Mary Ann meets Mary Jane

A surprise birthday party for Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Jane Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island," ended with a nearly three-hour tour of the Teton County sheriff's office and jail when the 69-year-old was caught with marijuana in her vehicle while driving home.

The actress was pulled over on October 18th of last year after a deputy sheriff observed her swerve across the fog lines and center lines of State Highway 33 and repeatedly speed up and slow down. In addition to a strong smell of marijuana, the officer noted that all four of the vehicles windows were down and that Miss Wells was not wearing a jacket.

Wells claimed that she'd just dropped off three hitchhikers who began smoking in her vehicle, but several half-smoked joints were found in the ashtrays and a field sobriety test was failed. Wells was arrested and released on $4,ooo bond. She plead not guilty and was scheduled for trial tomorrow, but has avoided that by plea agreement. She will serve six months' unsupervised probation, in addition to five days served and a fine of $410.50. More serious charges were dropped in return for the plea bargain.

Now we know why she had such a hold over Gilligan - it WAS the coconut cream pies. Or at least the secret ingredient. . .the more you eat, the more you want to eat! I'm surprised they EVER got off of that godforsaken island!

Toni Basil at 64

26 years after "Mickey", Basil defies time:


Toni Basil, left, is now 64 years. . .I was gonna say old, but somehow that word doesn't seem to apply to her. We should all look so good at retirement age. Thing is, most people probably don't realize that she was 39 years old when she made the video for her "fifteen minutes of fame" called Mickey - she only appeared to be half of her age way back then! The video is available below for your perusal. . .

Although she's primarily know for her popular video, Basil was actually involved in a number of projects over the last 40 years. She played the part of the brunette prostitute Mary in Easy Rider, as well as appearing in TV shows such as Laverne & Shirley and Baywatch), and worked as a choreographer for movies such as American Graffiti, The Rose, and Legally Blonde.

Basil's recording career began in 1966 with a rare one-off single for A&M Records, the title song from the film Breakaway. Although she appeared three times as musical guest during the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975–76, it wasn't until 1982 that she released a follow-up, the international smash "Mickey". This song is, in fact, a cover of "Kitty", a 1979 release by UK band Racey, written by British hitmakers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Furthermore, "Mickey" was actually recorded in 1979, and when her record label wanted to release the song in 1982, Basil was reluctant, believing the song already sounded "dated". But the label persevered, and pop-music history was made.

The music video for "Mickey" was one of the most popular of the early MTV videos. In t video, Basil wore her head cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School, the school from which she had graduated from in 20 years prior. She has a special fondness for the song today and its enduring popularity. Basil has said on more than one occasion that she would gladly put on the cheerleader uniform she wore in the video again if she washe asked to. In 2003, VH1 ranked "Mickey" Number 5 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders:

Lindsay Lohan (un)covers Marilyn Monroe

Does she have a president in mind?

First the drugs and alcohol, and now this. Look for Lohan to be found dead in the nude at a hotel near you. . .

In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe at the Hotel Bel-Air that have collectively come to be known as "The Last Sitting." The photographs are arguably the most famous images ever captured of America's most famous actress. Six weeks after she had posed, Monroe was found dead of an apparent barbiturate overdose.

Lindsay Lohan recreated that photoshoot with NY Magazine, down to the lighting. Her whole photospread with Stern is in the new fashion issue of the weekly, and can be found online here. There is more nudity and may not be safe for work.

George Clooney Must Move!

George Clooney recently found out he lives a few houses away from Britney Spears. It was probably the night she was taken to the hospital after the custody stand-off, and now he jokes he has to move. The video of him telling the story is worthy of a watch for Clooney's story-telling capabilities:

Murray hits the clubs. . .in a golf cart!

Damn it!! Yet another of my heroes has fallen. . .okay, maybe more of a stumble. At least compared to such contemporaries as Belushi, Farley, and Hartman.

Bill Murray was pulled over in downtown Stockholm, Sweden early last Monday morning, and refused a blood-alcohol test. His refusal automatically incurred a blood test, per Swedish law. This will take up to two weeks for results.

Okay. He DID smell of alcohol, he WAS driving a golf cart through town (Legal in Sweden by-the-way), and refused the breath-alyzer.

On the other hand, this incident occurred in an extremely liberal country where DD arrests normally result in mere fines. And, not to trivialize drinking and driving, the man was driving a GOLF CART - I cannot fathom him causing injury to anyone with that mode of transportation! As long as he wasn't packing plastique and mumbling about gophers, FREE WILLY!

The golf cart had been on display for a week outside the downtown hotel where Murray and other VIPs attending the Scandinavian Masters golf tournament were staying, and Murray apparently drove the golf cart to the trendy Cafe Opera nightclub, less than a mile away, and was pulled over on his way back to the hotel.

The tournament head noted that the vehicle wasn't intended for guests but added: "I don't hold any grudge against Bill Murray for borrowing our cart for a while." HELL no, you don't! You have "Mr.Caddyshack" playing in your tournament and he HAD to borrow your golf cart to hit the local clubs? You'd think someone would have offered him a limo ride there. . .

Kracker's Tool lands him in the Hole

Kid Rock's former DJ, who also had a double platinum selling album of his own a few years back, was arrested and charged with a second-degree forcible sex offense outside Raleigh, North Carolina this morning.

Uncle Kracker, aka 33-year-old Matthew Shafer, was busted by Raleigh police at an Embassy Suites hotel around 4:45 AM.

Kracker, who had a huge hit with the song "Follow Me" in 2000, is currently being held in Wake County Jail on $5 million bond. According to arrest documents , Kracker , who is described as "a nationally known singer with major assets at his disposal," is considered to be a "exceptionally high flight risk." He faces a judge on Friday.

Lovitz roughs up Dick

I ran across this while researching something else this evening. I'm a big Hartman fan, but I was unaware of these details. From the NY Post:

It was fight night at an L.A. comedy club last week when Jon Lovitz roughed up Andy Dick over the murder of their "Saturday Night Live" colleague, Phil Hartman.

Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada, who witnessed the assault, said, "Jon picked Andy up by the head and smashed him into the bar four or five times, and blood started pouring out of his nose." Lovitz told Page Six, "All the comedians are glad I did it because this guy is a asshole."

Lovitz and Dick have been at loggerheads since a 1997 Christmas party at Hartman's house, five months before his troubled wife Brynn flipped out, fatally shooting Hartman, then killing herself. "Andy was doing cocaine, and he gave Brynn some after she had been sober for 10 years. Phil was furious about it - and then five months later he's dead," said Lovitz, adding that when he filled in on Hartman's "Newsradio" sitcom, "I told Andy, 'I wouldn't be here now if you hadn't given Brynn that cocaine.' "

Last year, Lovitz related, a drunken Dick strolled up to his table at Ago in West Hollywood, rudely downed his guests' peach liqueur drinks, and "looked at me and said, 'I put the "Phil Hartman hex" on you - you're the next one to die.' I said, 'What did you say?' and he repeated it. I wanted to punch his face in, but I don't hit women."

When the two ran into each other at the Laugh Factory last Wednesday, "I wanted him to say he was sorry for the 'Phil Hartman hex,' " Lovitz told us. "First he says, 'I don't remember saying that.' Then he leans in and says, 'You know why I said it? Because you said I killed Phil Hartman.' Which I never said. Then he asked me to be in his new movie.

"I grabbed him by the shirt and leaned him over and said, 'I don't want to be in your movie! I don't want to be in your life!' I pushed him against the rail. Then I pushed him again really hard. A security guard broke it up. I'm not proud of it . . . but he's a disgusting human being." Dick's rep said he had no comment.

Dick's weirdness has been well documented. Last year, he licked the faces of Farrah Fawcett, Carrie Fisher and Patton Oswalt, then groped and bit the hand of Post reporter Mandy Stadtmiller at a comedy-festival taping.