Sunday, October 13, 2024
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Exclusive: Ivana Trump Funeral Planned for Wednesday at Famed Upper East Side Church

The tragic reality of the death of Ivana Trump is just setting in.

Ivana, aged 73, was found dead Thursday in her Upper East Side townhouse. According to the medical examiner, she fell from her “Dynasty” like staircase and hit her head. She died immediately.

Even with all her money, Ivana was definite: she didn’t want anyone living in the house with her, and certainly wouldn’t wear a Life Alarm around her neck. She took her chances.

Now I’m told Ivana’s funeral is planned for Wednesday, July 20th. Church sources say it will take place at the famed St. Vincent de Ferrer Catholic Church on Lexington Avenue. The church, an architectural masterpiece, was where Andy Warhol prayed, and Geraldine Ferraro was memorialized at her own funeral.

The choice is very appropriate. St. Vincent was the saint of builders. Ivana literally rebuilt the Plaza Hotel when her husband bought it, restoring it to grandeur. She built businesses and a life for herself after Donald Trump was caught having an affair.

The affair still gnawed at her. I’m told not invited to her funeral are Marla Maples, the wife who succeeded her, and Marla’s daughter with Donald, Tiffany Trump. I would guess that Mary Trump, the cousin who has revealed a lot of family secrets in books and interviews, won’t be on the list either. Mary, strangely, has not posted anything to Twitter about Ivana’s death.

There are reports that Donald himself will attend, along with current wife Melania. Why not? Donald is a publicity hound, and he would consider this a perfect way to get sympathy and attention just as he and daughter Ivanka are set to testify in front of New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

If Donald stands in front of St. Vincent de Ferrer proclaiming his love for his death ex wife, keep this in mind: it was another church, Marble Collegiate, where he said he met in secret with Maples while he was married to Ivana. He’s a very religious man, you know!

Broadway: “Funny Girl” Trouble Continues, Beanie Feldstein Out for Weekend with Tonsillitis

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September cannot come fast enough for the producers of “Funny Girl” on Broadway.

Star Beanie Feldstein, who’s missed dozens of shows for dozens of reasons, is out this weekend. She says on social media she has tonsillitis.

Presumably understudy Julie Benko, who should get a special award for always stepping up and always being great, will take today’s matinee and evening performances and tomorrow’s matinee. She did perform last night as well.

On Instagram, Beanie, who is leaving the show on July 31st, says she’s looking forward to her last two weeks as Fanny Brice. Benko takes over for August, and Lea Michele arrives right after Labor Day to save the failing musical. So far, Michele’s tickets are in hot demand.

Born in the USA! Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa Welcome Granddaughter (and Jersey Girl) Lily Harper to E Street

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The Boss is the Grand Boss now!

Patti Scialfa announced on Instagram last night the birth of her and Bruce Springsteen’s first grandchild, Lily Harper Springsteen. She’s the daughter of their son Sam and his fiancee.

The big news comes just a week after Patti also indicated the engagement of son Evan to his girlfriend.

That’s a lot of new Jersey girls in the Springsteen-Scialfa family. Congrats!

And yes, we’ll say it once, Lily was Born in the USA! By next year, when Bruce, Patti, and the E Street Band head out on a huge tour. Lily will be rockin’ away!

Exclusive: Ivana Trump, Alone in Townhouse, Planned to Leave for South of France

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The death of Ivana Trump is a shock and a surprise to everyone who knew her.

Friends say Ivana was packing to leave for the South of France. She was getting ready to leave for St. Tropez for the first time in at least three years.

Not that she was a recluse. Ivana, like all of us, had been prevented from traveling by COVID.

But the third week in July is the big one in St. Tropez. That’s when all the jet setters arrive and party. Ivana was a veteran of this crowd, which would include Europeans, South Americans, and all the beautiful people of wealth. At 73, she was still part of the in crowd. If Ivana had shown up, it was like royalty. Her death will cast a pall over the fun (although my guess is it will go on in her memory).

The bigger question is why was she alone in her townhouse? She had no aide present. “That’s the way she wanted it.,” says a friend. A coroner’s report will shed some light on why she fell down her magnificent staircase, whether it was a heart attack or if she tripped. It doesn’t really matter, what’s done is done.

But Ivana was fragile the last few weeks. She’d been photographed outside with an aide. Yesterday she was alone in a house that writer Phoebe Eaton described on Facebook as the magnificent kind from a romance novel. With three children and all those grandchildren, Ivana died alone. That’s a little hard to understand.

And Donald Trump’s carefully worded statement of grief? Don’t buy a word of it. He cheated on her like crazy until he had an affair — with Marla Maples — that was exposed. He tried to humiliate Ivana in front of the world. It was Donald who planted the “best sex I ever had” headline at the New York Post, not Marla. Let’s not forget that.

Flashback: When Liz Smith Brought Ivana Trump to Lunch And Wound Up on the Front Page

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Back in 2016, I reminisced with the late great mega columnist Liz Smith about Ivana, Donald, and Marla.

It was 1990. Donald was caught with Marla Maples. Ivana filed for divorce. Cindy Adams got custody of Donald. Liz took Ivana Trump to lunch and wound up on the front page of the Daily News.

Liz told me over lunch:

“Parker Ladd and Arnold Scaasi said, ‘You should go meet the Trumps.’ I said, ‘What are the Trumps?’ They said, ‘They’re very rich and aspiring to rise, and they will love you, and you will get a lot of money for charity.’ So he introduces me. Then I hang around with them for about a year. I liked her, but I couldn’t understand a word she ever said. I liked him because he reminded me of my brothers. I was amused by him. He would take me under the arm and introduce me to famous people. He’d say, ‘Isn’t she the greatest?’ He took me to prizefights and all this crap. I gave them their money’s worth, and I flew on their plane.

I realized he thought he owned me. He didn’t own me. But everything for journalists is access.”

 

 

She wrote in her memoir: “I liked the Trumps. They had three little kids, and I didn’t want to be the one to notify Ivana that her husband was playing around. It just wasn’t my style. I figured my warning shot would bring Donald to his senses. (Such fools we scriveners be.)”

Donald called Cindy Adams and planted the famous “Best Sex I Ever Had” headline in the Post. Ivana struck back. She let Liz take her to lunch at the famous Le Grenouille on East 52nd St. Pandemonium ensued. Liz and Ivana wound up on the front page of the Daily News.

Trump was furious. Liz recalled: “He’s one of the great public actors of all time…He said he would buy the New York Daily News in order to fire me.

The Trump divorce played on the front pages of the New York tabloids for weeks. And in the end, Ivana got the last laugh. She produced best selling books. went into business and sold many products. She didn’t let public humiliation destroy her. Now let’s see if her story is white washed in her death.

 

Netflix’s “Gray Man” Starts Limited Theatrical Shows with Few Tickets Sold, Poor Reviews

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“The Gray Man” is here.

Reviews are bad, as expected. They’re running about 50/50 on Rotten Tomatoes right now, with the so called fresh reviews containing a lot of negative comments.

Preview shows for tonight are not selling tickets. At most of the theaters where “The Gray Man” is playing, there are six or seven seats sold. In Manhattan, the movie starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans is playing at the Paris Theater — which Netflix leases for their own films — and the Cinepolis on West 23rd St. The movie is in limited release for a week until it hits the Netflix streaming platform next Friday.

“The Gray Man” is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, of “Avengers” fame. It cost at least $200 million to make, maybe more. It’s the most expensive movie Netflix has ever produced and comes at a time when the streamer is losing subscribers despite having hits with TV series like “Stranger Things.”

We will never know how much or little “The Gray Man” makes during its short, limited release because Netflix doesn’t release figures or report Box office.

RIP Ivana Trump, 73, Entrepreneur and Author Who Worked Hard to Escape Donald’s Shadow

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I’m very saddened to hear that Ivana Trump has died at age 73. News headlines are describing her as “Donald Trump’s first wife.” She was far more than that.

Ivana was scandalized by Donald’s affair with Marla Maples in 1992. She was an integral part of Donald’s business world, tasked with among other things renovating the Plaza Hotel from top to bottom.

She did not take Donald’s inconsideration of her lightly. She wrote books and became an entrepreneur. For years when Donald was swallowed by insolvency and then another divorce, from Maples, Ivana held her head high.

She was unlucky in romance. Her next two relationships had tragic endings. Her companion of many years, Roffredo Gaettano, died in a racing accident. She garnered two more husbands, and each marriage ended in discord and divorce.

