Esther Kartiganer, the beloved and long standing producer and sort of “show runner” of “60 Minutes” during its heyday died on August 1st age 74. According to a report in the Brandeis University newsletter, Esther succumbed to a heart attack on a chairlift in Aspen, where she had a second home. I met Esther around 1983. She was sort of the unofficial show runner of “60 Minutes” and worked for Don Hewitt alongside such other CBS veterans as Shirley and Joe Wershba. This was during the time when “60 Minutes” was the only prime time news show, and when anything that happened on it changed lives and rocked our worlds. Esther was a serious journalist who took Don Hewitt and Mike Wallace’s business seriously. She was a true professional and a great friend when I was a book publicist in the 1980s and later when I’d pitch ideas to her just for fun. Here’s the Brandeis link. Condolences to her family, and to her friend Geri who at least paid for a proper posting in the New York Times. CBS News should take out a full page ad for Esther Kartiganer. She was their wise owl and loyal soldier. http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2012/august/kartiganer.html

Janet Jackson and siblings Rebbie and Randy are not stopping the fight to overturn Michael Jackson’s Will. They seem to have lost Jermaine, however. Janet put a statement from their lawyer, Blair Brown (not the famous actress) on her website, in which she and the remaining three vowed to keep fighting for “what Michael wanted.” What Michael wanted, however, was for all them to go away, and not be interested in his money. Paris Jackson Tweeted something to that effect today. Janet Jackson is no longer “the normal Jackson.” Her interest in this is peculiar to say the least. So is her antipathy to Michael’s co-executor John McClain. Without McClain, Janet would never have had a singing career. At this point, she’d be better off writing Randy a check and shutting this thing down.  Janet, Randy, and Rebbie’s letter is beyond clueless. They’re claiming the estate is managed badly. When Michael was alive, he was the defendant in dozens of lawsuits, and had nearly $400 million in debts. He had no home. Since he died, the estate has earned hundreds of millions of dollars; his children are secure for life. What the heck are these people talking about? Here’s a reproduction of the letter:

For many weeks I’ve kept the secret that Rosie O’Donnell’s beloved fiancee was very ill.  I can tell you that lovely Michelle Rounds became ill on May 13th and was rushed to the hospital. Ever since then it’s been back and forth as tumors keep re-forming inside her. Rosie had managed to keep the whole thing quiet, but I guess someone found out. She’s posted a poem to her blog and indicates that the tabloids were about to pounce. Here’s the poem. The tumors are called Desmoid Tumors. http://www.dtrf.org/#

from rosie.com:

took mish 2 malibu
drove to napa
stopped in big sur
heaven on earth

it was a honeymoon
before the wedding
pure bliss
we laughed loved listened

then blink – it begins
on mothers day
morning pain
that won’t let up

we wander thru the maze of medical mystery
confused – scared
mish gets even smaller
i get even bigger – sugar my solace

i wake many mornings
in a darkened room
on a roll away cot
with good n plenty stuck in my matted hair

undiagnosed – again and again
her pain grew worse
it seemed impossible
no one knew what was wrong

life changes in an instant

desmoid tumors
odd and curious beasts
strong and sneaky
a non cancer that acts cancerous

only 900 cases a year in the US
an orphan disease – beyond rare
only 3 people per million get this
michelle is one of them

she is recovering from surgery in june
getting stronger every day
we have joined the fight against this disease
raising money and awareness

we had to postpone our wedding
re scheduled for next summer
in lieu of gifts –
we ask for donations

good thoughts
wishes
prayers
all welcomed

Patrick Page, the Tony nominated actor who stole “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark,” is leaving the show. He’s been with it for almost two years and was never injured–that we know of. Page stole every performance, and was the real star of “Spider Man.” His role was actually increased in size when the show retooled in the spring of 2011. Alas, the Green Goblin aka Norman Osbourne, has had enough of tinkling the giant piano keys on stage while aerialists all around him flew by. His last show is this weekend, and he’ll be replaced by Robert Cuccioli of “Jekyll and Hyde” fame. Patrick Page is married to TV’s Page Davis, by the way, making her Page Page. She and Lauren Lauren (originally Bush) should start a club!

Anyway, reports from London are that “Spider Man” cannot find a home there. No exiting theater is suitable. They’re not big enough. They’d either have to build a theater or put on the show in the O2 Arena. This may be a problem everywhere. And if theaters are hard to find, “Spider Man” will face financial trouble. Its whole model is about bringing it to other cities. Of course, the producers will have to pay creator Julie Taymor royalties if they do set up shop elsewhere. It was decided in arbitration that she wrote the show. She’s still suing over her copyright, however.

Katherine Jackson had to file an affadavit today with Judge Mitchell Beckloff to explain why she left her three grandchildren without a guardian for 10 days. Mrs. Jackson was restored to co-guardianship with grandson TJ. But she also finally ‘fessed up to what happened to her on that trip to Arizona and it’s not pretty. Jackson tells the court that was supposed to go to New Mexico, but wound up in Tucson. When she got to Miraval Spa, her Ipad was taken away.The phone in her room was unplugged and her television had no picture.

“While there was a telephone in my room, the telephone was not functioning. and I could not dial out,” Mrs. Jackson writes of her stay at Miraval, a very expensive spa with phones in every room. This column was first to report that fact. Miraval may have to answer questions about how they let this go on. The TV didn’t work. An 82 year old woman was cut off from the outside world in their spa against her will. “Despite repeated requests,” she says, the television was never fixed.

Mrs. Jackson also states that she was never informed that Perry Sanders, her attorney, had flown to Tucson to see her. Janet and Jermaine Jackson, who met Sanders at Miraval, refused to let him in. They also told him that certain parts of the hotel had no phones. It was an elaborate lie by them to isolate their mother.

Mrs. Jackson says that she was kept from speaking to Paris, Prince, Blanket and TJ until the night before she left Tucson. “I was permitted” to speak to them, she says. This differs completely from what she told ABC News with Jermaine, Janet and Randy at her side in Tucscon while an ABC News producer recorded her written statement. ABC also agreed not to ask questions. The wording of Mrs. Jackson’s statement certainly suggests that she was under duress. ABC was complicit in trying to get an exclusive. “I trusted the people I was with to be honest with me,” Mrs. Jackson says. They clearly were not.”I never would have gone such a long time without communicating with [my grandchildren].”

Did Tom Cruise short circuit Katie Holmes’s plans to send daughter Suri to Catholic School? Remember earlier last month it was widely reported that Suri would be attending the Convent of the Sacred Heart, which is near Katie’s apartment in Chelsea on Seventh Avenue? That dream seems to have died.

If Life & Style magazine is right, Suri is now going to be in the first ever class of the new Avenues school, also in Chelsea. Avenues is non denominational. It’s also run by Chris Whittle as part of his Edison Project, with former Yale University head Benno Schmidt as CEO. Whittle, who owned Esquire magazine back before cell phones, went off to start schools all over the country.

Holmes is Catholic and wanted Suri in a Catholic school. But Cruise –as anyone knows who isn’t living in a space ship–is a Scientologist. He told Diane Sawyer once that there are “Jewish Scientologists and Catholic Scientologists. We’re just Scientologists.” If Holmes disallowed Suri from Scientology school, Cruise may have countered with anti-Catholic request. Hence, Avenues. Calls to Holmes’s publicist were not returned. Either way, Suri should do fine with an Edison school. And she won’t have to wear a uniform!