Thursday, December 18, 2025
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Ladies Home Journal Shutting Down After 131 Years, Announcement Hidden in Earnings Release

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Ladies Home Journal is dead. It’s no longer monthly after 131 years. The news came hidden in an earnings press release from Meredith Publishing earlier this morning.

In the third paragraph of a boring financial notice, this is what is written: “The special items include transaction-related expenses resulting from previously announced agreements to purchase broadcast assets; selected workforce reductions, including those associated with transitioning Ladies’ Home Journal to a special interest publication and closing the Company’s sales force training practice; and certain other non-cash items.”

Huh? That’s how you close a magazine and tell a staff that the jewel in the crown of a publishing company is dead after 13 decades. Remember when Meredith thought they were merging with Time Inc? Things in Iowa must have been worse than they admitted.

Weird side note: for some reason I received a copy of LHJ in the mail the other day. Never asked for it. I guess it’s a souvenir now.

Mariah Carey’s Still Untitled New Album NOT Coming On May 6th

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I don’t know where Mariah Carey’s new album is, but it’s not coming out on May 6th. Postponed from last July 2013, the still untitled collection was scheduled in February for May 6th. A single, “You’re Mine,” was released to promote it. But now the album has been removed from all release schedules. Promo tie-ins for it have been upended.

One insider says it’s because DefJam is still clearing samples and guest stars. But who knows at this point? Mariah released two other singles and a fan club single in the last year, all of which were disappointments. Originally Randy Jackson was managing and producing, then the job skipped to Jermaine Dupri.

What’s going on? This is just a guess: continuing to patch together songs from various producers, as in the past, gets harder and harder. I’ve said this a million times: why, after 25 years, isn’t there an album of Mariah Carey singing standards, produced by a real producer (Tommy LiPuma, Richard Perry, etc). Carey is known for her Voice, yet the Voice never gets to sing real songs? It’s mystifying.

Will the album appear in the month of May? There’s no title, no marketing, nothing. This kind of surprise release worked for Beyonce last winter. It didn’t work quite the same way with Pharrell Williams, even though he has a hit hit hit single with “Happy.”

Here’s crossing our fingers for Mariah. The waiting is the hardest part!

Vanity Fair Throws A-Plus List Party with Robert DeNiro, Mike Myers, Courteney Cox, Etc.

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Graydon Carter knows how to publish a magazine, and he really knows how to throw a party. His annual fete for the Tribeca Film Festival is usually on the front patios of the New York State Supreme Court house in Foley Square. But it was freezing and extremely windy last night, so the party was moved inside the massive Gothic-columned lobby.

This is usually where lawyers, defendants, and judges line up in the morning, go through metal detectors, and hope their appearance doesn’t set off a guard dog. Somehow, VF cleaned the place up, polished the brass fixtures, scrubbed down the alabaster sconces and made it presentable for celebrities and media elite.

Carter, his wife Anna, Robert and Grace DeNiro, and Jane Rosenthal in a beautiful red gown welcomed quite a gang. Mike Myers came with rock manager Shep Gordon, subject of his new documentary. They chatted with Courteney Cox, who has a film at Tribeca, too, as well as director Ron Howard, Bob and Lynn Balaban, and Kate Walsh of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame who just had a cool run in the Fargo TV series.

Also spotted: Christy Turlington with Edward Burns, America Ferrera and her producer-writer husband Ryan, Lake Bell, both Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard of Sony Pictures Classics, uber manager Johnnie Planco and wife Lois, the legendary Boaty Boatwright, CAA’s Josh Lieberman, as well as Peggy Siegal, former NYPD Commish Ray Kelly with wife Veronica, and the ever terrific Sandra Bernhard. Perri Peltz toured the room with Tory Burch. New York Observer published Jared Kushner chatted with the DeNiros, John McEnroe and Patty Smyth.

What made the party so great? Yeah, the people were pretty interesting. But the food was from Per Se. Thomas Keller was lurking around, making sure everything was just so. Was it the food, ‘per se’? Uh, yes. Now I see why restaurant Per Se is so expensive! If only they had sample sales!

And still I made it to the Theater at Madison Square Garden to see Sting, Sam Moore, and Chris Botti go guest spots with Italian rock star Zucchero. Sam and famed rock promoter Ron Delsener, who are the same age and met in the 1960s, greeted each other the same way, trying to beat each other to the punch: “I thought you were dead!” they said as they hugged. Zucchero’s audience stood all the way through his guests’ duets with him. Sting brought the house down with “Every Breath You Take” and “Mad About You.” Sam unleashed a wild version of “Soul Man” and a poignant “You are So Beautiful,” dedicated to Billy Preston.

