As we near the opening of "Summer Of Sam" and all those inevitable Son Of Sam newpaper articles, it's fitting that I revisit another infamous tabloid killer, or rather, killers: the Menendez brothers. Seems one of the duo, Erik, has gotten married to a pen-pal, a widow named Tammy with two kids. (Hopefully, they're not two vengeful little boys!) They were hitched during visiting hours a couple weeks ago. The bride wore white, the groom stripes. In other Menendez news, Erik's murdered father Jose was of course the infamous record executive who orchestrated the rise and fall of Menudo, which eventually gave us the cultural rut known as Ricky Martin. (Yes, readers, I'm using his real name again. He's got such bad skin that I felt sorry calling him names!) And, in a delirious case of non-news, Martin has come out (not literally) and said that he was certainly not molested by the malfated Menendez, and in fact had only met the man once. Talk about making a huge leap onto a publicity bandwagon! I felt like asking, "Ricky, what did you have to do with the situation in Kosovo? Did you help Amy Fisher orchestrate the shooting of Joey Buttafucco's wife? Do you know the secret of The Crying Game?"

Vrooom!

Just in case you thought Ms. Ashley Judd was getting too glamorous for her country-music family, I have word that her new beau is Scottish racecar driver Dario Franchitti. He's foreign so that makes him acceptable to her Hollywood friends, and he's a racecar driver, which endears him to simple folk like mom Naomi and sis Wynonna. They've actually been dating for several months but have only recently decided to make their pairing public, possibly in time for yet another Judds reunion.

Public Bathroom Star Sighting Of The Week

The bathroom star encounters continue. As if the recent run of Liam Neeson/Leonardo DiCaprio/Scott Wolf urinal viewings wasn't enough, here's one of my very own. During the intermission of the latest Shakespeare In The Park production "Taming Of The Shrew" with Erica Alexander and Allison Janney, I rushed to the icky, overcrowded bathroom. Who should pop out of a stall -- a stall, yes; ergo, no, er, further sighting -- but "Scream" and "Sphere" star Liev Schrieber, who hastily fled. Schrieber's presense is not too surprising, as he appeared in The Public's version of "Macbeth" last year and is gearing up to take the lead in "Hamlet" next year. Forsooth, yon Liev, thou art totally out of control.

Staged Spottings

Speaking of fabulous ones on the New York stage, I also caught Calista Flockhart -- previewed by Breakup Girl Herself in my previous column -- in her reentry into off-Broadway theater: a dark drama called "Bash" written by Neil LaBute (or, as BG says, "Neil LaBrute), who's brought us such superdepressing film work as "In The Company Of Men" and "Your Friends And Neighbors" (which Breakup Girl HATED). I've always thought Cal was a superb stage actress -- far underused on television -- and her performance in "Bash" only confirms this; in one act she plays a crazy teenage mom who goes to great lengths to get back at the high school teacher who impregnated her, and in the other, she's the clueless sweetheart of a blood-thirsty gay basher! Quite uplifting and inspirational, she! And how did she look, you might ask? She sits for her entire first act with a single beam of light on her face, which is boldly unflattering but dramatic, and who can hate that? She's wearing a gorgeous gown in the second act, and her bony little frame looks to have grown some musculature. Also known as .... pretty darn healthy.

More weird theater sightings: the kooky off-Broadway performance piece "De La Guarda" has had more seen more celebrities than the Academy Awards, possibly because the fun, club-like atmosphere involves random audience members being caught by people swinging on bungee cords and swung around. Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio did it months ago; last week Wesley Snipes took a swing around the theater as Jenna Elfman whooped and hollered from below. Speaking of Cammie, over at the drag rockfest "Hedwig And The Angry Inch," she and her boy Jared Leto (<swoon!> -- BG) were seen at a performance last week loving every move the transexual made, according to my spy.

Speaking of admiring transexuals, Gay Pride slammed into New York like a lavender Mack Truck, and along the way I spotted a few curious celebrity oddities, including Queen Latifah presiding over at the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade (Breakup Girl swam in the ocean and tossed fruit around with her! It's a long story.), and Whitney Houston performing and actually hitting some of hernotes at the Gay Pride fireworks display.

