Would you cross a guy like former Chief Justice Warren Burger? No, but a car salesman would. Burger confided during a recent interview that the new car he bought is a total clunker. It keeps stopping in traffic for no apparent reason, and it`s in the shop constantly. Wonder if Ralph Nader shops at the same dealership.
DOLEFUL DON . . .
GOP mayoral candidate Don Haider can get some fresh material for his campaign when Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas visits town Friday for the Du Page County Lincoln Day dinner. It seems that Don, the absent-minded professor, forgot his footnotes when he referred to potential mayoral opponents Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago First Party candidate Tom Hynes and Ald. Ed Vrdolyak (10th) as ”see no evil, hear no evil and evil.”
Presidential hopeful Dole turned that tart phrase years ago in referring to former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Jerry Ford and Richard Nixon–in that order. INC. should have known Don`s not that clever.
CAMPAIGN TRAIL DIRT . . .
— Money from the pits–literally. Vrdolyak`s mayoral campaign fund just got a big boost–to the tune of $5,000–from actor Paul Newman`s racing team, Newman/Haas Racing, in Lincolnshire. Race fans, you`ll recall, were devastated when former Mayor Jane Byrne`s idea for a lakefront grand prix auto race hit the skids. Maybe they think EV can get them back on track.
— Vrdolyak ventured into the home turf of foe Tom Hynes` 19th Ward Saturday to urge support for Democratic candidate Byrne, a tactic he plans to continue until primary day. Late last week, Byrne`s operatives still insisted they wanted no help from EV, who`s running in the Illinois Solidarity primary. EV`s support has been considered the ”kiss of death” by Mayor Washington`s opponents.
POOR MOUTHING . . .
Poor Pete du Pont, the former governor of Delaware and the first Republican to officially declare his presidential candidacy. He confided over cocktails at Thursday`s United Republican Fund of Illinois Lincoln Day dinner that he`s constantly fighting a public perception that he`s super-rich, when he`s only worth $2 million or $3 million. The family chemical fortune, he said, is divided among ”a lot of du Pont cousins,” and Pete earns a meager $400,000 annually from a family trust.
NEVER MIND . . .
Gov. Jim Thompson spent 30 minutes Friday hyping his proposed license plate and gasoline tax increase to a gathering of the Illinois Farmers Union in Springfield. What he didn`t know was that on Thursday night the IFU executive committee had voted unanimously to oppose the plan. . . . Thompson`s hearing a chorus of ”I told you so” from GOPers who are reminding Big Jim that they touted former Illinois House Speaker George Ryan for the secretary of state job back in 1981, when Alan Dixon left that post after being elected to the U.S. Senate. Instead, the guv tapped his legislative lobbyist, Jim Edgar, who has loudly opposed the guv`s tax increase plan. Ryan, now the lieutenant guv, has stayed neutral.
REEL NEWS . . .
Every year around Oscar time, there`s the usual wringing of industry hands over whether members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote for the best products and people or for their pals and their projects. Now there`s another choice: One member of the academy will vote the top five categories based on a poll of INC. readers. Look over the list of nominees in the five major categories below, then write your five choices on the back of a post card or a sealed envelope and mail it to INC. Oscars, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611. Our academy member`s ballot must be submitted by March 24, so we`ll include all votes that reach us by March 20. And yes, it is an irreverent approach to Oscar voting, but, hey, we`re not talking about the Nobel Peace Prize here. The categories are:
— Best picture–”Platoon,” ”A Room with a View,” ”Hannah and Her Sisters,” ”The Mission” and ”Children of a Lesser God.”
— Best actress–Jane Fonda, ”The Morning After”; Marlee Matlin,
”Children of a Lesser God”; Sissy Spacek, ”Crimes of the Heart”;
Kathleen Turner, ”Peggy Sue Got Married”; and Sigourney Weaver, ”Aliens.” — Best actor–Dexter Gordon, ”Round Midnight”; Bob Hoskins, ”Mona Lisa”; William Hurt, ”Children of a Lesser God”; Paul Newman, ”The Color of Money”; and James Woods, ”Salvador.”
— Best supporting actress–Tess Harper, ”Crimes of the Heart”; Piper Laurie, ”Children of a Lesser God”; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, ”The Color of Money”; Maggie Smith, ”A Room with a View”; and Dianne Wiest, ”Hannah and Her Sisters.”
— Best supporting actor–Michael Caine, ”Hannah and Her Sisters”; Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe, ”Platoon”; Denholm Elliott, ”A Room with a View”; and Dennis Hopper, ”Hoosiers.”
NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ . . .
Why did the ”Angel Heart” love scene between Mickey Rourke and Lisa
(”The Cosby Show”) Bonet garner the movie an ”X” rating? An INC. source who saw the flick says it`s a ”fantasy” in which the two are doing pretty much what your average couple does in a steamy scene–but the whole time they`re being drenched with blood pouring from the ceiling. . . . Elizabeth Taylor is checking around about hotel reservations in Chicago in September. . . . If you liked Eddie Vrdolyak`s on-screen tirade Thursday afternoon on Channel 2, you`d have loved the fit Mayor Washington threw offscreen. He apparently thought he was still on the air and was spewing forth oratory after the cameras had cut away. When political reporter Mike Flannery told him, Washington sputtered several thoughts, including ”You ——- me! You did it again!” . . . A few months before his death, Liberace reportedly signed a licensing agreement that will put his name on a line of goods from telephones to exotic furs. . . . Oscar nominee Marlee Matlin is ”in hiding,” turning down interviews and avoiding public contact.
INC.LINGS . . .
Sunday birthdays: Cesar Romero, 80; Harvey Korman, 60; Melissa Manchester, 36. . . . Screen magazine reports that Mutual of Omaha has dropped its sponsorship of ”Wild Kingdom” after 25 years. The show was produced in Chicago by Don Meier Productions; Mutual`s new program will be six half-hour
”Spirit of Adventure” specials which will be produced in Colorado.
