Farrah Fawcett | Jessica Simpson | Van Cliburn Restless; Paris Burns; Seth Speaks
Farrah Fawcett: Diplomatic Core
We can credit Farrah Fawcett for the “Charlie’s Angels” reunion on Sunday’s Emmy show.
According to sources, it was Farrah who convinced fellow former Angels Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson that they needed to be there for late producer Aaron Spelling.
But the appearance — the best thing on Emmy night — almost didn’t happen. Apparently, Smith and Jackson have not spoken for a long time and had no interest in being together. That seems weird, since they worked together the longest of any Angels through the show’s many incarnations.
Then again, maybe that was the reason after all.
According to what I’m told, it was Fawcett who pulled them together and even let Jackson —always thought of as the “smart” Angel — make that long introductory speech. If you look at the tape, you can see Fawcett — never accused of cogency in past TV appearances — semi-directing everyone around on stage.
My source says: “They were asked by the producers to participate, and it was very touch and go. Two of them aren’t best buddies anymore, but it took Farrah to bring it all together and make it happen.”
The Spelling segment was one of the most difficult to pull off, too, considering the public squabbles between Aaron Spelling’s widow Candy and their daughter, Tori.
Producers placed the two Spelling women — who no longer speak and may be fighting over Aaron’s vast estate — at opposite ends of a row. The Angels’ appearance was designed, I’m told, to take the emphasis off of the scandal.
“The show’s producers relied on Farrah’s persuasiveness to get it all together. If you noticed, once the show was over, the Angels all split and went their own way. It was out of respect to Spelling that they finally agreed and went onstage.
“Jaclyn Smith was overheard expressing her concerns while dress shopping this past weekend and that she was very nervous. Kate Jackson wanted to speak first and Farrah just wanted it all to go smoothly,” my source said.
Jessica Simpson may have lost her voice, but she can still command a roller rink.
Last night at the Roxy Roller Disco — still in business after 7,000 years — Simpson twirled in every direction, raising her leg and posing sexily for photographer Kevin Mazur.
It was a public affair to launch her Sony album, “A Public Affair,” sponsored by Yahoo! (The video for the dreadful title track is set in … a roller disco!)
Luckily for Simpson, at least one actual pop star who writes and performs his own music showed up: Gavin DeGraw. The young Billy Joel-esque heart-throb is on his way to Sweden to work with producers there on a single for his next J Records album, he told me during a skating break.
He also just returned from Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he looked at some property. It’s good to be king, as Mel Brooks once said!
Jessica, meantime, couldn’t get her sister Ashlee Simpson to appear skate-side. The reason, I’m told, is that she’s about to star in the London production of “Chicago.” (It’s unclear whether this is a new, all lip-synched version of the Kander-Ebb musical.)
But I did spot what you might call the lower-end of the celebrity range at the Roxy last night otherwise: “Girls Gone Wild” impresario Joe Francis and, separately, “American Pie” performer Shannon Elizabeth. Who is Shannon Elizabeth?
“She was in ‘American Pie’ and she used to be married to Joe Reitman,” said a Star-magazine reader. Thank goodness.
The big news about Simpson — the girl who caused an international uproar when she claimed not to know Chicken of the Sea was tuna, not poultry — is that she’s lost her voice. Can’t speak. Can’t sing.
“She’s done too much publicity,” I was informed by one of her minions.
This may be just as well. Jessica’s quality-deprived album includes, believe it or not, a cover of the famed disco-New Wave Europop single of the mid ’80s, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record).”
It’s about as personality-free as the rest of Simpson’s bland pop bleating. What is it with this girl? Blondes do not have to be this void of gravitas. Dusty Springfield, Debbie Harry and Marianne Faithfull all made it hip and serious to be blonde.
But Simpson really does feel like a bit of a cipher, and “Public Affair” doesn’t do anything to change the feeling that she probably doesn’t know fish from fowl.
Van Cliburn Restless; Paris Burns; Seth Speaks
There are some male celebrities who’ve gotten facelifts that make them look a little Wayland Flowers & Madam. The great classical pianist Van Cliburn apparently is one, but that isn’t stopping him from appearing on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.” Air date is Sept. 11, in keeping with an “end of the world” theme.
Soap fans will want to know, who is Van Cliburn? Well, he caused a sensation in 1958 when he was the first American to win the famed Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow. Because we were in something called the Cold War (it wasn’t about temperature), Cliburn’s win caused a sensation. He was the first (and I guess the last) classical musician to get the cover of Time magazine.
My only fear of this soap opera thing is that he will sit down and play the show’s treacly theme song. Roll over, Beethoven …
Paris Hilton’s debut album — which was first unveiled here last winter — has been rejected by pop fans. Paris sold just 76,000 copies in her first week, which means it’s over. Considering how much time and money were put into this ridiculous project at Warner Music Group, when “real” acts are waiting their turn, well … don’t get me started …
And speaking of “real” acts, if you’re in New York tonight, don’t miss Seth Adam Group at the Bitter End. This Connecticut rock-pop band is looking for a label signing. They deserve a big break …
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