Harrison Held’s SceneAroundTown… Hollywood! July 2026
Photos courtesy Samantha Harper Macy, Madonna/Lourdes, Martin Rayala, Lead with Love/Penner PR , The Natalie Wood Estate, Lisabeth Shatner/ Instagram/Facebook
Hi Friends… Lots to report … The annual “Lead with Love: Going the Distance ” telethon taped at KTLA 5 was another big success hosted by Eric McCormack, Steven Weber, Jessica Holmes and Loni Love…he star studded lineup featuring Noah Wyle, Amy Poehler, Regina King, Barbara Eden, Amy Yasbeck, Jason Ritter, Bryan Cranston, Morgan Fairchild, Kym Whitley, Clay Aiken and many more raised a lot of dough to make a lot of food… Lead with Love created by Richard Ayoub aims to raise critical funds for Project Angel Food which prepares wholesome medically tailored meals delivered to people living with serious illnesses throughout Los Angeles county. Well Done!
Paris Hilton stands up for victims of abuse… Provo Canyon School is closed… both campuses. “Today for the very first time in a long time I feel something I never thought I would… Peace”.
Lots of Short Takes… Lee Newman and his lovely wife singer Christina Rich enjoyed incomparable Herb Alpert at the Hollywood Bowl… The Legendary William Shatner 95 has slimmed down a lot and looks great and is very healthy… Beam me up to your Diet Guru Captain Kirk ..Lovely actress/ filmmaker Sophia Koikas attended Cinemagic in Santa Monica where she met Irish filmmaker Orlan Toland… She said it was a great inspiring event …..
Madonna’s newest album Confessions 2 is a huge success… The global rollout has been phenomenal… The songs, videos and vibe are great and daughter Lourdes Leon duets with her on a song called The Test which they describe as a very healing experience… In October a new book Madonna: Into the Groove by former Rolling Stone writer Tomas Mier and celebrated rock and roll photographer Ken Regan comes out following her rise to fame. Madonna ‘s new album historically debuted at #1 on Billboard. “I’m still pinching myself” she said and she also made history over the weekend as the first entertainer to open the FIFA World Cup 2026 first ever half time show curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The half time show raised millions of dollars for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.
The Natalie Wood exhibit at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton is a must see for fans of the late great legendary actress… til August 21. Denise Richards and Casper Van Dien had a great reunion on location for Damien Lee’s Key to Freedom in Ontario Canada… They first starred together in the hit Starship Troopers 29 years ago .. Pop Queen Paula Abdul is forever our girl…. Hard to believe the pop diva turned 64 June 19! She looks youthful and terrific! Man about Town Linguini Xiang …. met up with Variety ‘s co editor in Chief Ramin Setoodeh at the 68th Southern California Journalism Awards held at the historic Biltmore Hotel in DTLA.
You know you’re getting older when you can’t wait to get into bed and watch The Golden Girls at 10pm on meTV haha… A great cast and great writing… Years ago I met Bea Arthur’s Maude co-star Bill Macy and his lovely wife actress/writer Samantha Harper Macy at the 40th anniversary screening of The Late Show… Bill joined Lily Tomlin for a Q&A and at 96 was the life of the party… After his sad passing I kept in touch with Samantha – besides being a great actress and teacher she is also a terrific writer … her memoir Naked in Oh! Calcutta! is fascinating and her novel The Two Sisters Cafe co authored with Elana Yates Eulo is magical… It takes place in the southern little town of Willow Creek and is a fascinating read…. attention studio executives… in my humble opinion both would make great television series or movies.
It’s goodbye for now to the beautiful painting “Leaving Earth” which has been on exhibit at the Hollywood Heritage Museum in Hollywood. It was commissioned by film icon Jean Harlow ‘s mother after her untimely passing and is a beautiful piece of art. The museum will be closed until fall for renovations…
Another great new book is “Comedy is a Grim Business…The Making of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World” by James Curtis. The movie was directed by Stanley Kramer and the legendary director/producer’s widow Karen and daughter Kat recently hosted a sold out 62nd anniversary screening of the comedy classic at the Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Kat is seen with filmmaker friend Sam Irvin holding the book. Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominated Karen Sharpe Kramer will be at The Hollywood Show in October.
Congratulations to the happy honeymooners .. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce… $26 million in charitable donations is incredible. The wedding at MSG was beautiful and I was honored to attend (not). But I will happily attend their renewal of vows.
Wishing you all a great week and see you next month with more SceneAoundTown!
Cheers! HH