That other Oscar's party

While most of Hollywood were celebrating The Slap at the Vanity Fair after party along with an actor who assaulted a comedian in front of a few million TV viewers, Elton John and hubby David Furnish co-hosted their annual AIDs Foundation benefit with the always classy Lady Ga Ga as our exclusive pic shows..Furnish, GaGa and Elton and David's two sons.

As we predicted..

And thus it came to pass ! More on our tale about the rumblings in the northern paradise of Byron Bay, one of Australia's most beautiful, unique areas which has become incredibly popular over the decades.

Chris Hemsworth's Mega Mansion

Byron Bay was a sleepy whaling town in the early part of the 20th century. It's also Australia's most Easterly point. Even today one can see whales heading North (fleeing from Japanese whaling ships?)and groups of gamboling dolphins are regularly spotted from the beach.

But has Byron (as the locals call it) become a victim of it's own success?. Just days ago we reported that many locals are getting fed up with the thousands of tourists who flock into town on weekends and depart, leaving a mess for locals to clear up and pay for.

About a 15 minute drive inland from Byron is the town of Mullumbimby, another quaint village that has also been popular with newcomers. It's where Whispers has stayed with friends over the years. We even meet & BBQed with the Super Star Action Heroes Chris & Liam Hemsowrth when they were mere lads-their parents lived there for a time. Now both Hemsworth brothers have departed Hollywood and Chris Hemsworth has built a ginormous shopping centere style mansion in the area. Other Hollywood stars are flocking there including Zac Efron who with Matt Damon, are looking for suitable houses to buy. As for Mullumbimby, the quiet town now has traffic jams on weekends with nary a parking spot to be found.

Now a local has gone public with an article in the Sydney Morning Herald as they plan to sell up and move back to the city. At the current rate of skyrocketing house prices in Byron, this shouldn't be much of a problem.

Read the article here: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/paradise-lost-why-i-m-leaving-byron-bay-just-when-netflix-is-moving-in-20210411-p57i73.html

Magic Mike hits town

These chaps are some of the cast of Magic Mike, a show devised and created by Hollywood heart-throb Channing Tatum. It opens this Sunday in Sydney at the Entertainment Centre at Fox Studios. Whispers has no idea what it's all about but we'll be there to report on it. With bells on.

From The Vault: The Day Hollywood Came Calling

so many Marilyns

Dear reader, cast your mind back some decades. 1980 to be exact.
Whispers was living in a small but cute Mews flat just off London's famous Portobello Road. To be exact, where the real antique shops began and before the bits & pieces stalls started. Saturday was always a joyful day as the Portobello Market began in full swing early in the morning.

In our quaint street we were always awakened by the sound of a Tuba on a Saturday around 10am. A neighbor taught the instrument and it really was the most pleasant and reassuring way to be awakened and one always knew it was market day,
Whispers had a pal staying. His name was Ben and he worked in films organizing transport. As a bonus he would take a side job of driving around whatever star was in town at the time and filming at Pinewood Studios. While he lived in the country, Notting Hill was far more convenient for obvious reasons.
I had also moved in the legendary rock manager Kit Lambert who had fallen on rather tough times and who I was working with attempting to revive various music projects. Kit had discovered and nurtured one of the most famous and enduring bands on the planet, The Who along with legends like Jimi Hendrix.
 
This was the era of The Blitz. A Tuesday night club in London's West End, operated in a small restaurant by a budding entrepreneur named Steve Strange (pictured). The Blitz Kids had grown out of the Punk era and the kids wwo flocked to the club called themselves the New Romantics with their colourful and inventive outfits. It was really just kids from the suburbs dressing up. Innocent but a lot of fun
I had convinced Lambert that there were bound to be future stars and musicians to come out of the very creative Blitz scene. And they surely did. Boy George with Culture Club was one. Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet began there as did Strange himself who had a huge hit with his band Visage. Another was Phil Collen, my personal discovery who I hired for a band and who later went on to join one of the biggest groups on the planet Def Lepard. I took Kit to The Blitz once and he was hooked. Together we decided there was a gold mine of talent there.

