Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jun 6, 2011

Anniversaries:

78 years ago today, the first drive-in movie opened (1933) in Pennsauken, NJ, where a Zimnan Furs is located now. RICHARD HOLLINGSHEAD, Jr, of Riverton, NJ, opened the theatre and Hollinghead's nephew, WICK HOLLINGSHEAD, tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that the original idea, he said, may have come from his grandmother, DONNA, a large woman who disliked cramped movie theater seats. She remarked one day that she wished she could park her car in a movie theater. At its height, there were 4,063 drive-in theatres in 1958, but today there are only around 400 theatres left in the U-S.
On that first night, the "World's First Automobile Movie Theatre" ran a flick called "Wives Beware," since back then, drive-ins had a difficult time finding first-run movies to show.
Shankweiler's, near Allentown, PA, opened in 1934, and it's the second-oldest theatre and it's still showing flicks, making it the longest continually operating theatre.

Tube Talk:

"The Office" now has a revolving door. Star magazine reports that producers of the hit TV show are not going to permanently replace STEVE CARELL but instead have guest stars take his place periodically. (Myers)

That "Dallas" souvenir sale is over. Both LARRY HAGMAN and LINDA GRAY showed up at Julien's Auctions last week --with the pair trotting down Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills on a horse, escorted by motorcycle cops. CO-star CHARLENE TILTON was also there for the fun.
There were 413 items up for auction block, and Larry said it was just a fraction of his souvenirs: “I have more left at home than I know what to do with.”
The auction of the memorabilia on Saturday raised more than a half-million bucks:
--a silver saddle went for $80-thousand
--a portrait of his late "Dallas" co-star, JIM DAVIS, went for more than $38-thousand
--A replica bottle from "I Dream of Jeannie" sold for more than $10-thousand, and
--a pair of pistols brought in more than $4-thousand.

Another, less colorful auction over the weekend as well: BERNIE MADOFF's underwear was sold at an auction held by the U-S Marshals Service.
The Miami Herald said 14 pairs of boxer shorts, which had been confiscated from the former Wall Street swindler's mansion in Palm Beach, fetched a total of $200 --or about $20 apiece.
A picture of a stark naked butt, called "Nude," by EDWARD WESTON, a Depression-era photographer, also pulled in $46-hundred.
The more than $400-thousand which was raised from the auction will go to the Madoff's victims in his Ponzi scheme, although that's a drop in the bucket, considering he embezzled $65 billion.

Grace notes from Vinny Marino:

ANDREW GOLD is dead. The Los Angeles Times says the singer-songwriter died over the weekend from a heart attack at age 59. Andrew scored two major hits as a solo artist: 1977's "Lonely Boy," and 1978's "Thank You For Being A Friend," which later became the theme for the TV show, "The Golden Girls."
Andrew also worked with many artists including LINDA RONSTADT. He played all the instruments on a few of her hits, including her first number one, "You're No Good." In the 1980's, Andrew was in a band called WAX with 10cc's GRAHAM GOULDMAN.
His mother, MARNI NIXON, was the singing voice for NATALIE WOOD in "West Side Story," DEBORAH KERR in "The King And I," and AUDREY HEPBURN in "My Fair Lady." Andrew's father, ERNEST GOLD was a film composer and won an Oscar for "Exodus." (Marino)

Chic Sh*t:

Do you get sick of gals continually asking whether or not they look fat? New research shows there's a good reason for line of questioning --other ladies are paying attention! The UK's Daily Mail reports eighty-percent of ladies between eighteen-and-forty-five-percent admit to judging gals when they first meet. Over half of them immediately check out how much the other woman weighs, forty-percent give their clothing a once-over, a full third look at the quality of their skin and twenty-eight-percent critique a chick's tan.
The scary part is how fast all this takes place --the majority of the female population does this within the first twenty-seconds of meeting someone, while most of the remaining girls give it a full minute or two.
Phone Starter: We all know how nasty teenage girls can be, but does this continue throughout adulthood? Why are women so judgmental? And is this really just a reflection of how we feel about ourselves? (Lee)