Finally : Why Cranky Frankie Spat The Dummy

Frank & Barbara

It was 1973 and Frank Sinatra had arrived in Australia for a tour. Within a day all hell had broken loose and Frank suddenly found himself holed up in the presidential suite of the Boulevard Hotel in Kings Cross.

Unions around the country had joined forces and refused to service Sinatra's tour which included stage hands and local musicians.  Airline refuelers refused to service Sinatra's jet and traffic controllers said they would walk off if his jet attempted to leave . Taxi drivers. limousine drivers even the hotel staff including room service refused to attend to Sinatra's needs.

Dennis Hopper as Sinatra

Frank Sinatra was stranded in Australia for the foreseeable future. 

The previous night Sinatra had given a concert and began to discuss the Australian media with the audience. He called female reporters "$2 hookers" and that's when the ban began. The incident was made into a film - The Night We Called It a Day produced by Oscar winner Emile Sherman with the late Dennis Hopper playing Sinatra and Joel Edgerton the young show biz promoter who lured him to the Antipodes.

Bob Hawke

Eventually the trade union boss and later prime minister Bob Hawke brokered a deal after a day's drinking with Sinatra and his manager Mickey Rudin (with the Boulevard's room service attendants relenting to deliver liqueur at Hawke's request). Sinatra agreed to give a charity concert and apologise. He gave the concert but not the apology and when his jet taxied down the Mascot runway the following day traffic controllers ordered "abort abort" but Sinatra ordered his pilot to ignore them and the jet departed for San Francisco.

Sinatra's widow Barbara Sinatra ( played by Melanie Griffith in the film) has finally told her version of the story in her book My Life With Frank Sinatra and  revealed new details although they have been hinted at for years but never before written about.. And it appears Frank may have had good reason to insult journalists.

A female writer for a popular magazine  talked hotel staff into letting her into Sinatra's suite claiming she was Barbara Sinatra. She confronted Sinatra in his bedroom while he was resting and fired off numerous questions while trying to take a photo on a small camera. Sinatra went ballistic and yelled at her to get out of the room.

As the journalist later told friends he said "I didn't order a fucking hooker and if I had it wouldn't be a dog like you now get the fuck out of here ". The hackette said "you may as well answer a few questions now I'm here" at which Sinatra yelled "you're nothing but a godadammned cheap hooker" and flung some notes from his pocket at her. The journalist, now realising retreat was the only option grabbed one note as a souvenir-an Australian $2 note-briefly wondered if he would autograph it but thinking better of it, stuffed it in her pocket and fled.

That night she witnessed the storm she created when Frankie went on stage and referred to her (and others) as "$2 hookers!"

Here is some rare footage of the media chasing Frank :


Here's Old Blue Eyes with The Lady Is A Tramp :

Love Is Dead With Accused Back Behind Bars

Despaillieres with Elton John & Peter Ikin

A report in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald confirms that Alexandre Despallieres, suspected of being involved in the sudden death of popular Australian Warner Music executive Peter Ikin has been re-arrested and is back behind bars.

As the Shuttle exclusively reported Despallieres was released on bail in March this year after spending ten months in jail while Ikin's death is being investigated. Ikin, a friend of Rod Stewart and Elton John died in a Paris hotel in 2008 not long after marrying Despallieres in a civil ceremony.

The 42 year old Frenchman had Ikin's body cremated and obtained probate on Ikin's estate in a London court and set out on a spending spree purchasing  luxury sports cars for he and his co-accused Jeremy Billen.

A relative of Ikin's  challenged the validity of that will and a settlement was reached out of court with Despallieres relinquishing his claim on Ikin's $20M estate.

Enter Elton John's ex-manager John Reid a long time friend of Ikin's who commissioned an investigation in France which resulted in the arrest of Despallieres and Billen.

According the SMH article Despallieres who once had a hit record L'amour a Mort (Love Is Dead) in France had failed to meet the strict conditions of his bail and temporarily went missing, finally being arrested by French police who traced him via his mobile phone.
During his 6 months release he had launched himself into Paris nightlife and has been posting videos onto his YouTube account . He also has a photographic website that has snaps of him in happier days with Ikin, John Reid, Elton John and others.

For now, Despallieres is back again in Fresnes Prison, a gloomy establishment outside Paris ( once run by the Gestapo) while a magistrate considers the evidence against him.

Did The Terminator Murder Lord Lucan?

