Producers Made An Offer The Prison Couldn’t Refuse
In the old days, guys like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly did their best to escape the confines of Alcatraz Island. The federal penitentiary there was one of the most infamous in the world.
Times have changed, though, since the prison closed in 1963. The islet in San Francisco Bay is a popular tourist attraction.
And, for one day this week, it was the site of a movie premiere. Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage were on hand to help promote the opening of their movie “The Rock.”
Some 500 other guests attended, including one man who arrived on a sailboard, removed his wetsuit and revealed the tuxedo that he wore underneath.
“It’s a beautiful place to have a premiere,” Cage said, “but this is really weird.”
Loose talk
Former President George Bush on the news media (as reported by The Associated Press): “As my good friend Dana Carvey would say: ‘Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.”’
They’ll hold the party at a quarter to 3
Gary U.S. Bonds turns 57 today.
He left the high-heeled shoes and sherbet-colored tux
During a benefit clothing sale for his AIDS charity, Elton John had a last-second change of mind. Before the sale opened, John spied a jacket he had recently bought. “I saw it and said ‘Oh my God, I just bought that,’ and I took it back,” John told an Atlanta radio station.
And as an excuse, you just can’t top that
As he says, his records “could be selling anywhere out there.” But Stanley Kirk Burrell, better known as Hammer, is pleading his case in bankruptcy court. With more than $9.6 million in assets but some $13.7 million in debts, he has the potential for earnings, he said, “(But) as far as being in, like, a regular job, it doesn’t work like that.”
She takes special care in cleaning her brushes
Brigid Berlin, once a member of Andy Warhol’s entourage, has an unusual painterly technique: She uses her breasts. Her latest efforts, unveiled recently in New York, mirror the works she has sold to such celebs as Patty Hearst, Dominick Dunne and John Waters.
Many people wish Bob Woodward had done the same
Speaking of commencement exercises (see Tuesday’s People column), Hootie and the Blowfish guitarist Mark Bryan spoke at his hometown high school in Gaithersburg, Md. He mentioned what he learned by earning a journalism degree. “It made me realize that I wanted to be a musician more than a journalist,” he said.
Only Bigfoot will be able to get to her there
Remember Margot Kidder and her nervous breakdown? Seems the 47-year-old actress, who was discovered last April in a state of paranoid distress, is staying with a friend on British Columbia’s remote Salt Spring Island. Kidder once spent summers on the island, which can be reached only by boat from Vancouver.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color photos
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster