An 80 year real estate rivalry may be the back story for what’s really going on between 22 year old country singer Taylor Swift and the Kennedy family in Hyannisport, Massachusetts. There’s a weird yet plausible explanation for the recent real estate transaction that’s seen the alleged Swift purchaseof  the $4.9 million home adjacent to the Kennedy compound.

According to my sources, the Kennedy’s and the original owner of the home, Rockwell C. Tenney, were not friends. Tenney built the house in 1922. “He hated the Kennedy’s,” a source says. He looked at them as interlopers, and had binoculars trained on them from every room. Tenney’s daughter inherited the house and married a man named Lloyd. Her second husband was Robert Spalding Coleman, who died in 1998. Mrs. Coleman, now 92, is said to have been friendly with Ted Kennedy despite her father’s misgivings. But the house is now held in a trust among Mrs. Coleman’s six children including Robert Spalding Coleman, Jr., whose name is on the deed.

At one point, around 2006, the Tenney-Coleman house was on the market for over $13 million. It’s hard to imagine that the Kennedys didn’t want to buy it then even if it was overpriced. But, says one source, the Coleman family would never sell to the Kennedy’s under any circumstances. So it was a stand off. Ironically, Rande Coleman, a member of the family, is a big time real estate broker in New York. But after the recession hit and real estate dropped, the Coleman house went into a deep price spiral downward.

Enter Swift. My sources say that she may be a front for the Kennedy’s, so to speak. What does she really want with a house on Nantucket sound? Swift’s family lives in Nashville, plus she owns a home in Beverly Hills. She’s originally from Pennsylvania. And while the tabloids keep stoking her romance with 18 year old Conor Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy Jr and the later Mary Richardson Kennedy, it should be noted that he returns to Deerfield Academy next month as a senior. He’s still in high school, held back a year. Taylor Swift dating a high school senior? A little odd. Tabloid reality check: “Conor,” says a Hyannisport neighbor, “looks like he’s 15.”

Do the Kennedy’s have a deal with Swift on the house? Will she simply flip it to them? What’s really going on here? The phone for the Coleman house in Hyannisport is forwarded to local law firm that doesn’t answer calls or emails. Rande Coleman has not returned calls or emails. And Swift’s Nashville publicist doesn’t respond to any messages in any format.

Marvin Hamlisch’s funeral at Temple Emanuel on Fifth Avenue was packed, and I mean jammed. Every seat was taken, people were standing. Candice Bergen. Tony Roberts, Tony Danza, Maria Cooper Janis (daughter of Gary Cooper), soap star Ilene Kristen, Kelly Bishop and Priscilla Lopez of the original “A Chorus Line” sat behind me. Liza Minnelli–who sat through all four “visitations” with Marvin’s family–was in the front row. She came with pal Billy Stritch.

Actor Lawrence Luckinbill sat with daughter Kate while her mother and his wife, Lucie Arnaz, sang and mingled with the 300 strong chorus that lined each side of the auditorium. Bill Clinton spoke, so did Leonard Lauder, Sir Howard Stringer, and a few close friends. The most moving part of the service: a speech by Terre, Marvin’s wife. She started strong, but was struggling not to break down at the end.

Exclusive: No one knows for sure exactly what happened to Hamlisch except this: he had had a kidney transplant. According to sources, he’d been ill for two years. He was working, and with his best friend, staying at a hotel in Los Angeles, on a project. The Hamlisches had actually quietly moved to Bedford, New York in the last couple of years, since he’d become ill. The friend heard a terrifying thud from the bathroom. Marvin had keeled over. He was hospitalized but really he was tragically gone. Friends surmise he had had cancer. On stage recently with Lucie Arnaz and Robert Klein, Hamlisch was described as “frail.” What a shame. Terre said he that this week there would have been an announcement that Marvin was taking over the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra.

More stars: Alan Alda. Regis and Joy Philbin came with Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford. Chris Matthews. Idina Menzel sang “At the Ballet” from “A Chorus Line.” It was terribly moving; she was like buttah. The chorus opened the funeral with a beautifully arranged version of “The Way We Were” and ended the service with “What I Did For Love.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

The organ player on stage played lots of Marvin’s hits at the start and end of the funeral. It was the only chance to hear an instrumental version of “Nobody Does It Better” on an organ in a synagogue.

MIA: Barbra Streisand, the Bergmans, Carole Bayer Sager, Carly Simon–due to travel schedules, etc. There should be real memorial services in New York and L.A. Also, Marvin’s mahogany casket was covered with golden Freesia. Very elegant. Some of the flowers sent by the well meaning –lots and lots of huge arrangements, which are not part of any Jewish custom–were given away. Quincy Jones was one of the many who sent, and sent big.

After the funeral, Alan Alda and Richard Gere at separate tables at an Italian bistro on Madison Avenue. Gere brought his whole team from his Foundation. Turns out Marvin had been a heavy supporter of the Dalai Lama. Who knew?

Every era must come to an end, and so today a big one has arrived. Helen Gurley Brown, the pioneering editor of Cosmopolitan, has died at age 90. She put women’s magazine’s on the map, became a cultural icon, and a magnificent New York institution. She died after a short illness. Helen was also married to the late David Brown, one of the great great great (three greats) movie producers of all time. They were the nicest, most elegant, fun and surprising couple. It makes me sad to think that their time is finally over. David’s legacy lives in his films. Helen’s lives in Cosmo and all the careers she launched, women she inspired, girls that she educated. There is no one like her now in publishing. Her book “Sex and the Single Girl,” caused a commotion in 1965 that no one ever got over.

Liz Smith told me: “The most incredible woman I ever worked for or ever met. I never agreed with her but she gave my career a huge boost. She was a great friend.” More to come…