NEWLN: Compiled by VALERIE KUKLENSKI UPI Entertainment Editor
TRAVEL ADVICE: Comedian Anthony Clark, who plays an out-of-place bumpkin in the new NBC series 'Boston Common,' recently vacationed in Italy, but he had a small problem on the trip. It seems the woman with him was robbed by a wiley band of street thieves. Clark, appearing on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,' said a woman approached them and tossed her baby at Clark's friend, who, of course, caught it. While her hands were full, the mother's other children swooped in and nabbed her purse. 'Let that be a travel tip for you,' Clark said. 'If you're in Italy and somebody pitches you a baby, swat it to the ground -- and say, 'I don't think so.''
A THING FOR DIRECTORS: Actress Amy Irving could be a director's dream. The antithesis of a demanding 800-pound gorilla type, Irving admits she enjoys cooperating with directors. It's a legacy of her adoration of her father, the late Jules Irving, who was co-director at New York's Lincoln Center Repertory Theater. Then there was her first husband, Steven Spielberg, and now her romance with Brazilian director Bruno Barreto, with whom she first worked in 1990's 'A Show of Force.' 'When Bruno and I started working together, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven!' Irving told Parade magazine. 'Here was this American actress whom he admired who was just like putty in his hands, because as an actress I love giving directors what they want.' Barreto was behind the camera again for Irving's newest movie, 'Carried Away,' in which she and co-star Dennis Hopper played a sex scene described as 'unusually frank even by Hollywood standards.' 'It was the longest night of my life,' Irving said of filming the scene. 'It wasn't just getting naked. It was a woman getting naked beyond nakedness.' She said she had to overcome self-consciousness about being nude in front of 30 crew members as well as creating the illusion of making love with another man while her real-life lover hovered and watched every move. She said Barreto was unfazed. 'You wouldn't believe what was cut,' Irving said. 'Sometimes I couldn't believe what he was asking me to do. '
FOR RACIAL JUSTICE: Actress Susan Sarandon has given a $10,000 fee she earned for speaking at Loyola University in Chicago to the William Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, a memorial to the New York attorney who worked in the field of constitutional rights until his death last September. Sarandon recently shared the podium at Loyola with Roman Catholic Sister Helen Prejean, whom the actress portrays in the movie 'Dead Man Walking.' Sarandon said the Kunstler fund will be used to hire attorneys to work on cases involving racial justice and to create an educational progam called 'Put the Spotlight on Racism.' 'Racism is the underlying disease weakening this country,' Sarandon said, adding that she had worked for New York's Center for Constitutional Rights, where the Kunstler fund is based, for the last 25 years. 'It seemed like a natural place to put the fee,' she said.
MORE NICHOLS AND MAY: Producer Julian Schlossberg is working on a PBS special for American Masters featuring the early sketches of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. The show, to air May 22, has big stars discussing the influence of Nichols and May on American comedy, a timely topic since the team is responsible for 'The Birdcage,' which is No. 1 at the box office. Nichols directed the film, which stars Robin William and Nathan Lane, and May wrote the script based on a French novel turned film, 'La Cage aux Folles.'
BUSY GOULET: When Robert Goulet finishes a seven-week stint in the Broadway hit farce 'Moon Over Buffalo,' filling in for vacationing Philp Bosco, he will return to his main career interest, American musicals. He begins rehearsals in July for a revival of 'Man of La Mancha,' in which he plans to tour for a year. After that he will begin work on 'Henry's Wives,' a musical written for him by Leslie Bricusse based on the life and many loves of Henry VIII. Goulet hopes to bring the show to Broadway in late 1997. In between there are concert dates, a new record album in the works, and small parts in movies similar to the talk show character he did in 'Mr. Wrong.' Goulet has not worked on Broadway since 1992, when he was clobbered by critics for his King Arthur in a revival of 'Camelot,' the show that made him famous as Sir Lancelot in 1968.
FOOTNOTES: Film composer and former Boston Pops conductor John Williams debuted his official centennial Olympics theme music this week at a recording session at the Watford Coliseum in Watford, England. The music will be performed at the Olympic Games opening ceremonies in Atlanta July 19....Actor Pierce Brosnan has taken time off from filming 'Mars Attacks!' to make a public service movie spot titled 'Save the Dolphins,' produced by his girlfriend, Keely Shaye-Smith. The spot will be shown in theaters in April and May....American toymaker Hasbro is bringing out a line of supermodel dolls that will look like Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Karen Muldur. For each doll sold, a donation will be made to the American Red Cross, the models told a news conference in Paris....'Her Own Rules,' the last of the novels written by Barbara Taylor Bradford under her three-book $30 million contract with HarperCollins, will be published May 3.
