Knives Out After Oprah Winfrey Trip

She held the country in the palm of her hand for 10 days. (Or should that be the local media ?)
Oprah Winfrey's tour of Australia and the recording of what will be her final 2 shows at the Sydney Opera House was treated by the Aussie media like the second coming.

When the Social Shuttle reported that 12 of her security detail had been sacked without pay because one had the temerity to enter her hotel room to check that it was secure, only 2 tabloid reporters followed up the tale.

Despite us being unable to give our source (protected) we did hand them on to the local law firm acting for Winfrey's Harpo company. They denied the tale but within a day the 12 guards were told they would be paid after all. The Shuttle witnessed documents that confirmed the story.

Now an American who has been living in Cairns and operating two successful tour boats around the Great Barrier Reef is hopping mad.

John "The Yank" VandenHeuvel  says he approached Tourism Australia 6 years ago with an ambitious plan to bring Oprah Winfrey to Australia. And the outline of his plans were basically identical to Oprah's tour as it unfolded over her 10 day visit. VandenHeuval proposed tying in Oprah's visit with Qantas and their ambassador, actor John Travolta and rewarding a number of Oprah's regular audience members with the "trip of a lifetime"

Backing VandenHeuval's claim is the Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison who was the head of Tourism Australia at the time. Pilot Dennis Wallace says he flew Morrison to Cairns to discuss the project which was common knowledge amongst the majority of local tour operators.

 “Tourism Australia has done the wrong thing, it is very un-Australian,” says Mr Wallace.

“It is not about the money, this is about Tourism Australia blatantly lying,” says VandenHeuval

“They reneged on the deal, cut me out of it and cut Cairns out of it and Cairns ended up getting screwed as bad as I did.”

VandenHeuval says he spent $200,000 on the project and while Tourism Australia acknowledged to the Shuttle that they had met with him in 2004 they declined to discuss details.

VandenHeuval has instructed high powered solicitors Slater and Gordon to issue proceedings against the government body and is claiming  $2Million in damages.

Miranda Kerr's Family Heartbreak

Model Miranda Kerr's grandparents Peter and Anne Kerr are recovering after a lightning strike burnt their Gunnedah home to the ground yesterday.

With Australia's current bout of inclement weather, a fierce storm swept through the area in the afternoon with lightning striking the house, awakening  Peter Kerr from his afternoon nap. Although fire crews were on the scene within the hour the house was razed by fire fanned by strong winds. The pair who have been avid supporters of Miranda's modelling career lost their lifetime collection of antiques.

Last year Miranda and her husband actor Orlando Bloom travelled to Gunnedah to meet Miranda's family after the pair announced their engagement. Her grandparents still plan to travel to Los Angeles later this month to be there when the couple's first child is born.

More Beauties Headed to LA

Richard Branson &Pia Miller

Following our story yesterday about how Jennifer Hawkins has been replaced by Jessica Hart for the Myer fashion carnival in the G'Day Australia USA promotion in Los Angeles, news comes that two more leggy beauties are joining Jessica on the catwalk.

Hawkins & Jake Wall

Laura Dundovic who is a Myer ambassador and Pia Miller will strut the boards to showcase Aussie fashions in the USA in February.

As for Jennifer, she was spotted by our operative today holidaying in Byron Bay with new fiancee Jake Wall. The loss of the income from her canned USA trip isn't having too much effect on the pair's finances. Jennifer is sporting a $200,000 engagement ring whipped up by the Shuttle's favourite jeweller, Nic Cerrone.

And she should feel flattered that it has taken three models to replace her!

Miss Universe Ditched From Hollywood Gala

The most successful Miss Universe ever, Jennifer Hawkins has been dropped from the annual G'Gay Australia USA celebrations in Los Angeles by the department store Myer.

The annual affair that runs from the 15th to the 29th January features a grand ball attended by the USA's Gum Leaf Mafia at the Hollywood Palladium on the 19th. Guests have  included the likes of Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman and a host of local stars who have made it big in the USA. 

