“Remember to look left!” was the advice sportswriter/novelist  Bud Shrake always gave to his protégé, sports columnist Sally Jenkins. Bud, who died recently in Austin at age 77, was talking about stepping off the curb into the street. But Sally sees it as a metaphor for “Don’t forget to check the periphery.” 

I suppose this wouldn’t be a bad piece of advice for the Republican Party these days, because if they don’t start looking left, they’re never going to get back to the middle.

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We will see the New York City Center “Encores! Summer Stars” production (June 12 - July 5) with an appealing new kind of star this summer.

Nigel, a brindle-haired Cairn Terrier, abandoned and then rescued by the Northeast Arkansas Humane Society, follows in the footsteps of Lana Turner when she was discovered by a talent scout years ago sitting at the counter of Schwab’s Drugstore. Award-winning animal trainer Bill Berloni “discovered” Nigel when he was looking for a dog to portray Toto in the musical “The Wiz.”

“Nigel’s headshot just called out to me!” So Nigel will be playing the famous Toto and is currently trying out in Pittsburgh prior to Broadway. Call (212) 581-1212 for tickets to what will be a first for “Encores” – a dog star!

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New York Times reporter and controversial writer Alex Kuczynski and her very rich hubby, Charles Stevenson, have welcomed a new baby boy to their ménage – he is called Luke Porter Pablo Stevenson.

I forget exactly how Luke arrived – whether by in vitro, adoption, regular or Pony Express (his mother always does things differently), but he is very welcome!

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In case you don’t read The New York Times, here’s an anecdote I never heard before written by reporter Ralph Blumenthal about the carousel in Central Park. Carousel chief Sal Napolitano tells this one. “People still ask, ‘Do I have to pay for my kid?’ They asked when it was 15 cents a ride, two rides for a quarter, and now, when it’s $2. The answer is still the same: You have to pay to ride the carousel. You know who once asked me, ‘Do I have to pay if I’m standing up watching my grandchildren?’ Jacqueline Onassis.”  


A Central Park carousel horse/Image: Flickr

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Jane Fonda’s play “33 Variations” has now closed but she performed the final outings on a cane.

This was and wasn’t part of the character’s role. But Jane, whose character ages and grows fatally ill in the drama, did use a cane because of a bum knee.

“I was supposed to have a knee replacement last January,” she said. “When I accepted the play, I postponed the surgery and got cortisone shots.” The shots evidently stopped working and audiences just thought Jane’s cane was a prop.


Jane Fonda © AP

The 71-year-old actress will now reschedule her surgery for June.

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When the world’s best TV critic, Linda Stasi of the  New York Post, and I had lunch recently at Le Cirque, we decided nobody had ever laughed as much in this sacrosanct bastion of the Upper Crust.

Sirio Maccioni joined us for part of our feast and pretended he had never seen the rave review that Linda had given the TV documentary about his famous family. She laughed and said she’d send it to him again.

The Maccionis are going strong, even though, like all restaurateurs these days, they pull a long face, shrug and say “business is – you know, so-so.” In spite of the recession, come next December, they’ll be opening a new eatery in Las Vegas at its City Center. It will be called what Sirio wanted to call his planned café in Paris, the one that hasn’t yet materialized. We’ll be going to Sirio’s in Vegas! Great name.