wowOwow - The Women on the Web

03/15/2010 5:00 am

Culture

Liz Smith: Give Alec Baldwin Some Credit

Also from Our Gossip Girl: Sir Elton John tapped for 'American Idol'? … Madonna and Debbie Reynolds open up.

"I’LL TAKE all the roles that Julia Roberts doesn’t want," said Sandra Bullock before she won the Oscar. Now maybe things will be vice versa.

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IN NEW York city, there is Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch having a deep business meeting over breakfast in the popular Frontier diner on 39th and Third. This is the same hangout where I once glimpsed Eliot Spitzer and Rudy Giuliani. These particular Greeks who own the Frontier seem to know how to treat famous politicos over eggs and steak. And they are doing great; not bankrupt like their relatives in the real Greece.

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DOES MY crush, Alec Baldwin, get any credit for giving the Tisch School of the Arts $1 million for the Alec Baldwin Drama Scholarship Fund? Well, he gets credit from me … A well-known theatrical agent told me this week, "Things are tough all over. Nowadays, unless you’re a big-name star – your theater contract reads "standard, plus ten percent"and also, you’d be shocked at the number of really well-known actors who flock here from L.A. to try for the theater and for New York-based TV series shows. Some of these actors with recognizable names will agree to do almost anything to get on ‘Law & Order’ or other shows being filmed here. They will agree to be on and say only one or two lines!" New Zealand has become a country considered a mecca for moviemaking. Now, in the production-busy town of Wellington, they’re putting up a Hollywood-type sign that will read "Wellywood." And some of the locals are appropriately furious.

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NEW York’s Soho House with its roof garden, swimming pool and big umbrellas should be gearing up for more people trying to crash as spring springs. The British-run club has culled its lists, dropping at least 500 bankers, attorneys and others considered too "corporate" – or just plain "tacky." (They named Mariah Carey.) The founders want to keep out people who are not "cool" and this has caused some of the disgruntled to call it "So-So House." … I see the perspicacious Roger Friedman is telling us that "Wall Street 2" will close the Cannes Film Festival and become a very big deal in May on the Riviera when it presents its dazzling cast in person. I do mean Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan and Charlie Sheen. Roger also notes that "American Idol’s" producer Nigel Lythgoe wants none other than Sir Elton John to join and give the panel some push while he waits for Ellen DeGeneres to hit her stride.

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WANT TO see what the one and only Barbra Streisand comes up with when asked to eulogize an associate?

Since my good friend Gareth Wigan died a few weeks ago, I have tried over and over to bid this wonderful Columbia producer good-bye in print. But every time I try, I can’t do him justice.

Barbra didn’t have my trouble. Here’s what she said: "It’s not that easy to love someone. You like some people and you don’t like others. But sometimes you just love someone. That’s how I feel about Gareth. I just love him. I think he’s the only person in this industry that no one ever said a bad word about.

"He was, and will always be, this tall, elegant man who was so smart and so kind. He was supportive and loving and actually made dealing with the studio on ‘The Prince of Tides’ fun. Maybe because he also had a great sense of humor I can still hear his laugh. I’ll miss you in this world, Gareth. But you will always be in my heart."

Thank you, Barbra. I obviously couldn’t say it any better.

I know Barbra’s encomium must have pleased Gareth’s widow, the wonderful Patricia Newcomb, who was once PR maven to the biggest of stars, including, at one time, Streisand, and at another time before that – Marilyn Monroe.