Larry King

The crummy economy has put the big hurt on Palm Beach’s philanthropy biz , but someone’s thinking ahead.

Lois Pope, who’s using quite of bit of her deceased husband Generoso Pope’s National Enquirer fortune on a slew of charitable causes, has found a way to sell a few extra tables at her upcoming Life Foundation gala.

She’s offering those who have something to celebrate — say, a wedding, retirement, anniversary or birthday — to do it at her gala, Dec. 4 at Mar-a-Lago.

Some may find it tacky to celebrate anything personal at a fancy dinner with folks they’ve never met before. But, Pope says, it’s a win-win situation. Someone who couldn’t otherwise afford it is able to party in a private club with an open bar, classy food and world-class entertainment … and her charity benefits, too.

Lois Pope

CNN host Larry King is scheduled to emcee and comedian Rich Little will perform at Pope’s 16th annual Lady in Red gala, which raises money for the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., among other causes.

Is it working?

So far, so good. Pope says she sold 10 tables to a wedding party and another three for a 30th wedding anniversary. With tickets going for $500 per, that’s an extra $65,000 for Pope’s foundation.

“There’s going to be a giant cake at the entrance of the ballroom to celebrate,” Pope said. “We’re very excited. And I hope it’s going to give other organizations ideas. With the economy, it’s going to be a tough season.”

In case you’re wondering, the lucky bride on Dec. 4 is Manalapan widow Terry Ebert, who will officially marry Joseph Mendozza at Mar-a-Lago an hour before the ball. Elissa and Dominic Papparone are set to celebrate their 30th.

As for long-ago SoFla radio personality King, Pope said she landed him after he visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C.

“You can’t visit that place and leave without feeling for our veterans,” she said.

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Can’t blame some TV viewers for getting a little confused. Krista Marx, the judge in the recently ended, high-profile Dunbar Village rape trial, and WPBF-Channel 25’s Terri Parker, who covered the trial gavel to gavel, look like they could be sharing the same DNA.

Krista Marx (left) and Terri Parker: Do they share similar DNA?

Three years after former star weatherman Rob Lopicola quit WPTV-Channel 5 to “pursue other opportunities,” things haven’t worked out so well for the muscle-bound forecaster

Work out nut Lopicola (Courtesy Chelo Publishing)

How bad is it?

To find out, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

30 Rock cutie Katrina Bowden just couldn’t stay incognito for too long Sunday in Miami Beach. Page2Live’s paparazzo recognized her as soon as the 20-year-old siren, who plays the sexy secretary of Tina Fey’s character on the NBC sitcom, came out of the ocean near the Fontainebleau Resort. And like her Cerie on the show, it seems Bowden was wearing something that was too small for her (See below). Bowden, who’s here to celebrate her 21st b’day, eventually made it to the Dolphins’ game against the Buffalo Bills later Sunday, dressed appropriately.

Out: Jamie Holmes (Courtesy WPTV)

The talent faucet is still dribbling at WPTV-Channel 5.

Weekend anchorman Jamie Holmes, who was once seen as an heir apparent to star news reader Jim Sackett, quit this week, according to several sources.

Holmes’ last day is supposed to be tomorrow, but insiders are telling me he blew off work today and called in sick Monday and Tuesday.

Holmes, 34, gave his two weeks notice the day after he was dissed in a staff shuffling sparked by the 23-year veteran Chandra Bill announcement that she, too, is leaving.

Holmes was made a full-time street reporter and lost his weekend anchoring desk instead of being picked to replace Bill on the highly-rated 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. newscasts.

In like Flynn: Jay Cashmere (Courtesy WPTV)

That job was handed to boyish Jay Cashmere, whose star hasn’t stopped rising for months.

Neither Holmes nor the NBC affiliate’s news director returned calls.

Holmes wasn’t even out the door officially that the station’s website wiped his name and bio off the on-air talent list Thursday.

Born and raised in Fort Pierce, Holmes arrived at the top-rated local station 11 years ago and was nominated for an Emmy, the highest professional prize for TV news people, in 2003. As a reporter, Holmes was often assigned the newscast’s top story.

Last week, the West Palm Beach station also lost reporter Katie Brace to an Atlanta station.

While WPTV’s ratings are solid, the station and the other two network affiliates here have been hemorrhaging viewers and advertising income. Several budget cuts in the newsroom have led to a general malaise among the troops, according to several insiders.

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Odom

– He speaks! Newlywed (once all the paperwork is signed) Lamar Odom, a former Miami Heat star, finally opened up this morning about his wedding to reality TV’s Khloe Kardashian (Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami) over the weekend. Of course, the first question he was asked on ESPN 710 radio in Los Angeles was about the lovebirds’ monthlong courtship. “I’ve been a rock star . . . since I was 16,” the 29-year-old L.A. Laker said, “and doing it (getting hooked up) so fast, there was a lot of family members who couldn’t even agree. So I can imagine what it would look like to the outside person not involved in my life every day. . . I fell in love and the reason why I knew I was in love was because I knew how I felt when I wasn’t with that person or if she was no longer in my life . . . I never had a problem meeting women. I moved to Miami (in 2003, then he was traded to L.A. in the deal that brought Shaquille O’Neal to Miami) and we all know what that scene is like down there. But I finally met the one that I knew if I lost her, it would hurt the most.” Isn’t that sweet?

