As readers of this blog on www.RichAndFamousTours.com know, I’m a creature of the grimy streets of New York City, leading Rich and Famous Tours all day and sometimes at night. Well, dear blog readers who are fans of “Harry Potter” or Daniel Radcliffe, you should know that there have been several “street sitings” of Harry/Daniel--all on West 22nd Street near Sixth Avenue. I spotted him once, nonchalantly strolling west, and a couple of friends of mine have reported seeing him—also on West 22nd Street—at various times of day and night. Everyone knows he’s in town for his Broadway debut in September in “Equus” at the Broadhurst Theatre on West 44th Street. These spotting go back to mid-summer, so he’s obviously leased (or bought?) an apartment in the fashionable Chelsea neighborhood around the corner from the Flatiron Building and Ladies Mile, the historic re-born 19th century Department Store District (check my later blog). Someone should tell Mr. Radcliffe that this area is heavily populated by gay boys and an excessive number of gay clubs…but perhaps he knows that?
There also are quite a number of heterosexual celebs in the area …when it comes to socializing with other celebs, someone should tell Daniel (Harry) that West 22nd Street boasts Titanic's Kate Winslet with her kids and husband, director Sam Mendes (more Brits in the ‘hood), as well as Roseanne Cash, daughter of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter of country music fame. My old pal, Broadway diva Donna Murphy has been on 22nd Street for years as well as a playwright friend of mine, and movie star Julianne Moore is not too far away neither is Julia Roberts. Chelsea Clinton is on West 23rd Street in the same building where Desperate Housewife Terri Hatcher keeps her New York boudoir when she’s not in L.A.
For celebrity walks, contact: www.richandfamoustours.com
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
IGLTA New York City Cocktail Party Tonight at Novotel Hotel
Tonight Rich & Famous Tours – www.richandfamoustours.com --attended the IGLTA (International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association) cocktail party held at the Novotel in midtown Manhattan. Every gay person in the Greater New York or Northeast tour/travel industry or everybody that hopes to cash in on the lucrative gay & lesbian tourism market were there tonight. The weather was fabulous…warm and summery with a light breeze and low humidity—a good hair day in other words. The party was held on the Novotel’s fabulous outdoor terrace overlooking Times Square—a choice spot for viewing such events as The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ceremonies!
I told many of the people who would listen about the interesting, quirky history of the structure of the Novotel New York City hotel-- originally one of many rather ordinary buildings built during the pre-1929 building boom and planned to be a skyscraper. When the market crashed, the builders slapped the roof on top of the building at the seventh floor, and it became just a typical midtown Manhattan office structure for 60 years, until Novotel purchased the building nearly 20 years ago and at long last added a tower to the original seven floors, creating the hotel as we know it. Ahh New York City: always being reinvented by new generations!
We were there representing Rich & Famous Tours of New York City - www.richandfamoustours.com –just swapping business cards and attempting to tell everyone in the New York City tourism industry that there is a FABULOUS new “celebrity tour” in NYC. Who was there? An assortment of hotel managers and concierges, many travel agents, consultants, event planners, p.r. people, gay media reps and a hodge-podge of both domestic and international travel folk.
Attendees included: IGLTA Executive Director John Tanzella (whose office apparently is in Fort Lauderdale, FL), Richard Yaeger, Dir. Of Sales at CTN (Consortium Tours of North America), Richard Krieger, Managing Director of Prideworld Travel, based here in The Big Apple, Keith Hickman, Director of Ziptogaytravel.com, Keith Hickman, Director of Marketing at Travel Impressions, Robert Aaron, Sales & Marketing Director of Empire Hotel Group in New York City (owners of The Lucerne Hotel, The Belvedere (one of my favorites in NYC), the Travel Inn (a favorite with tour groups and travelers with cars because of its FREE PARKING), and others scattered around New York City.
There were reps. from hotels like Emilio Morales, Reservation Manager of the Hotel Newton on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, and Monica Spencer Ramos, Director of Sales at The Lucerne. There were also many reporters from various gay magazines like Genre and various gay and mainstream newspapers. Ketel vodka was a sponsor so it was an open bar, specializing in cosmos and other drinks mixed with Ketel…delicious!
