"Bad manners … the infallible sign of talent," said regal Joan Crawford to snarly violinist John Garfield in the 1946 melodrama, "Humoresque."

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I was reminded of this remark, a favorite of mine, when I caught the now infamous Kanye West/Taylor Swift event on MTV’s Video Music Awards. However, sometimes bad manners are the infallible sign of slugging Hennessy from the bottle all night long.

It was just luck that I saw Kanye behaving badly. It would be absurd of me to claim I’m up on what MTV or most modern rock/pop/hip-hop music is dishing out these days. I tuned in to check out Madonna’s opening tribute to Michael Jackson, which was followed by Janet Jackson’s performance. Both were terrif. Madonna looked properly sedate and quite attractive in her somber modesty. Her remarks were from the heart, I felt. Miss Jackson gave it her all; really sensational.

I busied myself with other matters but later, in an inpatient moment of channel surfing, I found myself back at the VMA’s just as Taylor Swift was approaching the podium. The rest, as they say is history. (Kanye, jumping onstage, objected to Swift’s "Best Female Video" win, citing Beyoncé’s video as a preferable choice.)

Of course, it was a terrible moment for Miss Swift – shades of drunken James Mason interrupting Judy Garland’s Oscar acceptance in the movie "A Star Is Born." But today more people know Taylor’s name and face than they ever did 48 hours ago. Beyoncé covered herself with glory by later bringing Taylor onstage to finish her acceptance speech. This after Beyoncé had won her own award.

Kanye West further confirmed his cast-in-stone reputation as … an idiot. But stupid, crazy or just plain drunk, Kanye’s acting out did get everybody’s mind off more serious issues for a minute, and provoked a brief debate on the demise of civility. (Dead for about 15 years, I think!) He also heightened his profile and that’s what certain celebs want more than anything else. They go by the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and often they are correct. I guess one might say Kanye is the Rep. Joe Wilson of the music biz.

Still, the messy outburst was the kind of moment one longs for at the Oscars; stars behaving badly or foolishly, something to talk about other than how long and boring the Academy Awards show is.

It was really a win-win-win situation. For MTV, for Miss Swift – once she recovered from the shock of being dissed – and certainly for Beyoncé, a class act if there ever was one.

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My heart goes out to the family of Patrick Swayze, who really fought the good fight against pancreatic cancer – 20 months! This terrible disease usually takes its victims in less than half that time.

I met Patrick only once, at a Manhattan screening of the movie "City of Joy." It was a project he very much believed in, something different from the roles that made him famous; those depended on his charm and sexy good looks as much as his talent. I remember Patrick as quite sensitive, a bit apprehensive perhaps, underneath his talking up the movie. He was very appealing, remembered something I’d written about his performance in "Ghost" and thanked me. He was wonderful looking, though still suffering a bit from the grueling shoot in India.

Swayze was too young, too vital, too nice to have gone so soon. And despite some fame-induced speed bumps along the way, he and his beautiful wife, dancer Lisa Niemi, made a successful go of their marriage for more than 30 years. In Hollywood, that alone is more than a miracle, and speaks volumes about both Patrick and Lisa.

Lisa and Patrick © Getty Images