From David Patrick Columbia's New York Social Diary.com

Early 2001

Jennifer Love Hewitt attended The Drama League held its 67th Annual Awards Luncheon at the Grand Hyatt last Friday. More than 400 professionals, Drama League members and civilians were present. Henry Winkler, formerly known as the Fonz, was the emcee. The dais had several dozen of the stars of the current crop of Broadway shows.

A big season, a big table. Mary Louise Parker was presented with its Distinguished Performance Award for her performance in "Proof." Gary Sinise was presented the same award for his performance in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." This award which is the longest established award in the American theatre was first presented to Katherine Cornell in 1935. The winners of the other three Drama League awards were: "The Producers" for Distinguished Production of a Musical; "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" for Distinguished Production of a Revival, and "Proof," for Distinguished Production of Play.

(l to r) Jennifer Love Hewitt, John Ritter,
and Deven May

They also presented awards to Jack O'Brien (the Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing) for his work as Artistic Director of San Diego's Globe Theatre, and for his work staging new classic plays and musicals on Broadway.

Susan Stroman also received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre, cited for her work as director and choreographer of musicals such as the current-running "The Producers, " The Music Man," and "Contact." And the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Theatre, in honor of their 25th anniversary season of dynamic and distinguished work.

If you're a lover of the theatre or even the magic notion of Broadway as an imaginary place in the real world, these luncheons are an endless thrill. All these great performers get up before each other (and you) and share their excitement at being graced by their talent to amuse. Polly Bergen, now touching seventy, talking about being in "Follies" where she brings down the house every night with "I'm Still Here," said she'd decided, as if she were a kid just starting out, that she might like to do this sort of thing for the rest of her life. All the stars were there and all took the mike. It was like being backstage at the after party, honey. And you were in the show. And what a show!!

From this link above at MrShowbiz.com, a TV sit-com on NBC in the USA called "3rd Rock from the Sun" might get it's pink slip sometime in the next couple of months or the cast will do one more season. The show is now 6 years old.

But here was something interesting about this story (and I bet you know who I'm talking about).

One of the stars of this series, Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Tommy (the alien) has a movie career going and would consider of leaving the series. "Manic" is his new movie and is being shown at the Sundance Film Festival

Here is one part of the Mr. Showbiz story, please read carefully:

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(Joseph) Gordon-Levitt is currently creating a stir at the Sundance Film Festival, where he portrays a violent teen confined to a psych ward in Manic. The actor, who definitively leaves teen movies like 10 Things I Hate About You behind with this performance, told the audience at a screening Thursday that he jumped on the script because it wasn't the usual "putrid shit" he gets sent.

"It's the first script I'd read in years where people weren't talking like Jennifer Love Hewitt," the 19-year-old says. Ouch! There go his chances of being cast in any future I Know What You Did Last Summer flicks.

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Who does he want the scripts to talk like? Him?

I suggest nobody watch his TV series and the repeats and any of his movies. What a dick!

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT TO SHED APPLE PIE IMAGE

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jennifer Love Hewitt, star of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Party of Five, wants to put her bouncy girl next door image behind her with a sexy role as a grifter in the upcoming comedy Heartbreakers.

Hewitt, 21, told New York's Daily News she plans to play up her temptress side while making her character a role model that her young fans can still admire.

Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver play a mother-daughter con team who shake down wealthy Palm Beach suitors. Weaver marries them and Hewitt seduces them. Divorces ensue and financial settlements are reached.

"She's a role model in her own right," Hewitt told the Daily News. "(She's) a young woman with a career, though it's not the normal one most parents would choose. And she's really strong, smart, clever, witty -- and sexy." 

From The Hartford Courant - January 15, 2001

CROTCHING TIGER, HIDDEN GARTERS

Teen queen Jennifer Love Hewitt will never forget working with Ray Liotta in "Heartbreakers", the MGM comedy to be released on March 23rd. As half of a mother/daughter con team with Sigourney Weaver, Hewitt, pretending to be Liotta's seductive secretary, gets her hair entangled in the zipper of his pants.

"Coming out of teen films," Love says, "my first two days of work were not exactly the norm. There I was, dressed in a skintight dress, with backless underwear, garters, the whole works.

And those few minutes were like, 'Hi, nice to meet you, Mr. Liotta, now I'll be attached to your crotch....How you doing up there?" But, she stresses, "if you have to be attached to an actor's crotch, Ray Liotta's is the best! He really made it fun and easy, and hopefully it will be one of the movie's funniest scenes."

The movie also stars Gene Hackman and Anne Bancroft.

© 2001 MyWay Corporation All Rights Reserved.

STUART WEITZMAN

Rodeo Drive gets another glamorous addition when Stuart Weitzman opens his store next month. An invitation-only bow is scheduled for February. 8 with Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" hosting.

Heaton (Sarah's biological mother in "Party of Five") was wearing Weitzman shoes when she won her Emmy; for the opening, Weitzman's inviting every star whose tootsies have walked award shows' red carpets in Weitzman creations. They include Kim Basinger, Hilary Swank, Cate Blanchett, Calista Flockhart, Jenna Elfman, Mary Hart, Leeza, etc. and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

© 2001 Variety

THE NEW YEAR FOR CELEBRITIES

"What will the new year bring?
Celebrities reveal their hopes for the future"
National Post

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT "I'll be working on my first album for the U.S., and I'm hoping to get the Backstreet Boys to sing a duet."

© 2001 National Post Online

THE FUTURE: READ ALL ABOUT IT

Aaron Schatz, Lycos 50 producer, on trends: Female celebrities continue to be more popular than male celebrities online. Musicians and models continue to be more popular than movie stars. With the exception of Anna Kournikova, everybody continues to be more popular than athletes. The second most popular athlete, basketball star Vince Carter, finished the year with fewer searches than 30 different female stars.

The Pokemon craze is clearly dying and has been replaced by Dragonball, which will probably take over as the most popular Web topic once Christmas ends. Dragonball is another one of those Japanese animated programs that has spawned a number of comic books, video games, action figures and confused parents.

Napster's popularity seems to be in no danger of diminishing, and we're seeing a bit of popularity for the knockoff program Gnutella as well. 2001 looks like a better year for movies online than was 2000. Movie adaptations of Harry Potter and Tomb Raider should be quite popular, and the latter film will likely launch Angelina Jolie into the upper echelon of female celebrities. The biggest film will be Lord of the Rings.

We're also expecting big things from the XFL, the new spring football league from the folks who brought us the World Wrestling Federation. The XFL starts in February but it already gets as many searches as teen stars such as Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

© 2001 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.