New Kid in Town

An air of mystery surrounded the public debut last month of Bechet Dumaine Allen, the first child of Woody Allen, 63, and wife Soon-Yi, 28. No one outside the filmmaker's tight inner circle knew whether Soon-Yi had been pregnant or the baby had been adopted. Allen did say that the child was named for jazz great Sidney Bechet. But other details, including the infant's exact age, were kept under wraps. "They have a beautiful daughter and are extremely happy," was all Allen spokesman Allen Eichhorn could offer.

Allen, with his former companion Mia Farrow, previously cared for three children (Dylan and Moses, adopted with Farrow, and Satchel, their biological son). That ended in 1993, after Farrow took court action when she learned that Allen was having an affair with Soon-Yi, another of her adopted children. New York Supreme Court Justice Elliott Wilk, who revoked Allen's contact with Dylan, Moses and Satchel, described the director as "self-absorbed, untrustworthy and insensitive" and declared that he had serious parental inadequacies.

Wilk had no comment on Allen's latest family ties. But Barbara Kopple, who directed Wild Man Blues, a documentary about Allen's jazz band, said, "I think it's absolutely terrific. It was unfortunate that he couldn't experience [raising] a child before. Now he's getting a second chance."

A Royal Dress Mess
Tizzies over one of Princess Diana's party dresses and fabric from her wedding gown raise questions of authenticity

Focus

For four months in 1998, visitors by the thousands, paying $6 each, trooped into the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, N.C., to stare wide-eyed at a midnight-blue tulle party dress once owned, they were told, by the late Princess Diana. But no one was as astounded by the display as Memphis dress designer and royal memorabilia collector Pat Kerr. Last January, Kerr got a copy of the museum's catalogue, which contained a photo of the Di dress. "I nearly fainted," Kerr says. With good reason: In June 1997 she had purchased what appeared to be the same gown, by designer Murray Arbeid, for $48,300 at Christie's auction of 79 of the Princess's dresses. But Kerr's authenticated original was safely in storage.

Kerr soon learned that the Mint was loaned the Di-dentical gown for free by Manhattan theatrical and film costumer John Thomas. Thomas tells Scoop he bought the dress after the auction for an undisclosed sum from an anonymous woman who said it had been owned by the Princess. "I had no reason to doubt it wasn't authentic."

Kerr's lawyer has demanded that Thomas and his business associate, Gene London, offer proof of their claim. That won't be easy. "I don't have any record of the sale," says Thomas, who has put his dress in storage. "There's no question that [Kerr] has the dress from the auction. But I am still holding out hope that my dress may turn out to have been owned by [Di too]." For her part, Kerr wants it known that her dress is the original. "It's ridiculous of them to be marching around an imposter," she fumes. "They need to provide documentation."

Documentation would also help solve another Di dress mystery. An elderly couple from Norfolk, England, is trying to sell six silk strips from material they say was used to create the Princess's 1981 wedding gown. They say the strips were given to them by the frock's designers, Elizabeth and David Emanuel, as thanks for helping look after their two young children before the royal nuptials. The trouble is, says Elizabeth, "neither David nor I had any memory" of the couple. "We gave some people we worked with tiny bits of fabric. [But] it was not: handed out all over the place."

Heston Draws Fire from Antigun Celebs
That wasn't fan mail actor Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association, found in his mailbox after the Littleton, Colo., school shootings. "Dear Mr. Heston," wrote singer Lorna Luft, "I hope you're happy now." As Luft later told a reporter, "I'm outraged by the NRA stance that the solution is having more armed guards in the school." It was Heston himself who made that statement the day after the Columbine High School massacre. But he had no response to Luft, whose angry missive was just one round in a verbal barrage unleashed by anti-gun celebs following the April 20 tragedy. On April 21, RosieO'Donnell, guest-hosting on Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, urged viewers: "If you have a gun in your house, for God's sake, take it out." For their part, pro-gun stars, like Tom Selleck, maintained a discreet silence. Even Minnesota Gov. Jesse "the Body" Ventura, after initially citing Littleton as a reason for easing Minnesota's strict handgun laws, later apologized and said, "Except for uniformed police officers, a school is no place for weapons." His about-face prompted a burst of praise from antigun actor and singer Mandy Patinkin. "I like this guy," says Patinkin, who raised $26,600 for Kosovar refugees and against gun violence with an April 21 concert in Minnesota. "He's open to listening and to change." Maybe Mandy should drop Jesse a note.