I told many of the people who would listen about the interesting, quirky history of the structure of the Novotel New York City hotel-- originally one of many rather ordinary buildings built during the pre-1929 building boom and planned to be a skyscraper. When the market crashed, the builders slapped the roof on top of the building at the seventh floor, and it became just a typical midtown Manhattan office structure for 60 years, until Novotel purchased the building nearly 20 years ago and at long last added a tower to the original seven floors, creating the hotel as we know it. Ahh New York City: always being reinvented by new generations!
We were there representing Rich & Famous Tours of New York City - www.richandfamoustours.com –just swapping business cards and attempting to tell everyone in the New York City tourism industry that there is a FABULOUS new “celebrity tour” in NYC. Who was there? An assortment of hotel managers and concierges, many travel agents, consultants, event planners, p.r. people, gay media reps and a hodge-podge of both domestic and international travel folk.
Attendees included: IGLTA Executive Director John Tanzella (whose office apparently is in Fort Lauderdale, FL), Richard Yaeger, Dir. Of Sales at CTN (Consortium Tours of North America), Richard Krieger, Managing Director of Prideworld Travel, based here in The Big Apple, Keith Hickman, Director of Ziptogaytravel.com, Keith Hickman, Director of Marketing at Travel Impressions, Robert Aaron, Sales & Marketing Director of Empire Hotel Group in New York City (owners of The Lucerne Hotel, The Belvedere (one of my favorites in NYC), the Travel Inn (a favorite with tour groups and travelers with cars because of its FREE PARKING), and others scattered around New York City.
There were reps. from hotels like Emilio Morales, Reservation Manager of the Hotel Newton on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, and Monica Spencer Ramos, Director of Sales at The Lucerne. There were also many reporters from various gay magazines like Genre and various gay and mainstream newspapers. Ketel vodka was a sponsor so it was an open bar, specializing in cosmos and other drinks mixed with Ketel…delicious!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Memories of Night of 100 Stars
My former teacher Louise Hay (You Can Heal Your Life) believes: “whatever energy we put out, we get back…the universe listens.” I’ve always had celebrity experiences because this is the energy I put out…and consequently these have become part of my tours. Years ago I obtained a job at Radio City Music Hall which led me to work on mega-charity event NIGHT OF 100 STARS and its sequels.
I was assigned to the Green Room which was rather like putting the mouse in charge of the cheese. My job was to keep the celebs happy with flattery and small talk and escort them to/from the stage, trying not to gush or drool on them. Celebs were running around backstage like giggling chorus kids getting pictures and autographs of OTHER celebrities. Radio City only has about 20 dressing rooms, so we were forced to pack them with major names. Most didn’t argue because it was for charity. I recently came across my dressing room assignment sheets and it’s a HOOT to see who we threw in together. Please enjoy reading this sample:
201- Olivia DeHavilland, Bernadette Peters, Linda Lavin, Lana Turner, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly.
211: Dustin Hoffman, John Forsythe, Jeremy Irons, Donny Osmond, Danny Kaye, Sidney Poitier, Robert Preston, Sir Laurence Olivier, Christopher Reeve (before), Vincent Gardenia, Ed Asner and James Earl Jones.
302 was the “glamour room”: Diahann Carroll, Linda Evans, Joan Collins(until the Dynasty gals demanded separate rooms!), Raquel Welch, Ann-Margret, Jacqueline Bisset, Brooke Shields, Jaclyn Smith, Claudia Cardinale, Ellen Burstyn, Priscilla Presley, Susan Lucci, Dyan Cannon, Lynda Carter, Angie Dickinson, Ali MacGraw and Jane Seymour all sitting at tiny makeup tables designed for Rockettes. Next door were sports legends: Don Budge, Howard Cosell, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron.
303: Debbie Allen, Marge Champion, Sandy Duncan, Georgia Engel, Nanette Fabray, Bonnie Franklin, Ginger Rogers, Gwen Verdon, Juliet Prowse, Jane Powell, Chita Rivera and Elaine Joyce.
401: Lucie Arnaz, Marisa Berensen, Carol Channing, Petula Clark, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti LaBelle, Michelle Lee, Dinah Shore, Maureen Stapleton.
207: Dr. Christian Barnard, Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters, Buzz Aldrin, John Updike, Rosa Parks, Martha Graham, Dr. Linus Pauling, and Dr. Seuss.
702: Anne Baxter, Meredith Baxter Birney, Nell Carter, Tyne Daly, Julie Harris, Kate Jackson, Jennifer O’Neill, Charlotte Rae, Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.
604: Lloyd Bridges, Charles Bronson, Yul Brynner, Michael Caine, Cab Calloway, Bert Convy, Billy Crystal, Matt Dillon, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Durning, Bob Fosse, David Frost, Ben Gazzara, Jim Henson, Rock Hudson, Ed Koch, Vincent Price, Jimmy Stewart, Tony Randall.
After this, I worked for many other celebrity-packed events…but none was as much fun as my first: Night of 100 Stars. In future blog items I’ll have more memories from these fabulous events.
Jim Dykes is co-founder of Rich & Famous Tours. www.jimdykes.com & www.richandfamoustours.com
I was assigned to the Green Room which was rather like putting the mouse in charge of the cheese. My job was to keep the celebs happy with flattery and small talk and escort them to/from the stage, trying not to gush or drool on them. Celebs were running around backstage like giggling chorus kids getting pictures and autographs of OTHER celebrities. Radio City only has about 20 dressing rooms, so we were forced to pack them with major names. Most didn’t argue because it was for charity. I recently came across my dressing room assignment sheets and it’s a HOOT to see who we threw in together. Please enjoy reading this sample:
201- Olivia DeHavilland, Bernadette Peters, Linda Lavin, Lana Turner, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly.
211: Dustin Hoffman, John Forsythe, Jeremy Irons, Donny Osmond, Danny Kaye, Sidney Poitier, Robert Preston, Sir Laurence Olivier, Christopher Reeve (before), Vincent Gardenia, Ed Asner and James Earl Jones.
302 was the “glamour room”: Diahann Carroll, Linda Evans, Joan Collins(until the Dynasty gals demanded separate rooms!), Raquel Welch, Ann-Margret, Jacqueline Bisset, Brooke Shields, Jaclyn Smith, Claudia Cardinale, Ellen Burstyn, Priscilla Presley, Susan Lucci, Dyan Cannon, Lynda Carter, Angie Dickinson, Ali MacGraw and Jane Seymour all sitting at tiny makeup tables designed for Rockettes. Next door were sports legends: Don Budge, Howard Cosell, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron.
303: Debbie Allen, Marge Champion, Sandy Duncan, Georgia Engel, Nanette Fabray, Bonnie Franklin, Ginger Rogers, Gwen Verdon, Juliet Prowse, Jane Powell, Chita Rivera and Elaine Joyce.
401: Lucie Arnaz, Marisa Berensen, Carol Channing, Petula Clark, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti LaBelle, Michelle Lee, Dinah Shore, Maureen Stapleton.
207: Dr. Christian Barnard, Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters, Buzz Aldrin, John Updike, Rosa Parks, Martha Graham, Dr. Linus Pauling, and Dr. Seuss.
702: Anne Baxter, Meredith Baxter Birney, Nell Carter, Tyne Daly, Julie Harris, Kate Jackson, Jennifer O’Neill, Charlotte Rae, Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett.
604: Lloyd Bridges, Charles Bronson, Yul Brynner, Michael Caine, Cab Calloway, Bert Convy, Billy Crystal, Matt Dillon, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Durning, Bob Fosse, David Frost, Ben Gazzara, Jim Henson, Rock Hudson, Ed Koch, Vincent Price, Jimmy Stewart, Tony Randall.
After this, I worked for many other celebrity-packed events…but none was as much fun as my first: Night of 100 Stars. In future blog items I’ll have more memories from these fabulous events.
