‘WE THOUGHT she [Hillary Clinton] would be a steadier hand as president than Sen. Barack Obama would be, with more hawkish instincts and greater political realism,” write the National Review editors, explaining why some conservatives have been saying “nice things” about New York’s senator.
Another statement from these natural heirs to William F. Buckley Jr. puts it like so: “This is a great country. Even a black man with no discernible accomplishments can become president.”
ACCORDING TO the box office, nowa days we are all waiting to be rescued by superheroes and overdeveloped maestros of masculinity.
These “heroes” leap tall buildings in a single bound, lift impossibly heavy objects, toss them around, fly, and so forth. As you know, we are again in the hands of Batman. (Christian Bale‘s costume has no nipples to embarrass him as when George Clooney played the role in “Batman & Robin.”)
So, the hot, hot “Dark Knight” has surpassed Spider-Man, Hellboy, the Hulk, Iron Man, Indiana Jones and Will Smith, who recently played a homeless bum with superhuman powers.
Actually, most of the men I know in real life are not as strong and powerful as the women to whom they are married. So these “heroes” must be just plain wishful thinking. Of course, as no man is a hero to his own valet, Christian Bale may not seem so great to Jenny and Sharon Bale of Great Britain. The mother and sister of the actor went to a Hampshire police station and swore out a complaint against their Welsh hero son and brother for “assaulting” them – on the very premiere day of “The Dark Knight” in London! The police let Mr. Bale attend the opening, questioned him, released him, and we’ll see if he is eventually charged with anything. He is a guy who’ll play a hero again in the next “Terminator Salvation” movie.
Christian Bale played a serial killer torturer in “American Psycho” back in 2000, so now everybody’s linking that movie to his not getting along with his own womenfolk. A big stretch, but still . . . !
HIS MANY friends and admirers are sighing with relief to learn that the famous director Mike Nichols has now already gone home from the hospital after heart surgery and is ready to recuperate in Martha’s Vineyard. He has been calling pals, speaking personally, to assure them he is OK.
AND CONTINUING to fill the list of those who worked with Clay Felker during his triumphal magazine career, let’s add the “Court TV” smartie Steve Brill and Clay’s first publisher, the unforgettable George Hirsch. (This item turns out to be like Generalissimo Franco’s death on “Saturday Night Live.” It never ends!)
MERYL STREEP kindly corrects us and the Internet bio sites that have it all wrong, gently declaring that she never said she could sing better than Madonna. “I can’t, and I never said I could. Plus, I can’t dance at all!”
SAMMY’S Roumanian Steak House has a comedian as an owner. David Zimmerman says his wife, Rona – who made him a first-time father, via little Dylan Samuel – is “definitely a member of the CIA. She’s Canadian-Israeli-American.”
RAN INTO my good friend, the writer Dominick Dunne at the popular River Tavern in Chester, Conn. He was being interviewed by an ace newsman from London, Nick Brown. (He wrote the brilliant bio on Phil Spector.)
Dominick was looking fine, but at the end of this month the Vanity Fair columnist is having a fairly serious operation and so his many pals, led by Bonnie Russell, asked celebrity reporter Harvey Levin to create DominicksDiary.com. Fans can send Dominick a happy message.
IT’S REFRESHING how so many un knowns and wannabes for Broadway operate in the underground, even before off-Broadway. Recently at the Producers’ Club, 358 W. 44th, I saw a very funny 45-minute offering in the Bad Musicals Festival 2008. This was the aforementioned “Charlie Chang and the Mysterious Salami,” by lyricist-writer Anne Berlin and music’s Andy Cohen. It is a daring tribute to political incorrectness when it comes to class, color, creed and everything else!
Actually, in spite of some very bad acting on the part of a few, this was a hilarious event, directed quite brilliantly by one Tony Spinosa. He managed to score even with the tiny stage and a slow motion sequence wherein the villain is killed by two aptly thrown Manolo Blahnik shoes. Or maybe they were Jimmy Choos.
If you’re in NYC, catch this laugh riot Saturday, as well as July 31 and Aug. 5. And the actors who did manage to project Ms. Berlin’s fascinatingly funny lyrics stood out – Carlyn Connoly, Jordan Hue, Tom Schubert, Kali Weeks, Nick Kourtis and Philip Groft. Legit agents should be looking at all these young actors. And, in fact, Berlin and Cohen are already being sought out by music companies.
WE RAVED about Jennifer Westfeldt this week already. Little did we know that the girlfriend of “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm was opening yesterday in a new play called “Finks” at the Powerhouse Theater in Poughkeepsie. Her leading man is Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother.”