Points of View
If the future will be as dark as The Matrix makes it seem, why does everyone in the hit sci-fi movie wear sunglasses? Because the right pair of shades not only protects against nasty UV rays, they're also unbearably cool. As a result, the immediate future has become very sunny for New York City-based eyewear designer Richard Walker, whose specs perch on the noses of Matrix stars Keanu Reeves (wraparound), Laurence Fishburne (bridge clip) and Carrie-Anne Moss (aviator). "My goal," says Walker, 30, "was to create a rimless collection with all the focus on the lens shape." Mass-market replicas of Walker's eyewear will be selling soon in the Sunglass Hut chain, starting at $160 a pair.

Junk Mail
DreamWorks' upcoming movie The Love Letter may be a romantic comedy, but to some journalists its PR campaign is just not very funny. In their mail they found real-looking, unsigned letters ("Do you know how in love with you I am?" they began) that spooked some of the recipients, who feared the notes were from stalkers. "I don't think they realize how many single women live with this problem," says one editor. "I...was terrified," added Yah Lin Chang, a Newsweek writer. "The way it was written was really, really creepy." A studio spokeswoman says the response to the campaign is "overwhelmingly positive."

At the Indy 500, Leno's a Big Wheel

Considering Tonight Show host—and classic-car buff—Jay Leno's appreciation for burning rubber, it'll be a dream gig when he gets behind the wheel of the pace car (a souped-up model 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo) for the start of the 83rd Indianapolis 500 on May 30. Scoop cornered the revved-up Leno in the pits at Indy for a prerace tutorial on his driving ambitions.

How did you get chosen to drive the pace car?

I just got a call. It's because I'm pretty involved with cars and motorcycles. I talk about [my collection] on the show, I have a column in Popular Mechanics, and I established a scholarship at McPherson College in Kansas, the only college where you can get a degree in auto restoration.

How large is your collection?

You sound like my wife. It's up to 53 cars and 54 motorcycles.

Which are your favorite cars?

I like 'em all. I never throw anything out. But I guess I'm proudest of the 1913 Mercer Raceabout, the 1926 Bugatti, the 1932 Duesenberg and the 1909 Stanley Steamer. I like originals, cars that are orphans because the company went out of business.

Are your bosses at NBC nervous about your driving the pace car?

Nah. I've done a lot stupider things over the years. It's a lot more dangerous pulling into the studio on a 1918 motorcycle with no brakes. Whoa-oh-oh!

How do you prepare for the Indy 500?

You have to be track-certified, which means you go out and practice with an instructor. That's why I'm in Indianapolis today. They want to make sure that I'm not an idiot, that I'm not going to smash into the grandstands. When you drive the pace car, you're going 120, 125 miles an hour. You're leading the pack, man. You have to move.

It sounds dangerous

It is dangerous. I have a great appreciation for race car drivers. They have to have incredible eyesight, incredible reflexes. Race car driving is subtle, like sex. Everyone thinks they're good at it, but they're not.

ON THE BLOCK

OLIVIA ECO-NOMIZES
Singer Olivia Newton-John has sold the environmentally friendly Malibu mansion she and then-husband Matt Lattanzi built while she was recuperating from a 1992 bout with breast cancer. The 9,400-square-foot home, with its surfaces of natural materials, lead-removing water filters, underground wiring and seaweed-based insulation, has seven bedrooms, a gym, a lap pool and a 12-seat theater. According to the Los Angeles Times, Newton-John (who split with Lattanzi in 1995) sold the 1.5-acre beachfront spread for $6.3 million after listing it in 1996 for $7.5 million. Newton-John, 50, plans to live in a five-bedroom, 4,400-square-foot home, also in Malibu, that she reportedly purchased for less than $2 million.

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