment on Chelsea's life.
Rumor About Chelsea
New! Updated!
(10 Dec., 2001)
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has done good, again!
Currently, look at the charts of George Harrison.
Very interesting reading!
Ad Campaign For California
Jack & Clint & Michael
If a humorous ad campaign touting California's funky spirit can't lure people to tour the state, Gov. Gray Davis is
hoping a more aggressive approach starring film tough guys Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson will do the job.
Tourism normally provides 1.1 million jobs in California and generates $75 billion in annual spending, but the attacks
on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the resulting economic downturn continue to keep potential tourists at home, state officials said.
Central to the new 30-second spot is a golfing Eastwood who tells viewers ``We Drive,'' a double entendre
encouraging tourists to not only ``drive'' their golf balls but ``drive'' around the state. The ad closes
with Eastwood telling people to ''get out there,'' followed by a grinning Nicholson telling viewers from
the sidelines of a Lakers game that all work and no play ``make Jack a dull boy.''
Also featured is restaurateur Michael Chow at the Eurochow restaurant in Los Angeles and champion freestyle
skier Glen Plake at the Heavenly Valley ski resort.
The television spots target Californians, who make up 85 percent of in-state travel. The state, which is
operating on a tight advertising budget, said it may consider launching a third ad in January featuring
additional movie stars. Nicholson and Eastwood donated their services.
Jack & Clint & Michael
Nasty Custody Fight
Pamela & Tommy
Tommy Lee won a court round Tuesday in a bitter custody battle with ex-wife Pamela Anderson, who claims the
former Motley Crue drummer is an unfit father who exposes his children to danger.
Superior Court Judge Lee Smalley Edmon denied a request by Anderson's lawyers to require monitoring of Lee's
visits with 5-year-old Brandon and 3-year-old Dylan.
``Mr. Lee has gone for quite some time without monitored visits,'' Edmon said. ``I don't see anything that
leads me to believe that monitoring is necessary to protect the children.''
Anderson's attorney, Susan Harris, suggested a full-time nanny in place of a monitor, at least until a doctor has completed
his psychological testing on Lee, which should take about nine weeks.
Edmon presented the option to Lee's attorney but he refused, saying his client believes parents should be responsible for raising their children.
The 34-year-old Anderson, best known for her role on TV's ``Baywatch,'' filed a Superior Court petition last month seeking
full custody. She claimed Lee is a ``very angry, unstable man who presents a danger to others, particularly when he is using
alcohol, as he is presently doing.'' She also said he's a bad role model.
In a declaration filed with the court, Lee said he's been clean and sober for two years and poses no danger to his children.
Lee didn't publicly discuss his ex-wife's allegations Tuesday, but said he plans to ask the court for equal custody.
``I'm still trying to figure it all out. All this is coming out of nowhere. Maybe it's because I'm happy.
My life is going really well right now,'' he said.
``Maybe she's planning to move away with her boyfriend (Kid Rock) and she can't do that without full custody. I don't know.''
Pammie & Tommy, Latest Chapter
Whine, Whine, Whine Over 75 - 80% Advertising Sold (So Far)
Super Bowl
When the Super Bowl rolls around this February, the world's most highly-priced advertising vehicle won't be
the only the game in town.
Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd. that is televising the game, is not only facing the worst advertising downturn
in decades, but is also competing for advertisers with the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which begins
a mere five days after Super Bowl XXXVI.
Pitting the world's biggest football game against bobsledding, figure skating and skiing, Fox says it has
sold between 75 percent and 80 percent of its 30-second ad slots, but admitted it has not been the easiest of tasks.
Citing the difficulty of selling enough ads, Fox has scaled back its Super Bowl pre-game advertising to five
hours, down from 7.6 hours when it last hosted the game in 1999.
To sweeten the pot for advertisers, Fox may offer on-air mentions or sponsorships, Nail added.
``The Super Bowl has generally not had to offer incentives, because it usually sells out, but this year is a different
year, so I wouldn't be surprised if Fox threw in something extra.''
Whine, Whine, Whine Over 75 - 80%
Buh-(Bam!)-Bye
''Emeril''
``Emeril'', the critically panned new TV show that has floundered all season on NBC, is about to serve up its final dish
before getting the chop and being thrown in the garbage disposal of television history.
The series, centered on a fictional celebrity chef and his cooking show, will likely end up as a scrap on the kitchen floor
later this week when NBC announces its prime time schedule for the New Year, said a source familiar with the situation
who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Signs of the program's imminent demise have sprouted in recent weeks, with the latest hint appearing on Tuesday when NBC said
that ``Imagine That,'' a mid-season replacement starring Hank Azaria, would premier in the ``Emeril'' Tuesday night time slot at 8 p.m. on Jan. 8.
