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Where the Boys Are actress singer and actress Connie Francis (above), aka Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, was honored by Il Circolo, the Italian American Society of the Palm Beaches, as Woman of the Year Sunday night in Palm Beach.

– Click here for the Mike Jachles photo gallery of the event

The group picked Francis, 72, as her 1950-60s songs found renewed interest over the past months because of the 50th anniversary of the ground-breaking teen cult movie.

To a male fan at a table who shouted “We love you!,” an unflappable Francis replied: “I love you, too! Where were you when I married all those stiffs?” (Francis was married and divorced four times.)

The singer of such classics as Who’s Sorry Now and Where’s Your Heart lives part-time in a downtown West Palm Beach highrise.

– Click here to get a bird’s eye view of her digs on the exclusive Page2Live map of celebs

Among the 200-plus at the wingding: Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach Bishop Gerald Barbarito; Consul General of Italy Marco Rocca; and Palm Beach philanthropist John Scarpa.

For more on this story:

– Fort Lauderdale’s declares Connie Francis Day

– The Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s Antique Row walk

– The Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s first Palm Beach gala

– The Everglades Foundation Gala, with Kenny Chesney

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The super-sized Allure of the Seas was cloaked in Hollywood-like atmosphere Sunday when passengers boarding for the weekly cruise out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale ran into the likes of former Playboy pinup Jenny McCarthy (above) and actors James Brolin (Capricorn One, The Amityville Horror and TV’s Hotel) and Dean Cain (TV’s Lois & Clark).

They were there for the red carpet premiere of two short films, one directed by McCarthy and another by Brolin, both produced on a previous cruise on the Allure.

– Click here for all the Michael Jachles photos

The 70-year-old Brolin turned heads, especially those of embarking passengers and Lake Worth residents Jeff and Colleen McMahon (below).

So, what’s the benefit of filming on board a cruise ship, besides the short commutes?

“The massages in the ship’s spa, the best!” said McCarthy, the actress-model-comic-writer-activist. “I’ve been rubbed all over the world, but not like this!”

Alrighty then!

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Obviously flustered, his usually steady hands shaking and unintelligible at times, rock guitarist Pete Townshend — who’ll play Super Bowl XLIV’s halftime show with the British band The Who Sunday — faced the music at a press conference today in Fort Lauderdale.

Townshend and Who frontman Roger Daltrey were breezing through the traditional Super Bowl entertainment presser  — which included Daltrey and Townshend playing, unplugged, Pinball Wizard and Won’t Get Fooled Again — when one last question came from the back of the Broward County Convention Center’s meeting room.

How does Townshend feel about the Florida child abuse activists who tried, unsuccessfully, to have him pushed back by immigration and asked the NFL to ban him from the concert?

Townshend, speechless for a few seconds, said he was “saddened” and equated the groups’ actions to “vigilantism.”

Daltrey (left) and Townshend at Thursday's press conference in Fort Lauderdale (Getty Images)

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In an exclusive story last month, Page2Live revealed the concerns of anti-child porn advocates, including Brevard County’s Protect Our Children, about Townshend’s recent presence on the British sex offenders registry. The guitarist was arrested in 2003 after using his credit card to access child porn on the Web. He was never convicted, but admitted to accessing the site for “research” purposes. He remained on the registry for five years.

When they understood that Townshend wouldn’t be held back by immigration, Protect Our Children flooded the neighborhood around Dolphin Stadium, home of Super Bowl XLIV, with postcards bearing Townshend’s picture and warning of his arrival.

“I’m really saddened by this (attempts to ban him from the USA) and concerned about it,” Townshend said, as Daltrey fidgeted uncomfortably next to him. “I feel like we (he and children’s protectors) are on the same side.”

For more of Pete’s words, look below or click (Read more…)

Paaaartyyyy!!!!!

In a stunning policy reversal, the city of Fort Lauderdale will no longer enforce its cast-in-stone 13-year-old ban on open liquor containers along the beach.

Until after the Super Bowl!

The ban originally was put into place to stymie what made the beach of Where the Boys Are a household name: alcohol abuse by Spring Break college students.

But starting today, boys and girls are allowed once again to walk along the beachside strip of hotels and restaurants with beer, wine and hard liquor. For as long as it’s in a plastic cup. And not on the sand.

The lifting of the liquor regulation affects a two-mile area that’ll be one of Super Bowl week’s hotspots. It starts at the Indianapolis Colts’ hotel, the Marriott Harbor Beach, and stretches north to Sunrise Boulevard.

The ban returns on the Monday after the Super Bowl.

“The hotel community along the beach lobbied hard for this,” said Tom Roth, a marketing honcho at The Atlantic Hotel. The business stands to benefit from the temporary pass, along with the W and Westin hotels. Thousands of fans are expected to bed down there.

“Fort Lauderdale has grown up, and the places we are competing with, The Breakers in Palm Beach and the Boca Raton Resort, have their guests enjoy daiquiris beachside. Why not us?”

Roth says he hopes for a Bourbon Street atmosphere on the days leading to the Feb. 7 Super Bowl at Dolphins Stadium.

– For more exclusives on the Super Bowl, click here.

There it is!

The Vince Lombardi Trophy, which goes to the winner of the Super Bowl, has arrived — days ahead of the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts.

A source along the Fort Lauderdale beachside strip where the NFL is setting up temporary headquarters tells me the sterling silver football is in a ballroom at the Westin Beach Resort, guarded by two armed beefed-up dudes.

It’ll remain there until the morning of Feb. 7, day of the big game at Dolphin Stadium.

The Tiffany & Co. piece is valued at about $25,000 and is named after the oft-quoted, classic Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.

– For more exclusives on Super Bowl XLIV, click here.