Jim Dykes is co-founder of Rich & Famous Tours. www.jimdykes.com & www.richandfamoustours.com
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Celebrities are everywhere in the Big Apple this summer!
The Rich and Famous Tour is humming along during this summer season, which is why it's been a couple of months since our last posting. We've spotted Bette Midler shopping (spending some of that enormous salary from her Las Vegas show no doubt) and poor, fragile Paul Newman (looking frail these days from his now-public cancer battle) and Broadway dynamo Mario Lopez leaving the ABC studios one morning near Lincoln Center.
We've spotted Kelly Ripa waiting with the other Moms on the steps of the private school her kids attend, waiting for the final bell to ring so she can collect her children.
One lady on the tour spotted Anderson Cooper during our tour stop at CNN Studios in Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle. He smiled and waved...very nice.
Broadway/TV/film darling Kristin Chenoweth crossed our path one morning and stopped to chat...what a lovely lady she is...and so friendly too.
If you haven't taken the Rich and Famous Tour yet, you don't know what you're missing. Celebrities are EVERYwhere in the Big Apple...you just have to know where to look for them! More later.....
We've spotted Kelly Ripa waiting with the other Moms on the steps of the private school her kids attend, waiting for the final bell to ring so she can collect her children.
One lady on the tour spotted Anderson Cooper during our tour stop at CNN Studios in Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle. He smiled and waved...very nice.
Broadway/TV/film darling Kristin Chenoweth crossed our path one morning and stopped to chat...what a lovely lady she is...and so friendly too.
If you haven't taken the Rich and Famous Tour yet, you don't know what you're missing. Celebrities are EVERYwhere in the Big Apple...you just have to know where to look for them! More later.....
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
It's Spring! Celebrities are ALL OVER New York!!
Celebrities were ALL OVER New York Monday, April 21—they just kept popping up everywhere.This morning at 11:30am I came out of the subway station at Columbus Circle and as I stopped at the red light on Eighth Ave. & 58th Street, I noticed a petite little blond standing to my left wearing a cute little red leather jacket and cap. It just happened to be Broadway dynamo Kristin Chenoweth. As we both stood there waiting for the light to change, I said “Are you Kristin?” She gave me that big smile and said in a chirpy little voice, “Yes I am…who are you?” I introduced myself and informed her that we had a friend in common from her home state of Oklahoma…Rosemary Martinez (now Baker), a drama teacher who I became friends with because she’s brought groups of high school students to New York for over a decade and I’m always her favorite guide. Rosemary has spoken for years about her former close friendship with Kristin (she calls her Kristi—her real name is Kristi Dawn Chenoweth. “Kristin” was dreamed up by her agent to sound classier). Kristin’s eyes got huge and said…”Oh my gosh, what a small world…I was just thinking about her and her recent marriage and how I’ve got to send her a gift!” I said yes she finally married Randy Baker, a fellow teacher and they are building a new house in Oklahoma City and are very happy.” Kristin and I continued to walk and talk down Eighth Avenue for several blocks, chatting like old friends, about people we knew in common. I reminded her that I had met her ever-so-briefly years ago before she was famous and followed her career and seen most of her shows since she’d been in New York, at Rosemary’s insistence. She always said Kristi was going to be famous and she was right. When Kristin first moved to New York, she helped out my friend Cheryl (along with Rosemary) at School Tours of America, running around picking up tickets, kids, running errands, etc. and going on auditions. I remembered when Kristin was in the Broadway shows STEEL PIER, YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, and of course WICKED, the show that launched her into stardom. I asked Kristin if she was still a Republican and isn’t that hard in showbiz when SO many people are Democrats. She said “Yes, I am and it’s so hard…you just can’t talk about politics with most actors because they are all Democrats and can only see one side of any issue.” After another block, we each turned our own way and said goodbye…another great New York moment. As columnist Cindy Adams would say: “Only in New York!”
Later in the day I was in Greenwich Village near the building used on the TV show FRIENDS and spotted a movie shooting in the streets. Julia Roberts was starring in a new film with the working title “DUPLICITY” and there she was on Bedford Street shooting a scene. They are currently filming at least six major Hollywood movies around New York right now including Isla Fisher in CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC. Meryl Streep just finished filming DOUBT, playing a nun that suspects a priest is seducing children (based on the 2004 hit Broadway play).
Later I met my friend David for dinner in Chelsea and I could barely make it into David’s apartment building without getting shouted at by a crew member from a movie shooting IN FRONT of the building called “JULIE AND JULIA” about Julia Child. There were the stars: Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, all made up and filming a simple scene at the wine store at Seventh Ave. and West 20th Street. What a crowd it takes to film a simple scene…no wonder movies cost so much to make. And it was during Monday evening Rush Hour! I once filmed a small scene with Meryl Streep in the movie SHE-DEVIL and she’s a lovely, warm person…a total professional. I had met Meryl years before when I was a teenager and Meryl was appearing in the Broadway musical THE HAPPY END…I was backstage visiting an older actress friend and met Meryl and SHE REMEMBERED…(or said she did).
Ahhh….Spring in New York….when everything blooms and the warm weather brings Hollywood back to the Big Apple!
Later in the day I was in Greenwich Village near the building used on the TV show FRIENDS and spotted a movie shooting in the streets. Julia Roberts was starring in a new film with the working title “DUPLICITY” and there she was on Bedford Street shooting a scene. They are currently filming at least six major Hollywood movies around New York right now including Isla Fisher in CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC. Meryl Streep just finished filming DOUBT, playing a nun that suspects a priest is seducing children (based on the 2004 hit Broadway play).
Later I met my friend David for dinner in Chelsea and I could barely make it into David’s apartment building without getting shouted at by a crew member from a movie shooting IN FRONT of the building called “JULIE AND JULIA” about Julia Child. There were the stars: Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, all made up and filming a simple scene at the wine store at Seventh Ave. and West 20th Street. What a crowd it takes to film a simple scene…no wonder movies cost so much to make. And it was during Monday evening Rush Hour! I once filmed a small scene with Meryl Streep in the movie SHE-DEVIL and she’s a lovely, warm person…a total professional. I had met Meryl years before when I was a teenager and Meryl was appearing in the Broadway musical THE HAPPY END…I was backstage visiting an older actress friend and met Meryl and SHE REMEMBERED…(or said she did).
Ahhh….Spring in New York….when everything blooms and the warm weather brings Hollywood back to the Big Apple!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Celebrities in New York...another reason to take the Rich & Famous Tour
One of the main things that puts the sparkle in the Big Apple are the large number of celebrities scattered around town, and the sooner a guide discovers this and
capitalizes on the readily available celebrity information, the better your tours will be. As a licensed guide for over 20 years, I discovered early on quite by accident that celebrity information can spice up any tour and add that "special something."
Call it the magic of creatively name-dropping but it works. One day on my step-on bus tour many years ago, I remember being stuck in a horrendous downtown traffic mess and after exhausting my New York knowledge of history and architecture of that particular SoHo block, I began listing celebrities I knew positively lived in the neighborhood.
I probably have many more celebrity stories than the average NYC guide because of my various jobs and friends over the years. As a young person I sold souvenirs
and programs at the Broadway show ANNIE and became acquainted with a LOT of Broadway people, including 13-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker and her family, Laurie Beechman, Andrea McArdle, Alice Ghostley and others.
I'm sure Sarah doesn't remember but I helped her and family (along with her friends
Brooke and Terri Shields) clean out her dressing room suite at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) and load the car on her LAST day as ANNIE.
A few years later I worked backstage at Radio City Music Hall at Night of 100 Stars as "Green Room Talent Coordinator" —a fancy word for Go-Fer. Basically, I fetched celebrities to and from the stage and had access to all backstage areas! Still, I met everybody including Sir Laurence Olivier, Ginger Rogers, Myrna Loy (she kissed my cheek), Whoopi Goldberg (wonderful), Grace Kelly, Carol Burnett (she helped us clean up the Green Room), Jimmy Stewart, Ann-Margret, Lucille Ball, Lana Turner, Olivia DeHavilland and all the rest, giving me enough afterdinner celebrity stories for a lifetime. As a matter of fact, I saved my dressing room assignment sheets from the clipboard because they are a hoot…all those major stars crammed together in dressing rooms designed for the Rockettes.
I became chummy that evening with singer Vic Damone who was married to Diahann Carroll at the time. Such a nice man...very down-to-earth. As we were all leaving thru the 51st St. Music Hall stage door around 4am after a long, grueling day of rehearsals and taping, Vic spotted me and offered me a ride in his limo. I declined, saying "it's OK, I only live a few blocks away…I'll walk." He responded "It's 4am…we'll drop you…I insist. Move over, Diahann." The great diva Ms. Carroll shot him a look that said "you're giving THE HELP a lift?" but still she scooted her sequined butt over. I'll never forget that look she gave him. They broke up a short time later. I wasn't surprised…she's a diva and he's a down-to-earth guy. I later read that her mother was a maid and her Dad was a subway conductor but I guess she forgot where she came from...
It's funny...at Night of 100 Stars I noticed that some of the most legendary stars (Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, Myrna Loy, Ginger Rogers, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, etc.) were just as nice and down-to-earth as you please. Myrna Loy kissed me when I told her she was one of my favorite actresses, Lucille Ball heard my first name once and called me Jimmy all evening, Olivia DeHavilland and Esther Williams treated me like an equal, Petula Clark pushed me thru a crowded room to make sure I personally met Laurence Olivier! But the TV stars...oh brother! Talk about self-important ego-maniacs! Sitcom stars are especially the WORST, from my experience, also prime-time soap stars! The Dallas and Dynasty casts were just huge pains in the ass to deal with!
I now routinely tell many of these stories on my Rich & Famous Tour to spice things up and add a "personal" touch. Just another reason to come to New York and take the Rich and Famous Tour. http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnJpY2hhbmRmYW1vdXN0b3Vycy5jb20=
capitalizes on the readily available celebrity information, the better your tours will be. As a licensed guide for over 20 years, I discovered early on quite by accident that celebrity information can spice up any tour and add that "special something."
Call it the magic of creatively name-dropping but it works. One day on my step-on bus tour many years ago, I remember being stuck in a horrendous downtown traffic mess and after exhausting my New York knowledge of history and architecture of that particular SoHo block, I began listing celebrities I knew positively lived in the neighborhood.
I probably have many more celebrity stories than the average NYC guide because of my various jobs and friends over the years. As a young person I sold souvenirs
and programs at the Broadway show ANNIE and became acquainted with a LOT of Broadway people, including 13-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker and her family, Laurie Beechman, Andrea McArdle, Alice Ghostley and others.
I'm sure Sarah doesn't remember but I helped her and family (along with her friends
Brooke and Terri Shields) clean out her dressing room suite at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) and load the car on her LAST day as ANNIE.
A few years later I worked backstage at Radio City Music Hall at Night of 100 Stars as "Green Room Talent Coordinator" —a fancy word for Go-Fer. Basically, I fetched celebrities to and from the stage and had access to all backstage areas! Still, I met everybody including Sir Laurence Olivier, Ginger Rogers, Myrna Loy (she kissed my cheek), Whoopi Goldberg (wonderful), Grace Kelly, Carol Burnett (she helped us clean up the Green Room), Jimmy Stewart, Ann-Margret, Lucille Ball, Lana Turner, Olivia DeHavilland and all the rest, giving me enough afterdinner celebrity stories for a lifetime. As a matter of fact, I saved my dressing room assignment sheets from the clipboard because they are a hoot…all those major stars crammed together in dressing rooms designed for the Rockettes.
I became chummy that evening with singer Vic Damone who was married to Diahann Carroll at the time. Such a nice man...very down-to-earth. As we were all leaving thru the 51st St. Music Hall stage door around 4am after a long, grueling day of rehearsals and taping, Vic spotted me and offered me a ride in his limo. I declined, saying "it's OK, I only live a few blocks away…I'll walk." He responded "It's 4am…we'll drop you…I insist. Move over, Diahann." The great diva Ms. Carroll shot him a look that said "you're giving THE HELP a lift?" but still she scooted her sequined butt over. I'll never forget that look she gave him. They broke up a short time later. I wasn't surprised…she's a diva and he's a down-to-earth guy. I later read that her mother was a maid and her Dad was a subway conductor but I guess she forgot where she came from...
It's funny...at Night of 100 Stars I noticed that some of the most legendary stars (Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, Myrna Loy, Ginger Rogers, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, etc.) were just as nice and down-to-earth as you please. Myrna Loy kissed me when I told her she was one of my favorite actresses, Lucille Ball heard my first name once and called me Jimmy all evening, Olivia DeHavilland and Esther Williams treated me like an equal, Petula Clark pushed me thru a crowded room to make sure I personally met Laurence Olivier! But the TV stars...oh brother! Talk about self-important ego-maniacs! Sitcom stars are especially the WORST, from my experience, also prime-time soap stars! The Dallas and Dynasty casts were just huge pains in the ass to deal with!
I now routinely tell many of these stories on my Rich & Famous Tour to spice things up and add a "personal" touch. Just another reason to come to New York and take the Rich and Famous Tour. http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnJpY2hhbmRmYW1vdXN0b3Vycy5jb20=
SHHHH---All About the NEW Sex & The City MOVIE!!
SEX and the CITY Movie Spoiler alert! (Courtesy of the NY Post and other combined sources from around town)….Continuing to read this will tell you far more about the new movie than has been told anywhere else. "Everything is bigger," says an insider. "There's more extras, more locations and the locations are more fabulous. No one shoots inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral or New York Public Library but Sex and the City shot in both places…as well as a LOT of places off limits to other productions. Last year, the production requested shooting permits for no fewer than 45 separate locations between August and December.
According to the Mayor’s Office of Film, Sex & the City filming locations ranged from hidden, out of the way spots to Lenox Hill Hospital, the offices of Vogue, Junior's in Brooklyn, Bemelman’s Bar in The Carlyle Hotel, Bryant Park, the Duke-Semans Mansion on Fifth Ave. across from the Met, trendy restaurants like Lumi and Buddakhan in the Meatpacking District, various glamorous locations in midtown and the Upper Eastside, Flatiron District, Times Square, Rock Center, the Village, SoHo and TriBeca. Also a clifftop villa in Mexico is used in one important scene where Carrie tosses her bejeweled cellphone off the cliff into the ocean.
Fashion used includes: Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, Versace, YSL, Ferragamo, Zac Posen, Dior, Cynthia Rowley, Marc Jacobs, etc.) LOTS of bling (every day the girls wore real jewels estimated at $2.5 million, from deals made with Tiffany, H. Stern and other top jewelers).
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other famous New York faces have cameos—Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, plays Louise, Carrie's assistant, who is a “label queen” and looking for love.
The plot: Carrie and Big (Chris Noth), get engaged, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has moved to a Malibu beach house(which makes for lots of fun sex in the sand shots), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler) get pregnant, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) grapple with infidelity. The movie starts with Fashion Week (with a re-built tent in Bryant Park), and gets “bigger” from there. Mr. Big’s full name, we discover, is John James Preston.
One of the new characters is Dante, a sexy young LA stud in his 30s who lives next door to Samantha, distracting her from her movie-star boyfriend Smith (Jason Lewis), whose career is now hot. Dante, apparently is the male version of Samantha…watch out!
Carrie’s wedding goes up in smoke and sources say that Carrie makes bitterly funny comments about her wedding gown to her friends….she calls it the perfect thing to be "jilted" in. Perhaps, she says, people have seen her in Vogue, where they may be able to touch up "pores" but not "pain."
Carrie’s failed wedding, Samantha’s sex with the neighbor, Charlotte's pregnancy and Miranda's marital woes provide key dramatic plot points.
Also, Carrie tells Samantha at one point she's completely revamping her life, right down to her cellphone area code. She's now "347," she complains (referring to the new, additional cellphone area code). Samantha tries to comfort her with a reminder that 347 is "the new New York."
In one scene, the four friends sit drinking Cosmopolitans. Charlotte remarks on how delicious they are. Miranda then wonders why they ever stopped drinking them in the first place. Carrie responds sharply, they had to after the rest of the world started.
Miranda catches Steve in marital infidelity, prompting her to move back to Manhattan from their Brooklyn home in Park Slope. One particularly moving scene is when Miranda breaks the news of her marital issues with Steve to his dementia-stricken mother. When she tries to explain the situation, his mother (Anne Meara) asks, "Who's Steve?" Carrie then does a classic, irony-drenched "SATC" voice-over, quipping that her friend is starting to see the positive side of Alzheimer's.
As Samantha and the girls leave a Fashion Week tent, a PETA activist jumps out of nowhere, spraying her with red paint. "God," Samantha wryly says after a beat, "I miss New York!"
According to the Mayor’s Office of Film, Sex & the City filming locations ranged from hidden, out of the way spots to Lenox Hill Hospital, the offices of Vogue, Junior's in Brooklyn, Bemelman’s Bar in The Carlyle Hotel, Bryant Park, the Duke-Semans Mansion on Fifth Ave. across from the Met, trendy restaurants like Lumi and Buddakhan in the Meatpacking District, various glamorous locations in midtown and the Upper Eastside, Flatiron District, Times Square, Rock Center, the Village, SoHo and TriBeca. Also a clifftop villa in Mexico is used in one important scene where Carrie tosses her bejeweled cellphone off the cliff into the ocean.
Fashion used includes: Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, Versace, YSL, Ferragamo, Zac Posen, Dior, Cynthia Rowley, Marc Jacobs, etc.) LOTS of bling (every day the girls wore real jewels estimated at $2.5 million, from deals made with Tiffany, H. Stern and other top jewelers).
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other famous New York faces have cameos—Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, plays Louise, Carrie's assistant, who is a “label queen” and looking for love.
The plot: Carrie and Big (Chris Noth), get engaged, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has moved to a Malibu beach house(which makes for lots of fun sex in the sand shots), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler) get pregnant, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) grapple with infidelity. The movie starts with Fashion Week (with a re-built tent in Bryant Park), and gets “bigger” from there. Mr. Big’s full name, we discover, is John James Preston.
One of the new characters is Dante, a sexy young LA stud in his 30s who lives next door to Samantha, distracting her from her movie-star boyfriend Smith (Jason Lewis), whose career is now hot. Dante, apparently is the male version of Samantha…watch out!
Carrie’s wedding goes up in smoke and sources say that Carrie makes bitterly funny comments about her wedding gown to her friends….she calls it the perfect thing to be "jilted" in. Perhaps, she says, people have seen her in Vogue, where they may be able to touch up "pores" but not "pain."
Carrie’s failed wedding, Samantha’s sex with the neighbor, Charlotte's pregnancy and Miranda's marital woes provide key dramatic plot points.
Also, Carrie tells Samantha at one point she's completely revamping her life, right down to her cellphone area code. She's now "347," she complains (referring to the new, additional cellphone area code). Samantha tries to comfort her with a reminder that 347 is "the new New York."
In one scene, the four friends sit drinking Cosmopolitans. Charlotte remarks on how delicious they are. Miranda then wonders why they ever stopped drinking them in the first place. Carrie responds sharply, they had to after the rest of the world started.
Miranda catches Steve in marital infidelity, prompting her to move back to Manhattan from their Brooklyn home in Park Slope. One particularly moving scene is when Miranda breaks the news of her marital issues with Steve to his dementia-stricken mother. When she tries to explain the situation, his mother (Anne Meara) asks, "Who's Steve?" Carrie then does a classic, irony-drenched "SATC" voice-over, quipping that her friend is starting to see the positive side of Alzheimer's.
As Samantha and the girls leave a Fashion Week tent, a PETA activist jumps out of nowhere, spraying her with red paint. "God," Samantha wryly says after a beat, "I miss New York!"
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