Chief mouse and Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner stopped in town Friday, met with Mayor Richard Daley (Eisner “feels very positive about Chicago and sees possibilities,” a source told us), walked the neighborhood around the Chicago Theatre (where Disney has a multiyear lease) and picked up an award from The Executives’ Club of Chicago at the Hilton & Towers.
To say the execs were all ears for Eisner’s speech would be a terrible pun–and terribly true, with Lester Crown, Bill Bartholomay, Andrew McKenna, Dick Duchossois and Dick Notebaert (in mouse ears) among the 2,250 on hand. More:
– Eisner told INC. that Disney’s interested in China. The firm’s No. 2 man–and Chicago native–Michael Ovitz was just there and met the Chinese president. “The first with someone from our industry,” Eisner said. But, “they’re just talking.”
– Eisner, who wants to open one new Broadway-type show yearly beginning in ’97, sneaked a peek inside the Chicago Theatre. Maybe he’ll be back in October for its 75th birthday.
– Asked whether he knew Gordon Segal, when introduced to the Crate & Barrel’s honcho, Eisner quipped, “Know it? My wife’s been shopping there.”
For art’s sake: The Chicago Academy for the Arts marked its 15th year by honoring Brian Dennehy, Paul and Angel Harvey, Joffrey Ballet’s Gerald Arpino and cabaret legend Bobby Short–whose brother Reginald Brown was on hand Friday at the Fairmont Hotel to pick up his award. But when it comes to legends, Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz wins hands down. He showed INC. his social calendar, which has him attending benefits most every night, including Thursday’s Five Hospitals event, where bandleader Stanley Paul insists the 90-year-old judge was dancing.
P.S.: There was this good news for the academy–Dennehy will donate a piece of movie memorabilia to the Hollywood Casino Aurora collection. In turn, the casino plans to donate $7,500 to the school.
Unabomber file 1: Add a mailbox to the long list of items the FBI took from Ted Kaczynski’s Montana home. There are reports a private citizen tried to steal it as a “memento” so the FBI confiscated it.
Unabomber file 2: INC. couldn’t help but notice that a street sign one block from David Kaczynski’s home was missing until a few days ago in Schenectady. Are souvenir hunters that desperate?
Return to sender: Pete D’alessandro just got a form letter from Dick Durbin, thanking him for his support in the recent primary. Durbin, who beat Pat Quinn, said he “couldn’t have done it without” D’alessandro’s help. That didn’t make Pete any too happy. He was Quinn’s field operations director. “Talk about adding insult to injury,” he told us.
Star tracks: That was Marg Helgenberger (“China Beach”) smooching George Clooney on Michigan Avenue during a taping of NBC’s “ER” Friday, but it may be Nicole Kidman whom Clooney screen-kisses next. Kidman’s reportedly in talks to star opposite Clooney in the feature film, “The Peacemakers.”
Passages: Sunday birthdays: Queen Elizabeth, 70; Tony Danza, 46; Shannen Doherty, 25; Charles Grodin, 61; Patti LuPone, 47; Andie MacDowell, 38; Elaine May, 64; Iggy Pop, 49; Anthony Quinn, 81.
For the kids: Although Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp was the inspiration for the planned Buffalo Prairie Gang Camp near Peoria, the actor won’t be at Tuesday’s launch at The PrivateBank and Trust Co. here. Instead, Ursula Hotschner, co-founder of Newman’s Own food products, will be–loaded down with salsa and salad dressing.
EAVESDROPPING
“They could have offered us any amount of money, but dolls were not going to happen.”
David Schwimmer to Entertainment Weekly, on the marketing of “Friends.”
