Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

In the news

Winning photos of baby Shiloh.

By SHARON FINK
Published June 7, 2006

Is this the photo everyone has been waiting for? Various reports are saying Hello! magazine got the European rights and People got the U.S. rights for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby, Shiloh Nouvel.

The New York Post's Page Six reports that the U.S. rights sold for $4.1-million (The Jolie-Pitts have said the money will go to help children worldwide.)

The Post also described the scene of the negotiations, quoting an unnamed magazine editor as saying that all the weekly magazine editors were summoned to the offices of the Getty photo agency late Saturday night and sequestered into separate offices.

Photos were shown from 10 p.m. to midnight, and bids had to be submitted by 6 a.m. Sunday, the source said.

Okay, everyone, just breathe. It's over now.

Vargas: I chose to leave

Despite uproar to the contrary, Elizabeth Vargas says she was not forced out as anchor of ABC World News Tonight because she is pregnant.

Vargas, expecting her second child in August, said it was absolutely her call to step down late last month.

"I am not a pregnant working mother wronged," she said. "I played a crucial and active role in this decision. It's the best thing for me and my family and my career right now. ... I have no complaints."

When ABC announced that Good Morning America's Charlie Gibson would replace her, Vargas said she was cutting back her workload on the advice of her doctors and would remain as anchor of 20/20.

Vargas, who turns 44 in September, said this pregnancy is causing her more problems than she had with son Zachary, now 3.

"I didn't think it was fair to give this job less than 150 percent," she said.

Vargas and Bob Woodruff had debuted as the evening news anchor team less than five months earlier. She had been carrying the load since Woodruff was seriously injured Jan. 29 in a roadside bombing in Iraq.

Pee-wee's big return

Pee-wee's Playhouse is returning to TV. Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network's late-night block of programs aimed at adults 18 to 34, told the Hollywood Reporter it has gotten rights to all 45 half-hour episodes and Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. It plans to air the show starring Paul Reubens at 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday starting July 10.

Meat Loaf sues over phrase

Someone else wrote the song Bat Out of Hell, but Meat Loaf claims he should be the only one to use the phrase in connection with music.

In a federal lawsuit dated May 26, Meat Loaf, whose real name is Michael Aday, said the expression had been publicly associated with him since the 1977 release of his Bat Out of Hell album.

The suit claims that defendant Jim Steinman, who wrote the song, wrongly claims ownership of the phrase. It seeks damages of more than $50-million.

Steinman and Meat Loaf's manager, defendant David Sonenberg, have been trying to disrupt the October release of the third Bat Out of Hell album by telling the singer's distributors that the singer had no right to use the phrase, according to the suit.

'Idol' runnerup McPhee signs a record deal

NEW YORK - Being the American Idol runnerup has its rewards, too.

Katharine McPhee, who lost out to Taylor Hicks in the top-rated Fox show's finale two weeks ago, has signed a record deal with music mogul Clive Davis in conjunction with 19 Recordings Unlimited, the label managed by Idol creator Simon Fuller, it was announced Tuesday.

The 22-year-old California native's recording of two songs - Over the Rainbow and My Destiny - will be released in stores and through digital outlets on June 27.

Hicks also recently signed the record deal that came with his victory.

Ruth Eckerd Hall adds another Chappelle show

Ruth Eckerd Hall has added yet another show by comedian Dave Chappelle.

Tickets for the fourth performance, scheduled for 10 p.m. June 24, go on sale at noon today. Tickets are $55 and $65. The other three performances are sold out.

Tickets are available at the Ruth Eckerd Hall ticket office at (727) 791-7400 or at www.rutheckerdhall.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets.

[Last modified June 7, 2006, 05:18:55]