Wedding Bells

While the world's paparazzi have gathered in Venice to catch a glimpse of Hollywood heart throb George Clooney's wedding to Amal Alamuddin, New York ex-pat Aussies are heading to Central Park today for the nuptials of ex-Sydneysider Rupert Noffs and his partner Matty Bennett.

Noffs has been living in New York for four years and has been overseeing the set-up of his burgeoning shoe empire Gideon Shoes, favoured by young Hollywood types like Justin Timberlake, and which runs as a charity to aid young Aussies to enter the fashion world. Profits are ploughed back into the Street University in Sydney's western suburbs run by his older brother Mathew. He is also the grandson of the late reverend Ted Noffs the much loved founder of the Kings Cross' Wayside Chapel.

Rupert Noffs with partner Matty Bennett & mum Mandy Noffs in the middle

Ted Noffs

Wedding gossip :
# There is much talk amongst Hollywood insiders that Clooney's eventual plan is a run for Governor of California with many remarking that wife Amal 
Alamuddin has the charisma of Jackie Kennedy. 
 # One guest at the Noffs' nuptials will be top US publicist and reality TV star Kelly Cutrone who has guided Gideon Shoes to US success. Cutrone had a famous run-in with Sydney gossip scribe Ros Reines as we detailed in 2011.
# Rupert's grandmother was the flamboyant turban-wearing Double Bay identity Lois Rodie who owned the popular Coral Lea boutique.                                                

Lots Of Movie Stars!

Next Monday brings the long awaited premiere in Bondi of A Few Best Men, the latest offering from Stephan Elliott (left) whose career has enjoyed something of roller-coaster ride since picking up an Oscar for his 1994 success Priscilla Queen of The Dessert.

The movie stars Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Kevin Bishop and Olivia Newton-John and the word is Olivia puts in a great performance as the mother-of-the-bride in the love romp and the ‘wedding- goes-wrong’ comedy set in the Outback.

Ann Dexter-Jones and Alan Cumming

Now that Beach Haus regular Leo DiCaprio has departed these shores (he’ll be back early February to wrap up filming on The Great Gatsby), Sydney is devoid of Hollywood stars when usually, with such glorious summer weather we could expect at least 3 or 4 stars to be hanging around town

Its' the opposite in New York with the town chock a block. 

Darren Criss and Susan Sarandon

Last Monday Glee star Darren Kriss was the guest of honour at a shindig at The Darby hosted by Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Lily Rabe, Andrew Rannells and Jordon Roth The party was to celebrate the Broadway debut of Darren in "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying."

Stacey Keible and George Clooney

Naomi Watts

The following night at Cipriani 42nd Street recent Sydney visitor George Clooney received the Best Actor for The Descendants at the National Board of Review Gala with Tilda Swinton receiving Best Actress for her role in We Need To Talk About Kevin while Christopher Plummer was awarded best supporting actor for The Beginners, and Shailene Woodley received best supporting Actress for The Descendants.
It won’t be the last you hear of The Descendants. Get ready for the flick to pick up a few Oscars.

No bash worth its salt in New York is complete without the USA’s top society snapper (and Social Shuttle pal) Patrick McMullan who has sent us some great snaps from both nights.

All New York photographs  by Patrick McMullan (c) www.patrickmcmullan.com

Why George Clooney is in Sydney

George with Renee Brack yesterday

Hollywood actor George Clooney gave a talk yesterday at a Darling Harbour conference for a reputed fee of $600,000 and today he revealed the reason shortly before he departed Australia.

Clooney has his own satellite positioned over the Sudan with which he attempts to track war lords and criminals. Maintaining the satellite costs around $2M a year and his speaking fees pay for that. The satellite is used to postion where those criminals are to aid the safe delivery of food and medical supplies to the Sudanese.

Clooney has been a long time activist attempting to ease famine in the Sudan and has visited the region several times. It's said he also donated his fees from two films to the cause.

Live In Person : George Clooney !

Quite how the list of guest speakers at Mondays' gala event in Sydney-Global Leadership Forum will enlighten those shelling out between $880 and $1100 with is any one's guess but the line-up is fairly glitzy.

Home maker expert Martha Stewart will be talking about 'building a global brand' and the promoters are claiming she "had more influence on how Americans, eat, entertain, and decorate their homes and gardens than any one person in our history" while Hip Hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons will be spruiking his latest book Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All. Perhaps the 99percenters on Wall Street should grab a copy.

One speaker who should be interesting is Nobel Peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus who started Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983 to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them. Maybe the big four Australian banks who make multi billion dollar profits each year but were just dragged kicking and screaming to pass on the half percent interest rate drop in the past few days will take note.