Created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who counts ``Designing Women'' and ``Evening Shade'' among her credits, ``Emeril'' was
doomed almost from the get-go by a shower of bad publicity from television critics.
In its most recent outing on Dec. 11, the show finished 92nd out of 118 shows that ran in prime time for the week,
with an audience of 4.8 million people. By comparison, the week's No. 1 show, ``E.R.,'' attracted 28.9 million viewers.
Buh-(Bam!)-Bye
Somewhere in the archives is an article that says only 5 'Hank Azaria' shows were produced, and more
were not expected.
Turned A Profit, Thanks To Paul McCartney
Nobel Peace Prize Concert
An annual concert marking the award of the Nobel Peace Prize could make money for the first time in eight years thanks to
stars led by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said Tuesday.
Geir Lundestad, director of the institute, said possible proceeds from last week's Oslo concert hailing 2001 winners the
United Nations and its chief Kofi Annan would go to a planned Nobel Peace Center in Oslo.
``After years of loss-making, it looks like we could see a profit this year,'' Lundestad told Reuters. ``We're hoping it
will stay profitable in the future.''
The Dec. 11 concert, with an audience of 6,000, followed a historic gathering in Oslo of Peace Prize laureates including
Poland's Lech Walesa and the Dalai Lama to mark the 100th anniversary of the award.
Other artists at the concert were Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean, R&B singer Anastacia, Norwegian pop group a-ha,
Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia, British opera singer Russell Watson and a choir of 50 children from around the world.
Actress Meryl Streep hosted the concert together with Irish-born actor Liam Neeson.
Nobel Peace Prize Concert
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
A Museum For 'Lord Of The Rings' Props?
Peter Jackson & New Zealand
``The Lord of the Rings'' director Peter Jackson said Tuesday he hopes the estate of the trilogy's late author,
J.R.R. Tolkien, won't block his plan for a museum to showcase the movies' props.
He said the museum depends on ownership of material and is in the hands of lawyers.
New Line Cinema, the U.S. distributor releasing the trilogy, owns the film rights. But the Tolkien Estate, run
by the Tolkien family, claims there can be no display of props when the films are not on screen.
Jackson said lawyers for the Tolkien Estate have indicated that a ``Rings'' museum only could exist while the
films were being released and the museum was promoting them.
Jackson is convinced there must be ``some way'' people can see the thousands of items used in filming the three
movies concurrently over a 15-month period in many parts of New Zealand.
The government has committed $1.8 million to marketing the country internationally as the home of Middle-earth,
the mythical location for the trilogy. The capital, Wellington, has renamed itself Middle-earth for the
opening week of the first movie nationwide.
Peter Jackson & A 'LOTR' Prop Museum
The State Of Radio Advertising Today
'What Standards?'
The only surprise about NBC's decision to again run liquor ads is that CBS chief Mel Karmazin didn't think of it
first. Some concerned staffers say Karmazin is so determined to protect his company's bottom line that advertising
standards, particularly in the radio division, have been all but abandoned.
"Stations like News Radio 880 are sounding like traveling medicine shows, selling snake oil to the rubes," gripes
one CBS veteran journalist. "And to make things worse, they're using on-air personalities to read these
spots. It cheapens everyone."
A few months ago, the station was occasionally airing the odd disclaimer stating that such-and-such a product
hadn't been government tested. But the snake-oil guys apparently objected, and now the ads run without any
qualification. They've even got the respected Charlie Osgood shilling for diet pills.
"It's not good for a station's image to have its personalities endorsing dubious products," one of Madison
Avenue's most respected figures tells me. "It's even worse for a news station, where credibility is crucial."
State Of Radio Advertising Today
Impending Nuptials
Joan Collins & Percy Gibson
Joan Collins plans to marry her boyfriend, who is 32 years her junior, at a ceremony in London early next year.
The 68-year-old actress will wed Peruvian-born Percy Gibson, a 36-year-old theater company manager, Collins'
spokeswoman Stella Wilson said Tuesday. The marriage will be her fifth.
Earlier this year, the actress said: ``Percy is such a special human being. I think this person is more
in tune with me than anybody I've ever met. I feel more myself with Percy Gibson than I ever have with anyone.''
Joan Collins & Percy Gibson
Not A Very Kind Review
Alanis, Garbage...
Star 98.7's Not So Silent Night certainly won't be remembered as the most exciting local
holiday concert this year, especially considering the high ticket price and modest artist lineup, though attendees
were treated to a sneak of Alanis Morissette's upcoming third U.S. studio album. The commercial decline of headliner
Garbage gave the sold-out event an anticlimactic air.
Morissette, who was brought on stage by wise-cracking Garry Shandling, has a new, self-produced album, ``Under Rug
Swept,'' due from Maverick in February, and she offered three of the new tunes, along with four hits from her
breakthrough ``Jagged Little Pill,'' in her 45-minute set. During high-strung opener ``All I Really Want,'' the
long-haired 27-year-old constantly raced about the large Shrine stage, as if running away from the former beau vilified in the song.
Jenna Elfman introduced Garbage, which played to plenty of empty seats after Alanis fans had left. The band
offered an hour's worth of its heartless dance-Goth-punk hybrid, and neither bleach-blond singer Shirley Manson
nor her stiff bandmates could generate much energy in the cavernous venue, though Manson did try to stir things
up by performing ``Paranoid'' while roaming the orchestra pit.
Songs from this year's weak-selling ``Beautiful Garbage'' (Interscope) album, like the Blondie ripoff ``Shut
Your Mouth'' and the soul-searching ballad ``Cup of Coffee,'' paled when played next to the band's more
likable early material such as ``Stupid Girl'' and finale ``Only Happy When It Rains.''
Not A Very Kind Review
3 Generations In One Film
The Douglas'
On March 5, 57-year-old Michael Douglas will begin shooting a movie that co-stars his 85-year-old father, Kirk,
as well as his 23-year-old son, Cameron.
"Smack in the Puss" is a black comedy about three generations of a dysfunctional New York family. Fred
Schepisi, who will direct the movie for MGM, told me he has discussed the Jesse Wigutow script at length
with both Michael and Kirk but has yet to talk to Cameron, a local deejay who has no acting experience.
Schepisi doesn't see that as a problem.
"Oddly enough," he said, "deejaying is one of the things his character is good at."
3 Generations Of Douglas Men
To Mark The Queen's Golden Jubilee
Sex Pistols
Twenty-five years after making their mark as the official scourge of royalty, the legendary British punk
band the Sex Pistols may regroup to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee, a tour promoter said Tuesday.
``I can confirm I've been approached by a number of separate parties offering substantial sums of money for
the Sex Pistols to regroup,'' said promoter John Giddings, who organized the group's last UK tour in 1996.
He said the decision depends on whether band members can free up their schedules to perform on the Jubilee date.
Should they decide to regroup this summer with a Sid Vicious replacement, the granddaddies of punk would be
playing to crowds who weren't alive when they first thrashed around on a London stage in 1976.
``The good thing about the Pistols now is that they can really play,'' Giddings said.
Sex Pistols Re-Grouping?
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!
Disney News
Family Values, Corporate Style
A Walt Disney Co. unit has sued EchoStar Communications Corp. seeking to block the satellite television provider
from ending a contract to air Disney's ABC Family channel, Disney officials said Tuesday.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that Echostar would violate its contract with
Disney's International Family Entertainment if, as Echostar has indicated, it pulls the channel from its system after Dec. 31.
International Family Entertainment (IFE) was the parent of Fox Family Channel, which is the predecessor to ABC Family.
Terminating the agreement would deprive Disney of licensing fees Echostar pays to air ABC Family programs,
and it would come as Disney has only recently taken ownership of the channel from Fox Entertainment Group Inc..
Fox Entertainment is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's global media company News Corp. Ltd..
Disney quickly renamed Fox Family as ABC Family, and set about revamping its programming with plans to air
shows from Disney's ABC broadcast network.
According to the suit, the agreement between Echostar and IFE ends in August 2005, but it allows either party
to terminate the pact upon ``changes in the persons or entities having a controlling stock or voting interest''.
If Echostar did wind up terminating the pact, it would come as a blow to ABC Family, not only because it is
relatively new and working to position itself among many other cable TV channels. ABC Family would lose
immediate access to Echostar's roughly 6 million subscribers.
Family Values, Corporate Style
Auction News
Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland viewed the world through rose-colored glasses. In fact, the best-selling romance novelist preferred
to dress entirely in pink, a preference illustrated by the array of feather-fringed hats and sequined, shocking pink
gowns auctioned by Sotheby's on Tuesday.
The collection sold for $19,600, with some items fetching three or four times the estimated price.
One bead-encrusted pink Hartnell gown sold for $780 - more than double its estimate. A group of 10 hats adorned
with silk flowers, tulle, feathers, white mink and white fox, estimated at $440, sold for $1,920.
Her passion for pink was inspired, she once said, by a visit to the tomb of the Egyptian king Tutankhamen.
``I was so thrilled with the wonderful colors of the temples and tombs in the Valley of the Kings that I decided
that their vivid pink and scarab blue inspired me more than any other colors,'' she said.
Cartland wrote 723 romance novels in an eight-decade career, and is listed by Guinness World Records as the
world's best-selling author. Sales of her books exceeded one billion worldwide in 36 languages.
Barbara Cartland Auction
Best Numbers Of This Season
'SNL' & Ellen & Rudy
Ellen DeGeneres' guest-hosting gig and an appearance by Rudolph Giuliani on "Saturday Night Live" this week
brought the show its best ratings in nearly a year.
Saturday night's audience was on-par with this year's season premier that was hosted by Reese Witherspoon and,
oddly enough, included an appearance by Giuliani too.
'SNL' & Ellen & Rudy
Not Just A Serial Philanderer - A Prevaricator, Too
geraldo
It didn't take long after arriving in Afghanistan as a war correspondent for maverick broadcaster Geraldo Rivera to do
what he is best known for -- generate controversy.
Days after nearly having his hair parted by sniper fire while filming a report for the Fox News Channel near Jalalabad, Rivera
found himself the target of criticism in journalistic circles for carrying a gun on assignment, despite long-standing taboos
against correspondents packing heat in war zones.
Now the Baltimore Sun is challenging Rivera and Fox News on a dispatch Rivera filed about a deadly ``friendly fire'' bombing
incident Dec. 5 near the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, where three U.S. soldiers and several anti-Taliban Afghan
fighters were killed in a U.S. air strike.
Rivera reported on Dec. 6 that he became choked up after reciting the Lord's Prayer over the ``hallowed ground''
where ''friendly fire took so many of our men and the mujahideen yesterday.''
But according to the Sun, Rivera later acknowledged he actually had been several hundred miles from the Kandahar
bombing site and had confused that mishap with another ''friendly fire'' incident that claimed several Afghan lives in Tora Bora.
Rivera was quoted by the Sun as saying that his mistake was due to ``the fog of war''.
The problem with his explanation, the Sun has reported, is that according to the Pentagon, the Tora Bora incident
occurred at least three days after Rivera's Dec. 6 report.
Officials for Fox News Channel did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.
The apparent contradictions have raised questions from news executives and journalistic ethicists.
``I believe that Geraldo Rivera and Fox News owe their viewers a substantive explanation of what this means,
journalistically and ethically,'' Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute in St.
Petersburg, Florida, told the Sun.
Previously, fellow broadcasters raised eyebrows at Rivera's admission that he was carrying a firearm, a
practice they described as foolhardy and a violation of long-standing conventions that could endanger other journalists.
''We Make It Up, You'll Believe It''
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'!
'Forrest Gump' meets 'Jackass'?
``The Mighty Atom''
Universal Pictures will turn the unlikely story of pint-sized circus strongman Joseph Greenstein into a feature.
``The Mighty Atom'' will be drawn from the Ed Spielman book ''The Spiritual Journey of Joseph L. Greenstein.''
Greenstein, an asthmatic child in turn-of-the-century Poland, joined a traveling circus when he was 14,
studied wrestling and martial arts, and transformed himself into the 5-foot-4-inch sideshow star the
Mighty Atom. He came to America in 1911 and became an unlikely battler against racism and intolerance,
promoting peace through his strongman act and scrapping with the Ku Klux Klan and the German-American Bund.
``He was this little big man with tremendous will and mental control, and this can be a sprawling story
that is 'Forrest Gump' meets 'Jackass,''' said Ed Saxon, a partner in New York-based producer Magnet
Entertainment, which optioned the book.
``The Mighty Atom''
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
Frank Keating
Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma might want to move to New York to join former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld and
former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, now that he's characterized voters in his hometown of Tulsa as "very dumb."
The locals didn't vote in sufficient numbers for Keating's wife Cathy in the Republican primary to replace Rep.
Steve Largent, the former NFL star running to succeed the term-limited governor. Having come in a distant second,
and facing a run-off, Cathy dropped out of the race Friday.
Keating explained, "Cathy is a person who is wonderful and wise and knew that in order to come from behind, she
would have to be aggressive and perhaps even negative. She is not that kind of person."
The Keatings also might be tired being asked about the $250,000 they accepted as gifts from former Wall Street
wizard Jack Dreyfus, 88, who's been campaigning for 35 years to get everyone to take Dilantin, a drug he claims
cures everything from prison violence to leprosy. The Keatings returned the money last February.
About The Voters In Tulsa...
Back In Trouble Again?
Mike Tyson
An ex-heavyweight fighter claims Mike Tyson gave him an unprovoked beating outside a Brooklyn nightclub.