Meantime, it’s frigid cold and blowing up a storm outside. Everyone’s wearing winter coats on April 23rd. Mike Bloomberg would never have let the weather get so out of hand! Bill DeBlasio, pull some strings already!

 

 

Mark Shand, Brother-in-law of Prince Charles, Adventurer and Environmentalist, Dies after Hitting Head on NYC Sidewalk

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Shock: Mark Shand, the great British adventurer and environmentalist, died at age 63 this morning in New York after falling late last night and hitting his head.

Let me tell you why I am so shocked. Before Mark and some friends went over to the Diamond Horseshoe club on West 46th St., he hosted a benefit fundraiser at Sotheby’s for his elephant charity. Jamie Niven helped auction off dozens of Faberge-produced “eggs” designed by artists. One of them, by Jeff Koons, sold for $850,000. The night was a total success.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legend Sam Moore, at Shand’s request, brought his whole band including the Uptown Horns, and did a 30 minute set. The whole place was dancing. I was there. Shand danced to “Soul Man” and Moore’s other hits, took the microphone, and sang Sam’s praises. He showed us the elephant tattoo on his right forearm and said, “I got this when I first went to save the elephants.”

One of the eggs was signed by Prince Charles and Shand’s sister,  Camilla Parker -Bowles. The artist turned it into Humpty Dumpty. Everyone wanted it.

It was the one and only time I ever spent in the company of Mark Shand. Even if he hadn’t died, suddenly and tragically, today, I would have told he was one of the most charming, down to earth, nicest people I’d ever met.  The fact that he died in accident a short time later is just stunning. I’m sure everyone who was at Sotheby’s, including his daughter, is in shock.

Lesson that can never be over-stated: Life is precious. Live every day to the fullest.

Justin Bieber Makes Religious, Social and Grammatical Faux Pax in Japan

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Poor Justin Bieber. Wherever he goes, social problems follow. Remember when he went to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam? He wrote that he knew the most famous victim of the Holocaust would have been a “Belieber.”

Now Justin’s in Japan, where he stopped by a shrine to World War II military criminals. Of course, he offered prayers– to criminals– then sent the whole thing out on Instagram.

He later replaced the picture of him bowing his head in front of the shrine with a snapshot of a Time magazine headline.

Bieber then wrote on Instagram:

“While in Japan I asked my driver to pull over for which I saw a beautiful shrine. I was mislead to think the Shrines were only a place of prayer. To anyone I have offended I am extremely sorry. I love you China and I love you Japan”

The first sentence is not written in grammatical English. “For which I saw”– what is that? Then “I was mislead”? Does he mean “misled”? Sayonara, Justin.

Japanese fans were not amused by all this.

Here’s one example:

hermione_mqy @sammyk8gelinas ,as a Chinese ,it’s really hurt.if he was a little mature,he wouldn’t walk into that place casually.that place is forbidden for guests as far as I know.maybe I’m too tired to love him.a childish boy,wish him to be a more mature man.
Here’s another:
charlene_yeo @rara0691 I think when he already knew the picture offended so many people all over the world, he should apologize.but he just deleted it and posted another pic with some guy in the shrine. That s the point that I think we are mad about him
And:
moeishida that particular shrine honours all the people who lost their lives because of the war…its not just for the war criminals. among the many people honoured are children and women, people who didn’t directly take part in the fighting.
bieber_shrine1

Broadway: Neil Patrick Harris Will Get The Tony Award Everyone Wants to Give Him

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The Tony Awards and the Broadway cognoscenti want to give Neil Patrick Harris a Tony Award so badly you actually hear it whispered in the wind near the Booth Theater. Just close your eyes and the chatter gets louder. He’s hosted the Tonys a few times, he’s a song and dance man, he can play just about every position the show business ballfield. This year it would take Zero Mostel resurrected from the grave to block the former Doogie Howser, MD from getting the Best Actor in a Musical award for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

The revival of “Hedwig” opened last night; I saw it on Saturday night because of a scheduling conflict. The audience, with few exceptions, went wild through the whole show– and there’s no intermission. The original 1998 show has been amended and padded out to make it a Broadway length– roughly 100 minutes. There are plenty of fresh topical references, as well as a long history of the Belasco Theater explained by Hedwig. It makes no sense, since Hedwig is supposed to be a gender bending gay punk star in East Berlin circa 1988. So suspend disbelief.