But the biggest draw card commanding a reputed fee of $500,000 must be heart throb movie star George Clooney -live in person as the website says-who arrives this morning. He will talk on human rights and saving the planet, and those on it.
                                                                                               
Let's hope this conference is more successful than the last event the Shuttle attended, former British PM Tony Blair's speech at Darling Harbour earlier this year When Blair arrived surrounded by a dozen body guards and Federal Police he was greeted by just 4 media reps and a half empty room.

The only other Ra Ra event the Shuttle has attended was one many years ago hosted by advertising guru Siimon Reynolds and real estate genius John McGrath. We ended up standing on our chair shouting slogans along with the other eager bright eyed punters. But it was 8 am in the morning and after 2 glasses of champagne-the bribe we accepted to be there.

Tickets for the Global Leadership Forum Unwrapping Genius are still on sale here

exclusive-Brad Pitt for Aussie lion tale..

Brad Pitt * Christian * Johnny Depp

With one half of the Christian the Lion,  duo Anthony 'Ace' Bourke  in Los Angeles for discussions with a Hollywood studio over the planned film of the saga of their former Kings Road pet lion Christian, purchased at Harrods and kept as a pet in a Kings Road antique shop, a reliable source from the Christian camp tells tSS that Brad Pitt has expressed an interest in playing Bourke in the film.

Ace Bourke

Before Subo swept the world in the youtube video of her Britain's Got Talent performance, the grainy film of ex-partners John Rendall and Ace Bourke's re-union with Christian on animal conservationist George Adamson's African reserve  became a world-wide sensation. Bourke and Rendall were suddenly thrust into the limelight , quickly re-wrote the book they had published 35 years earlier and found themselves in demand for talk shows from the USA to Germany and all stops in between.

John Rendall ?

The Christian bandwagon continues to roll on under the expert guidance of Lauren Miller, daughter of the recently retired agent and entrepreneur Harry M.Miller who published his autobiography late last year and revealed intimate dinner conversations he had had with Prince Charles.

Cuddly toys and merchandising are underway along with advertising tie-ins with the McDonald's hamburger chain and so on.

But who to play Rendall who was once a gossip writer on Hello! magazine and was married to the PR agent Liz Brewer ?. The choice is obvious and one Rendall would surely approve of-Johnny Depp !

And will the scene appear in the film that was often told by the 'Queen of London's cafe society' Lady Edith Foxwell whose country house Sherston backed onto the 1970s commune Bourke and Rendall lived on with assorted folk like a young Helen Mirren and Princess Margaret's beau Roddy Llewellyn ?. Llewellyn and the Princess used the commune for their secret assignations.

Edith fondly recalled how  early one morning she discovered a group from the commune bathing naked in her swimming  pool and  fetching a shotgun, fired off a deafening blast through the window above their heads

"They were making a terrible racket and God only knows what they got up to in my pool" said Lady Edith. . Edith liked the late Dai Llewellyn but had no time for his younger brother Roddy who she described as a "dull young gardener and not a very good one at that".  As she recalled their howls of terror as they scampered off through the fields she said " I always wondered if one of the white bottoms vanishing into the mist was royal"

                              ****************************************

To Nino's restaurant for a media lunch for Queer Eye For the Straight Guy Carson Kressley who has become something of a popular star downunder. Kressly is in town for the giant  Westfield chain of shopping malls and his Be Styled Tour where, fresh from Oprah Winfrey's show where he was teaching overdressed American ladies how to 'dress down', he will inform young Australian gels how to correctly 'accessorize'. This appears to involve advising them to wear stiletto heels as our pic at the launch shows. Not bad work for the rumoured $200K he is being paid.

At the lunch and overheard from a publicist in a discussion on merchandising deals and the impending arrival of round the world yachtswoman, 16 year old Jessica Watson who is expected to arrive at the Sydney Opera House in a fortnight after completing her voyage without once touching land.: "after she rounded the Horn (of Africa) the Penguin book deal kicked in-when she crossed the equator the TV network deal was sealed..if she arrives safely, amongst her greeters will be a bevy of Fox Studio executives with the movie deal contract."

                                       ********************************

 Sitting unnoticed  at the back of the stage at Jamie Cullum's performance last night at the Basement  was a low key Sophie Dahl. The pair arrived together via the back entrance and quickly split once inside the club. Sophie sat entranced by Cullum-unfortunately critics weren't so kind about his vocals. tSS thought he was wonderful.