Jessica Hart

There are events from Dallas to Boston as the Australian government promotes everything local from business policy to the still struggling film industry. This year the timing is perfect with the 2 shows filmed in Sydney by Oprah Winfrey to be shown on US TV with Oprah herself being a guest at the ball.

Last year Jennifer Hawkins was a guest along with her fiancee Jake Wall (they got engaged last week) Barry Humphries, Kristy Hinze and Rupert Murdoch.

Myer are investing big in the event with a fashion festival to run for the 14 days and Jennifer was meant to be the star  model but she has now been dropped with the gap-toothed Jessica Hart picking up the role.

The Shuttle can exclusive report that the reason for Hawkins being canned was nothing to do with her personally but because of friction between her ambitious manager Sean Anderson and the Myer public relation's team. Myer CEO Bernie Brookes says that Hawkins was dropped because of a"culmination of a number of issues".

Although Anderson has presided over Hawkin's career as she raked in millions of dollars in appearances and endorsements her crown has begun to slip lately with the Seven TV network announcing that they will not be re-newing her contract this year.

Below: A reason to be glad you were not be at the last G'Day Ball : Nicole Kidman and  Keith Urban's ditty to Simon Baker.

Hopefully in 3D-Murdoch The Movie

A film script on the life of Rupert Murdoch is being hawked around Hollywood.

This news comes courtesy of Franklin Leonard's annual Black List. Leonard is regarded as 'Hollywood's most important soothsayer" according to the LA Times with his list each year of unmade film projects. 

He compiles the list by talking to LA's most influential agents and studio bosses and any script that gets 5 mentions is included  with the added bonus it generates so much industry chat that the inclusion is regarded as a lifeline for ailing screenplays.

'Murdoch' was commissioned by the UK's Channel 4 and written by respected TV script writer Jesse Armstrong but 4 decided against making it. It's now being handled by a top agency Creative Artist's Agency who are looking for a producer and backer.

The script blurb reads : "As his family gathers for his birthday party, Rupert Murdoch tries to convince his elder children to alter the family trust so that his two youngest children by his newest wife will have voting rights in the company."

Ouch ! A little close to home. 

When Rupert divorced his second wife Anna Murdoch Mann , the mother of children Lachlan, James and Elisabeth, Anna went in tough with heavy New York lawyers and  secured a very profitable trust which she controls that holds huge swathes of News Corp shares in her children's names although  she was forced off the News board in the process. 

And she had rather unkind words to say about Rupert in a 2001 interview where she described him as "hard, ruthless and determined".

No-one quite knows what size of inheritance Wendi Murdoch's 2 daughters Chloe and Grace may be in for. With  News Corp  headquartered in Delaware with it's secretive corporate laws, the outside world doesn't really know quite what the media empire or Murdoch is worth although it will be in the billions of dollars.

 Long before Wendi appeared on the scene Murdoch also made a famous faux pas in 1997 when he referred to "my 3 children " while talking about succession in a press conference that drew the ire of his daughter Prudence Murdoch MacLeod, his first child from marriage to Patricia Booker. Never shy, Prudence got a public apology out of her father.

So it's all there-plenty of meat for Murdoch the film !

Rupert ?

Who would play the roles in this gripping drama where the clan get-together to discuss high finance?.

As the media baron Rupert Murdoch  step forward Barry Humphries who played Rupert in the 1983 film Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries. Humphries has aged nicely with the same crumpled look as Rupert.

Matt Damon is a cinch for the role of the American accented Lachlan Murdoch and surely  Sarah Murdoch with thespian ambitions could play herself. New actor Leighton Meester could do a good Elisabeth Murdoch. Hayden Christensen with specs could play James Murdoch.

That leaves roles for the two who are bound to play  a leading part in the carve-up of Murdoch's billions-Wendi Murdoch and Mathew Freud. Answers on a postcard please.

