Putting the record straight..

Tottie Goldsmith is Olivia's niece and a very close pal:

On the subject of Dr Olivia Newton John- the fab Livvie appears on the cover of this month's Woman's Weekly and for every issue sold, 20c goes to Olivia's great charity Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre. So get a copy now. In fact get several (give them to your pals- always a good read !)

And another very important charity event for our Melbourne readers as pictured in the advert below to aid mental health awareness. How can you miss up the chance to meet Jeff Kennett. And Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett who has had his own battles in the past.

Dr. Olivia

Viewers are arguing over the merits of the biopic Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted To You staring Delta Goodren but Olivia herself is loving it.
But Ms Newton John has other reasons to also celebrate- she's Dr Olivia Newton John courtesy of Latrobe University where Olivia has been made a Doctor of Letters due to her endless charity work.

Our happy snaps show Olivia is in fine mettle despite several health scares which are featured in the TV series. And on hand to see Olivia receive her doctorate was niece, the glamorous entertainer Tottie Goldsmith (with Olivia in our snap right)
Tottie has just been made Goodwill Ambassador for the singer's Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre which has just received an $18M grant from the Victorian government for research. Wow, what a talented family. And good looking too!.

Kylie's a Living Treasure

The National Trust has just announced 7 new Living Treasures in association with that esteemed organ of repute Woman's Day and although some are predictable, others may surprise.

Dr Karl Kruzelnicki

No list would be complete without Kylie Minogue who wowed them at the Sydney Mardi Gras last night and has been elevated to almost Sainthood status in the UK. Olivia Newton John is one along with racing driver Jack Brabham, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki the scientist and ABC broadcaster (his wife makes those lurid shirts he is fond of), conservationist Dr Harry Butler, cancer expert and pioneer Professor Ian Frazier and mining billionaire Clive Palmer.

Clive Palmer?. Just days ago Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan was warning us against the dogged pursuit of power and wealth by the handful of mining magnates Clive Palmer, Gina Rinehart (on her way to become the world's richest person) and Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest. 

treasures: Clive Palmer

Swan called them a 'danger' to democracy with their capacity to affect government policy as they did in 2010 by funding a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to derail the new mining tax. Clive and the other two billionaires said it would break them although Twiggy Forrest confessed he hadn't actually hadn't got around to paying tax yet but "soon would". The campaign successfully dispatched PM Kevin Rudd's career to history and just to show there were no hard feelings, Palmer splashed out and gave 55 treasured employees a brand new Mercedes each for Christmas that year.!

Palmer's latest campaign is to destroy the Football Federation (run by Australia's second richest person, Westfield owner Frank Lowy) with his new soccer association. A real treasure!

..Meanwhile In Bondi Junction

Tim Draxyl,Kevin Bishop,Xavier Samuel,Kris Marshall

As the Golden Globes unfolded, movie history of another kind was being made at Bondi Junction with the premiere of Stephan Elliott's A Few Best Men. Stephan's latest offering looks set to succeed at the box office if the comments at the after-party are anything to go by.

Rebel Wilson

The Shuttle had to attend the Sydney Theatre Awards but made to the drinks following the movie  and the audience were in agreement.

A Few Best Men looks set to break Elliott's run of bad luck that has seen recent box office flops and a broken leg from a skiing trip which put an end to plans to do a bio-pic on the failed wedding of Prince Lorenzo Montesini and Primrose Dunlop in Venice.

Performances to watch out for- Olivia Newton John , Rebel Wilson , the dazzling good looking Xavier Samuel and Laura Brent who is also working on The Great Gatsby.

Elizabeth Debicki & Laura Brent

The film also sees the return of costume designer Lizzie Gardner who won an Oscar for her work on Priscilla, Queen of The Dessert.

At the premiere: model Tahnya Tozzi (right- a Shuttle discovery) visiting from New York and Malcolm & Lucy Turnbull.

Partying in Hollywood

Guy Pearce & Kate Mestitz (UPI)

Abbie Cornish

HOLLYWOOD'S GUM LEAF Mafia were out in force at the annual G'Day USA Ball in Hollywood. 

Miranda Kerr, Guy Pearce, Paul Hogan, Jackie Weaver, Abbie Cornish , Olivia Newton John and Rachel Taylor joined Priscilla Presley, John Travolta and Kate Winslet last night at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom

The menu was prepared by popular Australian chef Guy Grossi in collaboration with Wolfgang Puck. A selection of premium Aussie wines served and awards given to notable Australians who have made significant contributions to the entertainment industry including Air Supply and Guy Pearce-who is up for a Golden Globe at tomorrow's awards.
And the entertainment
 ..young Jack Vidgen of course. G'Day USA is an annual program designed to showcase Australian business capabilities in the USA - Australia's largest trading and investment partner.

