Behind-the-scenes Oscar intrigue, Joan Rivers style

Alexandria Sage — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:44:59 +0000

It was bad enough to be booted off the TV Guide channel after all that blood, sweet and tears on the red carpet. But now Joan Rivers is seeing her likeness on a quivering piece of plastic replaced too.

This lucky reporter opened her mail this morning to discover — oh joy! — a bobble-head duo of Lisa Rinna and Joey Fatone, who replaced Rivers and her daughter Melissa on the Oscar red carpet last year.

Lisa and Joey are about an inch taller than the Rivers in their bobble-headedness, and Lisa Rinna looks, well, a bit perkier. Fatone, with his white sneakers, tux and goatee, looks like something unfortunate out of Vegas. Both look tanner, and have bigger heads than the Rivers.

Given my faith that all things wrong will eventually right themselves, I am still doggedly holding on to my Joan and Melissa bobblehead. Joan may be off the red carpet, but something tells me this bit of plastic may be worth something someday.

John Travolta still “Stayin’ Alive”

Alexandria Sage — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:52:16 +0000

The dance moves are legendary, the man in the white suit a star, and the movie that brought Bay Ridge , Brooklyn, the disco revolution and John Travolta to the height of cinematic fame, “Saturday Night Fever,” is 30 years old.

But in Beverly Hills on Tuesday night, it was 1977 all over again as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screened the movie to a packed crowd with Travolta and other cast members in the house.

Screams of delight greeted the first glimpse of Tony Manero (Travolta) strutting down a Bay Ridge street and giving the eye to passing girls. Cat-calls accompanied images of a much-younger, thinner and polyester-clad Travolta blowing his hair dry in front of the mirror, and flexing in his skivvies.

The audience gave the former disco heartthrob a standing ovation for the role that garnered him an Academy Award nomination. The actor, who shot to worldwide stardom after the film’s release, said he thinks of his life as “before Saturday Night Fever and my life after.”

“I felt that I was doing a little art film, to be honest,” Travolta said. “I thought it would be a nice stepping-stone to other projects.”

Cast members Donna Pescow, who played spurned dance partner Annette, and actors Joseph Cali, Barry Miller and Paul Pape , who played Manero’s buddies, joined Travolta onstage for their first reunion since the movie was released.

Fan Fare » Alexandria Sage

Behind-the-scenes Oscar intrigue, Joan Rivers style

John Travolta still “Stayin’ Alive”