Katie's Big Dilemma | Clinton Donor #1: Barbra Streisand, Of Course | Madonna, Marriage And Discrepencies | Holiday Gifts; Star Trek Farewell
Katie Holmes is facing one of the biggest choices of her life.
At issue: January 11th, 2009. It’s the final performance of “All My Sons” on Broadway. In New York. On the East Coast.
However: on the west coast, hubby Tom Cruise is nominated for Best Supporting Actor (suppress that laughter) for his brief comic turn in “Tropic Thunder.”
Cruise is like the King of the Globes, their most desired participant for TV ratings, bigger even than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The actor will be only two weeks into the launch of his movie, “Valkyrie,” and the Globes show may be his final publicity pitch.
So what to do?
Ina Treciokas, Katie’s press rep, answers the question definitively. “Katie’s decided to stay and her do last show,” Ina tells me. “She won’t be going with Tom to the Globes. The cast of 'All My Sons' has been like a family and they want to end it together.”
Indeed, while some (ahem—Jeremy Piven) Hollywood types have been not totally devoted to their Broadway shows, Holmes has been a stalwart. She hasn’t missed a performance, as far as I know. She’s remained devoted to the play even though she’s got the smallest of the four leads.
So who will Tom bring to the Globes? Will it be mom Mary Lee, who until recently was living with Tom and Katie and now resides at the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood? Or maybe daughter, Isabella, whose mom is Nicole Kidman? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Clinton Donor #1: Barbra Streisand, Of Course
One of the most interesting entries on the Clinton Foundation donors list: Barbra Streisand.
The greatest popular singer of modern times has been long been enamored of Bill Clinton. That’s not a secret. The real surprise is that it took her so long to donate money to his library and foundation.
According to her own 2006 federal tax filing, Streisand has made one and only contribution to Clinton of $500,000. She made a special note that it was for what the Clinton Foundation was doing about climate change.
Streisand is not the only celebrity in the Clinton Foundation list who gave between $500,000 and a million dollars. Steven Spielberg, the late Paul Newman, and David Geffen are also on that list. Streisand and Spielberg share a foundation adviser, the very brilliant Margery Tabankin, who’s worked in Democratic party circles for years. One look at either stars’ charitable filings and you can see Tabankin’s handiwork: all the I’s are dotted and t’s crossed. Nice work.
Streisand’s half million dollar check represented about half of what she gave in total for 2006. Even more impressive is looking back through her filings for the Streisand Foundation over the last decade. She’s very quietly given away millions of dollars, evenly and thoroughly to numerous humanitarian, health and arts organizations. Frankly, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences should be rewarding Streisand with its Irving J. Thalberg Award. Who knew? Unlike some stars who toot their charity horns, Streisand has been incredibly mute on the subject.
There are no other movie star types at the upper echelon Clinton’s supporters, although the mid-range—from $100,000 to $500,000—is pretty interesting. That’s where you find Denise Rich, who this column first reported in January 2001 gave Clinton $450,000 coincidentally around the time her ex husband Marc Rich, was pardoned; also New Yorkers like Craig Hatkoff of the Tribeca Film Festival, Edgar Bronfman (unclear if it’s junior or senior), grocery magnate and possible mayoral candidate John Catisimitidis, and Thomas Barrack, the man who now owns Michael Jackson.
Studying the rest of the Clinton Foundation’s donors is a little bit more difficult since the organization’s web site may be one of the worst ever. Few of the links work, there’s no search engine, and the whole thing looks like it was put together in 1996. Considering that Clinton’s Vice President Al Gore “invented” the Internet you’d think they could have put together something a bit more modern and useful. Unless, of course, that was the whole point…
On a kind of separate note: Spielberg’s Wunderkinder Foundation, by the way, the one which he says was looted by alleged Ponzi mastermind Bernie Madoff claimed a stunning $73 million in assets in 2007. Wunderkinder finished 2007 claiming that it had $18 million in asset—corporate stock investments. Is this money all gone thanks to Madoff? Possibly. That would leave Wunderkinder injured but far from dead. Luckily, Spielberg also claimed $24 mil in government bonds.
Madonna, Marriage And Discrepencies
What’s going on in Madonnaland? Her loyal and trusted pr Liz Rosenberg issued an announcement that Madge and Guy Ritchie had settled on $72 million. Liz never says anything about Madonna unless the overly toned one concurs. But then there’s word that Madonna and Guy put out there own press release denying Liz’s release. Soon Liz and Madonna may be coming to a parting of the ways, anyway. Liz works for Warner Music, which Madonna has left for Live Nation. At WMG, Liz is the only link to the past, real record company other than Seymour Stein. She may actually be cemented into her office.
Meantime, Jill Brooke writes at www.firstwivesworld.com, and The Huffington Post, that celebrity marriages actually last longer than the national average.
Jill observes: “Sure, comedian Chris Kattan and Sunshine Tutt held this year's record for the shortest marriage, only 16 weeks and "Private Practice" star Kate Walsh and TV exec Andrew Young lasted 15 months.But many of those who split were together for more than 20 years. Those couples include Morgan Freeman, 24 years, Hulk and Linda Hogan, 24 years, and Ronnie and Jo Wood, 23 years.Couples who lasted longer than 10 years included Dylan McDermott and Shiva Rose - 13 years; Marg Helgenberger and Alan Rosenberg -19 years; Tea Leoni and David Duchovny - 11 years; and Robin and Marsha Williams - 19 years.”
So there!
Holiday Gifts; Star Trek Farewell
I tell you every year about Dick Sequerra, one of the founders of Marantz and one of the original geniuses of the hi fi biz. He still sells his Met 7.7 speakers, maybe the best in the world for their size and price, at www.sequerra.com/electronics. Call him if you need them fast. The Met 7.7’s are the “secret” in the world of celeb audio appreciation…
…Two New York art galleries—the kind that the stars and the wealth go to— are offering all kinds of interesting deals. These are real galleries, by the way, not the kind that sell velvet paintings of dogs playing poker. Check out www.jimkempner.com, www.maryryangallery.com, and www.boltaxgallery.com...
…Sad to note the passing of Maj Rodenberry, the actress and widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry. She was 76, and carried on her husband’s legacy beautifully. “Star Trek” fanatics, like my brother Paul, were well aware of her in the original series 1966-69, as well. It’s the end of an era…
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox