LIZA MINNELLI AT THE OSCARS

Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli brought the chaotic 2022 Oscars to a close last month when they appeared together to present the award for Best Picture to “CODA.”

Not long after the March 27 ceremony was thrown into disarray when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage, Gaga and Minnelli’s joint appearance drew praise from entertainment outlets. Minnelli was greeted with a standing ovation.

But a collaborator and friend now claims the “Cabaret” star was “very disappointed” by the experience.

“She was sabotaged,” singer Michael Feinstein said in an appearance on SirusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” that aired Tuesday.

“That’s a terrible word to use, but she only agreed to appear on the Oscars if she would be in a director’s chair, because she’s been having back trouble. She said, ‘I don’t want people to see me limping out there.’ She said, ‘You know, I want to look good. I don’t want people to worry about me.’”

Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli brought the chaotic 2022 Oscars to a close last month when they appeared together to present the award for Best Picture to “CODA.”

Not long after the March 27 ceremony was thrown into disarray when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage, Gaga and Minnelli’s joint appearance drew praise from entertainment outlets. Minnelli was greeted with a standing ovation.

But a collaborator and friend now claims the “Cabaret” star was “very disappointed” by the experience.

“She was sabotaged,” singer Michael Feinstein said in an appearance on SirusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” that aired Tuesday.

“That’s a terrible word to use, but she only agreed to appear on the Oscars if she would be in a director’s chair, because she’s been having back trouble. She said, ‘I don’t want people to see me limping out there.’ She said, ‘You know, I want to look good. I don’t want people to worry about me.’”

Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli at the 2022 Academy Awards in March. (Photo: Neilson Barnard via Getty Images)

Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli at the 2022 Academy Awards in March. (Photo: Neilson Barnard via Getty Images)

Plans for the setup changed at the last minute, Feinstein said, in part because organizers had been “shaken up” by Smith’s actions earlier that night. According to the singer, a stage manager informed Minnelli she’d be seated in a wheelchair instead of in a director’s chair just minutes before she was due to appear onstage.

“She was nervous, and it made her look like she was out of it,” he said. “Can you imagine being suddenly forced to be seen by millions of people the way you don’t want to be seen? That’s what happened to her.”

Minnelli’s representative did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for confirmation of Feinstein’s account.

A representative for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declined to comment on his remarks.

A five-time Grammy nominee, Feinstein has performed alongside Minnelli on numerous occasions. Earlier this year, the pair recorded the jazz standard “Embraceable You” as a duet for Feinstein’s latest album, “Gershwin Country.”

Last month, Minnelli’s former publicist Scott Gorenstein told People that Gaga had personally requested that Minnelli be her Oscars night co-presenter. The two stars have enjoyed a friendly relationship for about a decade. In 2011, Gaga invited Minnelli to attend one of her concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden, later citing her as a personal inspiration during the show...

THE BOX OFFICE STARS: 1944

 Even with World War II raging on, America still loved going to the movies. It was a form of escape for an otherwise bleak world. In 1944, Bing Crosby was crowned king of the box office - a title he would hold for the next 5 years! Here are the top box office stars of 1944...

TOP BOX OFFICE STARS - 1944

1. Bing Crosby
2. Gary Cooper
3. Bob Hope
4. Betty Grable
5. Spencer Tracy
6. Greer Garson
7. Humphrey Bogart
8. Abbott & Costello
9. Cary Grant
10. Bette Davis

GROUCHO MARX AND ELDER ABUSE

Groucho Marx is one of the greates comic minds of all time. Everything Julius Henry Marx, better known as Groucho, was comic gold. With his zany brothers Harpo, Chico, and sometimes Zeppo, he conquered American vaudeville, the Broadway stage, motion pictures, radio and television. (There was a fifth brother, Gummo, who was not a performer preferring, instead, to earn his daily bread in the dress business and, after Zeppo opened a lucrative talent agency in Hollywood, representing movie stars for 10 percent of their earnings).

