This Publishing Furor Is Not Just A Polish Joke
In keeping with the week’s theme, the difference between truth and perception, we present this news from the world of publishing.
Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein and his American publisher, Doubleday, are suing the Polish publisher of his book on Pope John Paul II. The problem? Bernstein charges that the book, “His Holiness,” has been edited to soften the pope’s image.
Removed were references to the pontiff’s declining health, Polish anti-semitism and criticism of Polish Catholicism.
“We thought these (sections) presenting him just before he came to Poland as a very old, ill and angry man couldn’t be good for his reception,” said Malgorzata Cebo-Foniok, editor-in-chief of Warsaw’s Amber Publishing Ltd.
Doubleday claims that up to 35 percent of the book was affected.
Loose talk
Arianna Huffington on her new political satire “Greetings From the Lincoln Bedroom”: “Increasingly, (satire) is the only way to explain what is going on in Washington and in politics. How else can we explain Kelly Flinn and Paula Jones and Dick Morris all over the television all weekend?”
The celebration shall take place at Howard’s End
James Ivory turns 69 today.
We’re excited about the recipe for horse-head soup
Victoria Gotti, daughter of mob boss John Gotti, has signed a $1 million contract to write a combination cookbook/family history. “It’ll be something like Fanny Flagg’s ‘Fried Green Tomatoes,’ the way it weaves stories with recipes,” Crown Publishing editor Sue Carswell said.
The view from Broadway is definitely more Rosie
The good showing of Sunday’s Tony Awards show is being credited to Rosie O’Donnell. Ratings were the best since 1987 and represented a 48 percent increase from 1996. O’Donnell, who hosted the event, boosted it for weeks on her daytime talk show and convinced presenters Julie Andrews, Roseanne and Alec Baldwin to appear.
Where there’s smoke, there’s a cult audience
William B. Davis, who plays Cigarette Man on “The X-Files,” says his character is the show’s real hero. “If Mulder gets what he wants, ‘The Truth,’ what will he do with it?” Davis asked a crowd at the University of Georgia. “Well, he’ll go on ‘Larry King Live’ and tell the world. And what will happen? People will be terrified. There’ll be chaos.”
So THAT’S who’s in those black helicopters
When VH1 veejay John Sykes interviewed Bill Clinton recently, the president appeared relaxed. When asked about a helicopter hovering outside, Clinton said it was probably for Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who had been waiting to see him for more than an hour.
Stay tuned: There may be videotape to follow
The Star has photos and eye-witness accounts to document meetings between broadcaster Bryant Gumbel and one Hilary Quinlan. The two, “friends” for two years, met most recently in the Chicago Four Seasons Hotel. Gumbel, who would not comment, has been married for 23 years.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster