Flash

By Times staff and wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2001

Ringling gets new director

John Wetenhall, director of the Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville, is the new executive director of the Ringing Museum of Art in Sarasota. Wetenhall's "distinguished credentials as an art historian and his demonstrated skill at Cheekwood where he turned the museum from a house that drew a predictable audience to an art museum of regional stature made him an ideal candidate," said Florida State University President Sandy D'Alemberte. (FSU and the Ringling were made partners last year by the Florida Legislature; D'Alemberte selected Wetenhall from recommendations sent to him by the museum's board of directors.) Wetenhall, 43, earned his Ph.D. in art history at Stanford University, his M.A. from Williams College and his B.A. from Dartmouth College, and later earned an M.B.A. at Vanderbilt University. An authority on modern public sculpture, Wetenhall has worked as a curator at the Birmingham Museum of Art and as a scholar, fellow and lecturer at the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Minnesota. He succeeds interim director Arland Christ-Janer, who has run the museum since the resignation of former museum director David Ebitz last July.

Bogdanovich divorcing

The wife of producer-director Peter Bogdanovich has filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. Louise Hoogstraten-Bogdanovich, 32, married Bogdanovich, 61, on Dec. 30, 1988. He directed the 1971 film The Last Picture Show. These days, he has a recurring role as a psychiatrist on HBO's mob drama The Sopranos. She is the sister of 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten, who was Bogdanovich's companion until her murder in 1980. Stratten was killed by her estranged husband, who then committed suicide. Bogdanovich later wrote a book about her.

Short takes

SLIM SHADY SETTLES: Eminem has reached a divorce agreement with wife, Kim Mathers, that will give them joint custody of their 5-year-old daughter. The couple also agreed the controversial rapper will keep their $450,000 home, while his wife will get $475,000 to buy a new house.

LEAPING TO TREK: TV vet Scott Bakula, best known for playing Dr. Sam Beckett on NBC's Quantum Leap, is negotiating to star as Jackson Archer, the headstrong captain of the newest Trek series, reports http://www.trektoday.com.

ALLY STUNG: Rock legend Sting will play himself on an upcoming episode of Ally McBeal. The episode, which has the former Police frontman turning to Robert Downey Jr.'s character for help to defend against a fan's lawsuit, airs April 30th on Fox.

AILING: Joey Ramone, lead singer of seminal punk rockers the Ramones, is battling lymphoma. A spokesman for the 49-year-old singer said he's coping with the cancer in a New York-area hospital and is "doing better and better."

OBITUARY: Norma MacMillan, 79, who provided voices on The Gumby Show and other animated TV series, died of a heart attack Friday.

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