Reports say Ivana had a sudden heart attack today. There are other reports that she was seen with an aide or attendant last month. There is no question that Ivana was fragile. I saw her many times over the last few years before the pandemic. She had a drinking problem, that was clear to anyone who was near her. She was not living an independent life. When I saw her in May 2019, she told me she was spending much of her time living with her daughter Ivanka’s family in a house on the grounds of Donald’s Bedminster, New Jersey golf club,

Don’t let Donald’s weepy posting to social media make you think they were friends. Ivana ripped Donald in her memoirs, which are probably not in print but can be Googled. She made many allegations against him that were unpleasant and undoubtedly true. Her death is tragic because she was a sweet woman who tried to do battle with a rattle snake. For a while, at least, she was head in that competition.

Emmy Awards Did Not Welcome Back “Sex and the City,” Zero Noms for “And Just Like That”

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HBO received 140 Emmy nominations on Tuesday for shows like “Succession,” “Hacks,” and “The Flight Attendant.”

What they didn’t get was one nomination for “Sex and the City: And Just Like That.”

The revival of the original series was incredibly unpopular with the Emmy voters. Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristen Davis, et al were not applauded for their work. Neither was Michael Patrick King, who wrote and produced the series.

Equally snubbed was Sara Ramirez as obnoxious gender fluid “comedian” Chi DIaz. That’s a relief.

Everything about “And Just Like That” was off putting, to say the least. It turned into hate watching for many. So it’s no surprise it’s not being rewarded.

I hope King and company take this news as a message that if they want to regain the greatness of the old days they must take a serious look at Season 2.

UPDATED Harvey Weinstein Worried That Auletta Book Would Harm Him, But It’s a Sales Dud

FRIDAY UPDATE 6:11PM The book has fallen to 1,930 on amazon.

WEDNESDAY Before it was published, Harvey Weinstein worried that Ken Auletta’s book about him would be harmful.

Harvey told insiders he thought the book would be a big hit and dredge up all kinds of negative stuff about him.

Well, Weinstein, the former Miramax mogul, is wrong. “Hollywood Ending,” Auletta’s long in the making examination of the convicted producer’s life, is a sales dud.

Published on Tuesday by Penguin Random House, “Hollywood Ending” appears to have sold very few copies. On amazon, it is currently number 1,458. On Barnes & Noble’s website, it’s number 995.

The current state of book sales is that if a non fiction headline making release isn’t in immediate demand, it’s not going to be. You can tell in the first 24 hours if there’s interest in a subject. Or if there isn’t.

Auletta had a splashy appearance this past weekend on “CBS Sunday Morning.” That show usually sells books like crazy. It did lift “Hollywood Ending” up from around 2,500 on amazon. But it didn’t take it any farther.

Last Friday, Auletta got a Valentine in the New York Times from Maureen Dowd that indicated he was The Greatest of All Time in many categories. If you were a book publicist, Dowd and CBS would be the sweet spot for selling Auletta’s book. He also had an excerpt in the New Yorker.

But nothing has happened.

It’s not that Auletta isn’t charming on TV, or a bad writer. He’s neither. But “Hollywood Ending” has no blockbuster revelations. Auletta admits it in the book. Whatever made Harvey Weinstein have two distinct personalities has eluded the reporter. He couldn’t figure out what would make a successful man with a beautiful wife rape and pillage at the same time.

“Hollywood Ending” is just the latest media book that’s landed on the bonfire of vanities. Inside stories generally appeal just to the other insiders looking for answers. In this case, Auletta not being able to penetrate the mystery eliminated even that audience. Regular readers don’t have time to read a story with no conclusion apparently. And the theory that Weinstein lost his mind because his mother used to berate him as a child just hasn’t cut the mustard.

“Jeopardy!” Host Competition Sharpens as Quizzer Rises Slightly in Ratings, Regains Lead Among Syndicated Shows

The “Jeopardy!” host competition continues.

Last week, ratings rose slightly, just 2%, to 5 million viewers. It’s not a lot for Mayim Bialik, but it did put the show back on top of all syndicated programs. It’s summer, you know, and people are not glued to TV sets. Ken Jennings hovers in the background as a possible permanent host.

Among all syndicated shows, “Judy Judy” continues to draw 4.4 million viewers. This is despite the shows being all reruns from the last 10 years. Nothing is new. Judy Judy’s new shows are on amazon prime. But her fans either have Alzheimer’s and don’t mind seeing the same cases over and over, or simply don’t care. This is how Judy Judy lives in mansions.

Among talk shows, the big news is “Kelly Clarkson” rising by 14% to third place behind Dr. Phil, and Live with Kelly and Ryan. Kelly is up to 800,000 viewers average per week. Not bad considering everyone else is down by half a million fans. The talk show world waits now for Jennifer Hudson’s show to debut. I think it will be a huge hit. So hold on!