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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

He Got His Own Way, While Still Stayin’ Alive

Compiled By Staff Writer Rick Bo

To hear John Travolta tell it, he was the biggest brat in Jersey while growing up.

As the “Pulp Fiction” star said in GQ magazine: “I was very good with threats - ‘I’ll commit suicide’, ‘I’ll cut off my weenie’, ‘I’ll swallow screws’, ‘I’ll jump off the roof’ - whatever I thought would get my way, because I was very big on getting my way.

“I was never going to do any of that, but it worked so well with my mother and dad that it became a modus operandi. And when I wanted something, I wanted it now. Do you understand? Now!

“My mother says, ‘I’ll make that pudding, but first let me make a phone call to Henrietta and let me call your dad.’ No, I want the chicken soup and I want the chocolate pudding, and I want them now.”

Loose talk

Saturday Night Live holdover Norm MacDonald, on why the show was so bad last year: “What no one knows is that the Justice Department told us that the Unabomber had to write all the sketches. It may not have been funny, but we saved lives.”

Pepper’s getting to be quite the old salt

Angie Dickinson turns 64 today.

There’s one announcer who’s really relieved

The artist formerly known as Prince - now an unpronouncable symbol - has backed out of his scheduled appearance as the musical guest on tonight’s season premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” for what a publicist described as “personal reasons.”

Fortunately, he was able to steel himself

“Superman” movie star Christopher Reeve told Barbara Walters on Friday that he considered suicide following the May horse-riding accident that left him paralyzed - until he saw his children. “I could see how much they needed me and wanted me,” Reeve said. “The thought vanished and has never come back again.”

Which is where ‘Buns of Steel’ comes in

Superman’s small-screen squeeze, Teri Hatcher, insisted on doing a nude scene in “Heaven’s Prisoners,” her new film with Alec Baldwin. “Hopefully, I look great,” Hatcher said. “The only thing worse than being nude in a movie is being nude in a movie and not looking great.”

As if she hasn’t been embarrassed enough

Nude photos of Hugh Grant girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley will appear in December’s High Society magazine. Turns out Hurley took off her swimsuit while lounging poolside at a posh hotel where she - mistakenly - thought she was alone.

She doesn’t have enough class to understand

Hugh’s hooker, Divine Brown, has been trying to cash in on her infamy, demanding $1,500 from a news photographer and stiffing “Inside Edition” when it wouldn’t give her a $5,000 advance. When someone suggested she was becoming a cottage industry, she replied: “What’s a college industry?”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino