Add the Chicago Board of Education`s independent contractors and vendors to the list of victims of the school strike. It seems companies that delivered supplies to schools over the summer can`t be paid until teachers get into the classrooms and verify that they received the goods. No verification, no pay. Not good news for small businesses.
OLLIE-OOPS . . .
Major contributors to the Republican Party beat feet to Washington, D.C., this week for a luncheon hosted by the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. The big draw? Lt. Col. Oliver (Tough Talk for Terrorists) North, who had agreed to be the guest speaker. The bottom line: Ollie was a no-show. Seems his lawyers won`t let him talk to anybody with the threat of indictments still hanging over his head from the Iran-contra affair. So committee chairman U.S. Rep. Guy Vander Jagt (R., Mich.) recruited retired Marine Corps commandant Gen. P.X. Kelley as a ”last minute” replacement. But INC. sources say the committee knew for weeks that North`s lawyers would cancel the appearance. And the ”last-minute” stuff was just to make sure the contributors-along with their checkbooks-wouldn`t be no-shows, too.
THE CANDIDATES . . .
– It`s up to the state Supreme Court to appoint someone to fill out the term of retiring Justice Joseph Goldenhersh. But INC. hears there`s at least one candidate already making noises about being on the ballot when the seat comes up for election in 1988. The candidate? St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Richard Goldenhersh, the justice`s son, who has been roundly criticized for his handling of the Kemner v. Monsanto dioxin case. That case now has the distinction of being the longest civil jury trial in U.S. history.
– Former Ald. Ed Vrdolyak can keep on oh-so-coyly lusting after State`s Atty. Rich Daley`s office. When EV finally does join up with Republicans, he ought to know that at least one GOP heavyweight, Cook County Sheriff Jim O`Grady, doesn`t think EV`s the guy to face off with Daley. O`Grady`s urging Terry Gainer, deputy director of the Illinois Department of State Police, to consider a bid for state`s attorney. Like O`Grady, Gainer`s an ex-cop.
THAT WAS THEN . . .
. . . and this is now. Two major movies will have undergone some major cast changes by the time they actually go into production.
– ”Rubyjean and Joe” was to have been directed by and star Burt Reynolds as an aging rodeo star who picks up a young black female hitchhiker and the friendship they establish. Now Reynolds is out, and producer Walter
(”Reuben Reuben”) Shenson is still looking for a star after having considered and dismissed James Caan (who, INC. hears, still is no treat to work with).
– When Paramount owned the rights to ”Midnight Run,” they wanted one of the male costar roles re-written for Cher. Now the property is Universal`s, and they have one of the costars set-Robert De Niro-and reportedly are back to a male in the part of the person that De Niro is handcuffed to throughout the film. De Niro, director Martin (”Beverly Hills Cop”) Brest, and whoever they eventually choose as the costar will be in Chicago for a few days next month for filming on the movie.
REEL NEWS . . .
Promotional T-shirts for the Santa Fe Film Festival honoring the late John Huston feature a partial list of Huston`s films on the back. But he had nothing to do with one of them-”Love and Bullets, Charlie,” with Stuart Rosenberg directing and Charles Bronson starring. . . . ”Atlas Shrugged,”
first published in 1957, may finally hit the big screen. Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based corporation branching out into feature film production, just paid $600,000 for the film rights to the Ayn Rand novel.
STAR TRACKS . . .
For a while there, it looked like nobody could ever beat Dolly Parton`s record for disappointing Chicago fans (four cancellations), but Luciano Pavarotti has shown himself to be a real contender by tying her record. And such hard-to-argue-with excuses, too. . . . Dan Aykroyd, Judy Belushi, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tim Kazurinsky and Peter Boyle are set to attend Tuesday`s special screening of ”The Principal” starring Jim Belushi and the post-screening party at Scoozi to benefit the John Belushi Scholarship Fund at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and the College of Du Page. . . . David Bowie was back in town this week to record a cut for his next album at River North Recorders, backed by his band and by some guitarist named Peter Frampton.
INC.LINGS . . .
Friday birthdays: WLUP-FM and WFLD-TV`s Bruce Wolf, 34; Blackhawks`
announcer Harvey Wittenberg, 50; Hedy Lamarr, 73; Kristy McNichol, 25; Bill Stokes, 56. . . . Saturday birthdays: George Jones, 56; Terry Bradshaw, 39. . . . State Treasurer Jerry Cosentino announces Friday that Rockford might soon have a Triple-A baseball franchise. Cosentino agreed to place $1.5 million in state deposits in Rockford banks, which in turn have agreed to lend the local park district money needed to put the local Rockford ballpark in shape for AAA team play. . . . The Cars have postponed the first month of their scheduled tour, which means their Sept. 19 show at Alpine Valley is off. Production problems, the Cars say, but that sometimes is showbiz-ese for disappointing ticket sales.