Living in Notting Hill had distinct advantages because of it's close location to central London. Most of the teenagers who went to the Blitz on a Tuesday night, after planning their exotic outfits, lived in the outer London Suburbs. George O'Dowd ( Boy George) was one. Peter Robinson who called himself Marilyn and styled himself after the Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe was another, Inevitably half a dozen or so would choose to flop on my Mews flat floor having missed the last tube home.

And so it was on one such night when we had been partying at The Blitz that around 8 souls descended upon my tiny flat, along with flatmate Ben who had accompanied us to The Blitz for his first visit. Ben was now working on a film called Saturn 3 staring two Hollywood greats - the late star Kirk Douglas and the former Charlies Angels star Farrah Fawcett Majors. Ben had also nabbed me a job as Kirk Douglas' "gofer". Such an easy job although one had to be available at all hours. Douglas was popular with film crews. He had a reputation as being easy going, very professional often only needing one shoot of a scene, treating the crew respectfully and a great tipper when a project had been completed.

Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett Majors in the Sci Fi flick Saturn 3

CONTINUED HERE.

Red Carpet arrivals at the Oscars

You know who they are..we don't need to explain..all fab celebs !

Meghan Markle says the Mail distorted her father's letter

Click on link:

Meghan Markle Claims Mail Suppressed Key Parts of Her Letter to her Father About 'Exploitation by British Tabloid

Napoleon's Waterloo

Sad news today as the Napoleon Perdis make-up empire collapses and dozens of stores shut up shop.

Whispers attended Napoleon's very first make-up boutique launch in far-flung Paramatta which was Perdis' stamping ground. It was an odd affair. A token red carpet and red velvet rope to hold back the 3 or 4 locals who possibly thought they were witnessing a glittering event.
One collared Whispers to ask who were the glamorous tall models that just arrived by limo and swanned into the party. We didn't have the heart to tell them they were drag queens from Oxford Street.

Napoleon's problem was he rose too fast and became too large. Taking on the USA, especially Beverly Hills  is always a mistake when you aren't known. Selling a product - and they are good products- when there are 100s of similar is a bit like taking ice to Eskimos. And you need very deep pockets. A little known fact is that some of the biggest brand names that occupy ritzy & expensive real estate on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan are loss making but used as advertising for their products and the stores remain there for the prestige value.

And did the name Napoleon bring with it risky karma? After all his namesake ended up on an island which is where Mr Perdis now is- back on his home soil on at least a very large island. Napolean has been trying to sell the business for some time but the problem is, he just wasn't a big enough name.

Read the full story at the MailOnline. We like promoting the Mail- they nick tidbits from us all the time.

Russell Country

A brief look at Russell Crowe's Coffs Harbour property..and his dog.

Christmas Eve in the bush. pic.twitter.com/pJC75IqADF

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) December 23, 2018

Danny celebrates NAIDOC Week

It's NAIDOC Week in Australia where (at least) 40,000 years of Indigenous culture is celebrated. That's a celebration for the oldest continuous inhabitants of anywhere on Earth let alone this vast continent. You can read much more about various events that will take place at the official website.
And look who's in town to celebrate !. The actor Danny Glover joined Aboriginal activists in Canberra. Well done Danny.

Star spotting exclusive !

Whispers omnipresent spies are everywhere. Even in far flung Sydney suburbs. One disguised as a suburban latté drinker informs us that Hollywood great Jack Nicholson was spotted sipping coffee with two pals in the Thirmele Cafe in Thirmele, a small suburb near Picton in the Camden area of outer Sydney. Thirmele is also the home of the NSW Railway Museum.

Our man on the street reports Jack is also a train enthusiast and visited the museum in the morning.

Backstage with George

Star Trek star George Takei is in Australia on a speaking tour where he talks about his treatment in an internement camp during WW2 and the prejudice Asian actors face in Hollywood. We managed to get some snaps backstage after his Sydney talk tonight.

 Pics by William Yang

Will there be Redemption?

While the world is still reeling from sexual harassment accusations about Hollywood movie stars and producers, two events in New York illustrate how things may eventually end up.

Whisper's spy in the Big Apple and Hollywood disguised as Aspidistra plant in several upmarket venues spotted some interesting faces out and about recently.
Making his first appearance at a prestige NY event (according to those in the know) was Kevin Spacey accuser, actor Anthony Rapp who sang 2 songs from the musical Rent at the Harboring Hearts annual gala to raise funds for cardiac research.

Anthony Rapp (second left) and pals at the Harboring Hearts fundraiser.

Just days later a magnificent fundraiser was held at Hearst Castle in California the magnificent home built by the legendary US newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. Our exclusive photos from the event give some idea of this splendorous home where Hearst threw some of the most amazing parties during the 1940s and '50s. When he died in 1957 he left the castle to the California state so the exquisite collection of antiques and art can be preserved and viewed by the public. Each year the Hearst Castle Preservation Society holds a shindig to raise funds and promote the estate.

Apart from the cream of LA society naturally there are numerous Hearst family members on hand and the above snap caught our attention. It's Patricia Hearst Shaw (above left) with Suzanne Tucker, and Wendy Stark.
Perhaps older readers may recall the extraordinary events of 1974 when Patricia, the grand-daughter of Randolph Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a left wing revolutionary group. 

While police searched for the kidnapped heiress, suddenly she began appearing in a number of banks participating in bank hold-ups wielding a sub machine gun helping to raise funds for her captors.

Hearst was eventually arrested and jailed for 7 years and finally pardoned by President Bill Clinton. Now she's a regular again on the social circuit. 

Will Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein et all have to wait that long?

Below: some more snaps from the Hearst Castle bash.

When worlds collide

PR supremo Deeta Colvin (pictured on the right) hosted a get-together this week as many of Sydney's top publicists joined Colvin who once reigned over Australia's glam social scene of the 1990s. Colvin was the mastermind behind the legendary Cointreau Balls of which Whispers attended many. They were some of the best bun fights this scribe has seen around the world. Hundreds of guests would be collected in limousines to be transported to a secret location for dinner and dancing wearing the prescribed costume theme for that year. Locations were varied from dis-used warehouses to a circus marquee in the wilds of the Wanda Beach sand hills, transformed into a fun palace for the night with top chefs catering and of course, those limos on hand to take one home which of course meant, over-indulgence was the order of the night

The several language speaking Deeta is married to heavyweight lawyer Rod McGeoh one of the clever masterminds behind securing the 2000 Olympics for Sydney. When the successful bid was announced the then Olympics boss and Spanish aristocrat  Juan Antonio Samaranch visited Sydney to look over the preparations as they proceeded.
Whispers recalls being at one small reception for Samaranch at which stage, the artist Charles Billich enters the scene. Spying a Billich print in the corner of the room McGeoh inquired why it was there and was told it was to be a gift to Samaranch. Shaking his head McGeoh responded "are you seriously giving him that"?.

The colorful wife of Billich, Christa Billich (left) was this week described as a "close friend" of the Playboy boss Hugh Hefner who died this week. A late arrival at the rather tacky Playboy Mansion, which can be hired for corporate events, it was only in the last couple of years that the Billichs descended upon the LA house. Perhaps Christa sneaked past the guards to the Hef's private quarters which the public were forbidden to enter and visited the ailing Hefner who had been bedridden for the past three years.

Lord Sugar Vs Piers Morgan #1

Whispers noticed this snap on twitter 2 days ago. It's a pic of a young lad at Sydney's prestigious Knox Grammar school. He grew into one of Australia's most loved movie stars. Over drinks that evening we showed it to a pal who works for the MailOnline where it dully ended up today.
Aren't we nice to our fellow struggling hacks?
# Hugh Jackman is the lad in the middle in the plain t-shirt.

Margot's Message

The latest Australian export to Hollywood Margot Robbie sends Whispers her latest snap and with an important message:

"LOVE IS LOVE Aussie's register to vote before August 24th:"
http://www.aec.gov.au/enrol/  #marriageequaility #australia

Box Office Bonanza

As if to prove Whispers' point in our last post mentioning a low budget film we are working on, a

perfect example occurs to prove powerful Hollywood film producer Cassian Elwes' belief in the big profits to be made on small films.

And taking the box office by storm the flick also stars two Australian actors. Annabelle: Creation is the tale of a couple who welcome a Nun and six orphaned girls into their California farmhouse. But terror soon strikes the house when one child enters a forbidden room.
Directed by Swede David Sandberg the film stars Miranda Otto and Anthony LaPaglia. It was released in Australia on the 10th August and is a smash hit.
Costing a reasonable $15M , the picture has already taken over $71M at the box office. 
Below is a trailer for the film.
    UPDATE : Worldwide takings for Annabelle: Creation are now:  

$215,080,384

Let's Get Real

Following Whisper's revelation that colourful Sydney artistic duo Charles and Christa Billich are headed for the USA, a Sydney newspaper has called into question the claims about several planned reality TV shows.
(left : Christa & Charles Billich)
Whispers only knows what we have read about the Billich's show which reputedly follows the duo as they attempt to set up a Los Angeles art gallery. Former Sydneysider James Maas who hails from the North Shore is reported to be starring in the series which has the blessing of Hollywood director Adam Shroeder.

As to former Sydney gumshoe Frank Monte and his partner Sharon Sargeant's The Private Eye & The Madam we know a bit more. Monte has received some flack for originally trying to raise funding on Kickstarter. But it did in fact pay off with an LA film investor ponying up $250,000 to finance a pilot and one episode which are now in the can. We can assure readers the financier is genuine and has confirmed the deal but wishes to remain anonymous at this stage.

We also know a South American TV network ( we checked !) offered to purchase the series from Monte but Monte says the price offered along with restrictions on distribution didn't make the deal viable. Making the pilot is almost the easy part. Selling it is the hard part.
                        (right: Frank Monte & Sharon Sargeant)
Whispers more than anyone knows how difficult it is getting a film project off the ground. Having moved into the Moving Picture Industry five years ago we have worked on two successful documentaries. Another project we have in the pipeline has been thirty years in the planning.

Hollywood heavies Cassian & Cary Elwes

It's taken that long to get a biopic based on the life of The Who manager Kit Lambert written by Whispers with famous UK rock manager Simon Napier-Bell and former MOJO editor Pat Gilbert to the stage where powerful  US independent producer Cassian Elwes has picked up the project for a new production company he has formed with his brother actor Cary Elwes.
The film has the enthusiastic backing of Pete 
 Townshend and Roger Daltrey. The Who are still huge stars in the US and can pack stadiums giving The Rolling Stones a run for their money.

Elwes is specializing in low budget films, although the expected budget $US18M isn't chickenfeed, in Hollywood terms it's low. Elwes sells the rights to his films to cable TV to cover production costs where they end up following a cinema release. But it's almost like the old studio system with a production line. He has 8 films on the go and where ours is in the pecking order is complicated
by whether a name actor is available seeing they are obligated for years ahead. Every actor that reads our script wants the role including  Colin Farrell but will they be available?
It gets to the point where all you care about is- as long as the cheques roll in. Hopefully one day we'll get to attend the premiere.
 Right: Simon Napier-Bell & his famous discovery George Michael

At the Cannes Film Festival

Spotted by our spy disguised as an aging French movie star, Big Jim Byrnes, Sydney resident and one of this cities most 'colorful' characters, at the Cannes Film Festival.

And doesn't he look elegant - he's about 6'6" - and seems to have lost a lot of weight. 

 Jim is regularly seen around town in a tasteful red (or is it a silver one now?) Bentley. The glamorous lady on his arm is a friend Hannah Varland. 

 Jim's Byrnes Group was an official Sponsor for AMFAR. 
How the other half live !

From Nancy Sinatra

We'll have a report soon on the new Marilyn Monroe documentary that has been years in the making and which will present sensational new evidence about her death.

Spotted

This rather hirsute gentleman looking very relaxed  is Hollywood actor Jason Momoa who was imbibing in a latte at a local Adelaide cafe today.

Momoa appeared in the popular Game of Thrones TV series and starred in action films like Conan The Barbarian and Batman Vs Superman.

Jason has been shooting scenes for a new action film Aquaman in which he takes the title role along side co-stars Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard.

Whispers' spies are omnipresent !