JUST when you thought it was safe to venture onto the streets of Britain clutching your mobile phone and listening to your hack-free voicemail messages comes news that the News Of The World has re-surfaced as newsoftheworldonline.eu an Internet newspaper that looks like continuing in the finest tradition of the late great Sunday tabloid put to rest by James Murdoch.

And it has some extraordinary news stories worthy of that great organ that specialised in errant vicars dabbling with choir boys and so on.

For instance the lead story claims the former Governator of California and famous movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger may have been the monster who bashed an innocent nanny to death on the staircase of a Belgravia townhouse, mistaking her for Lady Lucan, and then in order to cover up his crime, murdered the infamous Lord Lucan, gathered up his body and dumped it in the grave he had earlier prepared for the body of the good Lady.

Diane Passage

And there the Lord has lain since-not as previous theories have claimed, hiding out in Goa, Bali, South Africa or Zimbabwe. Murdered by the Terminator who it's claimed, worked as a gambling debt collector in London in 1970s.

Publisher of the NOTW online is the colourful  Gionvanni di Steffano (a solicitor for Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi) and the editor is Michael Biggs, son of the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs. 
 In fact the entire editorial staff of notwonline could be called 'colourful' including the food writer Hudi Hoggi, astrologer Mystic Margaret and the dashing young Royal writer Ian Strachan ( so close to the Royal Family that he has just been a guest of Her Majesty for the last few years).

There is a Society column written by Birgit Cunningham who manages a quite dizzying round of cocktail parties and a Security & Diplomatic contributor-our favourite former Monte Carlo spy master Robert Eringer  (see the Shuttle ).

Fred & Zsa Zsa

The USA Entertainment Editor is the very glamorous Diane Passage whose former career was as a stripper at the infamous Scores strip joint in New York.
Regular Shuttle readers may recall Scores is where Labor Foreign Minster spokesman and committed Christian Kevin Rudd MP dallied one night with Col Allan editor of the Murdoch tabloid New York Post, a scandal that surfaced co-incidentally just before his election as Prime Minster in 2007. Some say the publicity is what got him over the line.

But the piéce de résistance must  be the contributing US Show Business Editor, our favorite European noble Prince Frederic von Anhalt who in his spare time doubles as the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Sadly Prinz Fred has only filed one show-biz report to newsoftheworldonline but his own life is far more exciting. Readers may recall he was found a few years ago naked and handcuffed to the steering wheel of his own Rolls Royce after a dispute with some ladies who stole his wallet. Others may recall that Freddie claimed to be the father of the baby of the late Anna Nicole Smith even though many say the former masseur "bats for the other team"

While poor Zsa Zsa at 94 years old languishes  in hospital minus a leg, the Prince's website brings us the news that David Hasslehoff's ex-wife Pamela Bach has offered her uterus for Freddy and Zsa Zsa's use  in order an heir may be produced.

Ronnie Biggs

There's even a choice quote from Ms Bach's representatives on Prince Freddy : "we refuse to acknowledge the ramblings of this delusional man who has done nothing more than plant a fictional tale in a desperate attempt for attention ". 

There is a nice symmetry to the stories carried by newsoftheworldonline including the claim former British government minister John Stonehouse (who was arrested in Australia after he faked his own death-initially on suspicion of being Lord Lucan) was the mastermind of the Great Train Robbery in which the online newspaper editor's father Ronnie was a participant.
Rebekah Brooks -eat you heart out !

They're Young And Rich

Blue Hotel

BRW magazine threw a bash last night to introduce the 2011 Young Rich (those under 40 years old).

The well padded Nathan Tinkler 35 comes in tops at $1.13B mainly built from coal deposits. Tinkler is moving into the must haves for the young rich- a stable of horses with his $300M Patinack Farm.

BRW editor Kate Mills introduces the Young Rich 100

Sporting stars packing away the dollars in the bank : tennis ace Leyton Hewitt with $35M, soccer's Harry Kewell with $55M, Formula One driver Mark Webber with $37M while Pat Rafter struggles by on just $26M.

Annie & Mike Cannon Brookes

Sass & Bide's Heidi Middleton and Sarah Jane-Clarke who are showing their fashions this week in London at the Royal Opera House are hoping to add to their wealth of $26M while cosmetics queen Natalie Bloom's empire has built her a fortune estimated at $36M.

Also in London, good looking hedge fund wunderkid Greg Coffey is rated as the third richest Aussie in Britain with his whopping $743M fortune while Steven Kalmin of Glencoe International, now Zurich based has $458M.

Dot com whiz kids and software kings are well represented but the top two must be Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquar with their $360M. And they say they aren't in it for the money!.