Damon on his phony directing gig (Courtesy YouTube)

– It’s Miami Beach’s Matt Damon like you’ve never seen him. One of the few level-headed people in showbiz, Damon flew off at Entourage star Adrian Grenier the other day, in a phony PSA that hit YouTube with a vengeance. The video, available below, is to promote Entourage’s season finale on HBO Sunday. Damon, as in Ocean’s Eleven and The Bourne Identity, pretends to direct Grenier in the filming of a clean water message when Damon starts lobbing four-letter bombs, too many of them to bleep. Particularly funny: Grenier’s co-star, Jeremy Piven, seems to be more embarrassed than anyone. Be advised, the video on the jump is for mature audiences only. Click (Read more…)

They were not exactly beaming, but Odom and Khloe did take the plunge Sunday (Courtesy X17online)

– Hard to believe, but former Miami Heat star Lamar Odom, 29, actually passed a wedding ring onto the chubby finger of 25-year-old mouthy reality TV star Khloe Kardashian Sunday, after a courtship that lasted a whole month! The lovebirds were reportedly haggling over a pre-nupt — then a post-nupt — at the last minute, but they ended up exchanging vows. The wedding, in a private home in Beverly Hills, took place before a roster of guests that read like a reality TV All Stars, including American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, The Osbournes‘ Kelly Osbourne, funny girl Chelsea Handler, The Gastineau Girls‘ Brittny, The Insider’s Lara Spencer and smut peddler Joe Francis. According to MTV.com, the bride wore a strapless gown made by part-time Palm Beacher Vera Wang and had her sisters Kim and Kourtney, who co-star with Khloe on E!’s Keeping up with the Kardashians, as maids of honor. The 6-foot-10 Odom, who played for the Heat in 2003-04, brought his L.A. Lakers teammates, including Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton, along with coach Phil Jackson. Cable’s E! reportedly footed the $1 million bill for the shindig.

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Shue

– It’s that time of year. The social season is upon us, with one of its South Florida kickoffs looming. The 20th Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Classic, a fundraising tennis tourney showcasing several celebrities and pro tennis players, is scheduled for Nov. 7 and 8 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. Among the celebs: Today host Matt Lauer; Olympic hero Bruce Jenner; movie star Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas, Hollow Man); Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade (daily on Fox News); and Natalie Cole. The singer, who’s recovering from a kidney transplant, won’t play tennis but will sing at the Nov. 7 gala at the Boca Raton Resort.

– Retired New York Mets star catcher Gary Carter, who lives in a $1 million home at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, was just spotted leaving Lexus of Palm Beach in West Palm Beach in a shiny new blue IS convertible. I’m told the Hall of Famer and former manager of the St. Lucie Mets spent close to 50 Gs on his new wheels.

The IS convertible

Jenna Bush at Belle Glade Elementary Thursday morning (Brandon Kruse/The Palm Beach Post)

After a good night’s rest at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach, former first daughter Jenna Bush and her Today crew Thursday ended up in the unlikely location of Belle Glade.

Bush, who inhabited the White House for eight years with dad George W. Bush and mom Laura Bush, recently was hired as reporter on Matt Lauer’s NBC morning show.

Her mission on her second week: To interview and narrate a taped reportage on the plight of little Gisselle Gonzalez, a brain cancer-stricken pupil at Belle Glade Elementary School.

And if Bush had any difficulty navigating the gap between the posh $500-a-night Ritz — a rare treat for NBC crews in this economy — and the county’s poorest farming community an hour west, it didn’t show.

Wearing shapeless pants above her belly button, a purple top and black Chuck Taylors, the 27-year-old wasn’t immediately recognizable as she stood in the back of the school’s cafeteria as the school feted Gonzalez. The public, after all, mostly remembers her as the cute, mischievous teenager who shared the occasional bad girlz spotlight with twin Barbara.

“It’s not about me,” Jenna said when Page2Live approached her for a chat that ended up lasting 10 seconds. “It’s all about Gisselle today, not me.”

Bush appeared shocked when I told her that several TV stations were at the school partly because of her.

For more on this story, extra pictures and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Jay (Courtesy WPEC, I mean, NBC)

– Strange goings-on at WPEC-Channel 12. The CBS affiliate promoted Jay Leno’s new show despite the fact it airs on its arch-nemesis, the NBC affiliate WPTV-Channel 5. If you logged on to WPEC’s website Monday, you’d have seen a countdown clock on top of the page. Countdown to what? To the new prime-time 10 p.m. start of The Jay Leno Show! Newsroom folks at 12 who saw it are scratching their head in disbelief, wondering if the station was the victim of a hacker. The man in charge of website ads, Rich Engberg, is at a loss for an explanation. “I didn’t know,” he said. “I’ll check into it.” The clock hasn’t appeared since.

Hard to believe she's Donald Trump's spawn

– Got to give celebuspawn Ivanka Trump beaucoup credit. Word is that the hot co-star of dad Donald Trump on The Apprentice, will not sell to news organizations access to her October nuptials to New York trust-funder, I mean, publisher Jared Kushner. While both dad and mom, jet-setter Ivana Trump, made a mint on their latest weddings in Palm Beach, Ivanka isn’t inclined to immitate them — despite nice offers, according to the New York Post. The affair is slated for Oct. 25 at the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.

– CSI: Miami star David Caruso has finally made nice with his SoFla-based baby mama. Miami aerobics instructor Liza Marquez, with whom Caruso had two ninos, settled a lawsuit against the flame-haired actor. The settlement isn’t public, according to TMZ, but court documents show she didn’t get anything “of value.” Originally, Marquez sued because Caruso, who has an beachfront apartment in Miami Beach, didn’t make good on his promise to give her $1 million when they split.

Liza and Caruso (Courtesy stupidcelebrities.net)