Stefanie's Hart to Hart with giraffes

International movie star Stefanie Powers brought a little Hollywood glamour to Twycross Zoo as she launched a new Conservation Welfare Fund.

The £1million fund has been set up by the zoo to champion wildlife projects which look after the health and welfare of animals both in captivity and in the wild.

Ms. Powers, the star of TV's much loved Hart to Hart, has been involved in wildlife conservation as president of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation and a supporter of the Jaguar Conservation Trust set up by Jaguar Cars.

Zoo director Suzanne Boardman said: "Twycross Zoo has a strong history of supporting projects that relieve suffering of wild animals as well as supporting the conservation of species.

"We feel we must support animals in their wild habitats.

"Some projects we can, and do, support through providing expertise, others by giving good PR but yet others need money to be able to achieve their goals.

"To increase the level of support we are able to give we have decided to set aside £1 million as a fund."

Each year the interest on that £1million will support projects and each year it will be added to by charitable profits.

Mrs Boardman added: "We want to see the fund grow and to be able to help projects vital to species conservation and welfare to achieve their aims.

"Most important we wish to help animals recover their numbers in the wild and to help protect their habitats."

Money will be targeted at projects which support primate species and the zoo hopes that by 2020 the fund will have helped secure the future of no fewer than five endangered primate species in the wild.

Those projects could encompass areas such as animal management, veterinary care, support for rehabilitation and reintroduction programmes and support for projects dealing with large-scale wildlife welfare problems.

Swing Into Summer With More Rockford!

The Rockford Files - Season 2 is coming to DVD on June 13th. SRP is $39.98 for a 3-DVD set with 22 episodes from 1975-76 presented in the original full screen video. James Garner starred in this Stephen J. Cannell series, and the second season had gobs of guest stars like Ken Swofford, Linda Evans, Gerald McRaney, Joe E. Tata, Robert Hays, Dana Elcar, Noble Willingham, Bruce Kirby, Stefanie Powers, Joan Van Ark, Charles Napier, Stacy Keach Sr., Isaac Hayes, Dick Butkus, Rob Reiner, John Saxon, Michael Ansara, William Daniels, Ron Silver, Louis Gossett Jr., Jayne Kennedy, Veronica Hamel and Gordon Jump.

Quintana's Litigious Past Under Fire

Quintana's Litigious Past Under Fire

HOLLYWOOD - Paris Hilton is not the first celebrity Brian Quintana has accused of harassment, in the 1990s he hit Hart To Hart star Stefanie Powers will similar legal action--but he denies making a habit of lawsuits.

The celebrity socialite was slapped with a restraining order at Los Angeles Superior Court last week, after complaints from promoter Quintana that she'd branded him a "lazy Mexican" and was ruining his business.

In 1995 Quintana sought a similar judgment against Powers when he worked for a charity linked to the flame-haired actress, insisting she would get him drunk and force him to get into bed with her.

Just as Quintana claimed Hilton made threatening calls warning him to stay away from her boyfriend Stavros Niarchos, the party organizer said he began to receive threats from Powers' entourage.

He told tabloid the Globe in 1995, "The calls said, 'Watch your back.' He warned, 'You should be--you're a dead man. You sure messed with the wrong woman.'"

Quintana is adamant he takes no pleasure from filing lawsuits against celebrities. He tells the New York Daily News, "That's ridiculous. It advances my business in no way, and it actually hurts it.

"Look at how litigious Paris is and how many criminal investigations there are involving her. You know, this is the MO (modus operandi) of numerous celebrities who think they're above the law and the little guys who should just go away."

Quintana's case against Powers was dropped when Powers submitted legal documents proving she was overseas for most of the period Quintana claimed the abuse took place.

Stars and Industry Professionals Confess Their Love of Musicals, in a Valentine's Day Extravaganza

BroadwayWorld.com, the Premiere Theatre Site on the Net, Boasts Over 175 Stars and Pros -- Choosing Their Most Memorable or Favorite Romantic Love Songs From a Broadway Show...in an Expanded and Updated Version of Last Year's Top-Rated Feature

NEW YORK, NY -- 02/10/2006 -- The list includes: Patti LuPone, Angela Lansbury, Amy Irving, John Lithgow, Colm Wilkinson, Bruce Vilanch, Nathan Lane, Michael Crawford, Elaine Stritch, Tovah Feldfush, Carol Channing, Charles Busch, Anthony Rapp, Faith Prince, Sam Harris, Jerry Herman, Jane Monheit, Marc Shaiman, Star Jones Reynolds, Cherry Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Lea Salonga, Michael McKean, Jim Steinman, Maureen McGovern, Robert Goulet, Deborah Gibson, Nancy Anderson, James Barbour, Bryan Batt, Hinton Battle, Laura Bell Bundy, Laura Benanti, Stephanie J. Block, Jason Robert Brown, Georgia Stitt, Kerry Butler, Liz Caplan, Jim Caruso, Kristy Cates, Kim Cea, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jen Colella, Douglas Cohen, Carole Cook, Gavin Creel, Michael Dale, Tyne Daly, Jason Danieley, Ryan Duncan, Daisy Eagan, John Treacy Egan, Susan Egan, Melissa Errico, Nanette Fabray, Tovah Feldshuh, Peter Filichia, Adam Fleming, Barrett Foa, Hunter Foster, Jen Cody, Sutton Foster, Alison Fraser, David Friedman, Jenn Gambatese, Jordan Gelber, Mandy Gonzalez, Amanda Green, Jenna Leigh Green, Larry Grossman, Jessica Grove, Ann Harada, John Hill, Damon Intrabartolo, Richard Jay-Alexander, Cheyenne Jackson, Michael John LaChiusa, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Sharon Lawrence, Margo Lion, Brian Lowdermilk, Jeff Marx, Deven May, Jeff McCarthy, Jamie McGonnigal, Rita McKenzie, Matthew Morrison, Michael Musto, Scott Nevins, Larry O'Keefe, Billy Porter, Stefanie Powers, Michael Riedel, Robert Jess Roth, Anne Runolfsson, Seth Rudetsky, John Selya, Douglas Sills, Matthew Stocke, Brooke Tansley, Marty Thomas, Tom Viola, JoAnne Worley, Karen Ziemba, Lucie Arnaz, Kelli O'Hara, Sally Mayes, Cady Huffman, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Michelle Federer, Don Pippin, Julia Murney, John McDaniel, Bobby Lopez, Stephen Flaherty, Michael Kosarin, Karen Mason, John Lloyd Young, Tyler Maynard, Jason Graae, John Bolton, Jeffry Denman, Jay Landers, Bernie Telsey, Gregory Jbara, Euan Morton, Daniel Reichard, Jed Bernstein, Jill Paice, Gary Beach, Sara Ramirez, Jennifer Hope Wills, Glen Roven, Jamie deRoy, Larry Blank, Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker, Liz Callaway, Gabriel Barre, Jennifer Rae Beck, Andrew Lippa, Leah Hocking, John Carrafa, Jessica-Snow Wilson, Richie Ridge, Kevin Stites, Matthew Sklar, Thommie Walsh, Rick McKay, Andrea Burns, Angus McIndoe, Chuck Cooper, Brooks Ashmanskas, David Zippel, Craig Zadan, Darren Holden, Natalie Toro, Scott Wittman, Brad Oscar, Brent Barrett, Kris Stewart, Manoel Felciano, Phyllis Newman, Clarke Peters, Mylinda Hull, Mark Sendroff, Mark O'Donnell, Bryn Dowling, Ute Lemper, Natascia Diaz, Rob Bartlett, Thomas Meehan, Andrea McArdle and Michael Cerveris.

Reynolds, MacLaine, Lansbury on stage at gala

A record number of 1,650 guests, including emcee Debbie Reynolds and celebrity presenters Shirley MacLaine and Angela Lansbury, turned out for the Desert AIDS Project's 12th annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards Saturday at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Jazz and Broadway singing stars Ann Hampton Callaway and her sister Liz Callaway were flown in from New York at the last minute to perform their classy show, "Sibling Revelry."

They provided seamless companionship to the already star-studded roster of HIV/AIDS supporters.

It was MacLaine's second appearance in Palm Springs in 40 years after breaking the drought as an honoree at last month's Palm Springs International Film Festival. Besides coming from her home near Santa Fe, N.M., to support a good cause, she said she was well treated on her last visit.

"I've had contour wraps and massages in places I didn't know I had," MacLaine said.

A simple and elegant cabaret themed room of black, white and red décor provided a sense of intimacy. A sea of black and white tuxes and flashy ball gowns lent a touch of New York to the highly-anticipated annual event that raises money for people in the Coachella Valley living with HIV/AIDS.

"The best part of this evening is the fact that every penny, for everything from staples to stamps, was underwritten by generous people," said co-chair Bill Jones, owner of Carousel Catering. "We will raise an unprecedented $700,000 tonight, all going directly to DAP client services. We live in a community that has the most incredibly generous people I have ever seen in my life. They give of themselves and their money and their time unlike I have ever seen. Without them, this evening would never happen."

These underwriters include Wells Fargo, Earl Greenburg and David Peet, Private Bank of North America, Harold Matzner, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Tom Bombardier and John Fowler, Walgreens, John Bowab, Tim Hanlon and Anthony Klatt, Jim and Jackie Lee Houston, Bill Jones, Bob Jones of Davey's Hideaway, Virginia Milanovich, Joseph Roman and Mark Wilson, and Union Bank of California.

Co-chair Tim Hanlon, who is the president of Wells Fargo Foundation, said "We at Wells Fargo wanted to cement our relationship with DAP and build on our already successful partnership with the organization that houses the Wells Fargo HIV Health Center."

The fundraising didn't stop. At two points in the evening, surprises were announced. Susan Unger, a DAP board member, announced the inception of DAP's 100 Women donor club, which is made up of women leaders across the valley that include Peggy Cravens, Dr. Wendy Roberts, Edra Blixseth and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia. A check was presented to roaring applause as members of the 100 Women Founders Circle stood throughout the room.

Reynolds set the jovial tone for the evening when she appeared to welcome guests while they dined on bleu cheese salad wedges. As she introduced co-chairs Bill Jones and Hanlon, photos of the two men flashed on the screen, only Hanlon's was a photo of his drag queen alter ego Summer. "Oops," said the voice of god from the wings.

This set the tone for the night, which was all about a diverse community of gay and straight gathering together in hopes to combat the chronic disease of HIV/AIDS with humor, dedication and companionship.

Lansbury presented the Arts & Activism Award to Tom Viola of New York's Broadway Cares. Russ Russell, DAP board president, gave the award to Partners For Life honoree Dr. Burt Fogelman who volunteers daily at the organization.

Bill Jones introduced the Warner Engdahl Community Service Award to Marv and Carol Sholl, saying, "Marv is the kindest, gentlest man I know married to the classiest broad I have ever met in my life."

The Sholls, whose son Barry died from complications from HIV/AIDS, have been involved with DAP as volunteers and donors for more than a decade.

A dinner of Asian braised short ribs was followed by a performance by Erasure. At a VIP cocktail party the night before the Chase at the Palm Springs Art Museum, Erasure lead singer Andy Bell mentioned that he had watched AIDS devastate his close community of friends, and that he was thrilled to be in Palm Springs donating his time for the organization's efforts.

"Andy and Paul (Hickey) and Vince came all the way from London for free to be here tonight," said Bill Jones.

The band performed their best-loved hits "Chains of Love," "Savannah Song" and "Respect" to a cheering crowd.

MacLaine then took the stage to award Dr. Mathilde Krim with the Science and Medicine Award. Krim is a founder of amFAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

The Callaway Sisters topped off the gala with a performance as guests mingled and drank coffee before heading home.

Also in attendance were Michael Childers, Mayor Ron Oden, EQCA Executive Director Geoffrey Kors, Patrick Mundt and Mike Hutchison of Contempo Homes, Denise Brown, Jaime Kabler, Arlene Rosenthal, comedian Bruce Vilanch, actors Stefanie Powers and Tippi Hedren and Palm Springs Art Museum Executive Director Janice Lyle.

Celebrities Capitalize on Star Power in D.C. - Los Angeles Times

More performers are lobbying about issues unrelated to their day jobs. The famous get their egos stroked, while their causes receive publicity.

WASHINGTON — In four decades as a guitarist with such iconic rock bands as the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, David Crosby played in front of millions of fans at such venues as Woodstock, the Fillmore East, the Hollywood Bowl and London's Wembley Stadium.

Lately, one of his regular gigs has been at one of the nation's most elite clubs: the U.S. Senate.

Last year, the shaggy-haired, 64-year-old musician donned a suit in lieu of his usual bluejeans to lobby the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, seeking to thwart plans to expand Chumash casinos and commercial developments near his home in the tranquil Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. On another occasion, Crosby opined to lawmakers on campaign finance reform.

"Being a celebrity cuts both ways in Washington," Crosby said. "In some ways it gets you access. But in other ways it makes people dismiss you. You have to be insanely careful about what you say."

Crosby is part of a growing parade of celebrities trekking up Capitol Hill to talk to the nation's lawmakers about issues that rarely have anything to do with their day jobs. Trying to get attention for pet causes easily lost in the clutter of public policy debates, stars hope their cachet can make the difference in opening doors, getting media attention and scoring face time on C-SPAN.

During the last year, Washington's show has starred actress Salma Hayek testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on domestic violence about how she became familiar with the issue researching a movie role. Jazz musician and New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis told the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management how important it was to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Actress and AIDS activist Ashley Judd spoke to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the need to develop an HIV vaccine for Africa. Actor Don Cheadle, who starred in the movie "Hotel Rwanda" set in that country's 1994 civil war, joined five members of Congress on a fact-finding mission to learn about refugees in Sudan.

When it comes to hobnobbing with lawmakers, U2 frontman Bono ranks as Washington's reigning celebrity lobbyist. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is a frequent guest at the band's concerts. In October, Bono lunched for 90 minutes with President Bush at the White House, where the two discussed debt relief, AIDS, malaria and world trade, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said.

"More and more celebrities are lobbying for particular causes," said Darrell West, a professor of political science at Brown University and author of the book "Celebrity Politics." "They attract the TV cameras, and celebrities are great fundraisers."

For celebrities, testifying and lobbying in the nation's capital offers the ego stroke of being taken seriously on important issues, and a chance to make headlines for something other than their latest loves or public mishaps.

In an e-mail to the Los Angeles Times, actress Mary Tyler Moore said her lobbying on behalf of the Diabetes Research Foundation stemmed from her own experiences as a diabetic. Having the disease "has fueled my desire to help … find a cure," Moore said.

After actor Michael J. Fox testified on Capitol Hill in 1999 about his battles with Parkinson's disease, lawmakers urged the National Institutes of Health to intensify the government's search for better treatments. Since then research grants for Parkinson's have jumped more than tenfold from $25 million to as much as $300 million this year, said Robin Elliott, executive director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

"In a television culture, celebrity has become crucial to advancing all kinds of causes," Elliott said.

But it also can often backfire when it appears a celebrity is simply fronting for an issue in which he or she has no special expertise.

In 2002, Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) walked out of a Senate subcommittee hearing on the environmental effect of mountain mining when Kevin Richardson, a Kentucky native and member of the Backstreet Boys singing group, was called as a witness. Voinovich told reporters the proceedings had turned into "a joke."

Lou Diamond Phillips, star of such films as "La Bamba" and "Young Guns," said it was unfair to assume celebrities were unqualified to testify. Phillips said he met resistance when he testified in 2002 about extending veterans benefits to Filipinos who had fought in World War II. Phillips is part Filipino and the son of a war veteran.

"It upsets me that people don't think we have the right to speak out," Phillips said in an interview. "We are citizens like everybody else. I made it certain to the senators that I was no carpetbagger."

When Crosby testified last summer on the tribal development plans, Connecticut blogger Edward Janusz questioned his qualifications.

"Mr. Crosby seems like an intelligent person," Janusz said in an interview. "But I'm more inclined to listen to people who are personally involved and have some expertise."

Congressional hearings for decades were mostly dominated by nondescript government, industry and academic experts. Stars called to testify typically were asked about issues directly related to the entertainment industry, such as when the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1940s investigated alleged Communist infiltration of Hollywood.

Credit former top Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti and Washington lawyer Michael Gardner with helping demonstrate during the 1980s the clout celebrities could have on Capitol Hill. They mobilized some of Hollywood's biggest names to counter government efforts to end financial syndication rules that forbade broadcasters from owning any of the TV programs they aired.

Valenti squired Warren Beatty, Stefanie Powers, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas to Washington to testify, lobby and pose for snapshots with star-struck lawmakers.

Gardner took Mary Tyler Moore, Alan Alda and Jean Stapleton to make the rounds of federal regulators who were siding with the TV networks in favor of the rule change.

In the end, the beleaguered television networks were outmatched by Hollywood's star power.

Financial syndication rules were preserved for nearly a decade before a judicial ruling ended them in the early 1990s.

Valenti, who retired in 2004 as head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America after 38 years, has a relatively simple explanation for why celebrity testimony can be so effective: Congressional hearings are dreadfully dull.

"Most people come in and duck their heads and read their testimony and leave no lasting impression," he said.

But by virtue of their star power and training, Valenti said, "actors can give Oscar-winning performances."

Just Fabulous

Knack For Sewing Launched Donna Salyers' Career

COVINGTON - Donna Salyers didn't grow up wearing furs - neither faux, nor real. She did, however, grow up with a grandmother who could whip a mighty stitch, and under her tutelage Salyers learned to do the same.

"I was just one of those little kids who like to sew," Salyers said. "I loved pretty clothes and I was from a poor family, and if I was going to have them, I thought, I'll learn to sew, and I'll make them."

She not only made her own clothes, but became an expert on how others might do the same.

In 1974, Salyers, who grew up in Northern Kentucky and graduated from Dixie Heights High School in Crestview Hills, wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper saying that publication's sewing column wasn't up to par.

"I said the column in your paper is so bad even I could write a better column," Salyers said. "They called me and said, 'We wish you would.' I wrote six samples, and I remember thinking I've never written anything but a letter to the editor."

But lack of experience didn't matter and for the next 17 years Salyers wrote a weekly sewing column, "Sewing, Etc.," for Gannett newspapers. She also made guest appearances on sewing segments for a cable television show that was taped in New York City.

"I would go to New York to do these shows and I thought everybody in the whole town had a fur coat but me," Salyers said.

So, Salyers made her own fur coat.

Because she had been writing the column for so long, she had some good contacts in the textile business. As a result, she was able to get her hands on good quality faux fur.

"People would just marvel at that coat," Salyers said. "After about four or five years I'd worn that coat so many times and so many people had tried it on, and I thought I'm getting rid of it and I'm buying a fur coat today."

But, as it turned out, Salyers plan changed with the turn of a radio dial.

Salyers was listening to radio commentator Paul Harvey talk about a toy manufacturer in London who took litters of kittens, skinned them, then used their fur to make teddy bears.

"I thought, I don't want a fur coat," Salyers said. But she wanted the look of fur, and she thought others might, too.

Salyers bought an ad in a sewing publication and sold sewing kits for her fur coat. In 1989, her first year of business, she earned $300,000. This year, Fabulous Furs will earn more than $10 million.

Celebrity List

"Do you know who Ice T is?" asked Salyers. "I didn't."

But Salyers soon found out, when the rap star became a customer. As it turns out, Ice T and his wife Coco purchased three custom bed throws from Fabulous Furs for their home which was featured on MTV's "Cribs," a television program that gives viewers a glimpse into celebrities' far-from-humble abodes.

Fabulous Furs established celebrity appeal early on. Actress Loretta Swit of the sitcom M*A*S*H contacted Salyers after reading about her in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"She read about us in the Chronicle and said, 'I want one of your coats, but I don't know how to sew,'" Salyers recalled. "I told her I'd turn it over to the ready-to-wear department. So, of course I'm in my kitchen making it that night."

Swit showed the coat to her friend, actress Stefanie Powers, who contacted Salyers and asked her to bring some of her coats backstage while she was in town performing "Love Letters."

Fabulous Fur pillows were on the big screen in the movie, "You've Got Mail," starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. "All My Children's" Susan Lucci sported a faux-lynx coat on the daytime drama, and Cosmopolitan Editor Helen Gurley Brown owns both sable and coyote faux furs.

"We still get excited about celebrities," Salyers said.

Fabulous Furs' business offices are located in Covington along with a showroom that Salyers said has become a tour bus destination. She's hoping her new endeavor, Fabulous Bridal (see related story, this page), located at the corner of Sixth Street and Madison Avenue in Covington, will have similar appeal.

"If we can make Fabulous Bridal a destination, people will travel from down in Kentucky and Tennessee," Salyers said.

Otto Lang

Reached many a peak on skis

Otto Lang left a voice mail seeking my help in finding actress Stefanie Powers. She was in Seattle to star in "The King and I," and had left word with him that his free tickets would be at the door. But he was fuzzy on the details and wondered if I knew where she was staying.

I certainly didn't know, but I was curious how Seattle ski legend Otto Lang, who turns 98 next month, got on her comp list.

"Oh, we are dear old friends," he said with his Austrian accent. "She went to Hollywood High School with my son. I saw her in a school production of 'Oklahoma' and identified her as a coming talent and cast her in a TV series."

Lang is so synonymous with skiing in these parts and across the country that you forget his full life involved producing, directing and acting in film and television, from high-brow documentaries such as "Beethoven: Ordeal and Triumph" to the All-American diet of "Daktari," "Cheyenne" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."

He traveled the world and wrote two thick books. One, "Around the World in 90 Years," features his beautiful photographs. "A Bird of Passage" chronicles his life, from coming to America to his career in Hollywood and hobnobbing with the rich and famous.

These days, Lang walks with creaky knees. It takes him a bit to tilt back to erect, but he seems as sharp and engaging as ever. He owes it all, he says from his West Seattle home, to skiing.

Emigrating from Austria in 1935, Lang soon decided to head west to Mount Rainier, where he established his own ski school at Paradise Lodge. Skiing in the U.S. was in its infancy, but Lang was a tireless promoter of it. He was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1978.

Frustrated with bamboo poles, Lang went to the golf industry to design one with a steel shaft. The 1937 prototype was strong yet flexible, but manufacturing and marketing got shelved when World War II put deep demands on steel production.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it.

Now, three of his early films are part of a four-DVD set featuring classic ski films developed and marketed by Topics Entertainment of Renton. One is the first theatrical movie about skiing filmed on Rainier and Mount Baker, which premiered at Radio City Music Hall in 1938.

It all goes back to skiing.

"I know it is a broad statement, but it is true. Skiing is responsible for everything in my life. It connected everything."

Star Studded Cast Sends Help For AIDS

A remarkable cast performed on Dec. 4 for a spectacular evening of music, comedy, and dance—“Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation Presents Help is on the Way for the Holidays VII”—where 100 percent of the ticket sales went directly to the beneficiaries: Maitri, Project Inform, and Pediatric HIV/AIDS Program of Children’s Hospital Oakland. The Herbst Theatre stage was festooned in holiday décor—including four, large, snow-laden, lit-up Christmas trees upstage; the apron of the stage trimmed with garlands of greens and tiny rainbow lights; dozens of live poinsettia plants; and a larger-than-life snowman. Sharon McNight was honored that night as a hero in the fight against AIDS with the Peggy Ermet Memorial Award. McNight has been active in the fight against AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic. Whenever she has been asked, she has stepped forward to perform, speak, or otherwise join in the fight. Like so many of us, McNight has lost many dear friends to this terrible disease and it’s a personal battle that truly comes from her heart. She has performed in seven “Help is on the Way” events. Kechia Ley received the Outstanding Volunteer Award. Ley has been an invaluable resource in supporting REAF’s live and silent auctions. In her position at Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, a long-time sponsor of REAF events, she has acted as a lead liaison in soliciting many auction items.

Tia Riebling (Grease/Les Miserablés) and Michael Lynch (Les Miserablés/Fiddler on the Roof) began the program with a love duet of “Just in Time for Christmas” (“You came along and showed me what Christmas is about”). Then out came diminutive Leslie Jordan of TV’s Will & Grace and Boston Legal, as well as film’s hysterical Sordid Lives, as a large elf for his “I Swish You a Merry Christmas” set. He removed his big elf hat so we could see his face and he could expound on his woes as being labeled a sissy with a sibilant setback—a child whose pronunciation of words with “s” in them came out hissing all silly and nelly.

Cabaret singer Wesla Whitfield, for her sixth REAF appearance, gorgeously sang a cappella the sacred “Some Children See Him” (the savior, differently, as black, white, yellow, etc., but all love him). Cabaret, recording star Shawn Ryan was hilariously haughty with “My Simple Christmas Wish,” which was not world peace as one might expect, but rather landing a gig without auditioning and ass-kissing, that made big money and allowed him to be a real bitch! He wanted “to be rich, famous, and powerful.” Yeah, don’t we all?! And his comic bit dishing Oprah and Barbra was simply sidesplitting. Then changing the mood back to serious, singer/actor Adam Lambert (Hair/Brigadoon/The Ten Commandments/Wicked) gave us “O Holy Night” with an amazing high tenor and brought us to our knees when he sang, “Fall on your knees” with a rock beat. But the highlight of the first act was surely Sharon McNight doing her classic “Wizard of Oz Medley,” which this reviewer can recall from the old Fanny’s Castro cabaret club days. To the accompaniment of the veteran Joan Edgar on piano, McNight managed to imitate the voices and mannerisms of almost all the characters from the scene of Dorothy’s fateful landing in Munchkin Land—from Miss Gale herself to the wicked witch to Glinda to both baby and mature munchkins, complete with McNight’s sound effects. Just awesome!

The second act began with the Barbary Coast Cloggers, an all-male Appalachian-style troupe, looking like they came right off the set for Brokeback Mountain with their jeans, suspenders, flannel shirts, and cowboy hats. They whooped it up with line dances and partner dances to “Bucket to the South” and “Banjo Buck,” getting the audience to clapping and stomping along with them. Cabaret and blues artist Tim Hockenberry sang “Christmas by the Bay” in that sultry, smoky voice of his with its composer, Nolan Gasser, on piano. The song referred to the landmark attractions of SF and what a magical, romantic city it is by night. Gaines returned to sing the inspirational “We Can Be Kind” in his sweet lyric tenor: “Together we’ll weather whatever tomorrow may bring.” Stefanie Powers of TV’s Hart To Hart and 28 feature films sang the musical question: “What Are You Dong New Year’s Eve?” with the timely lyrics “Maybe it’s early in the game, but I thought I’d ask you just the same,” hoping she’d “stand a chance to have a dance.”

Recording star and founding member of The Supremes, Mary Wilson, sang “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” with my favorite homophilic line: “Make the yuletide GAY!” and the bittersweet lyrics that certainly apply to this fundraiser against AIDS: “Through the years, we all will be together, if the fates allow.” Adams and Lambert returned to sing Carole King’s upbeat “You’ve Got a Friend,” just like REAF is such a friend to those in need. Their voices were the perfect blend, especially when the duo really boomed out. Susan Anton of Broadway (Will Rogers Follies), TV (Baywatch), and film (Cannonball Run II) showed off her powerful, rich, sexy, belt-out voice with a very bluesy, torchy “Since I Fell for You,” desperately clutching a Santa’s hat as a prop, indicating the love of her life was gone. But not to fear, because Santa showed up at the end to take her in his arms. American Idol finalist La Toya London showcased her flawless phrasing in her jazzy version of “Silent Night,” and then began “White Christmas” as a lead-in for the entire cast to walk on stage and sing along. The house gave a standing, stomping ovation to a stellar show that truly entertained and raised lots of money for the three deserving AIDS beneficiaries.

Help Is on the Way for the Holidays VII

The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation is happy to announce two new cast members. Mary Wilson and Catte Adams join the cast of "Help Is on the Way for the Holidays VII." They join a cast of Grammy, Emmy, Tony, & Oscar winner, Rita Moreno, American Idol finalist La Toya London, TV/film stars Stefanie Powers and Leslie Jordan, Broadway stars Susan Anton, Lisa Vroman, Davis Gaines, and local favorites Sharon Mcnight, Wesla Whitfield and Tim Hockenberry as well as principal dancers from San Francisco Ballet. Tickets for the performance and Gala dessert reception with the cast start at $100. Show tickets, $45-$65. Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., SF. 415-392-4400. cityboxoffice.com. www.helpisontheway.org.

Open Your Hart (to Hart) This Holiday Season

Here at SFist, we'll admit to a bias toward events where fabulousness and social conscience go hand in hand. That's why we're looking forward to Sunday night, when The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation is presenting Help is on the Way for the Holidays VII. Northern California’s largest annual Aids benefit concert, this night of performances from stage and screen stars will benefit the HIV/AIDS Program at Children’s Hospital Oakland, Project Inform, and Maitri.

You can take in this "all-star holiday benefit concert" Sunday, December 4 at 7:30, at the Herbst Theater. As for the star power of the event, there's a lot of them, but w're especially intrigued by the prospect of performances from Susan Anton and Stefanie Powers -- and, hey, don't forget Oakland's own LaToya London!

General admission tickets are $45 and $65, and will get you into the pre-show silent auction at 5:30, with the show starting at 7:30. For the $100 (and up) Host Underwriter tickets, there's even a post-performance party with the cast in the Green Room of the War Memorial Building featuring complimentary wine, champagne and desserts (and we know you can make up that $55 difference in food, booze, and starf**king), from 9:30-11:30.

Review: Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season

In the retrospective featurette that graces the new DVD set of Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season, creator Sidney Sheldon accurately describes the sort of winky, black-tie tone he was aiming for in this serialized, early ’80s knock-off of The Thin Man films, in which Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers played a globe-trotting, make-cute husband and wife duo whose substantial personal fortune allows them to play amateur sleuths. With this in mind, the laidback charms of this show (after all, as the opening credit narration from co-star Lionel Stander cheerily notes of the Harts, “murder is their hobby”) can wash pleasantly over viewers seeking to relive their small screen past, when rakishness was embraced rather than castigated.

Wagner stars as Jonathan Hart, a self-made millionaire who is utterly bored with the business world. He runs his conglomeration of industries by loose proxy, leaving him the time to tend his magnificent coif and live a life of luxury and indulged inquisitiveness with his wife Jennifer (Powers), a former freelance journalist and his intellectual equal. Stander is their butler and sidekick, Max, who blends fruit-and-Jack-Daniels smoothies and is quick with a quip. While so many investigatory shows — be they cop, private investigator or, these days, forensic scientist — are little more than colorfully convoluted procedurals, one thing that’s notable about Hart to Hart is the amount of time it took to establish and delight in character. The cases the Harts tackle, therefore, are actually a little less than half the story, as the mock-exasperated interplay between the stars is what gives the show its true zing. The (little) action is dated and silly, sure, and the occasional stunt doubles among the worst you’ll ever see, but Hart to Hart has a great sense of its own style and mission.

While not without its low points (“Which Way, Freeway?,” wherein the Harts’ dog exposes an elaborate scheme to kill a reclusive jeweler and steal millions of dollars in gems, comes to mind), Hart to Hart works chiefly because of its leads. Wagner plays Hart in breezy, Steve McQueen-lite fashion, which isn’t as backhanded a compliment as it sounds; vacuumed free of his complications and surliness, one could see how the character of Hart — and indeed, this series — was a success with audiences, if never quite a critical darling. While it suffered some rocky reviews early on, Hart to Hart eventually went on to score six Emmy nominations and more than a dozen Golden Globe nods. Episode highlights here include a great opening pilot, “A New Kind of High,” “Hit Jennifer Hart,” “Cruise at Your Own Risk” and “With This Gun I Thee Wed.”

The full-frame transfers of the show look surprisingly good given their age, and the audio (in English and… Portuguese, with subtitles in the latter?) is equally crisp. Wagner and Powers sit with writer-director Tom Mankiewicz for a warm audio commentary track on the two-hour pilot. An abundance of anecdotes are shared (after a location set fire early during the shoot, the director of photography used gaffer tape to amend his novelty, pre-show crew T-shirt from, “I have complete confidence in my director” to read “some confidence”), and the banter between the three (“Did you learn that in star school?” jibes Powers to Wagner at one point) is loving and humorous. This track is a veritable blueprint for multi-party effectiveness, so balanced is it between yarns, interesting insight and quantifiable information. The aforementioned retrospective featurette clocks in at 22 minutes, and includes interviews with the stars, plus Mankiewicz, Sheldon, executive producer Leonard Goldberg and others. It too is a fantastic look back at the series, and a model of economic re-visitation — not too long, not too short.

Review: The King and I

The King and I

(Prudential Hall, NJPAC; Newark, N.J.; 2,750 seats; $35 top)

A New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Atlanta's Theater of Stars and Independent Presenters Network presentation of a musical in two acts with music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Directed by Baayork Lee.

Captain Orton, Sir Edward Ramsey - Hal Davis
Louis Leonowens - Patrick Scott Minor
Anna Leonowens - Stefanie Powers
The Interpreter - Scott Kitajima
The Kralahome - Ronald M. Banks
The Royal Dancer - Jessica Wu
The King of Siam - Ronobir Lahiri
Lun Tha - Martin Sola
Tuptim - Nita Baxani
Lady Thiang - Catherine MiEun Choi
Prince Chululongkorn - Allan Mangaser
Princess Ying Yaowlak - Daphne Chen
Fan Dancer - Kumi Kimura

Winding up a 22-city cross-country tour, "The King and I""The King And I" has settled down in Newark with a perfectly lovely Victorian schoolmarm at the helmhelm and the luscious legacy of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's durable score. The lavish bus and truck production has comfortably weathered the half-century mark bolstered by picturesque design and Baayork Lee's well-focused staging.
Anna Leonowens, the dauntless schoolteacher imported from Britain to Siam to educatethe king's expansive household of children, is played with considerable spunk by Stefanie Powers. In addition to the right mix of reserve and stately beauty, she also possesses a lovely soprano voice, only glimpsed when she appeared as Margo Channing in a Paper Mill Playhouse production of "Applause" a few seasons back.

Powers' widowed tutor reveals maternal warmth when she gathers the children about her to "Whistle a Happy Tune." There's witty defiance in the response to her employer's demands, "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?" and most embracing is her tender blessing to the star-crossed sweethearts, "Hello, Young Lovers."

The king is no longer quite the star turn once fashioned by Yul Brynner. Ronobir Lahiri is perhaps the most youthful in a long line of theatrical kings. He's certainly not a cuddly emperor, and manages to conveyarrogance and royal authority. But the childish needling humor and warm condescension never seem to successfully surface. His delightful, quizzical delivery of "A Puzzlement," however, is everything it should be.

Catherine MiEun Choi is a wise Lady Thiang, and she makes "Something Wonderful" exactly that. As Tuptim, the errant princess, Nita Baxani together with Martin Sola as her doomed lover deliver two of the most sensuous ballads in the R&H canon, "We Kiss in a Shadow" and "I Have Dreamed." The romantic fervor of the theater's golden age survives with considerable distinction.

A batch of barefoot tots scurry across the stage representing a small parcel of the king's 60-some offspring. The extraordinary capacity of Rodgers' melodies to charm and seduce an audience is in evidence as they enter the throne room in "The March of the Siamese Children."

Director Lee, who appeared in the original Broadway production at the age of 5 and is best known for creating the role of Connie in "A Chorus Line," has harnessed the show's physical beauty and its intrinsic exotic flavor.

Still the centerpiece of act two, "The Small House of Uncle Thomas" ballet parody, as originally choreographed by Jerome Robbins, remains an engaging sideshow

Kenneth Foy's bejeweled set design is especially sumptuous for a traveling company. The picture-postcard Thailand is richly dressed with golden Buddha statues and high-columned anterooms for visual allure, enhanced by Roger Kirk's traditional period costumes and sweeping hoop skirts.

Sets, Kenneth Foy; costumes, Roger Kirk; lighting, John McLain; sound, Abe Jacob, Mark Cowburn; musical supervision, Kevin Farrell; production stage manager, John W. Calder III. Opened Nov. 8, 2005. Reviewed Nov. 10, Running time: 2 HOURS 35 MIN.

With: Michiko Takemasa, Greg Zane, Kim Jones, Amy Chang, Jessica Wu, Yuki Ozeki, Nicholas Cook, Jellyn Echon, Eric Liew, Carol Nelson, Jacquelyn Zen, Eileen Ward, Enrique Acevedo, Andrew Cheng, Edward Dias, Vivien Eng, Kuma Kimora, Scott Kitajima, LaToya D. Martin, Christine Nuki, Rommel Ochoa, Mayumi Omagan, Yuki Ozeki, Mata RS Perkins, Joshua Schutteis, Nancy Yang, Zhenjun Zhang.

Warning Shot on DVD

Warning Shot was released on DVD earlier this month.

Cast and Crew

David Janssen...Sgt. Tom Valens
Ed Begley...Capt. Roy Klodin
Keenan Wynn...Sgt. Ed Musso
Sam Wanamaker...Frank Sanderman
Lillian Gish...Alice Willows
Stefanie Powers...Liz Thayer
Eleanor Parker...Mrs. Doris Ruston
George Grizzard...Walt Cody
George Sanders...Calvin York
Steve Allen...Perry Knowland
Carroll O'Connor...Paul Jerez
Joan Collins...Joanie Valens
Walter Pidgeon...Orville Ames
Vito Scotti...Designer
David Garfield...Police Surgeon
Bob Williams...Judge Gerald Lucas
Jerry Dunphy...Himself - TV newscaster
Romo Vincent...Ira Garvin
Jean Carson...Cocktail Waitress
Donald Curtis...Dr. James B. Ruston
Brian Dunne...Philip 'Rusty' Ruston

Stefanie in San Francisco

Stefanie will be performing in San Francisco.

The Richmond/Ermet Aids Foundation presents "Help is on the Way for the Holidays VII" on Sunday, December 4, 2005 at 7:30 pm at the Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue.

For more information go to:
http://www.richmondermet.org/reaf10.1/HelpHol7.htm

Tickets can be purchased through the City Box Office at 415-392-4400 or your can go on-line at www.cityboxoffice.com.

The Powers that be Anna

With Stefanie in title role, emphasis returns to the 'I' in 'The King and I'

She'll miss the role and the songs -- and the children. She'll not forget the children, as the lyric goes.

But Stefanie Powers, who next week wraps up her 10-month national tour as Mrs. Anna in "The King and I" at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, won't spend any time yearning for the costume.

"That big hooped skirt weighs a ton," she says. "Then there's the pantaloons underneath it. And you have to wear a corset to keep everything up.

"Of course," she says, "one never knows if you're really hanging up the hoops for good. I thought I was hanging them up after the first time I did the part."

That was in London in 2002, when she took over for Elaine Paige. Then came a tour of England. Last December, when Sandy Duncan wanted to leave this American tour, Powers agreed to once more portray the embattled English schoolteacher who finds that the King of Siam isn't an easy person to have as a boss.

"I stress Anna's frustration," she says. "The King is no one's fool, and while he's not English, he is capable of running his country. At this moment in her life, Anna is without many alternatives in making a living, supporting her son, and maintaining a standard in her life. She was not privileged, or in a position to return to England, so she lives a very precarious life with not many opportunities, despite her education."

Powers, who turned 63 on Wednesday, says Anna is the lead of the show.

"Gertrude Lawrence was the original star of the piece -- and even brought the project to Rodgers and Hammerstein in the first place," she says. "However, over the years it became the King's show, because Yul Brynner made himself the focus, and played it over 4,000 times. Twelve years ago, Clear Channel (the tour's producer) wanted to put the emphasis back where it started -- on Anna."

That seems to be what Rodgers and Hammerstein intended. The King, after all, sings only one song -- "A Puzzlement" -- while Anna gets four of the show's biggest hits: "I Whistle a Happy Tune," "Hello, Young Lovers," "Getting to Know You" and "Shall We Dance?" (Granted, the King -- here portrayed by Ronobir Lahiri -- partners her in the last-named song.)