The new Hedwig script also entails a long ramble about the Shuberts and their leader, Bob Wankel. It’s funny, I guess, if you know inside theater stuff. Otherwise, it’s one of too many odd digressions.

“Hedwig” rises and falls on Harris. He’s the whole show, and has no understudy. The crowd outside to greet him after the show and get an autograph is deep and unyielding. This is How I Met Your Musical Comedy Star.

“Hedwig” is LOUD. Really LOUD. The songs are good rock songs, very catchy. But some of them are so loud, so faux punk, you have no idea what Hedwig is singing about. I will tell you: on his way to being transgender, Hedwig was disgendered surgically. His ‘angry inch’ is a former penis that is not a vagina. That’s Hedwig’s story and he/she’s sticking to it. And that is the whole story.

Or maybe the whole story is about fitting in and finding yourself. This is all Hedwig wants. Harris is not as moving as the show’s creator, John Cameron Mitchell, was years ago. But times have changed, too. Harris plays it as Hedwig’s right, and dammit, he’s going to have everything. He even sings a bit of the defiant anthem “I Am Woman.”

There are a lot of people in the Broadway theater community who want Jefferson Mays to win Best Actor in a Musical for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” Good luck with that. Harris is headed to a coronation, unless something goes very wrong.

Friars Roast Burned: Gilbert Gottfried’s Dirtiest Joke Ever Sends Legend Shecky Greene Out the Door

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Last night’s Friars dinner for legendary comics Freddy Roman and Stewie Stone made history.

Nasal comedian Gilbert Gottfried told a joke “so dirty and disgusting” — according to sources– that legendary comic Shecky Greene up and left. He left not only the Pierre Hotel ballroom, but possibly the Friars Club as well. Joy Behar, who was in the audience, was asked to sub for him. “And she did a great job,” my source said.

I’m waiting now for Shecky to check in.

But sources say Greene was on deck after Gottfried finished up. Gottfried, relieved of his duties as the voice of the AFLAC duck after another controversy, couldn’t resist. Apparently the joke he told was much much worse than the “Aristocrats,” a joke so filthy that a whole documentary was made about it.

I can’t really reprint the joke here. It has to do with hemorrhoids. And something else.

“People were throwing up, especially the older people,” says my source.

Greene, in his late 80s, was horrified. He’s so mad that he left the hotel and vowed to quit the Friars. Today he missed eating lunch with another legend, Larry Storch, 91, and former star of “F Troop.”

Storch was consoled by pals Stewie Stone, and the great Norm Crosby, who were already lunching at the Friars.

Other comic greats at the dinner included Robert Klein, Dick Capri and Lainie Kazan. Sopranos star Dominic Chianese and singer Tony Orlando also attended.

Broadway: Hollywood Stars Denzel, Franco, Radcliffe Snubbed by Outer Critics Circle Awards

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Denzel Washington, James Franco, and Daniel Radcliffe came to Broadway looking for love. But the Outer Critics Circle, the first group to hand out nominations for this season, didn’t give it to them. None of them were nominated. Neither were Daniel Craig nor Rachel Weisz for “Betrayal.”

A few Hollywood types did make the cut. Bryan Cranston was nominated for playing LBJ. Neil Patrick Harris made the cut for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Michelle Williams got a nod for “Cabaret.” Audra McDonald, who’s really from Broadway but has a TV resume too now, was nominated for playing Billie Holliday.

Idina Menzel was ‘frozen’ out of Best Actress in a Musical for “If/Then.”

Woody Allen’s “Bullets over Broadway” did not make the cut for Best Original Musical. The revival of “A Raisin in the Sun” as well didn’t find favor with the large and influential critics group. But some of the actors from both shows made it in.

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Act One
All The Way
Casa Valentina
Outside Mullingar
The Realistic Joneses

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
After Midnight
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Rocky

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Appropriate
Choir Boy
The Explorer’s Club
The Heir Apparent
Stage Kiss

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Far From Heaven
Fun Home
Murder For Two
Storyville
What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Rocky

OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Aladdin
The Bridges of Madison County
Fun Home
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
If/Then

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Glass Menagerie
Machinal
Twelfth Night
The Winslow Boy

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Cabaret
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Les Misérables
Violet

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Lindsay Posner, The Winslow Boy
Bill Rauch, All The Way
Lyndsey Turner, Machinal

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Laurence Connor and James Powell, Les Misérables
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Alex Timbers, Rocky
Dark Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Peggy Hickey, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine, Rocky
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Beowulf Boritt, Act One
Bob Crowley, Aladdin
Es Devlin, Machinal
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Gregg Barnes, Aladdin
Linda Cho, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
Isabel Toledo, After Midnight

