Faye, Mirren & Oscar

By now you’ve all seen it – Bonnie and Clyde returned to the scene of the crime.  Faye and Warren once again gave out the Best Picture Oscar.  Looking somewhat embalmed, Faye managed the impossible – she made Eva Marie Saint appear positively youthful!  The duo kept the witty repartee to a minimum, which is probably all for the best.  Needless to say, envelopes were triple-checked before the couple went on stage – and by the winner.  God willing, this will be Dunaway and Beatty’s final Academy Awards appearance until they turn up In Memoriam.

Since the Oscars actually happened as we went to press, I’m not going to go into lots of detail.  But here are some random thoughts about this year’s ceremony.  I loved the set.  I noticed velvet tuxes are back in vogue (it was pretty chilly here).  I would have given the shortest speech in history if Dame Helen came with the jet ski.  I felt so bad for that poor filmmaker who risked life and limb getting out of Aleppo to attend the Oscars for nothing.  You know some big queen is the one who planned for the orchestra to play “Besame Mucho” when Rita Moreno came out.  And speaking of Rita, how fabulous that she showed up wearing the same dress she wore when she won in 1962!  Please, let Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph host a show someday.  Lastly, did Jane Fonda get caught in the Santa Ana winds on her way to the Oscars?  For a second, I thought Dina Merrill had come back from the dead!

Over the years, I have wormed my way into some of the biggest events in Hollywood – including the Oscars.  Usually I’m invited.  Many times, I’m not.  But I don’t let things like credentials stop me.  Worming my way through underground tunnels, using the service elevator, even climbing up the side of a mountain are just some of the tricks of the trade.  But I have to tip my hat to Diana Ellis (or, we should say for legal reasons, a person associated with Miss Ellis).  Someone made up a Gmail account in the name of Armie Hammer’s wife – Elizabeth Chambers.  An e-mail was sent from this account to the people running the Vanity Fair party.  The person posing as Chambers asked if the couple could bring a guest to the party.  The guest’s name?  Diana Ellis.  The person then made an unusual request – since Miss Ellis would be arriving on her own, could she have a separate invitation sent to her home?  This sounded suspicious, so the party planners got in touch with the Hammers.  Not surprisingly, they never heard of Miss Ellis and had no intention of bringing a guest!  Here’s the twist – Mrs. Hammer is suing Miss Ellis for “misappropriating her name and personal information and violating her privacy”.  

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