Category Archives: Hollywood

The LA Times

As a member of the Academy, I was recently featured in the LA Times “Unmasking The Academy” article, with my profile being featured next to such big names as Madonna and Haley Joel Osment. Read what they had to say about me below! And don’t forget about my book signing and release party tomorrow! Details and address [...]

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Pubic Relations Nightmares – What were they thinking?

On a day such as today with two hideously pathetic public relations nightmare stories hitting the fan it just amazes me that people don’t understand the importance of hiring good public relations specialists. First, let’s take the saddest news. Joe Paterno, legend 46-year head coach of Penn State is fired because the advice he received from [...]

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LA, Howard Bingham, and more

This weekend I traveled yet again to Lost Angeles – this time to tape an interview for my book video which will be up on YouTube soon and of course may also be viewed on my web page. I could have taped the interview locally but my nephew is an Emmy-winning television sports producer and [...]

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Andy Borowitz and the Hollywood Machine

I rarely make the effort these days to go out at night – especially into San Francisco via BART in the rain. But I did exactly that last Tuesday night to hear my favorite ex-Hollywood insider and favorite blogger Andy Borowitz who appeared at the Herbst Theatre as part of the City Arts and Lectures [...]

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The Hollywood Bowl

I visited my old haunts in Hollywood last week.‭ ‬Now I’m back and still in one piece to report that the Los Angeles freeways are as jammed as ever.‭ ‬It took me a mere five hours to drive down Highway‭ ‬5,‭ ‬then two more to get across town. I was invited to stay with old [...]

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Real Royalty Visits Tinseltown

God help the Hollywood publicist to the so-called worldwide “stars” this weekend! Today the real Royal Couple will touch down in Tinseltown for their short two day working visit. The Royal Couple will be spending two nights at the British Embassy located in my old “hood” of Hancock Park. However, you won’t be seeing any [...]

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Arnolds Back

It was no surprise to me that Arnold Schwarzenegger finally managed to get caught in a big PR nightmare scandal. His daily behavior has always been a nightmare of epic proportions. When he ran for Governator the first time, reporters from all over the globe called me because they had heard through the proverbial Hollywood [...]

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Betty White

Betty White is my idol. Period. I met the extraordinary lady in 1988 when she called me to offer her help publicizing a film Universal was about to release called Gorillas In The Mist. It is about the life of Dian Fossey, the scientist who traveled to Rwanda to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, finally [...]

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Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise once told me that to work well with him I needed to study Scientology. He wanted me to take an introductory class at their Los Angeles Center. Pat Kingsley, the most renowned Hollywood publicist at the time, who had just signed the Cruise account, would take the class with me. I was outraged [...]

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Liz Taylor

One of the very first assignments I was given as a fledgling television field reporter was to interview eight-time Academy-Award-winning costume designer, Edith Head. This was the woman who was responsible for Audrey Hepburnʼs look in Sabrina, Grace Kelly’s style in Rear Window, and so many more incredible beauties who wound up looking even more [...]

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    SF Chronicle Article

    The SF Chronicle's On The Town section recently featured an article about Wild Thymes and my favorite spots to hangout around town: She looks like a mild-mannered suburban caterer, but Sally Van Slyke, founder of Wild Thyme Catering and Event Management in Walnut Creek, has a storied past. Or, to be more accurate, many stories in her past. Van Slyke, a onetime Los Angeles TV anchorwoman, jumped into the film industry and during a 15-year career, rose to the rank of senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Universal Pictures in the 1980s. Working with film stars was not as glitzy or fun as it might appear to be from the outside, and she gives readers a view of life on the inside - placating studio heads and hot-tempered celebrities - in her new tell-all, "Wild Thymes: Catering to the Egos of the Hollywood Elite" (Camino Diablo Press, 181 pages). Read more … [Read More...]