Lipton Farris (left) with author Jackie Collins at Mar-a-Lago in 2008

Palm Beach has become a little less generous.

The grande dame of the island’s high society, Dame Celia Lipton Farris, passed away late Friday at Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

Her family, including her two daughters, has not released the cause of death although several sources told me nothing seemed amiss with Lipton Farris a week ago.

“She seemed very happy when I called her on Monday,” said philanthropist Patrick Park, a close friend. “My understanding is that she was taken to the hospital on Wednesday.”

Funeral arrangements have not been made public and the plans right now call for a private funeral.

The 87-year-old Lipton Farris was a former child star in her native England and a former Broadway actress and singer who made giving to charity an art form.

A rarity in Palm Beach: Lipton Farris, the widow inventor Victor Farris, loathed talking numbers but may have been giving well over $1 million a year!

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For the second year in a row, late-night funnyman Jay Leno will be performing his stand up routine as well as judge classic cars at this weekend’s Boca Raton Concours D’Elegance.

“It’s fun, it’s for a charity (the Boys & Girls Club of Broward County) and the car show is getting quite a reputation all over the country,” Leno told Page2Live. “Now when I tell people on the West Coast that I’m going to Boca Raton, they know about the event.

“Usually, it takes 10 years for an event like that to be cemented as an event that collectors need to visit.”

Leno (Courtesy of Concours d'Elegance)

Leno will be tailed by a camera crew for his website, Jay Leno’s Garage.

The star of NBC’s The Tonight Show is scheduled to perform Saturday at the black-tie gala at Boca Raton Resort and he’ll judge collectors’ cars Sunday.

Will he buy a little something for himself?

“No way,” he said. “I’ve got 100-something cars. That’s enough for now.”

Ninety-year-old Frank Stallone, one of Wellington polo’s elder statesmen and actor Sylvester Stallone’s dad, has come out to defend troubled International Polo Club Palm Beach boss John Goodman.

Stallone (Gary Coronado/The Palm Beach Post)

Goodman, 46, slammed his Bentley into the economy car of 23-year-old Scott Wilson in rural Wellington Feb. 12, killing him. And authorities have been investigating whether Goodman, who may have a history of drug abuse and was at two parties before the crash, was impaired.

With no charges filed as the public grows impatient, Goodman has been moving from luxury hotel to luxury hotel in the Miami Beach area and routinely meets with his lawyer in the Magic City, Roy Black.

But in the meantime, attendance at the Sunday games at Goodman’s club has been substantially lower than last year. So the star of Rocky and Rambo’s dad is asking for forgiveness for Goodman. And Stallone’s also asking the public not to take it out on the sport of kings.

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Wilson's car, shortly after it was pulled out of a canal Feb. 12 (Click on the photo for more about the accident)

Shocking development in the aftermath of the car crash that killed 23-year-old Scott Wilson and injured International Polo Club Palm Beach founder John Goodman: As many as 10 Palm Beach County Fire Rescue responders have been notified that they are under internal investigation.

Their superiors want to know whether the crew from Wellington’s Station 27 followed procedures because Wilson’s body was not found until an hour after the Feb. 12 crash.

Page2Live has been told exclusively that two firefighters searched Wilson’s submerged car, which was upside down in a canal. But the rescuer could not find Wilson in the early morning darkness and gave up the search.In time, fire rescue left the scene when they thought their work was done.

But the jaws of sheriff’s deputies left behind dropped when Wilson’s Hyundai Sonata was hoisted back on the road, revealing his body on the seat.

Said a fire rescue source: “Our guys obviously didn’t look for a body hard enough.”

Fire Rescue spokesman Capt. Don Delucia confirmed that existence of the investigation but declined comment. When asked about emergency procedures for cars in canals, Delucia said: “There are masks and snorkels on the emergency vehicles but the conditions in our canals are bad. It’s so opaque you can’t see your hand in front of you even in broad daylight. Diving on a vehicle is extremely dangerous and difficult.”

Delucia said responders also have the option to call in professional divers, but that wasn’t done, according to my source.

An autopsy showed that Wilson drowned after Goodman’s Bentley went through a stop sign and hit his car, sending it into the water off Lake Worth Road in Wellington’s horse country. Goodman left the scene and walked to a nearby home to call 911. Authorities are still trying to figure out whether alcohol or drugs were involved. Goodman suffered a broken wrist, hired star attorney Roy Black and has been hiding in Miami Beach hotels since the crash. Goodman, 46, has not been charged with a crime.

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Goodman with Lizzie McGuire star Hillary Duff and a circus elephant at the polo club two years ago (Click on the photo for more of Goodman with celebs)

A civil trial lawyer for Wellington’s International Polo Club Palm Beach has been discreetly making inquiries on whether the family of Scott Wilson, the 23-year-old killed in a car crash with club founder John Goodman, is ready to talk financial settlement.

Wilson’s parents, Lili and William Wilson, buried their son Saturday, eight days after the tragic accident in rural Wellington. Authorities are investigating whether booze or drugs were a factor as Goodman, 46, drove his Bentley into Wilson’s Hyundai after allegedly failing to stop at an intersection. No charges have been filed against Goodman.

But two legal community sources tell me Palm Beach attorney Wade Byrd, who has represented the polo club for years, is making calls to area lawyers to find out if the Wilsons already got lawyered up.

“Goodman’s people want to settle this asap,” one of the sources said. “They don’t want the family against them if he has to go through the criminal justice system.”

Wade didn’t return calls, and the Wilsons couldn’t be reached.

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