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Kevin Adams, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Howell Binkley, After Midnight
Paule Constable, Les Misérables
Natasha Katz, Aladdin
Philip S. Rosenberg, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Ian McKellen, No Man’s Land
Brían F. O’Byrne, Outside Mullingar
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
Tony Shalhoub, Act One

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
Rebecca Hall, Machinal
Jessica Hecht, Stage Kiss
Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
Estelle Parsons, The Velocity of Autumn

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Sutton Foster, Violet
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Michelle Williams, Cabaret

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Paul Chahidi, Twelfth Night
Michael Cyril Creighton, Stage Kiss
John McMartin, All The Way
Alessandro Nivola, The Winslow Boy
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Barbara Barrie, I Remember Mama
Andrea Martin, Act One
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun
Anika Noni Rose, A Raisin in the Sun
Mare Winningham, Casa Valentina

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Jarrod Spector, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Marin Mazzie, Bullets Over Broadway
Lisa O’Hare, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, How I Learned What I Learned
Alexandra Silber, Arlington
John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf

JOHN GASSNER AWARD
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Scott Z. Burns, The Library
Eric Dufault , Year of the Rooster
Madeleine George, The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence
Steven Levenson, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Lauren Yee, The Hatmaker’s Wife

Michael Jackson Was in Business with One of the “X Men” Pedophile Defendants (Exclusive)

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EXCLUSIVE I know. You’re thinking: Is this possible? But in the mid 90s Michael Jackson went into business with Gary Goddard, now one of the defendants announced today in the so-called “X Men” pedophile cases. The business was Landmark Entertainment, and it was designed to build theme parks. Jackson, Goddard, and Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia were all partners in it.

Goddard has a picture of himself, Jackson and the Prince in a three way handshake at the time of the consummation of their deals.

This was during a time also in the mid 1990s when the Prince and his main aide, Tarak Ben Ammar, were managing Michael’s career. It’s the same time, coincidentally, when Goddard, then working with the Prince and Michael Jackson, is accused of allegedly being involved in parties with underage boys.

At that time, Jackson was in a kind of career limbo, between his scandals and the 2001 release of “Invincible.” He was also going broke quickly and hoping the Prince would bail him out. Kingdom Entertainment–an outgrowth of the Prince’s Landmark Entertainment– was supposed to do that but it didn’t.

Soon after all this, Michael’s best friend and adviser became Marc Schaffel, a producer of gay pornography.

Simply by coincidence, Michael Jackson was arrested for, and acquitted of, child molestation a few years later. Rumors even in the mid 90s of Jackson’s problems with boys never fazed Prince Alwaleed.

Now Goddard– who according to his website is still in business with Prince Alwaleed– is accused by Michael Egan III of plying him with drugs and participating in sex parties, even though Egan was about 14 or 15. The events are alleged to have taken place in the homes of a convicted child molester.

 Here’s a video well worth watching of Jackson, et al:

 

“X Men” Lawsuit Widens: Accuser’s Lawyer Names Names Including Broadway Producer, Disney and CNN Ex-Producers

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Attorney Jeff Herman at presser today at Four Seasons Hotel. He filed lawsuits today against three men who allegedly gave Michael Egan III drugs and threw sex parties where he was attacked. The men are Garth Ancier, Gary Goddard, and David Neuman. All of the allegations concerning sex and drugs at Hawaii parties where Egan was abused are alleged.

Ancier is the biggest name. He ran two of the three biggest broadcast networks. He’s former chairman of BBC America.  David Neuman is a former Disney president and chief programmer at CNN. Goddard has an entertainment company. He produced the Broadway revival of “Hair” and several other Broadway shows. His original company was Landmark Entertainment.

Obviously, in these lawsuits everyone named is innocent until proven guilty. But Herman has created a tsunami in Hollywood. He brought Egan’s mother, Bonnie Mound, a very believable potential witness who has a lot of evidence and ammunition not only against the defendants but about FBI agents whom she says ignored her.

The allegations and lawsuit against Singer are so bad that 20th Century Fox has removed Singer from all “X Men” publicity.

Herman told the press that threats of lawsuits from Marty Singer, professional Hollywood bulldog. “I won’t be bullied and I’m not going to be scared,” he said.

Last week Herman sued “X Men” director Bryan Singer (no relation to his lawyer, Marty) for allegedly raping and giving drugs to Egan when he was a teenager. The events took place at parties in Los Angeles and Hawaii, at a home owned by convicted pedophile Marc Collins-Rector.