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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

He’s A Big Hit Now, Dad, So Be Sure To Make Nice

Compiled By Staff Writer Dan Web

People with demanding dads are always trying to please them. In most cases vainly.

At 69, Jerry Lewis, has been performing since he was just 5. He’s been a success in night clubs, movies, been a recording star and been featured in numerous television appearances - most notably during his annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon.

Yet whenever Lewis would tell his father what he had done, the old man would just say, “It ain’t Broadway.”

His dad has been dead for 13 years now, but he only now feels like he’s made it. And that’s because he starred recently as the devil in a Broadway revival of “Damn Yankees.”

Calling it the “cherry on the cake,” Lewis asks, “What man with my body of work has been given the gift of putting the cherry on the cake?”

Loose Talke

Republican Sen. Bob Dole on fellow Presidential candidate Phil Gramm (in The Hill): “He’s like a bug you step on that keeps crawling around, no matter how hard you squish him.”

She got a congratulatory card from her cousin Vinnie

Marisa Tomei turns 31 today.

Maybe he should have a heart-to-heart with Jerry?

Whoever said that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks? “As I got older, I realized that being a great father is not just providing a roof over the children’s heads,” says 62-year-old Grammy-winning producer/composer Quincy Jones. The seven-time father told TV’s “Extra,” “At the time you don’t realize it because you think you’re doing everything else right. You think, ‘They’re healthy, they’re dressing OK.”’

This is one desperado who’s made good

So far, Hollywood has been a good deal for Antonio Banderas. He just inked a deal with Warner Bros. that sets him up to make two films in three years, produce and eventually direct. The boyfriend of actress Melanie Griffith, Banderas adds that, “They’re giving me an office, and Melanie has one there.”

Yeah, I imagine that’ll make Howie Long buy ‘em

They’re already filming Super Bowl commercials. This year, Frito’s low-fat Baked Lay’s potato chips feature fat-free models Naomi Campbell, Kathy Ireland and Vendela. The tag line: “You can eat like one of the boys and still look like one of the girls.”

Then again, can he be trusted to tell the truth?

For his latest novel, “Sleeper Spy: A Novel of Deception,” syndicated columnist William Safire had an expert reviewer in the Washington weekly The Hill. According to ex-CIA agent and convicted traitor Aldrich Ames, Safire was guilty of “fabricated expertise and insider portentiousness.”

One, preferably, with a Page 4 girl

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is contemplating a 24-hour cable news channel. “We think it’s about time for a truly objective news channel,” Murdoch said in a recent speech in Boston.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster