Panto Dame Returns !

We all said her self imposed exile wouldn't last. The smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the crowd, the applause-the insults. The rotten fruit hurled. How could she resist ?

 Madame Arcati has announced she is receiving visitors again over the Yuletide period (and hopefully longer).

 How fitting that the silly season is almost upon us and someone will entertain while the hacks of Fleet Street churn out their daily drivel (eagerly read by us ). At last we will have some balance.

Still censored by Google, but that just makes her seem like a very naughty girl..

Go here and read.

Oh, and Madame's long term fiancee,  Molly Parkin's autobiography Welcome To Mollywood is to be published shortly as well.

 

Journalist, artist and Soho fixture there is no-one else quite like Molly around anymore. This book is a must read.                                                      

                                         

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Gene & Brian Sherman



An ill-wind is blowing over a $500,000 donation to University of NSW College of Fine Arts.

Given by noted philanthropists Brian & Gene Sherman, the gift was to establish a gallery in honour of the British born arts curator Nick Waterlow, murdered a year ago just 2 days after we reported he had attended the opening of an exhibition of ex-Oz Magazine artist Martin Sharp's works.

Student Representative Council president, Osman Faruqi, has said :''students are concerned by what this deal means for the integrity and reputation of a public institution like UNSW,'' 

"''The reputation risk posed to the university far outweighs any financial benefit gained. Students want to see quality education placed before private interests."

The Shermans are one of Sydney's most high profile couples in the art's community. Brian's Equitilink company is the largest private funds management company in Australia. He also dabbles on the stock exchange and was reported to have picked up $45M in one deal during a morning in 2002. Both the Shermans support a number of charities.

The Natural History museum in Sydney near Hyde Park has been revived via the Sherman's donations and in Brian's role as the president of the Australian Museum trust, it's governing body.

Committed vegetarians for nearly 30 years, both Sherman's are active animal right's activists and fund studies on how to end factory farming of poultry and pigs.

The Student body needs to do a re-think here.

The pair emigrated from South Africa a long time ago when they were broke. No-one knows what the Shermans are worth-possibly a $$billion or two-but the only demand from Brian & Gene when donating is for another phone call when extra funds are required.

A Day at The Races : Ben Hur

If you are going to the ANZ Stadium this Friday or Saturday for the performance of Ben Hur, take a rug. It gets cold, very cold. Here are some snaps we took from Wednesday night's full dress rehearsal that went without a hitch.

This show has it all-half naked men wrestling each other, slave girls being whipped, huge galley ships being erected before your eyes and leprosy !. A Roman stadium built as you watch and that race-the race between Ben Hur and his rival. There are still 14000 tickets available but that means audiences of at least 15000 at each show, something that should really boost the atmosphere ( there is audience participation).And of course Russell Crowe narrating ( which makes up for Jesus Christ's American accent). Friday night's show is introduced by Richard Wilkins, Saturday's by Alan Jones. Book at Ticketek here !

The Roman Senate !

Ben Hur takes the lead at the 9th lap !

exclusive : The Guggenheim Aussie Connection !



Peggy in Venice



Currently on show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia is A Collection In Venice-the fantastic art collection of famed US art patron Peggy Guggenheim. It's been ignored by most media except for an ABC TV story this week.

Amongst the extraordinary works that were owned by Peggy Guggenheim are pieces by Mondrian, Rothko, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollack and Marcel Duchamp.

Max Ernst

 Guggenheim inherited around $US2.5M from her grandfather Benjamin Guggenheim who died in the Titanic disaster in 1912.

After working for a time in a New York book store she moved to Paris and immersed herself in the Bohemian world of art, having numerous affairs with now famous names of the art world.

She married Max Ernst in 1941 and became pals and the patron of artists like Duchamp and Man Ray. With her wealth she promoted artists who today are legendary.

 Older Shuttler's may remember the controversial 1973 purchase of Jackson Pollack's Blue Poles . Pollack owed his reputation in the USA to Guggenheim's relentless promotion.

The newly elected Labour government of Gough Whitlam  paid $1.3M for the painting-the then highest ever price for a modern work of art. Scathing criticism lasted for years although the work, now at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra is estimated at being worth $180M .

Peggy Guggenheim eventually settled in Venice on the Grand Canal at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1949 after divorcing Ernst where she continued her love of art collecting and along the way, indulging in love affairs with artists.

But there is one love affair that has never been written about before.

Kit Lambert with Pete Townshend from The Who

In the 1970's,  rock band manager Kit Lambert who  discovered the legendary The Who arrived in Venice to purchase his dream home. Lambert had always believed he had been conceived in Venice during a  night of passion between his mother and famous father, the English classical composer Constant Lambert.

He found his villa, ironically named Villa Lamberti next door to Guggenheim's Palazzo Venier dei Leoni . Within a year the two had become close friends and were having a torrid love affair. It lasted on  and off for over 3 years.

However Lambert  was addicted to heroin and had a fierce cocaine habit which Peggy, despite her bohemian aspirations, abhorred. Lambert was also having financial problems due to his drug intake. Peggy ended the affair one morning when she visited Lambert in his villa for breakfast.

As Lambert would later re-call, Guggenheim's parting words to Kit were-"Quite frankly, Kit, I simply cannot afford you !".

Christopher 'Kit' Lambert  who died in 1983 after a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs was the grandson of one of Australia's first and most famous artists-George Washington Lambert.

Along side Blue Poles in Canberra can be found several G.W.Lambert works and beside the driveway to Mrs Macquarie's Chair in Sydney there is a statue dedicated to him.

Peggy Guggenheim ; A Collection In Venice is at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from the 9th October 2010 to 31st January 2011

## Coming soon-the woman who turned down Andy Warhol's offer of marriage !

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Uber fashion designers and the darlings of the pop set Dolce and Gabana have been accused of a massive tax evasion scam in Italy.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, along with five other people, are accused of channeling profits through Luxembourg, paying just three per cent tax on sales royalties instead of much higher Italian taxes. As a result, the Italian treasury has allegedly been defrauded of an estimated €420m.

Read more at The First Post.

Garden Design leads to Marriage

Hosts of the popular The Party Garden on Foxtel's Lifestyle Channel, Juliet Love and Charlie Albone have married quietly in a small ceremony in the Southern Highland's town of Berry.

Charlie & Juliet

Juliet, a popular young Eastern Suburb's girl about town is the daughter of racing identity Angela Belle McSweeney , pictured right with friends at the opening party for La Montage in Lillyfield last week, and the football supremo Colin Love who is chairman of the Rugby League International Federation.

British born Charlie has fronted 2 shows for Foxtel now, a real estate program and the garden design show he developed with interior design graduate and former Voguette Juliet.

Under hot studio lights and amongst the designer foliage love blossomed over the past 2 years and now they are hitched. Ain't love grand ?

Champers On The Move

A few days after we discovered the Pommery Champagne cocktail cabinet at young bookmaker Tom Waterhouse's betting website launch, now comes the permanently on-the-move champagne bar.

Like the Mary Celeste (it was never the 'Maire'), it came drifting out from the mass of party-goers at the launch of the $20M La Montage reception centre by the river in downtown Lillyfield.

 Except this ship wasn't empty but manned by a nice girl called Mary who was dispensing champagne. How it's done is a mystery. She just glides along with ice-buckets , dozens of glasses and bottles of champers.

And then she glides off, returning just at the appropriate time when one's glass is nearing empty.

MP Joe Tripodi

Boxing champ Jeff Fenech & wife Susie

La Montage is on the site of the old Club Marconi, the inner city soccer club that was much beloved by Sydney's thousands of citizens with an Italian heritage.  

The new centre looks like it will continue the tradition within the Italian community as a wedding reception centre extraordinaire. It has to be seen to believed-it looks just like a gigantic South Fork Ranch out of Dallas. Nice if you like that sort of thing.

Australia the "Dumb Blonde"-what about Jennifer Hawkins ?

A mis-leading title ? Of course it is- but a day after we attended the launch of one of our favourite (and cleverest) blonde's new business ventures, British marketing expert Simon Anholt has labelled Australia as the "dumb blonde of the world" in a report in Melbourne's Age newspaper

When Jennifer Hawkins won the Miss Universe title in 2004 few could have predicted the extraordinary success that would follow her win except perhaps Miss Universe boss Donald Trump who has said that Jennifer is one of his all time favourite contestants. He keeps in regular contact with her.



Jen listens for the cash register's ring



Her triumphant return to Australia that year was unlike any tour taken by a celebrity.

Excited crowds greeted her tour of the country over  2 weeks of appearances in major cities.

A rock band would have been envious of the hysteria that followed Jennifer wherever she went.

A couple of mis-haps along the way like a wardrobe malfunction (snapped exclusively by the Shuttle) just increased the mania.

On Wednesday at the Gazebo Wine Bar in Kings Cross, Jennifer launched her own range of teetering stilettos to add to her business empire that has said to have earned her so far, in excess of $20M.

 Here are a few snaps from the night of Jen and her models wearing some of her new range of shoes-and that dress mishap picture that went whirling around the world in 2004.

Photo Finish !



Gai & Robbie Waterhouse, Hoda Vakili and Tom Waterhouse



Too many parties, too much champagne !.

Our discovery of the week : a travelling cocktail cabinet filled with Pommery Champagne. This we like.



The gorgeous Racheal Finch



It was at the  hot young bookmaker Tom Waterhouse's launch of his betting website at the Beach Haus nightclub in Kings Cross : http://www.tomwaterhouse.com/ : online betting.

Tom's family has been in the horse racing game for over 100 years. His mum Gai Waterhouse is Australia's (and one of the world's) top trainers who has trained so many winners she has billionaires and Middle East potentates battering down her door to have her train their stallions at her stud.



Terri Biviano & Tim Holmes a` Court

His dad is Robbie Waterhouse who had a slight mis-hap with a nag named Fine Cotton. Something about daubing it with paint and a substitution  horse. A few million bucks was won on the betting tote. The whole scheme came crashing down and Robbie was 'warned off' the course for awhile but he's back in business.



a Pommery cabinet !



But it's young Tom who has taken over the family mantle and he gave me a few tips for the track :

"it's always easier to back winners in the first half of a race meeting"-"if the track is heavy and the favourite is odds on, get on"- "if you like a horse and you are surprised the odds are longer than you expected, don't alter your bet, bet the amount you intended. Value is king"

So there it is, straight from the horse's mouth as they say.

                                             

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OK, enough already !. We've had a few dozen emails demanding to see our snaps of gal about town Sharon Sargeant who took the ritzy Black and White Ball crowd by storm in her glittering red outfit.



Here are 2 to go on with.  Sharon is launching her own website soon so check back for the address. She promises us you won't be disappointed.



The Parliamentarian who makes grown men tremble-Bronwyn Bishop MP & B&W president Sue Diver

# A special mention must go to Tamburlaine Organic Wines (alcoholic !) from the Hunter Valley who supplied their superb tipple at the Black & White Ball. Visit their website :  http://www.mywinery.com/. Not only  a very nice drop, healthy to boot !
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The Quay Restaurant is world famous. This year it was voted Number 27 on the coveted S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant’s list, to become the highest ranked Australian restaurant in the world, as well as rewriting Australian restaurant award history by scoring a “double double” win, having been named Restaurant of The Year for the second consecutive year in the industry’s two top awards, the Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards 2010 and The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2010.



Leon & Margaret Fink



Chef Peter Gilmore & John Fink



So of course you would be stark raving mad to miss a book launch there especially when it's a recipe book by the famed head chef at the Quay, Peter Gilmore.

You know the nibbles will be superb, the Bollinger chilled to perfection and the crowd friendly. The only thing missing were some of the restaurant's regular clients when in town-David Bowie, Gordon Ramsay, Mick Jagger and King Constantine II of Greece.



our favourite Murdoch family member-Matt Handbury and partner Clare



The Quay is owned by Leon Fink and run by his son John. John's mum is the film producer Margaret Fink who produced Candy with Heath Ledger and My Brilliant Career (for which she won an Academy Award )and which launched the careers of Judy Davis and Sam Neil.



The view from The Quay Restaurant







Oprah's Aussie Secrets-we have them

One of the benefits of attending the old fashioned Black & White Ball is the contacts one runs into. It's the last of the old style Eastern Suburbs dances and the madcap Debutante's Derby is a sight to see.

Ball-gowned young beauties reel in wooden horses in a paean to the Royal Randwick Races. A heart stopping starter's gun is fired and pandemonium breaks loose as the barracking from the well-heeled spectators fills the room egging on their young daughters to gallop the wooden charges into first place.

The other major excitement for the night was asking the Hon Bronwyn Bishop MP-guest of honour-what she thought about now being the oldest MP in the Federal parliament. She fixed us with her steely gaze and replied-"there are MPs older than me you know". Her prediction for the future-Kevin Rudd will resign from Parliament within a year.

Next year all that may change. As one racing identity told us tonight-the snooty Australian Jockey's Club (AJC) that runs Randwick has voted to merge with the Sydney Turf Club that oversees racing tracks in outer Sydney such as Rosehill near Parramatta. AJC members are mortified.

The last time the Shuttle attended the races at Rosehill we were cadged into assisting as spotters in a local version of 'Fashions In The Field' . When our choice of young filly alighted the competitor's stage in a white wedding dress (with beefy tattooed arms), the announcer enquired as to what the large ornamental object was that she was holding high like a trophy.

His words-broadcast to thousands as necks craned to see, faded away to a hoarse croak as it dawned upon him that he just drawn the inquisitive crowd's attention to a giant purple dildo. Alas-she didn't win a prize and we haven't been asked back.

We digress. The ball was held at the Four Season's Hotel at Circular Quay and we button-holed someone that matters. In December a large block booking has been made for 180 rooms plus the penthouse . A range of alterations to the penthouse have been requested from a crew of 8 advance crew from a certain TV show broadcast out of Chicago. At the nearby Holiday Inn, a further 144 rooms have been booked.

However the plot thickens. At the very same time 6 of the very very best rooms and the major suite at the Park Hyatt Hotel, directly opposite the Opera House has been booked by the same US crew.

Our source however says that Oprah herself will most likely be at the Hotel Intercontinental due to it's close location to the Opera House.

And there are more hotel bookings. At the luxurious Hamilton Island, a luxury suite that comes with butler service and overlooks the Coral Sea, has been secured for 2 nights. So now you know. And more soon on who will be Oprah Winfrey's guests and who won't. Gardening guru Jamie Durie is in the second lot and we'll tell you why.

Bigger Than Elton John's Christies Sale

After finally departing the Byron Bay mansion, Cedar Springs (left) in Possum Creek, built by actor Paul Hogan, British born banker Duncan Mount (right) and his horse mad wife Sally are auctioning off their fabulous collection of antiques at Shapiro's Auction gallery in Queen Street Woollahra on October 26th.

Hogan built the house for his 1990 wedding to actress and Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski, However he rarely visited the property and it was on the market for 10 years before the Mounts moved into the 25 room palace.

The Mounts have taken up temporary residence in a $3.5M penthouse in Bellevue Hill, built by would be property developer Gary Baker who has fallen on hard-times with the collapse of his property empire. Baker and his wife Karin Upton Baker, boss of Hermes were neighbours of the Mounts in Sydney.

Last year the Mounts began to sub-divide Possum Creek with it's hundreds of rolling acres of prime land and forests that back onto the uber resort of Byron. Each of the plots sold for $2M as the couple prepared to enter the Sydney social scene again.

The furniture collection was housed in Byron Bay and the couple's equestrian centre on the northern beaches at Ingleside which they sold for $7.3M earlier this year. The remainder of the Possum Creek property with Cedar Springs is priced at $7.9M.

Emigrating from Hong Kong in 1996, Duncan and Sally paid $15M for the Spanish style mansion Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay, selling six years later for $20.5M . The glamorous pair were a regular sight around the Eastern Suburbs as they ferried their kids to school in a Bentley Continental convertible.

The Mounts threw some memorable parties at Boomerang including one for Jennifer Lopez.
The house was also featured in the film Mission Impossible 2 and Tom Cruise offered to buy the house from the Mounts as his Sydney base for he and then wife Nicole Kidman.

Duncan mentioned over drinks to the Shuttle one night that he was slightly miffed that Cruise's film crew clambered through Boomerang for 2 weeks and although Tom promised him an invite to the movie's premiere-the invitation never arrived.

Auctioneer Andrew Shapiro says : ''This is the biggest collection that has ever come on the market, and it is all museum-quality,'' ''It's even bigger than the Elton John collection which sold at Christies in 2003.''

Amongst the 250 lots there are designs by modern artists like Andre Dubreuil, Mark Brazier-Jones and Scott Cunningham with works cast in bronze, finished in ornamental glass plus paintings and a range of traditional antiques, mainly French, Italian and English from the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection is estimated to sell for about $500,000.

You can view and drool over the pieces at the Shapiro's on-line catalogue here.

Meanwhile the woes of the Mount's close former neighbours, Gary and Karin Upton Baker continue as around the same time as the Mount Collection sale, their beautiful Elizabeth Bay duplex which is directly opposite Boomerang goes up for auction.

The scene for parties for the likes of Giorgio Armani and
Elle McPherson, the property has a 3 car garage with a turn table-now empty. The Upton Baker's Bentley and Rolls Royce Phantom having been sold to satisfy creditors.


Boomerang which featured in Mission Impossible 2

Will Oprah Winfrey Strip Off in Oz ?

After our earlier report that Sydney body artist Eva Rinaldi wants to paint one of her amazing artistic creations on Oprah Winfrey when she visits Oz this December, news come that Eva has received a phone call from one of Oprah's staff asking for more details.

Eva was quoted in the Mosman Daily newspaper on Sydney's North Shore where she lives as commenting on the 3.15am phone call which woke her up:

"`At first I thought is was a joke, I was mumbling and jumbling my words as I was half asleep on the phone,’’ she said. ``You know that feeling when you get butterflies in your stomach; that’s how I felt. I asked them for the details five times just to be sure I wrote it down correctly.’

As you can see from this Elenor Tedenborg photograph of Eva's work, the artist's plans are already well advanced with this look-a-like- Taaleah Jezierski who along with 40 other volunteers were daubed with local inspired designs when they turned up to Bondi Beach a fortnight ago.

You can join Eva's facebook page here and help boost the plan to get Oprah to agree to be decorated Aussie style. Let's kick along the plans to make the Greatest Journey Ever Taken the most memorable for Oprah Winfrey and her local fans.

And don't forget-all that amazing publicity the local tourism scene will get with Oprah's visit!

# 1: Gossip From The Oprah Negotiations!

A tale in a series from our well placed mole in the Sydney organisers of the Greatest Journey Ever Taken- Oprah Winfrey's December visit to Australia when she plans to bus in 300 of her favourite guests for a sightseeing tour and a grand show at the Sydney Opera House where up to 3000 fans will view her live show.

After initial contacts were made, pleasantries exchanged, a battery of lawyers from either side got down to hard negotiations via video conferencing.

As the first day wore on neckties were loosened, fresh bottles of water consumed, coffee pots re-filled and the US side began to go in heavy.

The Aussie legal eagles began to sense that the other side where sending out vibes of "well just who the hell are you people ?".

The question they expected finally came towards the end of the day :

" OK guys," said the heavy Bronx accent of the sharp-suited US Oprah attorney as he thumped a table with his open hand-
"we really want to know some of your history so we can be sure you know what you are getting into-just who have you guys handled in the past down there ?"

The Aussie solicitor beamed as he delivered his response- " Are presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Jr big enough ?. How about the Pope ?"

Bingo !. The ice was broken. It's been plain sailing ever since !