Kate Winslet

Rachel Taylor

Stephan Elliott Has A Hit

The Shuttle has a preview of Stephan Elliott's new film A Few Best Men and the word in the industry is that Stephan has a major hit on his hands.


Tim Draxyl, Xavier Samuel (Twilight: Eclipse, Bait, Anonymous), Kris Marshall (Death At A Funeral, Easy Virtue), Kevin Bishop (The Kevin Bishop Show, Star Stories) and Olivia Newton-John star in the film about a Outback wedding gone totally wrong.

Stephan Elliott first struck fame with the Oscar winner he wrote and directed, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.


Our spy on the US show-biz bible Variety who has seen the rough cut reckons it will be a summer smash hit and that Olivia puts in an outstanding performance.

Few Best Men stars : Tim Draxyl, Kevin Bishop, Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall at Tropfest in March

Leo Stars

He's been keeping late nights at the nightclub Beach Haus in Kings Cross, sitting in a booth surrounded by half a dozen pals-Leo DiCaprio in Sydney and working on the re-make of The Great Gatsby.

Tonight he slipped into the grand opening party of The Star, Sydney's re-vamped Star City casino and joined Russell Crowe in the restaurant.

The current owners have spent nearly one billion dollars on the re-vamp. That would seem a brave move with the Federal government under great pressure to curb poker machines -of which there are several thousand at The Star-by 2 parliamentarians who Labor needs the support of to pass legislation.

The Star opened it's doors in 1995 with a spectacular party for several thousand with Diana Ross singing, fireworks and such. It had been designed by a Feng Shui master from Hong Kong. It certainly raked in the bucks for the owners but perhaps that had  more to do with lucrative gambling contracts handed over by the NSW Government and a promise that the casino would be the only legal one in the state. Tonight Olivia Newton John entertained.

The Shuttle attended the original opening in '95. During the day we had visited the couturier Claire Handler in her Double Bay boutique and she had shown us an amazing yellow feathered full length cape she had designed for a customer who had never returned to collect it.

"Looks very Diana Ross" we remarked. With that Claire summonsed a taxi and bundled the feather creation into the cab and sent it off to Diana Ross's suite at Star City.

That night Ross appeared on stage in Claire's creation, sweeping around the stage before flinging it off after 3 songs. As for Claire-she never got the boa cape back or heard from Ms Ross. Not a peep.

Priscilla Is a Hit in New York (but not with the NY Times)

New York Social Diary

Priscilla Queen of The Desert has opened in New York with the following revues :

Manhattan's leading society bible New York Social Diary : "....the energy of the cast, the entire ensemble is unstoppable. You don’t even want an intermission; you just want them to keep going, like never leaving the dance floor. And when it was over, the audience was screaming, whistling, whooping, yelling, and of course, applauding "

 New York Magazine : "a well-above-average drag show with the pink afterimage of a plot, and three superbly sincere leads who fleetingly convince us we’re seeing an actual musical with a real emotional arc. This being drag, the illusion is enough." Swenson, "chief sustainer of this illusion," is characterized by Brown as "disciplined."
The New York Post : "it may look a bit ramshackle at times, but 'Priscilla' has a big, joyous heart."
The Salt Lake Tribune : "The stage version is a jukebox musical, loaded with disco classics (it opens with "It's Raining Men," and "I Will Survive" ends Act One) and wild costumes designed by the team -- Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner -- who won an Oscar for the movie's outlandish clothes."
Not so happy was the New York Times : " the "hyperactively splashy show wants so desperately to give audiences a gaudy good time that the results are oddly enervating."

The stage version of Priscilla has completely revived the fortunes of it's writer and the director of the 1994 movie Stephan Elliot.

Elliot's first film Frauds with Phil Collins and Hugo Weaving received praise at the '93 Cannes Film Festival.

He then teamed up with Fraud's producer, the Penfold's Wine heiress Rebel Penfold Russell and they  struck gold with Elliot's original story of Priscilla, the tale about 3 drag queens travelling in a bus to Alice Springs.

 Riding high on the Academy Award 's success for the film he was offered dozens of projects including  a James Bond film. Elliot found Hollywood hard to take and retreated to London 



Taylor in Woop Woop

  He returned to Australia and filmed the odd Welcome To Woop Woop with legendary actor Rod Taylor which was panned in his home country but praised again at Cannes. Woop Woop was inspired by Taylor's performance in the 1960 film The Time Machine.

 A thriller- Eye of The Beholder with Ashley Judd and Ewen McGregor was a financial success although critics hated it.



Elliot & Olivia at Tropfest

And just as he was to begin working on a film based on the failed nuptials in Venice between Qantas trolly dolly Prince Lorenzo Montesini and Melbourne heiress Primrose 'Pitty Pat' Dunlop ( Lorenzo eloped with the best man and left the bride at the altar) Elliot had a skiing accident which put him out of action for 6 years until his 2008 production Easy Virtue with Colin Firth brought success again.