But Tyson's camp claims it was former Golden Gloves slugger Mitchell Rose who taunted "Iron Mike" into taking action.
Rose yesterday filed a complaint with police charging Tyson with assault in front of the Sugar Hill Disco
and Restaurant in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Cops were investigating the allegation, but had pressed no charges against Tyson as of last night.
Mike Tyson
On The Road To Sydney
Cruz & Cruise
Australia may be ex-wife Nicole Kidman's home turf but Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise is expecting a warm reception as he
breezes into the city on Wednesday with his new girlfriend in tow.
Cruise, 39, and his Latin lover Penelope Cruz, 27, were in Singapore as part of a whirlwind Asian tour to promote
their new psychological thriller ``Vanilla Sky.''
Cruise and 34-year-old Kidman settled their multi-million dollar divorce officially in August but agreed to jointly
raise their adopted children Isabella, 8, and Connor, 6.
Kidman, who hails from Sydney, flew back to her home town Monday with the children to spend Christmas with family
and friends, Australian papers reported.
One U.S. newspaper said ''Vanilla Sky'' had ``a plot so incoherent it defies description.'' Another called it an
``artistic albatross.'' The $60 million remake of Spanish director's Alejandro Amenabar's 1997 ``Abre
Los Ojos'' (''Open You Eyes'') stars Cruise as the spoiled, beautiful publishing heir, David Aames, who
falls in love unexpectedly one night with Cruz in the role of a lithe dancer, Sofia Serrano.
Cruz & Cruise
The Sad Details
Stuart Adamson
Stuart Adamson, former lead singer of Scottish rock band Big Country, was found hanged in a Hawaii
hotel room, U.S. authorities said on Monday.
The 43-year-old guitarist, who had global hits in the 1980s, was found dead on Sunday in his room
at the Best Western Plaza Hotel near Honolulu International Airport, police said.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner said on Monday that Adamson died of asphyxiation from hanging.
Toxicology tests were being carried out to determine if he had taken drugs.
Honolulu police said a maid discovered Adamson's body about 1 p.m. local time with a rope around
his neck and tied to a pole in the closet.
British media said Adamson had been fighting alcoholism.
Adamson moved to the United States in the late 1990s after the hits dried up.
He sparked widespread press speculation over his health in November 1999 when he failed to turn up
for a British concert supporting Canadian singer Bryan Adams.
Stuart Adamson
In Memory
John Guedel
Producer John Guedel, who created some of radio and television's classic programs, including Groucho
Marx's ``You Bet Your Life'' and Art Linkletter's ``People Are Funny,'' has died in Los Angeles. He was 88.
Guedel, who in 1938 also created what may have been the earliest radio game show and singing commercial
jingle, died of heart failure Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Guedel created ``People Are Funny'' and ``House Party'' with Linkletter with whom he formed an enduring
business partnership -- based on a handshake -- in 1941 that broke up only a few years ago. ``We've been
partners all those years, and it was a partnership distinguished by the fact that we never had a signed
contract and never had a disagreement,'' Linkletter told the Los Angeles Times.
In 1947 Guedel created ``You Bet Your Life'' for Marx, whose film career had come to a halt. The show,
which ran on NBC for 19 years, revived Marx's career and became one of television's best-loved shows.
The son of a wealthy businessman, Guedel was born in Indiana in 1913, but the family relocated to
Southern California when he was 8. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School and spent one year
at the University of California at Los Angeles, but then went to work digging ditches for the New
Deal's WPA program and as a door-to-door salesman because his family had lost their fortune in
the 1929 stock market crash.
In 1933 he found work at Hal Roach Studios as a writer on Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang comedies.
In 1941 he was vice president in charge of radio for the Dan B. Miner Advertising Co. in Los
Angeles when he met Linkletter.
The first show he and Linkletter produced was ``People are Funny,'' which debuted in 1942 and ran
for 19 years, moving from radio to television in 1954. The show took ordinary people and put them
into extraordinary circumstances to see how the people around them would react -- like sending
a hobo to eat lunch at a famous restaurant.
In 1945 the duo borrowed the concept of an afternoon women's variety show that Linkletter had been
producing and hosting in San Francisco and created ``House Party.'' The show ran for 25 years on
CBS, moving to television in 1952.
Over a quarter century, Guedel and Linkletter produced eight different shows including a game show
starring a young Johnny Carson. Guedel also helped launch ``The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''
featuring bandleader Ozzie Nelson and his wife, on radio in 1944.
He is survived by a wife, son, daughter, grand-daughter and great-grandson.
John Geudel
"Boondocks" (9 Oct 01)
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
