STAYING UP LATE
Craig Ferguson will make his debut as new host of CBS' Late Late Show on Monday with David Duchonvy as his inaugural guest. Other first-week guests include Jason Alexander, Jon Cryer and Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon.
New "Law" Will Go On Sans Orbach
The show will go on.
That's the word from producers of NBC's Law & Order: Trial by Jury after the death of star Jerry Orbach, who played wisecracking NYPD Detective Lennie Briscoe on the new cops-and-lawyers drama.
Orbach, 69, died Tuesday at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center after battling prostate cancer since last spring.
His illness wasn't disclosed until just this month, however, when his manager, Robert Malcolm, told the New York Daily News that the actor had been receiving treatment for the disease and that his prognosis was good.
Upon news of his passing Wednesday, a publicist for Trial by Jury confirmed that NBC would continue production on the series and will air episodes featuring Orbach. The actor appeared in three of the six episodes shot so far. The network has not announced an air date for the new show, but it is expected to debut in early 2005, most likely in late February or March.
The fourth edition of the Law & Order franchise, Trial by Jury costars Bebe Neuwirth, former Senator Fred Thompson (reprising his L&O role of D.A. Arthur Branch), Amy Carlson and Kirk Acevedo, and devotes many its ripped-from-the-headlines formula to the inner workings of the Big Apple's judicial system.
L&O mastermind Dick Wolf told the New York Times that Orbach's declining health was the main reason producers retired his tough-talking top cop from active duty on the original series after 12 seasons and transferred him to the new spinoff, where he would appear less frequently as an investigator for the district attorney's office.
Orbach agreed to the switch earlier this year to give him more time to focus on his recovery--the shooting schedule on Trial by Jury called for him to work the beat only two days a week. Wolf tapped Dennis Farina to replace Orbach on the original L&O this season.
NBC says it will soon begin the search for an actor to fill Orbach's slot on the new series.
Meanwhile, friends and former colleagues remembered the late TV star, who, before taking the L&O gig, was known for work on the big screen (Dirty Dancing, Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors) and stage, where he got his start as a song-and-dance man and eventually headlined hit musicals and won a Tony Award.
Chita Rivera, who costarred with him in the original Broadway production of Chicago, in which Orbach created the role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn, considered him one of her best musical partners.
"Jerry's strong spirit will be with me forever," she told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "He was an anchor who brought style, security and razzle-dazzle to our original Chicago company. He was a swell guy, and I'll sure miss him."
Wolf said Orbach's "loss is irreplaceable" and called the actor "a legendary figure of 20th century show business."
Former New York City Mayor Rudi Giuliani also paid tribute to Orbach, hailing him a "friend to all New Yorkers" and a "devoted ambassador of the city."
And S. Epatha Merkerson, who acted alongside Orbach for years on Law & Order told USA Today, said, "He was always such a feisty and strong character and person. It never occurred to me [his cancer] would go this far."
Broadway marquee lights were dimmed for one minute Wednesday night in tribute to Orbach, who was survived by his second wife, Elaine, and two adult sons from his first marriage.
100 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS PARTY
When the first band of revelers gathered in Times Square to welcome in the New Year, there wasn’t even a ball — just firecrackers, homemade noisemakers, and the start of what would become the most famous First Night in the world. Believe it or not, that was 100 years ago. Indeed, what most of us don’t know about New Year’s Eve and Times Square could fill a book — or at least these pages. So here goes: one tidbit for every year we’ve celebrated in that heralded square.
1 Before Times Square, New Yorkers rang in the new year at Trinity Church by shaking tin cans with bricks inside them.
2 The tradition of dropping the ball began in 1906.
3 Until 1995, the ball was lowered manually, by six men and a guy with a stopwatch.
4 One year in the mid-’50s, the ball got stuck halfway down and took a while to untangle. The new year came anyway.
5 A worldwide audience of more than 1 billion watches the ball drop each year.
6 The first ball, made of iron and wood and adorned with 100 25-watt light bulbs, was 5 feet across and 700 pounds.
7 At the time, 25-watt bulbs were considered very high tech.
8 Some 20 to 30 tons of trash are left behind by New Year’scrowds each year.
9 At the first celebration in 1904, Times Tower, at Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, was, at 400 feet high, Manhattan's tallest building.
10 Back then, the subway cost a nickel.
11 Estimates of the 1904 Times Square crowd vary from 100,000 to 200,000.
12 Early revelers used homemade noisemakers and a bottle-shaped horn that sold for 10 cents.
13 In 1920, a 400-pound iron ball replaced the original.
14 When the first automated ball dropped, in 1995, it was two or three seconds late.
15 The Post's headline on Jan. 1, 1996: "First screw-up of 1996" — with a photo of the ball.
16 That day, Jeff Straus — president of Countdown Entertainment, which represents the ball — stopped telling people what he did for a living.
17 Straus spends all year planning the celebration.
18 In 1943 and '44, there was no ball, for fear it could prompt an enemy strike.
19 In 1955, the aluminum ball debuted.
20 The ball had a total of 180 lightbulbs.
21 The ball wasn't always a ball. For five years in the '80s — the height of the "I love NY" campaign — it was an apple.
22 It was the same ball — with a green stem pasted on the top. It turned back into a ball in 1987.
23 This New Year's Eve, ev eryone in Times Square can have a say in how the festivities unfold — thanks to cell-phone text messaging, by voting for their choice of song out of a selection of three. The one with the most votes will be played.
24 The actual symbol of a ball dropping to signal the passage of time dates back to 1833 when a time-ball was installed atop England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
25 Around 150 public time- balls were installed around the world thereafter, but few survive.
26 There have been six different balls since 1906.
27 In 1995, the aluminum ball got upgraded — with 10,000 rhinestones.
28 The current ball was first dropped on Dec. 31, 1999.
29 It's six feet across and some 1,070 pounds.
30 To celebrate the 100th anniversary, 100 "white comet" candles will be lit and will rocket into the sky shortly after 11 p.m.
31 In the late '90s, someone suggested the crowd dance to "YMCA" to entertain themselves. Police said no.
32 In the 1990s, various corporate logos were suggested in place of the ball.
33 They included a giant Bayer Aspirin bottle and a Pepsi can.
34 In "When Harry Met Sally . . ." (1989), a lonely Harry (Billy Crystal) watches Dick Clark emcee the ball drop.
35 These days, Billy Crystal's playing Broadway.
36 Woody Allen's "Radio Days" features a 1944 New Year's Eve party on a Times Square rooftop.
37 Dick Clark was 43 when he made his original New Year's Eve TV show from Times Square in 1972.
38 Clark has nothing on Guy Lombardo, the bandleader who presided over Times Square New Year's Eves from 1929 to 1972.
39 In 1931, the celebration was broadcast via radio around the world.
40 Times Square's most famous billboard — the Camel cigarette sign — was installed in 1941.
41 In 1946, Times Square got its famed Armed Forces Recruiting Station — nicknamed "The Booth."
42 In 1998, "The Booth" got its first bathroom.
43 Public drinking was prohibited at the celebration after Mayor Giuliani took office.
44 New Year's cleanups got easier after that.
45 Mayor Giuliani was the first mayor to officially join the celebration.
46 Contrary to some media reports at the time, Sarah Ferguson did not oversee the dropping of the ball.
47 In 1996, the first guest invited to flip the switch was Oseola McCarty, a poor, Mississippi laundress who donated her entire life savings — $150,000 — to a scholarship fund.
48 Before she flipped the switch, McCarty, 88, spent the night wrapped in a blanket, touring the square in a golf cart.
49 In 2002, Christopher Reeve had his hand on the button that signaled the ball drop.
50 Other honorees included Chinese gymnast Sang Lan (1998) and Muhammad Ali (2000).
51 In 1997, a monstrous Astro- Vision TV screen above 50th Street and Broadway gave crowds a clear view.
52 New Year's Eve '97 also marked the 100th anniversary of the unification of NYC's five boroughs.
53 The estimated revenue from that '97 bash? $57.7 million — including fines for ignoring the ban on drinking.
54 In 1949, a fuse on the roof of Times Tower blew at 10 minutes to midnight, and the side of the ball facing the crowd went dark. The crew turned off the ball, spun it around, and hoisted it back up. Nobody noticed the back wasn't lit.
55 In the mid-1950s, a windstorm caused the ball to be pushed back up the pole. An electrician leaped for a tag line and held on for dear life.
56 The exterior of the current ball ball is illuminated by 168 crystal bulbs.
57 The interior has 432 light bulbs and 96 high-intensity strobes.
58 The exterior features 90 rotating pyramid mirrors.
59 In 1980, the ball went dark from 11:58 to 11:59 p.m., tohonor hostages in Iran.
60 This year, more than 2,000 pounds of multicolored, fire-proof confetti will drop from six rooftops.
61 Confetti master Treb Heining supervises six volunteers to drop it.
62 The biggest problem? Avoiding clumping and ensuring even distribution.
63 Dick Clark hosted American Bandstand for 32 years before it went off air in 1989.
64 Regis Philbin will step in this year for Clark. The Bronx-born Philbin has never been to Times Square on New Year's.
65 This year's special guest: Secretary of State Colin Powell.
66 A seat for the 2000 Millennium drop was booked 15 years ahead of time. An Armonk, N.Y. man made a reservation at the Marriott Marquis in 1985, before the building was even built.
67 The confetti drop started in the early 1990s.
68 Zoning rules approved in 1987 create a new unit to measure the brightness of lights in Times Square.
69 Manhattan, Kansas, is having its second annual Little Apple New Year's Eve Celebration, for crowd of 5,000.
70 Times Square celebrated its 100th birthday last April 8.
71 Mylar streamers and giant balloons started in the 1990s, when the Times Square Alliance feared the festivities weren't festive enough.
72 Ten to 15 minutes after the ball drops, 38 sanitation workers start picking up every drop of confetti.
73 Beginning in 1996, televised feed of New Year's Eve in Times Square was distributed for free, worldwide.
74 Viewership seems to in crease during crisis.
75 In 1999, for fear of terrorism, there were 8,000 police officers and national guardsmen on duty.
76 The ball is raised at 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
77 It drops 77 feet in 60 seconds.
78 When the weather's good, revelers arrive at 4 p.m.
79 Area in question: 43rd to 47th streets.
80 This year's handouts include 25,000 hats, 150,000 pompoms, 9,000 pair of 2005 glasses, and 10,000 2012 Olympic flags.
81 Times Square isn't even square — it's a bowtie.
82 Before 1904, the area known as Times Square was Longacre Square.
83 After 9/11, Mayor Giuliani encouraged the celebration to continue.
84 The crowd at that first post-9/11 New Year's Eve was the most polite ever.
85 The most raucous revelers were in the early '70s.
86 This year's celebrants can practice the countdown, starting at 7 p.m.
87 All 696 lights and 90 rotating pyramid mirrors on the ball are computer controlled.
88 When the ball isn't being lowered, it rests in the "Ball Vault," feet below 1 Times Square.
89 Stored with it is the glitterball that was retired in '99, plastic rhinestones and all.
90 Covered with a total of 504 Waterford crystal triangles, the current ball cost more than $1 million.
91 From his hospital bed, Dick Clark told his wife, Kari, that he wanted Regis to host.
92 Ashlee Simpson will perform at this year's "Rockin Eve" special on ABC. She promises not to lip-sync.
93 Even the button that will be pushed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Secretary of State Colin Powell is made from Waterford crystal.
94 Recent celebrations generated about 57 tons of litter per night.
95 Some would-be ball- nap pers from New Jersey once tried to get their own ball from Artkraft Strauss.
96More than a million revelers welcomed in the new millennium on Jan. 1, 2000.
97 The sanitation department uses garden rakes.
98 Wet confetti is a lot harder to pick up than dry.
99 Also picked up, says a Sanitation spokesman: "The first kiss, a ton of broken resolutions, and a lot of personal effects."
100 After the millennium celebration, workers found two kilts, still unclaimed.
Jazz Giant Artie Shaw Dies at Age 94
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw, famed for classic recordings of "Begin the Beguine" and "Oh, Lady Be Good" as well as turbulent marriages to movie stars Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, died on Thursday at age 94, his manager Will Curtis said.
Shaw, who died at his Los Angeles-area home, had been in ill health for several years since he fell and broke a hip while walking his dog, Curtis said.
"He was in tremendous pain," he added.
Born Arnold Jacob Arshawsky to a seamstress mother and photographer father in New York City on May 23, 1910, Shaw was about as restless a jazz star as one could find.
He formed and reformed bands, married and divorced eight times, gave up music for more than 30 years and put down his clarinet in 1954 never to play it in public again, quitting at age 44.
Critics dismissed his work at first. But soon they hailed him as a unique voice in swing-era jazz, especially for his beautiful tone and control of his instrument's top register.
The Down Beat critic Howard Mandel once wrote: "In Shaw's lips and hands the clarinet bent as pliantly as a blade of grass; it thrilled him to make glissandi, fast or sad melodies, and wonderful virtuosic turns."
Among his famous songs were a 1938 rendition of "Begin the Beguine," which made him a national star and chief rival to legendary clarinetist Benny Goodman, "Oh, Lady Be Good," "Stardust," "Indian Love Call" and "Frenesi."
He once said the success of "Begin the Beguine" was like an anchor around his neck.
As smooth as his tone was, Shaw was a man at war with himself. A crusty, self-declared perfectionist, Shaw gave up the clarinet because he said could not reach the level of artistry he desired.
In 1981, he ended a long musical intermission by reorganizing a band that bore his name and played his music -- but with another clarinetist, Dick Johnson, leading the orchestra and playing the solos Shaw made famous.
Shaw traveled with the orchestra as a guest host and sometime conductor of the band's signature opening number, "Nightmare."
WHO'S WHO
Shaw's bands in the 1930s and 1940s featured a who's who of jazz greats including Billie Holiday, Buddy Rich, Roy Eldridge and "Hot Lips" Page. At the height of his popularity, he earned $30,000 a week, a huge sum for the Depression Era.
He was one of the few white bandleaders who sought out black talent. Decades after Billie Holiday sang with him, Shaw still marveled at the sound of her voice.
"When she sang something, it came alive. I mean that is what jazz is all about," he once said.
Shaw called himself a difficult man, a view his eight former wives, including novelist Kathleen Winsor and actresses Evelyn Keyes, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner might have agreed with. He recalled once almost erupting when a woman asked if he could play something with a Latin beat.
Of Shaw's string of former wives, manager Curtis recalled, "He said he never had to pay any alimony because they were all as rich as he was."
It was once a national joke to have as many wives as Artie Shaw had.
In a 1985 interview with Reuters, Shaw said he gave up playing when he decided he was aiming for a perfection that could kill him.
"I am compulsive. I sought perfection. I was constantly miserable. I was seeking a constantly receding horizon. So I quit," he said.
"It was like cutting off an arm that had gangrene. I had to cut it off to live. I'd be dead if I didn't stop. The better I got, the higher I aimed. People loved what I did, but I had grown past it. I got to the point where I was walking in my own footsteps," he said in that interview.
Shaw spent his time as a guest on television game shows, writing an autobiography and a novel, traveling and lecturing.
But starting in the 1980s, Shaw returned to the road with his revived band as its host and sometime conductor of its opening number before turning over to Johnson.