# you can download Leonard's Black List here and see other scripts 'Murdoch' is competing with. The Shuttle's favourite : Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter. The future president's mother is killed by a vampire and Abe spends the rest of his life hunting down the killers !

It's 2011 - Happy New Year !

It can only get better !

Our thanks to Channel Nine for allowing us to share this video of the spectacular  fireworks and a here's to a wonderful 2011 and a very special thank you to the over 350,000 readers who visited the Social Shuttle in 2010.
Part One !
Part Two !

A Very Nice Chrissy Present

Sargeant & Ferrari

Every girl should treat herself and that's just what marketing expert Sharon Sargeant has done after successfully selling the escort agency she set up 18 months ago.

Sargeant, a country girl from Queensland is shaping up to be one smart cookie. 

The world was alerted to her when she started dating the famous private investigator Frank Monte around 4 years ago. Frank threw a party at the uber smart Otto's Restaurant on the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo to introduce her to Sydney and around 14 months ago they became engaged at the very same spot. 

Then Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph discovered that Sharon owned an up-market escort agency Red Velvet Models. Sharon says she manned the telephones and organised the lives of the models working for her and checked out the credentials of the prospective customers.

A wardrobe malfunction that happened after Sharon and the girls had a night out to see Lady Ga Ga and went partying in Kings Cross was splashed across tabloid pages around the world.

Soon she was appearing again in newspapers from Sydney to Delhi when Ms  Sargeant  was discovered dancing in Las Vegas with one of the USA's top porn stars Claudia-Marie (beware-it's an adult site). 

Finally a controversy blew up in British newspapers after raunchy pics appeared of the British Rugby team setting off in a million dollar gin palace from the very same wharf in Woolloomooloo.

Sharon meets the English Rugby team

 Sharon had been spotted and photographed talking to the footballers in a restaurant earlier in the day before she farewelled them off in the boat with some scantily clad models.

But it seems Sharon had ulterior motives all along.
When we contacted her today she confirmed she had sold Red Velvet Models to a US firm and was pondering  her next business move.

they sail off into the sunset

"It was always my plan " says Sargeant " I always planned to set up the business, promote it like crazy until it was a success and then sell. I get bored easily and I'm always looking for the next business venture"

And it seems the business paid off. Our snapper spotted Ms Sargeant a few days ago in the Bondi Westfield car park about to clamber into a gleaming new black $400,000 Ferrari.

"I treated myself for a good year's work" says Ms Sargeant.

As to her future plans :"I'm looking around for opportunities and have a few in mind" she says. " One is an adult product supplies service-most of them look terribly old fashioned and I think I can whip the industry into shape quick smart "

Sharon and Monte have moved out their Icon apartment in Kings Cross into the Toaster building near Circular Quay where they plan to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks. 

"Frank and I still date and go to parties together but he's spending more and more time in the US and I always travel with him " says Sharon  'He's a fascinating man and being around him is never boring".

Will she be assisting with his Upper House bid in the NSW March election?.
"I should put my marketing skills to work but actually he's pretty good himself and I haven't really followed state politics. But Frank would make an excellent MP as he would ensure that other MPs would remain honest given his background"
 Perhaps I should have asked advice from the 2 state MPs who were customers of my last business" she says.

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

Leo Sayer

Santa & Rabbi

Showing why he's been dubbed " Mr Double Bay" in a suburb with a large Jewish community, Dee Bee's owner Graham Goldberg threw his famous Christmas drinks party on the 24th and made sure he had all bases covered.

Joining guests like Leo Sayer, actor Michael Caton and around town ladies Marie Sutton and Angela Belle McSweeney- a Santa Claus and a Rabbi !

Star Struck Weddings & a new Beiber

 

Former Home & Away star Chris Hemsworth has married his girlfriend Spanish actress Elsa Pataky. Hemsworth has a major role in the new Avenger's film along side Scarlet Johannsen and Robert Downey Jr due for release in 2012 but it's his starring role in the film Thor which should catapult him into action superstar status. Thor is to be released in March next year.

Hemsworth and Elsa married in Bali surrounded by a handful of close friends and family and are honeymooning on Phillip Island.

Emma Cooper

And one of Australia's top film publicists Emma Cooper wed  film writer  Henry Cripps at a North Sydney chapel yesterday with a host of Hollywood stars in attendance including her good pal Naomi Watts as a bridesmaid. Naomi's husband Liev Schreiber gave a reading of Henry Lawson's After All during the service and the party moved onto Taronga Park Zoo for the reception.

Emma's dad Guy Cooper was the director of the zoo for years and was once named Australian of The Year.

bridesmaid Naomi Watts

And cheering on the couple-Mentalist star Simon Baker who has just scored a $30M contract to appear in his hit show for the next 3 seasons,  Without A Trace's Anthony LaPaglia who flew in from the US for the wedding, actress Lisa Hemsley, singer Tim Freedman from The Whitlams and designer Collette Dinigan.

Cooper who has become the top Aussie film publicist over the past 20 years divides her time between Sydney , Melbourne and New York. In 1996 she masterminded the successful Victor Chang charity visit of Princess Diana to Sydney on her last ever public appearance.

The happy couple return to New York next week where they are neighbours of Watts and Schreiber

              ******************************************
 Move over Justin Beiber.

Get ready for Munther Mania with the new teen heart throb 16  year old Swedish singer and songwriter Ulrik Munther. 

With the cool tussled looks of the late Rivers Phoenix Ulrik has become an internet sensation and his first album-Boys Don't Cry had 30 record companies bidding for it when the title song was uploaded to YouTube. It's released early next year and here is rough cut of the video :

George Michael, Real Estate Fantasies & Serial Killers

It's laughingly referred to as No Idea in the trade. Pacific Magazines hugely popular weekly New Idea magazine which has around one and half million readers each week.

Unfortunately it doesn't, unlike a few British tabloids and several News Ltd publications scour the Social Shuttle for tips. Otherwise they would have known as we reported on the 10th October that Oprah Winfrey would be staying at the Hotel Intercontinental when she booked into Sydney to record her 2 shows at the Sydney Opera House.

New Idea brought it's readers the fantasy story (pictured) on December 6th of how Oprah would be choosing from one of several million dollar harbour side mansions lining exclusive Wolseley Avenue.

Their choice was home loan's king John Symond's new $60M glass palace which was a surprise to him when we contacted him a week after the story was published and he told the Shuttle he wouldn't be moving out for Oprah or anyone else.

The usually reliable Real Estalker website informs us that George Michael has purchased a $6M house in Whale Beach (left-and not Palm Beach as they call it) which may come as a surprise for Michael who next February is booked into the same Icon apartment in Kings Cross where he stayed for 6 weeks earlier this year when he was the guest at the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras- as exclusively revealed by the Shuttle 5 weeks before anyone else.

As George spent nearly every night partying on the Oxford Street gay strip, ten minutes from Kings Cross it's a mystery why he would buy a house on the Northern Beaches when it takes a good two hours to travel into the city.

In a city obsessed with property, how appropriate then that the Darlinghurst Theatre brings us a musical about real estate titled 'Open For Inspection' opening on the 21st January 2011.

It's a rollicking tale of a real estate agent who becomes a serial killer as 2 rival agencies battle for customers during a property slump and go to extreme lengths to literally make a killing. Nice. Here is a number from the show :


To book seats for Open For Inspection go here.

 

Happy Birthday Regine, Nightclub Queen of the World

Regine

Boxing Day is the 82nd birthday of Regine Zylberberg, the creator of the modern nightclub. Born in Belgium to Polish Jewish parents, Regine spent her early life hiding from the Nazis in France during the occupation.

In 1953 at the age of 24 she was managing the Paris Whisky aGo Go dance club when she seized upon the idea of exchanging the American jukeboxes common in nite spots with record turntables and hiring a disc jockey to spin new records. Thus, the modern discotheque was born

Soon a rival Whisky aGoGo opened in Los Angeles copying Regine's idea as it spread throughout the world.  Regine opened her own club in 1957-Chez Regine in the Latin Quarter of Paris which became the smartest nite spot in Paree. She imported twist king Chubby Checker to introduce his new dance to the Continent and taught the Duke of Windsor how to do the Twist.

At her peak Regine had 26 nightclubs around the world. The Social Shuttle attended the opening night of the London Regine's on top of the old Derry & Toms department store in Kensington High Street in the famous Rainbow Room which is surrounded by an extraordinary roof garden complete with  flamingos.

Opening night guests included actors Tony Curtis, Diana Dors and  Larry Hagman then at the height of fame in  the soap Dallas along with 2  guests smuggled in by the Shuttle-Boy George and the singer Marilyn (neither were famous then!).

When waiters pointed out the 2 gatecrashers and asked the hostess if she wanted them booted out she replied "Non non, ils ne sont beatiful !".

Marilyn later became a star guest at Regines when he arrived on the arm of Jack Nicholson.

Regine had a huge hit in France with Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive'. It's the Shuttle's theme song for 2011 and below is a video of Regine's version.

Other celebrity birthdays today shared with Regine include Rattlesnake Annie, Ugly Dave Gray and Bashful Brother Oswald. Look them up.

Saucy Christmas Present for Pope Benedict

He sits mesmerised.
Pope Benedict XVI was treated to a special acrobat show with some hunky topless acrobats at the Vatican. The nuns accompanying His Holiness were impressed as well, snapping pics on their digital cameras:



And for our pussy lovers:

High Court Judge Supports Gay & Lesbian Wedding Album

The Potential Wedding Album is for same-sex couples who would like the option to get married in Australia. Inclusion in the album is to show support for marriage equality, currently a hot topic that has got many Australian politicians in a real tizz and heading for the hills - except notably The Greens who support same sex marriage as one of their main policies. Dr Bob Brown, their leader  is openly gay and lives with his male partner,

Bob Brown

With that in mind, as volumes of The Potential Wedding Album are completed they will be printed and delivered to the Prime Minister Julia Gillard  and the Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott and other members of the Australian parliament, to highlight the couples who are treated unfairly by the marriage laws in this country. 

They should make ideal coffee table books for Mad Monk Abbott, a conservative Catholic !

The project has already got some major supporters including former High Court Justice Michael Kirby who retired in 2009 after exiting the closet quietly in 1999 when he listed his long term partner in Who's Who In Australia as Johan van Vloten.

Johan van Vloten & Justice Michael Kirby

Kirby came in for criticism from shocked  conservative circles but stood his ground even after a botched attempt to falsely stitch him up over the alleged use of Commonwealth chauffeured limos to pick up rent boys at Sydney's notorious Wall, a male prostitute haunt.  

It was  discovered the ComCar records being bandied about that purported to show Kirby's movements were fake with the result that then Prime Minister John Howard offered an unqualified apology in Parliament.

 Since retiring, Kirby has toured the world  lecturing at law symposiums and speaking on equal rights, particularly for young gays and lesbians.

If you want to show support for the Potential Wedding Album you can sign up here

And go the albums to view many of the couples who have signed up and contributed their photos. The albums are quite charming.

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

## One budding politician who is openly supporting same sex marriage is the famous private eye Frank Monte who will be standing for NSW's Upper House in the March 2011 state election. 

Frank Monte

Brought up a Catholic in an Italian family in Egypt, Monte says although his political views are fairly conservative, he believes personal liberty is one of the greatest bastions of a free society and he supports the freedom of people of any orientation to get legally hitched-at St Mary's Cathedral if that's what takes their fancy !