Blind Item

A certain sexy hyphenate sensation-of-the-moment has been treating her management company so badly that last week they finally dropped the fiery star. Seems she's not been showing up to press conferences and interviews, angering the very journalists who kissed her ass just two or three months ago, forcing her management to dump this lazy luminary despite her ascent up the A-list. "She was pissing everybody off," says my source. Interestingly, she has recently been attached to several high profile film projects, buoyed by her performance in an Oscar-nominated film last year. She better shapeup if she expect her career to last into the next millenium. Fads fade, dear, and so might you....

My Own Private Celebrity

Thank you all for your letters regarding your own personal heartthrob/celeb -- that mostly unknown bit part player or unappreciated supporting actor who makes your own "It List," fie on Entertainment Weekly. To review, I raved about a little-known actor named Daniel London, who brightened an otherwise unwatchable bomb known as "Patch Adams," to which I wondered if any of you had ever been saved by an unknown. To which I received responses such as

• "I saw a play at Lincoln Center last year called 'Ah Wilderness!' and would have slept right through it if it weren't for this beautiful young actor named Sam Trammell who was completely transfixing to me. He was a great actor and really handsome. I had never seen him in anything else until one day I caught him on some TV show in some unflattering role. I even wrote him a fan letter!" I actually saw Sam in that very production and you're right. Creamy as Jiffy on a hot summer day, baby!
• "I have a raging river of crush for Andrew Bryniarski, who tends to play the big dumb henchman in less-than-popular films such as 'Hudson Hawk' and 'Street Fighter.' His cheekbones, not to mention BROAD shoulders, make me melt. But he's rarely mentioned or chronicled anywhere. Am I completely alone in my adoration? If so -- good. Maybe I'd actually have a chance." If you do happen to see him, don't say you "love Hudson Hawk" because he'll know you're lying and you'll lose him forever.

Some responses were for actors I had heard of but had previously paid no heed to.

• "I have a crush on fame-challenged writer-director-actor named Eric Shaeffer. He's only had one starring role, and it was the charming little dud called 'If Lucy Fell.' He's so self-depreciating and sweet, and he wears a dress in the movie. Yum! Adorable." Eric's since been in a couple other low-budget flops, including "Fall" and "Gunshy," but, oh watchful reader, don't give up hope. One supporting role in some ridiculous action picture, and this boy's People Magazine material.

The X-Files has apparently inspired a number of readers to look for a diamond in the rough. My favorite (only because I loved the episode):

• "It was the one where Scully is on assignment alone in Philadelphia and she meets a guy who just got a tattoo who talks to him in a homicidal manner (in the voice of Jodie Foster no less...). Anyway, I was really impressed with this guy, particularly in a scene where he takes his shirt off." I'm glad you're focusing on his talents, love. "I missed his name on the credits and had to search through numerous X-Files websites to find his name. This fine gent's name is Rodney Rowland. I'd like to see him in something else. If\ he's good enough for Scully he's good enough for me (despite the murderous tattoo)." I can assure you, if he made a memorable X-Files appearance, he probably already has a really nerdy fansite!

Several of you wrote in about crushes on unknowns who eventually made it big, such as this one, yet another memorable X-phile:

• "I'm proud to say that I was into Giovanni Ribisi far before anyone even knew who he was! He was an in an X-Files show where he played a hick boy who could shoot lightning from his hands because of a freak accident. I thought he was so great, and completely freaked when I went to see "Saving Private Ryan" and there he was." [Us too! Us too! Chris and I used to call him Lighting Boy! -- BG] Same goes for the reader who wrote about a certain long-haired redheaded hippie who appeared on an early episode, only to get a trim and emerge as the Seth Green that we all know and lust. (Note to Breakup Girl: Darling, it appears that I share the same demographic as a few trillion female X-Files watchers. Should we alert our advertisers?)

Then there's the ultimate lovable un-star of the 80s, who we all remember from various films but did not emerge as a megastar until much later in his career.

• "You've reminded me of the beginning of my quasi-obsession with John Cusack. Back in my teenage years, while watching every John Hughes film (as we were all wont to do back then), I had my first glimpse of those eyes, those lips, that sense of humor in the Molly Ringwald vehicle 'Sixteen Candles.' " Though John was the star of such classics as "One Crazy Summer" and "Better Off Dead" (a Gregoire and BG fave), he achieved his popularity so informally that he can truly be called the biggest Non-Star of the 80s. Seems the tactic worked, because he's still around and Molly Ringwald is my scrubwoman! (Whom recent sightings have placed at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Shopping, not working, at least.)

Until the world fully recognizes the talents of Andrew Bryniarski,
Gregoire

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