Posted on 12/19/2003 9:58:40 AM PST by presidio9
Catfight! Tensions between bombshell cover girl Cindy Margolis and fun-loving actress Tara Reid boiled over into a full-blown bar brawl in Atlantic City last Saturday. The object of their disaffection: Margolis's husband, restaurateur Guy Starkman, who used to date Reid. The dueling beauties fell to the floor in a two-fisted tussle at Boardwalk bar Duke Macks. A shocked spywitness tells us:
"Words were exchanged when Reid made a disparaging remark [about Starkman] to Margolis. Cindy grabbed Reid's hair and physically yanked her off her bar stool onto the floor," - a statement not contradicted by Margolis' publicist, Neil Cirucci, who confirmed that a fight had taken place.
"When things happen that concern Guy, Cindy can get pretty nasty sometimes. Otherwise, she's got a pretty good disposition," Cirucci said.
Our snitch added that, besides the hair-pulling, there were a few fists thrown and a kick or two between the combatants before bartender George Ziegler intervened.
The bar manager told us: "Cindy was asked to leave by the back door."
Reid's rep did not return calls yesterday.
Ironically, the women were in A.C. for the middleweight bout between Bernard Hopkins and William Joppy, which Hopkins unanimously won. In the bar, chuckles our source: "Onlookers gave a split decision to Margolis."
Letterman schvitzer
There's hope for David Letterman in his attempt to get Oprah Winfrey on his show for a "Super Bowl of love."
Letterman's been unhappy ever since reading Richard Zoglin's interview with Winfrey in Time magazine - in which she says she will never go on his show again after being "the butt of his jokes" during two appearances. Zoglin tells us that Winfrey had been particularly offended by Letterman's jokes about her weight.
But the reporter also reveals that Winfrey gave the late-night host praise that ended up on Time's cutting-room floor.
"I think he is really one of the most brilliant comedian hosts of our time," Winfrey said. "I think he's really brilliant."
Cold Case file
Former AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case may be finding this holiday a bit a chillier than last year.
Back in 2002, when TNT taped its special "Christmas in Washington," Case was front and center greeting guests at the broadcast. Since then the company has dropped AOL from its name and Case is merely a board member.
Last weekend, according to a source at the taping, Case took a place on the receiving line at the National Building only to have someone gently suggest it was time for him to move along to his seat. And rather than attend the after-party, where President Bush was the guest of honor, Case and his wife, Jane, chose to dine at Ebbett's Grill.
A Time Warner rep called suggestions that Case was told to step out of the limelight "absurd," adding, "He had a front-row seat at the show."
Ben's Iraq 'Paycheck'
Ben Affleck will wear stars and stripes for the holidays.
"In the next week, around Christmastime," the actor will show soldiers throughout the Persian Gulf his new John Woo movie, "Paycheck," about a man who invents a prophecy machine, his rep Ken Sunshine confirmed.
The USO said Affleck will also tour duty stations at several outposts after celebrating Christmas with fiance Jennifer Lopez and their families - though J.Lo will not be heading to Iraq.
CIA, Oswald & JFK
Norman Mailer, Don DeLillo, Gerald Posner and other JFK assassination buffs are lending their support to a new lawsuit against the CIA.
They want the spy shop to release documents about agent George Joannides, who had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Joannides supervised a C.I.A.-funded anti-Castro student group that Oswald, who supported the Cuban dictator, tried to infiltrate.
The writers allege the CIA has hidden Joannides' intriguing connection to Oswald for 40 years. Mailer, DeLillo, Posner and others published an open letter to the government in the current issue of the New York Review of Books.
Posner told us, "I'm just furious at the government for not releasing every file they have that is tangential to this case. I frankly don't think the files are going to be explosive, but the longer the CIA keeps them, the more it appears it has something to hide. They have to be their own worst enemies."
Not counting the aliens who are secretly reading their minds, of course.
Simon's 'Dilemma'
Since the departure of Mary Tyler Moore, frustrations have continued to fester on the set of Neil Simon's new comedy "Rose's Dilemma," which opened last night.
A spy tells us that John Cullum, who stars in the play, went ballistic during recent rehearsals and publicly berated the playwright as well as the director, Lynne Meadow.
"[Cullum] was at the theater spouting out his complaints," says our source.
MTM walked out on the play Dec. 3, after Simon reportedly wrote his star to say, among other things, "Learn your lines or get out of my play."
Simon, who is struggling with a kidney ailment, has reason to be stressed: The beloved writer of 33 plays, including "The Odd Couple" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs," has had a more than a decade of flops since his 1991 hit, "Lost in Yonkers."
Hot 'Cheerleader'
Musicals based on movies have met with varying degrees of success recently: From uber-hits "Hairspray" and "The Producers" to flops like "Urban Cowboy" and "Dance of the Vampires." The buzz on Broadway is that Bill Augustin and Andrew Abrams' "But I'm a Cheerleader" could be the next big show.
Producers are jostling to get into the musical's first reading at Primary Stages on Jan. 12. Laura Bell Bundy ("Hairspray"), Stephanie Kurtzuba ("The Boy From Oz") and Nancy Opel ("Urinetown") will take part in the reading, based on the 1998 cult flick about a cheerleader whose parents send her to a "rehabilitation" camp after she tells them she's gay.
Emergency dress code
For luxury retailers partying at the Palm West the other night who may have raised an eyebrow at Bernard Aidan's less-than-formal attire, here's an explanation.
Aidan, the husband and business partner of designer Catherine Malandrino, had just come from a hospital emergency room. The couple's young child had spiked a fever of 104, but the kid was better - so Aidan decided it was okay to share some nog with 50 of the top execs in the business.
Attending Arthur Weiner and Hanna Struever's bash was Burberry President Eugenia Ulasewicz, Tod's CEO Claudio Castiglioni, Gucci Group CFO Arthur Leshin, Luca Luca President Yildiz Blackstone and Armani sales President Gaetano Sallorenzo.
Side dishes
Supermodel Kate Moss and boyfriend Jefferson Hack are having problems, according to the Daily Mirror's 3 a.m. girls, who observed Moss whooping it up with Liv Tyler and Stella McCartney while Hack was stuck outside the VIP section with lowly hoi polloi. Hack is the father of Moss' 1-year-old daughter, Lila Grace...
DMX is producing an action movie, "Past Tense," and a murder mystery, "Winners," and casting is easy. The rapper will star in both...
If you see a well made-up girl on Lower Broadway wearing Uggs, the chic sheepskin boot from Oz, chances are she works for Bobbi Brown. The cosmetics queen just bought 80 pairs for her staffers...
Cynthia Nixon knows what the less fortunate need. The "Sex & the City" star filled 40 shopping carts at a Bed Bath & Beyond on Tuesday with $500 pots and pans, silverware and dancing Christmas trees. MasterCard picked up the $12,500 bill and donated the items to AmeriCares HomeFront, which helps to rebuild homes.
But when those Viking Kitties go at it, I just run & hide.
Better get one quick. They don't sell beer in the chatroom.
Aw, what a shame. These two can both go suck eggs.
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