"I love doing that polka because it comes so naturally to me -- probably because I'm Polish," says the former Stefania Zofia Federkiewicz.

Powers finds an irony in replicating Jerome Robbins' original choreography, here restaged by Baayork Lee, who was one of the Siamese children in the original 1951 Broadway production.

"I once worked for Mr. Robbins, when he hired me (in 1960) when I was a teenager to be a Jet Girl in the 'West Side Story' movie," she says of the time when her stage name was Taffy Paul. "I was the only minor on the set. He was a very tough man, and a taskmaster who took no prisoners. It was a baptism of fire for me, because he eventually replaced me. Still, I consider it a mixed pleasure to have worked with Mr. Robbins. I wouldn't trade the agony of it all for the experience I had just being there, seeing how hard everyone worked."

Although she took a self-imposed year of exile after the firing, she re-emerged with her new name to do some films ("Experiment in Terror," "Palm Springs Weekend") and TV shows -- becoming a genuine star when portraying Jennifer the journalist in "Hart to Hart," the 1979-84 TV series with Robert Wagner.

"That's what people mention when they come to the stage door after the show," she says. "'When's "Hart to Hart" coming out on DVD?' I'm so glad it just did."

Pleasurable 'King' lacks spark

The resplendent textures, gilded Buddhas and elephant figurines evoking Bangkok provide one facet of a multitude of pleasures in the latest touring production of the classic Broadway musical, "The King and I."

But the show has a key fault -- the lack of sexual tension between the King of Siam and the British governess who arrives in 19th-century Thailand to teach his throng of children.

The last time the Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II musical rolled into town, in 1998, English actress Hayley Mills played Anna Leonowens, the adventurous Welsh widow who accepts a job offer from the inquisitive but stubborn King of Siam, known as "Lord of Light" and ruler of all things in his country.

This time, the PNC Bank Broadway in Louisville presentation at the Kentucky Center features Stefanie Powers as Anna.

Mills had a winning spunkiness but an untrained and unimpressive singing voice. Powers, best known for her role on television's "Hart to Hart," brings a lofty bearing to the role as well as the musical pipes to sing Anna's half-dozen songs, including the poignantly beautiful "Hello, Young Lovers" and the cheerful but tricky "I Whistle a Happy Tune."

Powers is fun to watch, especially when she privately imagines giving the king a piece of her mind while wearing pantaloons and singing "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You."

The problem with this show, however, lies in the scenes between Powers' Anna and Ronobir Lahiri's King. The undercurrent of danger and physical attraction that made the Yul Brynner-Deborah Kerr movie so enchanting and memorable is missing in this version, directed by Baayork Lee, who appeared in the original "The King and I" as the youngest princess.

Lahiri is considerably shorter than Powers and less than commanding. At Tuesday night's opening performance, he failed to crisply articulate "A Puzzlement," and his singing was lost in the orchestration. He's best when quipping about his multitude of children, but it's disappointing that Lahiri, who has an impressive list of film and stage credits -- and who played this role opposite Powers on a United Kingdom tour and was the understudy on Broadway in 1997 -- projects such a tepid presence as the King of Siam.

Compensating pleasures are found in the performances of Nita Baxani and Martin Sola as the sympathetic "young lovers" who sing "We Kiss in a Shadow" and "I Have Dreamed." Catherine MiEun Choi provides a sense of compassionate wisdom with an affecting "Something Wonderful." And the sparkling, instructive Act II number, "The Small House of Uncle Thomas," in which slavery is condemned, is among the most charming scenes of all in the nearly three-hour show.

Powers loved McLintock

Actress Stefanie Powers says her happiest working experience on a movie came in 1963 when she played John Wayne's daughter in the comic western McLintock.



She also says she will never forget the close chemistry between Wayne and his favorite leading lady, Maureen O'Hara, and reveals that it influenced the rapport she later established with Robert Wagner for their hit television series, Hart To Hart.

Powers makes her comments in a fascinating interview contained in the new special DVD edition of McLintock just released by Paramount Home Entertainment. O'Hara, now 85, also discusses her long friendship with Wayne and her role in this film as cattle Baron George Washington McLintock's estranged and domineering wife.

The movie, a raucous frontier reworking of Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew, is an anachronism by current standards -- breaking the rules of political correctness right and left. Indeed its screenwriter James Edward Grant once famously commented: "All you gotta have in a John Wayne picture is a hoity-toity dame with big tits that Duke can throw over his knee and spank, and a collection of jerks he can smash in the face every five minutes...."

But O'Hara makes no apologies about the spanking scene or the sequence where she is covered in mud. She makes it clear that she adored Wayne.

McLintock has never looked its best in previous DVD and VHS releases because of bad transfers. This time it looks excellent. It's also very good value, considering the special features, which include interviews with Powers and O'Hara, a biography of the Duke's producer son, Michael Wayne, and commentary featuring the voices of critic Leonard Maltin and film historian Frank Thompson.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Stefanie,
Happy birthday to you.

'The King and I' - Louisville, KY

Stefanie Powers -- yes, the same actress who starred in TV's "Hart to Hart" and "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." -- plays "I" in the PNC Bank Broadway in Louisville touring production of "The King and I."

Powers' role as Anna the determined governess will be complemented by Ronobir Lahiri's role as the King of Siam.

The musical opens today and runs through Sunday at the Kentucky Center. It is filled with many memorable songs, including "Shall We Dance?" "Getting to Know You" and "I Whistle a Happy Tune."

IF YOU GO

'The King and I'
When: Performances will be at 8 p.m. today through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center, Sixth and Main streets.
Admission: Tickets are $21.75 to $56.75. Call (502) 584-7777 or visit www.kentuckycenter.org.