exclusive : deleted scene from star Wars

The new Star Wars film is cleaning up at the box office and we've uncovered a deleted scene that features two beloved characters : Yoda and a pussycat(s). To see this you have to go to this link.

Cate in Black. Again

The faces on the paparazzi said it all. Superstar Cate Blanchett a great supporter of the local ACCTA Awards was in black again. It may have been a gorgeous Armani gown but as one well known snapper said : "one pic of Cate in black is pretty much like another. They just don't sell very well."

He probably has a point. Look at our snap of Blanchett at the ACTTA Awards 3 years ago in that amazing red dress. This pic taken by your humble scribe has been used over and over in European glossy magazines.
 Below is our snap of Cate at the Helpmann Awards earlier this year. Black again.

The other disappointment for the media was the expectation that Harrison Ford would attend the awards. Hardly, he has a huge Star Wars launch to attend tonight at the Opera House.

Blanchett received the Longford Lyell Award for outstanding contribution to Australian screen at the ceremony in Sydney.

 

Meet Darth Vadar

 To the Langham Hotel in The Rocks to meet the stars of the play Driving Miss Daisy on the first day of rehearsals.
 Hollywood greats Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones are in town to reprise their Broadway hit of the original play by Alfred Uhry.

Angela with Boyd Gaines

 The 1987 movie version won Australian director Bruce Beresford a few Oscars and took around $300M at the box office.


  Angela has been here once befiore- in 1959 where she lived for 4 months in Point Piper while she filmed Summer of The Seventeenth Doll with Earnest Borgnine, Ann Baxter and her pal John Mills. At the time she hired a car and drove around NSW with her children exploring the state.
 On this visit she and James Earl Jones, who was famously the voice of Darth Vadar in the Star Wars flicks will be touring for 5 months visiting Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.

James was here ten years ago as a tourist and it's the first visit for 4 times Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines who completes the cast. With tickets selling like hotcakes it's another winner for producer John Frost- known as Frostie on Broadway but Mr Frost in London's West End.

The Shuttle caused a minor commotion when James Earl Jones asked which was the most 'right wing newspaper' in town. "They all are " replied the Shuttle accurately which went down well with the other media attending with one even apologising to the actors for gifting the world Rupert Murdoch.

And the big question of the morning for which we received no answer : just what was that monkey doing in the mural on the wall behind our esteemed thespians ?. Had a mischievous interior designer been inspired by Richard Nevile and the School Kid's Oz magazine ala Rupert Bear?
Below is a video we have uncovered of James Earl Jones channeling Justin Beiber.

Everything Old Is New Again

"Everything old is new again" goes the line from the late Peter Allen song. Always has been really. A great example-in the last ten years Playboy Clubs have been closing down across the USA but in London, a new Playboy Club has just opened.

It reminds the Shuttle of the heyday of the Playboy Clubs. We've only been to two.  Arriving at the New York club once with 3 friends for a party thrown by Hugh Hefner we were mistaken for Abba. We also attended a few product launches at the former London Playboy Club in Mayfair run by Victor Lownes and once visited the Playboy Mansion in LA.

Probably the biggest ever Playboy party was the 25th year anniversary party thrown by  Lownes at the Playboy mansion Stocks House in Hertfordshire. It went for 3 days and many guests were ferried in by helicopters. Victor Lownes ran the European Playboy operations for Hefner but had a falling out with him in the '90s and was fired.

He was always good at the required quips. Once asked what a playboy was he said "someone who is probably having more sex than you". It was all a fantasy of course but the whole charade worked during the Playboy hey days from the 60's through to the 80's.

Stocks in Hertfordshire

The LA Playboy Mansion which can now be rented out for corporate parties was even more of a fantasy. Hefner boldly sold a dream built on tack and the idea if you could only crack the inner circle sex was yours for the taking. Once you did get 'in' the Bunnies were very prudish and strict rules prevented them from fraternising with guests on pain of sacking.

The LA mansion was like a Disneyland  ride-looked exciting from the outside but disappointing once you got up close and the cracks were revealed. It was full of dreadful reproduction antique furniture of the worst taste. The rocks in the grotto swimming pool seemed to be fake. The whole place was tired and grubby looking.

At the UK 25th anniversary party every hotel, motel and boarding house in the surrounding area of Stocks was booked out by guests. Not that the rooms were always used. At the party there were a series of marquees- permanent food tents, a champagne bar and a non stop discotheque. They were open for the entire 3 days. Most of it passed in a blur and the Shuttle never made it back to our booked rooms. We collapsed in Stocks living room for a few hours kip at a time.

There was always a two tier guest regime at Stocks. The general party goers had the run of the house and grounds while a handful of honoured guests were entitled to visit the upstairs floor.

A Bunny Re-union

And they weren't always celebrities who made it upstairs to drink with Lownes or Playboy boss Hugh Hefner who only stayed for one day.

Amongst business cronies of Lownes, Tony Curtis and Rod Stewart would be Upstairs while Downstairs were newer stars of the day including Star Wars' actor Mark Hamil. who the Shuttle shared a spa bath with along with half a dozen bunnies !
Not very PC but who cares ?

## "The Boy From Oz " was a huge Broadway hit and made Hugh Jackman into a star. Based on the life of Australian singer Peter Allen it captured the exciting performances of Allen who was always over the top and as camp as a pink Koala Bear. A big favourite with other celebrities his shows were packed out with performers like Elton John, Barry Manilow and even Frank Sinatra who came to paid homage to one of the US top live performers. Here is his big hit 'I Go To Rio"