Can David Bowie rock a two-among TV?
Did Vanna White have a steamy film debut?
What's new for Malcolm Jamal Warner and Lisa Bonet?
Does Kim Karnes have her eye on a new sound?
These stories and more when Entertainment Tonight raises a cheer for Thursday, June 2, 1988.
Hey, Entertainment Tonight!
Hello again everybody, I'm Mary Hart.
And I'm John Tesh.
It's nothing new in Hollywood, a steamy performance, perhaps jeopardizing a star's reputation.
Only this time, the star is game show hostess Vanna White's.
Long before she spun the wheel of good fortune, Vanna starred in a never released low-budget movie,
most notable for what she was not wearing.
Now that skeleton may be coming back to haunt her.
Catch my act, Smiling Jack!
Her act is that of a go-go dancer in the aviation love story, Gypsy Angels.
And the only reason anybody cares is because the star of Gypsy Angels, the girl in the shower, is Vanna White.
But Gypsy Angels on-screen drama is paled in comparison to the real-life battle between the film's director, Shawn McGregor,
and White's co-star, Gene Bicknell.
McGregor claims that Bicknell, Kansas-based millionaire owner of the world's largest Pizza Hut franchise,
is trying to suppress the film.
Gene Bicknell wanted to be the governor of the state of Kansas.
And he felt that being an emotion picture would be detrimental to his political ambitions.
Not so, according to Bicknell, who as the principal investor in the film, now controls the negative.
Bicknell says he, too, supports the completion of the project.
I think the harm, if there's any harm done to Vanna, it's already done.
And so from here on in, I don't think there's any detrimental factor involved for Vanna.
And the other people would like to get their money back. I wouldn't mind getting mine back, either.
It reminds me of a scene in a William Holden movie.
The now well-known letter-turner, White, perhaps understandably never mentioned Gypsy Angels in her 1987 autobiography.
I feel sorry for Vanna because I'm sure it's something she doesn't like going through, because she is such a good person.
Why didn't she mention it? Huh, Vanna? Why didn't you mention it? What are you afraid of?
You certainly have nothing to be ashamed of in your performance. Nothing.
Vanna White's publicist told us she would have no comment on the potential release of her first movie, Gypsy Angels.
Meanwhile, she begins production this week on a new NBC TV movie called Goddess of Love.
Phil Cosby called a meeting in Hollywood last night with the writers and producers of A Different World.
The star of the series, Lisa Bonet, who is married to musician Leonard Kravitz, is pregnant.
Now the hot question is, how to deal with her character.
Action.
Entertainment Tonight has learned that the show's producers are now trying to decide whether to hide her pregnancy
or to have Bonet's character, Denise Huxtable, get married.
We've also learned that another scenario would have her getting married, getting pregnant, and returning to the Cosby show.
It had been reported that Lisa Bonet's nude appearance in last month's Rolling Stone hadn't made Bill Cosby very happy.
In spite of the fact that her pregnancy then offered an ideal opportunity to replace her,
there are no plans at present to drop Bonet from the Cosby family.
Incidentally, though the writer's strike does continue, the writers of A Different World have reached an agreement
with the independent producers of the show, so work on next season could begin as soon as a decision is reached about Bonet's role.
And by the way, the spin-off beat the Cosby show in the ratings last week.
Meanwhile, Lisa Bonet's Cosby kid brother is stepping out of character.
Malcolm Jamal Warner took his off-Broadway play Three Ways Home behind the bars of a women's prison.
The off-Broadway show played to the big house yesterday, the women's correctional facility at Rikers Island.
Malcolm Jamal Warner made a grand entrance, much to the delight of more than 350 female inmates.
For many of the women during time, Three Ways Home was one of the first plays they had ever seen.
But the subject matter about a welfare mother trying to raise her son in a hostile city was one that hit home.
It's a good show. I think it sent a good message out to everybody. I think a lot of people here can relate to it.
I didn't know what to expect. I have a couple of friends who have performed actually here at Rikers Island,
and they kept telling me that the audiences were always a lot of fun.
So I was anticipating an energetic audience and an audience that was going to sit back and have a good time.
And these folks are definitely having a good time.
Malcolm will continue to perform in that off-Broadway play through the end of July.
Teen Queen Debbie Gibson gave some of her small-town fans a big treat.
Mandan High School in North Dakota won a massive write-in contest to bring her to their school.
These kids mailed tons of postcards, more cards than there are people in North Dakota, as a matter of fact.
Tony Harris reports on their favorite pen pal.
Mandan, North Dakota is usually a rather quiet, unassuming town of 15,000.
But last night, there was a whole lot of shaking going on.
It's not the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It's not Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Welcome to Mandan Senior High School.
The Mandan Braves won the right to play host to Gibson and cable TV's Dance Party USA by mailing in over 687,000 postcards.
That's more than the population of the entire state.
Was it surprising to you when this thing got going, the momentum that it was taking with it?
Yeah, but you don't ever want to underestimate kids. When these young people get an idea and a hankering to do something, they put their mind to it and they'll do it.
You a Debbie Gibson fan?
A little bit.
Yeah? You like her music?
Never heard it, but I'd be glad to try.
Boy, when you start making things click, you'd be surprised what communities can do.
You a Debbie Gibson fan?
Yeah. I'm a rock and roll mayor. The first one.
Even Gibson, a high school student herself, was pretty impressed with Mandan's community effort.
That's very thrilling. It really is. I mean, just to think, last year I was writing out postcards with my school to win a concert. We came in second place.
As this evening came to a close, two things were clear. These high school students would never forget this experience and Mandan, North Dakota would never be the same.
Tony Harris, Entertainment Tonight.
Gibson's performance on Dance Party USA will air June 24th on the USA Network.
What did they say, 600 and some thousand?
Yeah, postcards more than the entire population.
You've got to figure that the postmaster of that town is resting comfortably in a sane asylum somewhere, right?
And I bet the barber sent in a lot of them.
The 24-carat crowd turned out at Los Angeles last night for a play that's as good as box office gold.
Le Miserable is hot off the playbills of London and New York.
Barry!
Stars from music and the screen were in Los Angeles last night for the long-awaited opening of the Broadway hit musical Le Miserable.
Everybody wave the glass, the little master of the house!
The musical version of Le Miserable is now playing in New York, London, Tel Aviv, even Budapest.
After last night's opening in Los Angeles, there was a huge party on a soundstage at 20th Century Fox where Hollywood has fallen in love.
It was brilliant tonight. And between the set changes and the artistry, it was just wonderful.
The music, the performances, the people, the cast, it's just a magnificent night in the theater.
A musical has something that grabs the public and becomes a big, long-running hit. This is one.
This show is full of emotions and that's what got to me, not the big budget.
The Victor Hugo classic has turned out to be an international hit. It's already playing everywhere from Australia to Tel Aviv.
And in the next few years, producers plan to open in Moscow.
Coming up next, celebrity love kids when the price of stardom sometimes includes paternity suits.
And later, Kim Carnes goes a bit country when we take you to a recording session for her new album.
And stay with us, David Bowie gets ready for rock and roll when the Glass Spider Tour comes to television.
Are Hollywood's love children really who their mothers claim they are?
Products of liaisons with big-name entertainers, no matter how brief or strange the encounter.
Or are the children pawns in a game to snare a star and perhaps his money?
Actor Peter O'Toole's situation is different. He has a five-year-old love child.
O'Toole admits to being Lorcan's father. In fact, he's involved in a custody battle with the child's mother.
O'Toole wants a hand in raising his son.
For comedian Jackie Mason, it's a different story. He denies that this is his daughter.
But a court ruled that he is the father. The girl's mother, Ginger Ryder, is happy about the ruling.
I think she has a right to know her daddy. She certainly, it's not a secret.
And she's getting at the age where she knows who he is. She sees him on TV.
And if anybody closely resembles him, she goes up to them and says, are you my daddy? And that hurts.
Paternity battles are nothing new to Hollywood.
Charlie Chaplin was involved in a bitter dispute when actress Joan Barry claimed that he had fathered her child.
She took him to court twice, and twice Chaplin was found innocent.
Current superstars are also victims.
Last year, Michael Jackson was named in a paternity suit by a Chicago woman, LeVon Paulus, now calling herself Billie Jean Jackson.
She claims the singer had sex with her in his blue Rolls Royce.
He invited me out to L.A. and I met him at his house. And we had a date in his car. And I got pregnant.
A judge dismissed the case without comment.
Singer Paul McCartney was also a victim.
Erika Huber says McCartney fathered her daughter Bettina in the early 1960s when the Beatles were playing in Germany.
A judge dismissed the $2.7 million suit, saying that a blood test proved that McCartney was not the father.
Chad Everett and his family know personally the anguish a false paternity claim can cause.
He spoke with us after winning one court battle.
It's been going on for nine years. It wasn't the first time we've tried.
We've been vindicated twice, but this time before a jury trial.
And to prove to them that I wasn't there, that I didn't do that, and so that they can walk around with a little pride on it,
and my kids aren't getting, you know, a bad mouth at school.
It's been a painful nine years, but it's worth it. I'm glad we did what we did.
Eddie Murphy is also facing a paternity suit.
Nicole Rader claims the comedian is the father of her daughter Ashley. Murphy denies any involvement.
Celebrities can be a big boost to a presidential campaign,
and that's what Democrat hopeful Jesse Jackson was looking for during his stop in Hollywood last night.
Jesse Jackson found a goldmine of star power supporting him in Hollywood,
from musical talent like Natalie Cole, Willie Nelson and Chris Christopherson, to actors like Martin Sheen.
Many turned out not only because of the candidate, but because of a sense of responsibility to become involved in the political process.
Well, it's what I believe in. You know, I mean, I'm 52 years old.
You know, I feel like telling the truth, you know, standing up for what I believe in.
We should be involved in the political process because it's our future.
Celebrities, as well as people who run gas stations and people who teach kids and nurses who take care of sick people and so on and so forth,
should speak out on what they see going on.
So I don't feel like I'm supposed to keep my mouth shut just because, just because I'm an actor.
The other two major candidates, George Bush and Michael Dukakis, have also been wined, dined and supported at fundraisers attended by Hollywood stars.
He had his own hit network show in the 1950s and was a frequent guest on Hollywood Squares.
Tomorrow, we'll tell you what's new for this crew-cut comedian in Where Are They Now?
And this weekend on Entertainment This Week, Paul Hogan tells why he'd rather be like Woody Allen than Rambo.
And Linda Koslowski takes us behind the scenes of her dramatic TV miniseries.