Lots of important institutional leadership changes going on in LA right now. Gail Berman leaving Fox for Paramount. That guy replacing the other guy at the Los Angeles Times. And, of course, John Martens is retiring as general manager of the Beverly Hills Neiman Marcus. Beverly Hills 213 has the scoop:

His first few years in Beverly Hills, back in the early ’80s, were full of new experiences as Martens found an affinity for his new home. “I was able to be much more creative [in Beverly Hills]. I found that the people were much more creative and open to new ideas… Here, it’s the individual who decides [their] own fashions. It’s a very free spirited city.”

When evaluating Martens’s claim that Beverly Hills is “free-spirited”, keep in mind that he emigrated from South Africa.

In case you are concerned that with Marten’s departure, Neiman Marcus will no longer serve your shopping needs, fear not the winds of change. Kelly Cole, manager of the Newport Beach store, is taking his place. Whew.

Conflict-of-Interest Index: Martens is quoted in the Beverly Hills 213 media kit as follows.

Beverly Hills 213 has consistently been an important part of the Neiman Marcus advertising strategy in the Beverly Hills area.

Last week was the Mercedes-Benz sponsored LA Fashion Week, which is to the semi-annual New York fashion weeks what Reno is to Las Vegas. Says Anna Wintour on the British Vogue website:

“It’s a little more laid back and less people, but everyone’s very charming and very enthusiastic. I’ll definitely come back.”

Wintour-speak translation: She hated it. She certainly looks less than excited to be here in the accompanying photo.

John Puerner (shown right) is stepping down as LAT publisher and handing the reins to Jeffrey Johnson. I am not a seasoned enough media observer to have a take on this, except to say that they have very similarly shaped noses.

LAT article on the transition here; LAObserved coverage here.

From today’s LAT piece about Tom Sizemore (my bold-face):

He can’t seem to help himself. Heroin? Used it for 18 months or so, back in the ’90s. Sex? Under the influence of crystal meth, he said the “craziest” he ever got was having sex with nine women at once. As for that prosthetic penis, reportedly found on him this February during a required drug test, first he joked: “I did have two [penises]… . That’s why girls like me.” Then he said this: “The way it was reported, I was found with it on my body, but it wasn’t on my body. It was found in a public restroom with a pair of underwear that I never owned.”

I know the LAPD is alleged to have planted weapons on suspects. Are they planting peni now?

Apparently Susan Estrich is taking time off from writing incoherent polemics and alienating her peers to write a book about Hillary Clinton. From an email she’s circulating (complete text after the jump):

[The Case For Hilary Clinton] is the name of the book Im working on, feverishly (between getting the
next generation of women columnists their jobs), and I need your
thoughts… on the record, preferably… as the brilliant thinkers you
are, but off the record also….

I’ve come to the conclusion, and this is not where I started, that Hillary
is the best choice for Democrats, and Im trying to make the argument of
why I think she is, why I think she can and will win, what the answers
are to all the negative books, etc….\

So I have a bunch of questions, am looking for thoughts, ideas,
particularly predictions as to how the process will go,what challenges you
see her facing, etc…if you feel comfortable responding to the whole
group, so ideas can bounce off each other,that would be great… if you’d
rather just respond to me, that’s fine too….

of course, my deadline for the book is may 1….

Wow, does she really think she’s “getting the next generation of women columnists their jobs?” Meanwhile, her site latimesbias.org engages in some sketchy statistical analysis.

Read more

Defamer catches this odd NY Post item about WMA agent Todd Feldman leaving for CAA in the wake of the New Yorker Dave Wirtschafter piece:

THE curse of Dave Wirtschafter continues at the William Morris Agency, even if the latest departure from the talent shop had nothing to do with the overly candid remarks the WMA president gave to The New Yorker. Chairman Jim Wiatt’s protege, Todd Feldman, bolted Sunday night for rival CAA, and other agents are in talks to follow their clients out the door. In Feldman’s case, it’s no big loss. A month ago, we called Feldman to check out rumors he was leaving WMA. Feldman begged us not to print his name, promising us he would let us know if and when he was leaving the agency and vowing we wouldn’t read it anywhere else. We kept our bargain and didn’t print his name. Feldman lied, however, and gave the story to Variety, instead.

Or, uh, maybe Variety, a professional news-gathering organization, found out about this story from one of hundreds of other possible sources and called Feldman for comment? Not all publications operate with the same mutual-back-scratching M.O. as Page Six.

In the NYT today, Sharon Waxman covers Tom Cruise’s new efforts to use his movie stardom to promote awareness of Scientology. Cruise sponsored a ‘Scientology tent’ on the set of ‘War of the Worlds’, and recently invited executives involved in the film’s distribution on a four-hour tour of various LA-area Scientology facilities. Waxman reports that the tour, though voluntary, was viewed by some executives as an “unwelcome business obligation.”

I’m going to take a contrarian view here: Good for Tom. (And also, good for Beck for speaking forthrightly about his involvement with Scientology in recent interviews.) Anyone can google up all sorts of information about Scientology exploiting and persecuting its adherents and apostates. And while Scientology sounds deeply silly to me, I’m glad to see a movie star engage in any public behavior that seems emotionally sincere rather than motivated by self- or product-promotion. For what is Hollywood if not a marketplace of (dumb) ideas?

On the other hand I just took six vicodin, so please take anything I write in this post-surgery week with several salt grains.

Who knew? The city of Malibu apparently has a sense of humor. The city council has latched on to the trendy One Book One City program, but instead of picking something Serious or Meaningful or Multi-Cultural like most cities (LA’s current choice is ‘Little Scarlet’ by Walter Mosley), Malibu went with… ‘Gidget,’ the Frederick Kohner novella that sparked a silly but important cultural trend (and entertainment franchise). From the press release:

The selection committee has planned events throughout the month of April, celebrating this book and the cultural phenomenon that resulted in large part from its publication. After the first release of the novel, based on the real-life adventures of Frederick Kohner’s daughter Kathy, and the subsequent movie starring Sandra Dee, surf culture, slang and music became an important aspect of American culture that was often overlooked by major commentators who simply did not get it. But legions of surfers knew better, and that’s why Gidget remains one of surfing’s most enduring icons.

I wonder how they’ll top this next year.

In yesterday’s New York Times Style section, Nikki Finke recalls her various experiences in the soon-to-close Plaza Hotel in New York, where, as an old-money New York debutante, she clocked some serious time. Among other events in her teenage life, the Plaza was the site of Finke’s “first make-out party.” (Unlike my first makeout party, apparently other people were present.) Later, Finke visited the Plaza for what she delicately terms an “assignation”:

He was a well-known person and famously (if unhappily) married, so a certain amount of secrecy was called for. The Plaza proved the flawless demonstration of total discretion. No one ever looked you in the eye. In the lobby, the elevators, the hallways, the rooms, everyone cast their gaze downward, as if on constant alert to avoid tripping on a stray Louis Vuitton.

Any guesses as to this mystery man’s identity? Nikki, care to drop a hint? I’m thinking Marlon Brando or Michael Jackson.

I’m out of the hospital. One of my eyes is much bigger than the other. Posting will resume but will be a little light due to computer monitor eye strain issues. If you email or IM me over the next couple of days, please use at least a 32-point-size font. Many thanks.