Monday, September 29, 2008

CHITA RIVERA An American National Treasure! Exclusive San Francisco Appearance!


http://www.therrazzroom.com/

Through Sunday, October 5 ONLY!


An accomplished and versatile actress/singer/dancer, the legendary Chita Rivera has won two Tony Awards as Best Leading Actress in a Musical and received seven additional Tony nominations. In addition to her critically-acclaimed theatre and concert performances, Chita has been seen regularly on television, with appearances on every major show from New York including Dinah Shore, Garry Moore, Judy Garland, Carol Burnett and Ed Sullivan. Other television credits include Will & Grace, Pippin(Showtime), Kennedy Center Tonight, Broadway Plays Washington, her own Chita Plus Three(HBO), The New Dick Van Dyke Show and Live From Wolftrap.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Hot Property: Home once owned by Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. is listed at $4,995,000




Hot Property
By Ann BrenoffJuly 21, 2008
The allure of living where a long-dead celebrity once lived largely escapes me. Nevertheless, it is clearly tremendous in Los Angeles. To that end, we bring you the house where both Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. once hung their dancing shoes – not at the same time, of course.
The property, set high in the hills above Sunset Strip and listed at $4,995,000, has a 5,000-square-foot main house plus a guesthouse. There are five bedrooms and 7 1/2 bathrooms in total, plus views galore. The 1940s Hollywood glamour-traditional-style home has a pool, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a home theater. The dining room seats 12 to 14. There are maple floors, myriad French doors leading to terraces and many period details. A large bedroom area opens to a two-story great room.
Too bad there are no talking walls, because the scenes they’ve witnessed would surely be worth hearing about.
Garland, who died in 1969 at age 47 of an accidental drug overdose, bought the house, and possibly the lots on both sides of it, in 1945 with then-husband Vincente Minnelli. Daughter Liza was born the following year. The couple hired architect John Woolf to design an addition, which included a baby’s nursery. Garland and Minnelli separated in December 1950.
According to one account, when Sammy Davis wanted to buy this house in the 1950s, it was necessary for his manager to secure the purchase for the singer because the owner would not sell to African Americans. Davis married singer Loray White in a ceremony at the home in 1958. The couple were divorced in 1959. Davis died of throat cancer in 1990 at age 64.
Gillian Caine of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, is the listing agent.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Legendary Actor Paul Newman Dies


WESTPORT, Conn. (Sept. 27) - Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," ''Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.
Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.
He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," ''The Verdict," ''The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."
Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."
He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie."
With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. "I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."

Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say.
A screen legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for "The Color of Money," a reprise of the role of pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961 film "The Hustler."
Newman delivered a magnetic performance in "The Hustler," playing a smooth-talking, whiskey-chugging pool shark who takes on Minnesota Fats — played by Jackie Gleason — and becomes entangled with a gambler played by George C. Scott. In the sequel — directed by Scorsese — "Fast Eddie" is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but rather an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.
He won an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work.

His most recent academy nod was a supporting actor nomination for the 2002 film "Road to Perdition." One of Newman's nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress Meryl Streep has had 14.)
As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama "Empire Falls" and providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, "Cars."
But in May 2007, he told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had given up acting, though he intended to remain active in charity projects. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."
He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a bitter, alcoholic former star athlete in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor played his unhappy wife and Burl Ives his wealthy, domineering father in Tennessee Williams' harrowing drama, which was given an upbeat ending for the screen.
In "Cool Hand Luke," he was nominated for his gritty role as a rebellious inmate in a brutal Southern prison. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1967 and included a tagline, delivered one time by Newman and one time by prison warden Strother Martin, that helped define the generation gap, "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate."
Newman's hair was graying, but he was as gourgeous as ever and on the verge of his greatest popular success. In 1969, Newman teamed with Redford for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a comic Western about two outlaws running out of time. Newman paired with Redford again in 1973 in "The Sting," a comedy about two Depression-era con men. Both were multiple Oscar winners and huge hits, irreverent, unforgettable pairings of two of the best-looking actors of their time.
Newman also turned to producing and directing. In 1968, he directed "Rachel, Rachel," a film about a lonely spinster's rebirth. The movie received four Oscar nominations, including Newman, for producer of a best motion picture, and Woodward, for best actress. The film earned Newman the best director award from the New York Film Critics.
In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1972 film, "Winning." After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.
"Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood," he told People magazine in 1979.
Despite his love of race cars, Newman continued to make movies and continued to pile up Oscar nominations, his looks remarkably intact, his acting becoming more subtle, nothing like the mannered method performances of his early years, when he was sometimes dismissed as a Brando imitator. "It takes a long time for an actor to develop the assurance that the trim, silver-haired Paul Newman has acquired," Pauline Kael wrote of him in the early 1980s.
In 1982, he got his Oscar fifth nomination for his portrayal of an honest businessman persecuted by an irresponsible reporter in "Absence of Malice." The following year, he got his sixth for playing a down-and-out alcoholic attorney in "The Verdict."
In 1995, he was nominated for his slyest, most understated work yet, the town curmudgeon and deadbeat in "Nobody's Fool." New York Times critic Caryn James found his acting "without cheap sentiment and self-pity," and observed, "It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way."
Newman, who shunned Hollywood life, was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act offensive, according to one friend.
He also claimed that he never read reviews of his movies.
"If they're good you get a fat head and if they're bad you're depressed for three weeks," he said.
Off the screen, Newman had a taste for beer and was known for his practical jokes. He once had a Porsche installed in Redford's hallway — crushed and covered with ribbons.
"I think that my sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me sane," he told Newsweek magazine in a 1994 interview.
In 1982, Newman and his Westport neighbor, writer A.E. Hotchner, started a company to market Newman's original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman's Own, which began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and other foods. All of the company's profits are donated to charities. By 2007, the company had donated more than $175 million, according to its Web site.
In 1988, Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in several other states and in Europe.
He and Woodward bought an 18th century farmhouse in Westport, where they raised their three daughters, Elinor "Nell," Melissa and Clea.
Newman had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.
Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. After his only son's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the production of anti-drug films for children.
Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of two boys of Arthur S. Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman.
He was raised in the affluent suburb of Shaker Heights, where he was encouraged him to pursue his interest in the arts by his mother and his uncle Joseph Newman, a well-known Ohio poet and journalist.
Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.
He later studied at Yale University's School of Drama, then headed to New York to work in theater and television, his classmates at the famed Actor's Studio including Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden. His breakthrough was enabled by tragedy: Dean, scheduled to star as the disfigured boxer in a television adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler," died in a car crash in 1955. His role was taken by Newman, then a little-known performer.
Newman started in movies the year before, in "The Silver Chalice," a costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety to apologize. By 1958, he had won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the shiftless Ben Quick in "The Long Hot Summer."
In December 1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.
"I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious," he said. "Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore," he said.
Newman is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons and his older brother Arthur.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.

Monday, September 22, 2008

ELLEN will be the new face of Covergirl




Ellen will be the new face of CoverGirl
Filed by: Waymon Hudson
September 21, 2008 11:00 AM

Ellen DeGeneres confirmed on her daytime talk show that she will be the new face of CoverGirl Cosmetics starting in January:

You know how I always like to share what's going on in my life with you all, and I was going to give you some news, and unfortunately rumors started circulating all over the internet. I am here to set the record straight right now. I am not pregnant. It just turned out to be a bump. I went and had it checked out. ... That's not the news. I am the new face of CoverGirl.

DeGeneres will be the first out celebrity to be the face of the CoverGirl. DeGeneres has been making waves and breaking down barriers for some time now.

Ellen has also used her fame on her incredibly popular show to bring LGBT issues to the masses. She put out a powerful message about the murder of openly gay 15 year old Lawrence King and the cultural attitudes that made the teenager killer think it was okay to shoot Lawrence. She took on gun-toting homobigot Sally Kern.
Ellen also took McCain to task on his stance on marriage equality and brought it up to Laura and Jenna Bush as well. She has talked openly and honestly about her marriage to Portia de Rossi, even sharing her wedding photos and video on her show.
There has been some debate on whether Ellen's visibility on LGBT issues is enough. In Karen Ocamb's blog about Prop 8 funding yesterday, the fact that DeGeneres has not given money to help defeat the proposition was brought up by some. The lack of her financial support to No on 8 PACs was made even more evident by the news that Ellen and new wife de Rossi are throwing a fundraiser event for Prop 2, an animal rights bill.
I actually think that DeGeneres has given a lot to the fight against Prop 8 and other anti-LGBT initiatives with her outspokenness. I would love to see her write a check or throw a fundraiser, but if I had to choose, I would hope she continues to change hearts and minds with her public star power.
All in all, it is great to see her continue to not only succeed while being so out and vocal, but also do it with such grace, class, and humor. She is doing what many of us cannot- taking the fight for LGBT rights into people's living rooms every day.


Friday, September 19, 2008

Pitt's donation marks the largest thus far to the anti-Prop. 8 campaign by an A-list celebrity.


"Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," the actor said in a statement.


Pitt's donation marks the largest thus far to the anti-Prop. 8 campaign by an A-list celebrity.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Cher Harassed by Drunk Fan in Nashville Bar

By Alexander Toldt , June 25th 2008
A Nashville man was arrested for harassing Cher at "The World Famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge". Police arrested the 36-year-old Calvin Hutton Houghland after he repeatedly tried to talk to famous singer at the club early Wednesday morning. The man didn’t get the idea the first time and insisted until he was asked to leave.According to the police report, the man left when asked but came back after a while and this time turned aggressive after he was refused again. Houghland grabbed Cher by the waist as she sat in a roped-off area. The man was once again escorted from the bar, but wouldn’t give up and once again approached the 62-year-old diva in an aggressive manner. That’s when security personnel intervened and blocked the man’s advances."He managed to reach past the roped off area and grabbed Cher by the waist," the police report said.Houghland called 911 and said he had been assaulted. When police arrived, Cher refused to prosecute the man for assault and for grabbing her. Nevertheless, the aggressor asked to be arrested, the police report shows."She declined to prosecute. Houghland was repeatedly told to leave the area by officers. He left again, came back, and this time said that he wanted to be arrested," the police report said.Houghland admitted he had been drinking and failed a sobriety test which he also requested. He was arrested around 1:00 AM and was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct. His bond was set at $3,000.© 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia

LIZ recently out on the town, asked about marrying again!

Monday, September 1, 2008

CHER~"One Wig Room"

Cher & Halston
Does the wig make the woman or does the woman make the wig? When the woman in question is Cher, the wigs carry enough clout to require the privacy of their own personal dressing room.

Gary's night at the theatre with RITA MORENO


Well gang heres an old story of mine that I have written before but I think its worth sharing again. Going back to the 80's I went to a matinee of The Rink which starred Liza with Chita and low and behold who was sitting in the seat right next to me RITA MORENO. We were both alone, we had a most friendly coversation which included how much of a Liza fan she was and absolutley adored the talented Chita Rivera. We all know that Rita did Chitas original part in West Side Story but according to Rita this was indeed an honor for her as she went on to win the Oscar in 1961 and was quite and fan and friend of Chitas. Put aside a supposed feud of any kind. Rita was so sweet and looked fabulous that she offered me a piece of her Chuckles candy remember those?? Anyway we both loved the show and adored both Liza and Chita who won her first Tony that year as Liza's mom in The Rink. Wasn't it a hoot to share that with Rita? I did see Chita in the original West Side Story in 1957 and if you asked me who was the better in the part I would have to be diplomatic and say that they were BOTH wonderful. What a way to see a show, what company what a great moment, all my love, Gary s from TBA