Lydia & Eugeni Tsvetnenko- Sydney needs you!

But how do we entice our very own budding Russian born oligarch Eugeni Tsvetnenko and his $115M to move from Perth to Sydney?. Eugeni who has made his money from a host of enterprises that include mobile phone texting services and an artificial grass distribution service says he loves nightlife and would party on even if he was broke. We insist he grabs his glamorous socialite wife Lydia, clambers on board that luxurious Lear jet of theirs and immediately move to the East Coast. Sydney needs you. Urgently.

Alika & David Brown-$38M

Young, rich. Sass & Bide

The party was held at one of the best locations, the sensational Blue Hotel in Woolloomooloo that has it's very own rich list of inhabitants including radio king John Laws and movie star Russell Crowe who occupy the twin duplex penthouses at the end of the pier. But they of course, are over 40 and considered oldies.

Harry Kewell : $55M

Nathan Tinkler : $1.13B

Jack Goes Gold

POCKET Rocket Jack Vidgen has just wowed 15 million viewers on America's Got Talent and as a result will be appearing in the Las Vegas shows for the US TV series later this year.

And his first CD  has just gone gold selling over 35000 copies. Last night he sang up a storm on X Factor as you can see in this power packed performance in the video below.

Sub-Edit Howlers #1-Comedy Legend Outed

Perhaps they were being kind and waiting until the death of his beloved wife Delores Hope who passed away yesterday at the grand age of 102.

The UK Daily Mail-as our picture shows- reveals possibly the USA's best kept show-biz secret : legendary comedian Bob Hope who died in 2003 (aged 100) was a cross-dresser.

  Why have their been no rumours ? The snap looks like it was taken for a fan magazine or perhaps the Ladies Home Journal.  Certainly London born Hope appears happy to pose for the readers in sensible shoes, matching skirt and top with a jaunty scarf casually draped around the shoulders.

So much more fashionable than Bob Hope's great friend J.Edgar Hoover (they were both fans of right wing politics) a cross dresser who was forever embarrassing his live-in lover Clyde Tolson.

They would holiday in Florida at Mafia owned hotels and J.Edgar loved nothing more than sitting pool-side wearing cheap make-up, a ridiculous blond Jean Harlow style wig and a gaudy sun frock while flirting with black waiters.
F.B.I motto : A G-Man always gets his man!

Here is a small film on J.Edgar. We're looking forward to seeing Leonardo DiCaprio playing the G-Man in Edgar.

J.Edgar in a pill-box hat

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On the subject of Leonardo DiCaprio- our spy disguised as an aspidistra on the set of The Great Gatsby currently being filmed at Fox Studios says there has been great hilarity amongst the cast with reports that  Leo, rake thin and 5'10", has a  bodyguard who stands at 6'4" and is "built like a brick sh*t house" who has been described as DiCaprio's "decoy" double to fool the paparazzi.
                                                                                                        
And no more so than Leo himself who was both mortified and amused that the bruiser would be mistaken for him.

And who was the offending paparazzo that sent an annoyed DiCaprio and co-star Tobey McGuire plus family back to shore only minutes into what was to be a relaxing Sunday afternoon harbour cruise when Leo spotted a boat following and a long lens poking his way ?

Step forward Jamie Fawcett (right)-scourge of Nicole Kidman and assorted slebs.

2 Tickets to Vivienne Westword for £999999.00

Two tickets to Vivenne Westwood's  Gold Label catwalk in Paris (Spring/Summer 2012 collection) at 6:30pm on 30th September 2011... the exact venue to be announced just before the show.
That's the ebay item on sale right now to aid Wikileak's founder Julian Assange,

The starting bid is £850 or you can buy them for £8500 but the seller values them at just under a million pounds!. Sadly, no bids yet and just a little over 3 days to go.

Also for sale :  Julian's prison coffee, signed and fingerprinted (smuggled out by him)- 9 bids and currently £255, signed photos of Assange, books, a signed John Pilger poster and a gold "60 Minutes Challenge Coin" donated by US 60 Minutes reporter Howard Rosenberg.

Most of the items were donated to Julian at his recent 40th birthday. Start bidding here. 

update : Guy Pearce Wins-A Murdoch Gives Award

Anna Torv

Both Guy Pearce and Kate Winslet have won Emmys for their roles in the re-make of the 40's classic Mildred Pierce.

Anna Torv (who The Daily Beast reckons was 'snubbed' of an Emmy nomination along with her co-star Aussie actor John Noble ) from the hit TV series Fringe presented Guy with his award.

Anna is the daughter of Queensland radio network owner Hans Torv and the niece of Anna Murdoch Mann the former wife of Rupert Murdoch and mother of his children James. Lachlan and  Elisabeth.

Anna, named after her aunt is particularly close to her and regularly visits her in New York.



Kate Winslet at the 2011 Emmys

Guy Up For An Emmy

Guy Pearce has been nominated for an Emmy as best Supporting Actor in A Miniseries for the re-make of Mildred Pierce. Actor Bryan F.O'Byrne has been nominated for the same award in the same film.

The mini-series is a re-make of the 1945 film which starred Joan Crawford at her campest and which starred Zachary Scott in the part played by Pearce. The new series has been nominated for a staggering 21 Emmys including Kate Winslet for best actress  in the lead role.

Pearce first found world fame in the Oscar winning movie Priscilla Queen of The Desert but Aussie TV viewers knew Pearce from the soap Neighbours where he starred alongside Kylie Minogue and Jason Donavon.

The Shuttle has uncovered some hot footage of the three former teen heart throbs frolicking on the beach :

A Billionaire's Mistress

In the NSW Supreme Court a drama is being played out as Madison Ashton, the mistress of the late billionaire Dick Pratt makes a claim for $10 Million from the $6B estate Pratt left when he died in 2009

Dick Pratt

Madison says she was offered $500,000 a year by Pratt to be his exclusive mistress. Another mistress Shari-Lea Hitchcock who had a daughter by Pratt received a substantial sum from Pratt's estate while her daughter Madison reputedly received $22M and the deeds to a luxurious beach side mansion in exclusive Camp Cove. Shari-Lea is also disputing the estate over ownership of a country property.

The Sydney Morning Herald's PS column has revealed Madison's website where she offers escort services with the moniker Christine McQueen-Movie star face-Porn star body- with prices starting at a very reasonable $800 for one hour up to $5000 for 3 hours and $500 for 'Greek' (what is Greek?).

Shari-Lea Hitchcock

PS says Madison is a regular customer of a Paddington cosmetic surgeon who keeps the lady's body trim, taut and tucked.

However in today's Sunday Telegraph Ros Reines who sat behind Madison in a court session this week paints a most unflattering portrait of her -"I thought she was a legal clerk who had been running errands from Phillip St, and then stayed around to watch the action."..." especially when I took in the scuffed, flat shoes (what billionaire's mistress wears flats?) and the rubber band holding her unbrushed black hair in a ponytail".

We thought we may turn to a less jaundiced view- Punter Planet that assesses the virtues or otherwise of working girls with reviews from the average punter. Christine is quite a star on Punter Planet with dozens of threads plus some excellent reviews

LeapingLeroy reckons she is model material, lovely and that he had a 'fantastic time" . MadMick says she is an "absolute goddess" and "out of this world" while BoredDude666 is in total agreement with both commenting on her command of English. FrodoBaggins and paranoiddroid are equally enchanted with Madison's charms although it seems that all of them could only afford one hour with the famous lady.

Jeanne Pratt

Quite what Pratt's long suffering widow Jeanne Pratt thinks of this is anyone's business but she is fighting the case in court  Jeanne and Dick lived in Melbourne in the historic homestead Raheen and they also owned a magnificent penthouse duplex apartment in the ritzy Quay Apartments in Sydney. Neigbours at the Quay include Bold And The Beautiful star Ron Moss who purchsed on the floor below in 2006.

neighbour Ron Moss

PS says he visited Quay Apartments in 2006 and uncovered (along with a half eaten BBQ chook in the fridge) "rooms with a distinctly ''adult'' flavour to them, such as the salmon boudoir, where everything was decorated in pink  " and that "the penthouse at Quay was renowned for its bacchanalian parties ".

The Shuttle has been to the apartment twice under different circumstances, once in 2002 and again in 2007. Did Dick have The Renovators on call for quick makeovers ?. We found no "adult flavour" rooms.

 The two parties we attended were very staid affairs-one for the Sydney International Piano Competition and the other for the Australian Singing Competition for aspiring opera and classical singers.

Jeanne Pratt hosted both functions and there was no Louis Roederer champagne ( as discovered in the dozens by PS in the fridge) just a friendly glass of white and some unappetising hors d'ouverers. No pictures of Dick and his daughter Madison by Shari-Lea (as described by PS).

Perhaps more will be revealed as the case progresses and Madison's threatened diary of life with Dick is produced in court.

Sneak Preview : The Great Gatsby 2

We don't really have any footage-yet, but we are privy to the inner workings on the set of Baz Luhrmann's $150M epic, The Great Gatsby currently being filmed in secrecy at Fox Studios.

Jeff Duff

News comes that alternative singer and entertainer Jeff Duff has scored a role in the epic, playing an eccentric friend of Jay Gastby the movie's hero played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Shuttle first encountered Jeff Duff-then called Duffo- at Country Cousins, a London cabaret restaurant off the Kings Road in Fulham.
Duffo appeared on stage one Sunday afternoon singing up a storm with his Duff Orchestra and wearing a jacket that had a dozen brightly coloured dildos hanging from it. We aren't sure if the dildos were part of Duffo's act but they certainly ensured he wouldn't be forgotten.

As we have previously reported, Leo DiCaprio has been hanging out at the tiny Kings Cross club Beach Haus where he regularly takes a corner booth with a group of male friends.

Last night he attended the opening of the glitzy re-vamped The Star casino. Leo slipped in unnoticed by most. He can be seen here in the Sydney Confidential pages of the Daily Telegraph, chatting to friends including Russell Crowe, and scratching his backside. (that will teach him for not posing for the snappers).

Meanwhile guests at the party were talking about how healthy and slim Russell was looking. He seems to have shed several kilos so all that walking he does in the mornings is obviously paying off.

 Crowe learnt ages ago how to get the paparazzi to leave him alone. When he sets out each day from his magnificent Woolloomooloo penthouse on foot, he wears exactly the same gym suit, shoes and cap thus lessening the price of any paparazzi snaps. They gave up hounding him long ago. The rest of the day he can be seen tooling around Sydney in a sleek black CS Class Mercedes.

Here is Jeff Duff in a video we have tracked down with Jeff singing Stairway To Heaven in his inimitable style. Remember, in The Great Gatsby you may see something similar in glorious 3D !

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.

Blast From The Past & Fashion Divas

Sue & Joy Smithers

Following the success of her Fashion Divas of the 70s & 80s party night last week at Slide, former top model Sue Smithers is planning another nostalgia night.

Susie, who trod the catwalks of Paris, London and New York for legendary designers like Valentino and the Yves St Laurent, and her actress sister Joy Smithers organised the get together of top Australian names who were big in the 1970s and 80s and some who are still going strong today.

Agents like Peter Chadwick , Jane Cameron and Martin Walsh  (who looks after Elle McPherson), photographers, make-up artists, Deborah Thomas, an international star model in hey day-now editor in chief of the Woman's Weekly, Deborah Hutton , Terry Schwamberg and hairdressers Lloyd and Trish Lomas.

Martin & Michelle Walsh

Joy Smithers who has acted in a host of top films and TV shows like Bangkok Hilton and Home and Away and Susie now spend a lot of time on the speaker's circuit and the night at Slide was to aid a charity close to their hearts : Hope for Cambodian Children.

Terry Schwamberg

And Susie tells me she now has another top night lined up in Victoria Street, Kings Cross- an Arthur's re-union.

Arthur's was the Kings Cross club and restaurant run by Arthur Karvan  and was the coolest nightclub in Sydney for a decade. Every visiting star ended up in a booth at Arthur's gazing over it's balcony at the amazing views of the city skyline or sometimes took to the suspended dance floor that was so packed it shook and shuddered and many wondered how it remained standing-or suspended. It did and it's still there today.

And the little girl in pigtails who often stood shyly on the side on weekends as her parents, Arthur and Gabriel Karvan worked the room ? That was actress Claudia Karvan now starring in the TV series Spirited.

the ever so cool- Arthur Karvan of 'Arthur's'

New York Fashion Week

Anna Wintour and Valentino

The New York Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is in full swing so naturally we turn to our New York pal, top society photographer Patrick McMullan to provide us with a few snaps.

If McMullan is normally full on, fashion week brings an extra dimension. Armed with a fist full of invitations he is almost a blur rushing from one precinct to another,  often with a film crew in tow.

One event he has just covered-The Couture Council of the Museum of FIT  luncheon last Wednesday on the Promenade of the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center to honour couturier Valentino.

Photographs : Patrick McMullan
        www.patrickmcmullan.com

Lizzie Tisch and Cameron Silver

Rod Keenan and Lisa Boone

Daphne Guinness 

 

 

 

Valentino and Diane von Furstenberg

See more at Patrick's on-line magazine PMC