With royalties flowing in from the stage version of Priscilla which is still playing in London's West End, Stephan Elliot is now able to choose his own projects.

Stephan  is currently in Sydney filming another story he has written-A Few Best Men with Olivia Newton John, English actor Kris Marshall and 'Twighlight' star Xavier Samuel due for release next year.

Priscilla's Debut In the Big Apple



Tony Sheldon



On Sunday evening the successful Australian musical Priscilla Queen of The Desert opens on Broadway at the Palace Theatre with a host of Aussie stars in attendance including Guy Pearce who starred in the original film, Jackie Weaver and the show's writer Stephan  Elliot who will accompany Olivia Newton John to the premiere.

The brilliant Tony Sheldon who wowed them in London, Canada and New Zealand takes the lead role again and Better Midler is co-producer of this production helping fine tune it for a US audience

By all accounts the New York production has been receiving an enthusiastic reception during the week of previews.

What of the girls who inspired the original story and film ?.

Simone Troy and Monique Kelly were the two stars of Les Girls, the Kings Cross all male review that packed out a theatre in Sydney during the 1960s and 70s. Every night of the week the two drag stars trod the boards on a tiny cramped stage and presented a gala performance to a wide-eyed audience of heterosexuals who couldn't quite believe the dozen sexy, leggy gals with hips and boobs before them were all men.

Simone and Monique tried several times to leave Les Girls but the theatre's owner, the Kings Cross crime king-pin Abe Saffron had them both beaten up.

Eventually the pair managed to set out on their own  as the novelty of Les Girls wore off and the show went into a decline in the early 1980s.

Simone had ambitious plans and financing his own show set off to London and the Wimbledon Theatre with 12 strapping Australian lads who transformed nightly into gorgeous leggy beauties.

Wimbledon Theatre

 The production was a sight to see as the Shuttle did on the opening night. With little cash left Simone was unable to promote the show and the audience consisted of about 200 local residents of nearby nursing homes bussed in with free tickets.

What they witnessed resembled a Busby Berkley musical with a tall and colourfully lit staircase down which the 12 beauties-Simone leading the charge-descended in a flurry of long legs, feathers and sequins. Half way down the staircase turned into a waterfall as the audience sat transfixed.

Let's hope the New York critics are kinder to Priscilla than the one London critic who attended Simone's Les Girls Wimbledon premiere and who slammed the production in an outrage that female impersonators-and colonial ones at that., were  gracing the hallowed boards of Wimbledon

On the up-side the British travel company Saga Holidays that specialised in pensioner vacations gave the show a raptuous write-up and organised day outings to the show.

Simone eventually retired to the Gold Coast in Queensland and Monique still lives in Kings Cross.

Tropfest 2011

Film-maker John Polson's mastermind Tropfest, the largest short film festival in the world once again screened to a live audience of around 10,000 in the Domain on Sunday while hundreds of thousands watched live via Foxtel around the country.








Each year the entrant's films must feature the same object -this year a key. Winner of the festival was Damon Gameau with his entrant Animal Beatbox.



Stephan Elliot * Olivia Newton John



 It's been 19 years since the first Tropfest began and many winners have gone on to work on main stream film productions.

There is always a host of celebrity judges and this year they included director Bruce Beresford, John Polson, Rachel Ward and Priscilla Queen of The Desert director Stephan Elliot.

The red carpet (which was purple) is also a great for star-spotting as dozens of  Australian and International movie people arrive.

 What seemed like the entire cast of Stephan Elliot's new film Few Best Men strode in-Olivia Newton John, Tim Draxyl and Xavier Samuel.




Leana Wallsman

 

* Few Best Men is currently being filmed around Sydney and in the Blue Mountains. The word is out-Xavier Samuel looks destined to be our latest star and heartthrob !





Few Best Men stars : Tim Draxyl, Kevin Bishop, Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall



Saucy Bunting For Mardi Gras ?

From the 19th February the 2011 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival season begins with live musical shows, dance parties, fairs, art shows, a movie festival and international celebrity appearances.

Amongst those who will be here this year-writer Armistead Maupin, comedian Lily Tomlin and gay activist Peter Tatchtell. Last year's special guest George Michael has already slipped into town and taken up residence on the Northern Beaches.

Lasting until March 6th the festival culminates in the spectacular parade up Oxford Street watched at times by crowds of up to 750,000. The after parade party always features a special guest whose identity is still a secret. In the past entertainment at the party has included Kylie Minogue, Cyndi Lauper and Olivia Newton John.

This morning the official Mardi Gras guide arrived in the post and while it isn't at first obvious, the cover tells a raunchy story. Often the cover of the guide is reproduced in posters and flags that run throughout the city for the duration of the festival. Will this year's cover be featured fluttering from hundreds of flagpoles on Sydney's streets?

To view the on-line version of the festival program click here.