By the time Groucho was an old man, however, he experienced significant problems in his daily activities, medical decision-making and the management of his estate. He suffered from elements of dementia, a heart attack and congestive heart failure, falls resulting in a broken hip, and after that hip was repaired, another fall and broken hip, urinary tract infections, strokes and hypertension.

The legal battles over Groucho’s money and possessions carried on long after he died.

Groucho died over 44 years ago, on Aug. 19, 1977, at age 86 of pneumonia, which is known as “the old man’s friend.” The turmoil of his last few years are all too familiar to adult children everywhere who are concerned with the welfare of their elderly parents and other relatives.

Groucho’s “girlfriend” and consort, Erin Fleming, was accused of elder abuse and, to make matters worse, his relationships with his son Arthur and daughter Miriam (children from his first marriage, to Ruth Johnson, a dancer in the Marx Brothers’ vaudeville act) were strained for various reasons. Arthur wrote several works based on life in the Marx family; at one point, Groucho threatened to sue his son over his depiction in one of Arthur’s memoirs.

Groucho also had a complicated relationship with Melinda, his third daughter from his second marriage to Kay Mavis Gorcey. Melinda often performed on her father’s television show, “You Bet Your Life,” and famously inspired a Groucho quip when he was told that she was forbidden from swimming in a country club pool because the family was Jewish. Groucho wrote the country club president, between puffs of his famous cigar: “She’s only half Jewish. How about if she only goes in up to her waist?”

After he divorced Eden Hartford — his third wife who was about 40 years younger than him — in 1969, Groucho met Erin Fleming in 1971. She played some minor roles in films, including Woody Allen’s “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask” (1972).

Her most famous role, however, was as Groucho’s secretary-manager and she was responsible for his popular comeback in the early 1970s. He played various colleges and eventually Carnegie Hall, a performance that resulted in the hit album, “An Evening With Groucho” (1972). That same year, there were revivals of his films at movie houses and libraries across the nation.

The problem was that many of Groucho’s friends felt Fleming was pushing him too hard to perform, evidenced by his advanced age and an inability to remember all of his lines. On the other hand, it was Fleming who waged a successful campaign for Groucho and his brothers to receive a special Academy Award in 1974. In his acceptance speech, after thanking Harpo and Chico, the actress Margaret Dumont, his long suffering foil who never understood his jokes, and his mother, Minnie, “because without her we never would have been anything,” Groucho thanked “Erin Fleming, who makes my life worth living and who understands all my jokes.”

That same year, Fleming was appointed his guardian and temporary conservator of an estate worth between $2 million and $4 million. In 1975, Groucho even tried to adopt her, until a psychologist declared he was not mentally competent to do so.

Groucho’s son, Arthur, took Fleming to court and accused her of having a harmful and destructive influence on his father, including threatening his well-being and being abusive. Arthur further alleged that Fleming pushed Groucho to perform, whether he was able or not, for her own financial gain. Groucho’s nurses claimed Erin overdosed the comedian on tranquilizers and called him nasty names like “pig” and “crazy old man.” Accoridng to court testimony, There were other occasions when Fleming reportedly walked about Groucho’s home naked to taunt him. Melinda Marx, too, testified that Fleming terrorized her father, yelled at him, and tried to alienate him from his family. Others, such as the comedian George Burns and actor Carroll O’Connor, disagreed and felt that her presence made an elderly and ill Groucho want to live.

During Groucho’s final days, a judge appointed the 72-year-old Nat Perrin, a close pal of Groucho’s and who co-wrote the Marx Brothers’ most anarchically funny 1933 film, “Duck Soup,” as temporary conservator of Groucho’s well-being and estate. Later, his 27-year-old grandson, Andrew, was named permanent conservator.

The legal battles over Groucho’s money and possessions carried on long after he died and into the early 1980s. Although he left most of his estate to his three children, Groucho left administrative control of his name, image and movie rights to Fleming. This, too, was a source of legal contretemps. Not only were such rights valuable, but they also carried the potential to encroach upon the income of the heirs to Chico and Harpo’s estates. The lawsuits were ultimately resolved in favor of Groucho’s children. A judge ordered Fleming to pay $472,000, which she bilked from Groucho’s bank accounts while she worked for him. Fleming spent much of the 1990s in and out of mental health facilities, suffering from a variety of psychiatric illnesses, and was often homeless. She died by suicide in 2003 at the age of 61.

Back in the late 1970s, the term “elder abuse” had not even been coined. Even though it clearly existed, it was rarely recognized until it was too late. Today, public health agencies, including the World Health Organization, have declared elder abuse to be a growing problem around the world and have detailed a long list of harmful activities, including physical, sexual, emotional and psychological forms of abuse and neglect, as well as the theft or withholding of financial assets needed to survive...

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RIP: GILBERT GOTTFRIED

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died at age 67, according to his family.

"We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness," his family wrote in a statement shared to his Twitter account.

Gottfried died at 2:35 p.m. ET on Tuesday from Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II, according to Glenn Schwartz, his longtime friend and publicist.

Gottfried, who has been performing stand-up comedy for over 50 years, became known as "the comedian's comedian" "because his live performances put aside political correctness while he delivers jokes that know no boundaries," his representative said in a statement.

His comedic career led to roles in films including "Beverly Hills Cop II," "Problem Child," "Look Who's Talking II" and "The Aristocrats." He was also the voice of the wise cracking parrot Iago in Disney's iconic animated film "Aladdin."

More recently, in 2017, he was the subject of the documentary "Gilbert," about his life. He also co-hosted a podcast, "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast!", where he and Frank Santopadre interviewed Hollywood icons and legends.

His family described him as "the most iconic voice in comedy" as well as a "wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children."


"Although today is a sad day for us all, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert's honor," his family wrote.

Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, daughter Lily, 14, son Max, 12, sister Karen and nephew Graham..

THE LAST DAYS OF TONY MARTIN JR.

Tony Martin Jr. was driving north on the I-5 expressway on October 31, 2003, presumable on his way home. He had just passed the Templin Highway interchange, and was just north of it when he lost control of his car. His car veered towards the guardrail, but the section that he would have hit had been removed after being destroyed a week earlier by a previous accident. His car ran off the embankment and reportedly rolled several times, injuring Tony Martin Jr. very severely. He suffered from severe brain injuries, a broken pelvis, broken knee, and serious cranial fractures. He spent 5 weeks in a coma before awakening.

His mental level was found to have been reduced to that of a 5 year-old child. Liv Lindeland Martin sued the State of California in 2006, for the missing guardrail. The State of California's position was that there had not been time to repair the guardrail in the 6 days since it's original damage and removal, because at that same time, all available CalTrans personnel were occupied with forest fire and wildfire control on the expressways in other areas, that even if the guardrail would have been in place, it would not have saved him from the injuries, and that the original accident was Tony Martin Jr.s' fault for losing control of his car, which was NOT caused by any road condition or highway problem.

The State of California lost their case, and Liv Lindeland Martin was awarded $893,000 in direct damages, and future damages for the perpetual around-the-clock care of Tony Martin Jr. of $9,200.000.00. Tony Martin Jr. died on April 10th, 2011. Tony Martin Sr. died July 27th, 2012. Liv Lindeland Martin settled the Martin estate, and moved back to her native Norway in late 2012...

HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY: NATALIE WOOD

 Natalie Wood died way too young and way too tragically. Her beauty never faltered in all her years in Holywood. Here are a few examples of that beauty...

HEALTHWATCH: BRUCE WILLIS

Bruce Willis is suffering from a medical condition that is affecting his cognitive abilities and will be taking a break from acting, his family shared Wednesday.

In a post on his daughter Rumer’s verified Instagram account, the caption on a photo of the “Die Hard” actor read: “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities.”

“As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,” the caption continued. “This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. “

According to the Mayo Clinic, aphasia is “a condition that robs you of the ability to communicate” and can be caused by a stroke, head injury, a brain tumor or a disease.

The caption went on to read that the family is “moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.”

“As Bruce always says, “Live it up” and together we plan to do just that,” it concluded, along with the names of his former wife, Demi Moore, who also shared the post, their daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah, as well as his current wife, Emma, and their daughters Mabel and Evelyn...