Beat memorabilia sold to help poet's publisher

Beat memorabilia soldto help poet's publisher
SAN FRANCISCO -- An auction of first-edition books, handwritten manuscripts and letters by Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski raised $225,000 to benefit a publisher left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans resident Edwin Blair, 69, said last week that he reluctantly agreed to auction the items he had been collecting for 40 years as a way to help his friends, Gypsy Lou Webb and her husband, Jon, who published some of Bukowski's earliest works.
One of the auction's rarest items, an autographed 1960 first pressing of Bukowski's "Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail," sold for $9,775, the highest bid of the day.
Other items that drew aggressive bidding included a first-edition pressing of Ginsberg's "Howl" inscribed by the author, which fetched $7,475; two typed letters from Bukowski that went for $4,025; and a 1945 photo of Hal Chase, Kerouac, Ginsberg and William Burroughs together at Columbia University that sold for $7,745.
iBullock to star in filmon 'Peyton Place' author
NEW YORK -- Sandra Bullock has agreed to star in a film about "Peyton Place" author Grace Metalious, whose million-selling novel scandalized the nation 50 years ago and eventually ruined the author's life.
Bullock is co-producing with Carol Baum, whose films include "Fly Away Home" and the remake of "Father of the Bride." Naomi Foner, whose credits include "Running on Empty" and "Bee Season," is writing the screenplay.
"Grace Metalious was a housewife with three kids running around with runny noses, living in a town [Gilmanton, N.H.] where she didn't belong, didn't fit in," Baum told The Associated Press in a recent phone interview. "Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anybody, she was writing the sexiest novel in history, in her kitchen."
Metalious' novel of sex and scandal in a small New England town, based partly on Gilmanton, was published in the fall of 1956. Although it was banned in several cities, "Peyton Place" became one of the best-selling novels in history and led to a popular movie starring Lana Turner and Hope Lange.
But Metalious never recovered from her sudden notoriety. Her marriage fell apart, her children were harassed and the author herself received threatening calls and letters. She became a heavy drinker and died of cirrhosis in 1964, at 39.
Comedian Ricklessigns on at Stardust
LAS VEGAS -- Marking his 47th straight year as a Las Vegas headliner, Don Rickles has signed on to sling insults for three more engagements at the soon-to-be-demolished Stardust Resort & amp; Casino.
The 79-year-old Rickles will perform later this month at the 52-year-old casino, which is slated for closure this year to make room for a $4 billion casino-hotel complex.
Rickles said he was happy to be part of Las Vegas' new era of high-rises and megaresorts.
"The transformation has been unbelievable. When I started here, I worked in a place where the Sky Room was on the second floor," he said last week.
Rickles will play March 30-April 1 at the 900-seat Stardust Theater, with other engagements in May and September. It will be his sixth year at the Stardust. He made his Las Vegas debut in 1959 at the Sahara Hotel and Casino.
Besides his standup routines, Rickles is an actor with film credits that include roles in "Run Silent Run Deep," "The Rat Race," "Kelly's Heroes" and "Casino."
Today's birthdays
Former astronaut Wally Schirra is 83. Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 70. Singer Al Jarreau is 66. Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 60. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 58. Actor Jon Provost ("Lassie") is 56. Actor Jerry Levine is 49. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 46. Former baseball player Darryl Strawberry is 44. Actor Aaron Eckhart is 38. Actor Samm Levine is 24.