QUIDNUNC'S CONFIDENTIAL!

QUIDNUNC'S CONFIDENTIAL!

Michael Logan

After desperately seeking a script that didn’t make her gag, Madonna has finally taken Sean Penn in hand and signed up for her next big screen appearance. Yes indeed, the bride and groom will be romancing the clone in Shanghai Surprise, a Raiders Of The Lost Arktype adventure set in 1937. It’s about time, too, because the dynamic duo haven’t exactly been scoring points with Hollywood movie moguls lately. They’d previously agreed to co-star in two films, Ruthless People and Blind Date, and both times took a powder before you could yell “Roll ’em!” And while Lady Madonna is toiling before the cameras in Shanghai, Macao and the U.K., she’ll be mulling yet another offer—this one from famed French director Roger Vadim to remake And God Created Woman, the 1950’s flick that catapulted international temperatures and the career of Brigitte Bardot.

...Meanwhile, the Material Girl’s ex-beau, record producer John “Jellybean” Benitez, who launched her stardom via “Crazy For You,” is hoping to do it all over again for film actress Phoebe Cates. She’s the gal who sizzled in all those Lace miniseries on TV and got goosebumps for days in Gremlins. Word has it that the two have been rockin’ out in the recording studio and should be hitting the airwaves with a single real soon.

...The Quidnunc Award for Knucklehead of the Year goes to Simon LeBon. Turning the other cheek to last year’s near-fatal yachting accident, he’s booked out the first four months of 1986 to pursue his passion for yacht racing Down Under—and the spree pushes back to May any hopes that Duran Duran will get into the studio for that muchpromised new album.

...Sting-aholics are madly buying up pirated tapes of their hero from a late 1970’s British TV commercial in which the future rock/movie star once paid the rent by peddling Triumph bras.

...Although many claim that the best show in town is the endless line waiting to get into Hollywood’s Hard Rock Cafe, impatient revelers can now lay out a cool $2,000 for a special membership card that lets them bypass the crowd and go directly to the head of the class—and the private pass is good at any Hard Rock throughout the world. The perfect stocking stuffer!

...Michael Jackson’s planning to make a splash in the club biz, too. He’s just become a partner in Sunset Boulevard’s Berwin Entertainment Complex ; and, though it’s currently on the seedy side, the Thriller Diller plans to turn the penthouse into an exclusive, oh-soprivate international club for rock music superstars. Now can you just imagine Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael and Rod Stewart getting together i for a little high tea and low gossip? No doubt that one topic of mega-star conversation will be eldest Jackson brother Jackie’s upcoming tell-ali book about the controversial Victory Tour. Rumors have it that Michael’s really sweating this one out.

...And while you’re sending condolence cards, you may as well drop one to John Travolta. He just collected $4 million from producer Robert Stigwood to don his “Tony Manero” dancing shoes one last time. Far From Over! is the title of this trequel to Saturday [ Night Fever—but if the name’s any indication,

I’ve got a feeling this one! isn’t the last of Mr. T!

...The David Essex golden oldie “Rock On” gets a new incarnation soon, this time with Billy Hufsey doing the warbling. The actor, who plays hunky “Christopher Donlan” on the Fame series, also has something else to crow about—his barely-clad poster has become a #1 seller.

...Look out, Sid Grauman! Hollywood H now has a Chinese Theatre for rock stars. Located on Sunset Boulevard, the footprints in the new Rock Walk are getting more attention than Clark Gable’s. Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Wonder became the first I to immortalize their soles. Perhaps hoping to qualify in the near future, the members of Quiet Riot, Krokus and Twisted Sister were on hand for the big unveiling. ...Yeah, sure, we know I she don’t need another hero, so how come Tina Turner joined forces with comedy bigwigs Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Sid Caesar, Lily Tomlin and Richard Pryor to petition the U.S. Postal Service to give the late Laurel and Hardy their own commemorative stamp? The wacky comics are a private passion of Tina’s—and her hard campaigning has paid off. The stamp will hit your local post office in 1987, the 60th anniversary of the comedians’ teaming.

...Looks like Weird A1 Yankovic took his “Eat It” rip-off hit seriously. He’s just opened his own Chinese dim sum restaurant in LA’s San Fernando Valley—called Bao Wow. Please hold all doggie bag jokes.

...Mick “Better Late Than Never” Jagger and his ladylove Jerry Hall finally got around to picking the godparents for little James Leroy Augustin Jagger—and they’re none other than Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson and girlfriend Angelica Huston. It was an offer they couldn’t refuse.

...Prince and The French Revolution very nearly became the new title of his Under The Cherry Moon pic. While shooting on the French Riviera, everybody’s favorite bad boy really got the locals riled up.

It seems that every time they’d stray too close to a set location, the goon squad of bodyguards hired by His Royal Purpleness would give them the rough and

tumble treatment. Before leaving town, he did give a freebie concert for 2,000, to smooth things over. Things were no less calm behind the scenes. Prince didn’t see eye-toeye with his director, Mary Lambert, and, after 16 days of shooting, she was (to put it politely) history. He then hired the best director he could find—himself!

...L.A. has it’s very own Bruce Springsteen hotline now. Fans can dial it free of charge, 24 hours a day, to listen to the latest scoop, hear interviews and articles from publications around the world and, of course, the latest and greatest Springsteen tunes. There’s even an input line that lets inquiring minds share an assortment of unconfirmed reports. But don’t expect to see Big Bruce as leading man in the upcoming Bom In The USA movie. He’ll be penning some songs but it’s Michael J. Fox who grabbed the starring role. Fox never learns, though. He’ll be spending his summer vacation from Family Ties making the film. Last year he wasted his hard-earned break starring in Back To The Future. And who bothered to see that bomb?

(Yow, Quidnunc’s flipped! But get over to page eight for even more on the Born In The USA movie!—Ed.)