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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Local gal Brooke Mueller Sheen with Charlie Sheen at Saturday's bat mitzvah in Mar-a-Lago

TV star Charlie Sheen, he of the CBS hit sitcom Two and a Half Men, quietly slipped into Palm Beach over the weekend for a bat mitzvah, of all things.

Well, 13-year-old Sydney Wolofsky’s soiree wasn’t just any old bat mitzvah.

Gov. Charlie Crist and first lady Carole Rome tore up the dance floor with dozens of pubescent teens.

And there were nearly 300 guests in the grand ballroom of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Saturday night for the Jewish rite-of-passage. Guests, including 70 of Sydney’s classmates at the Palm Beach Day Academy and family friends from Australia, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Aspen and the Hamptons, munched on filet mignon while gawking at Sheen.

The themes: Hollywood! The color: pink!

“Sydney wants to be an actress,” said mom, Moira Fiore. “She’s such a drama queen that we just had to have that theme.”

Instead of a red carpet, guest walked on a pink one into the banquet. Sydney was carried in on a pink throne before being serenaded by professional singer John Fiore, Moira’s hubby.

Sheen’s co-star on Two and a Half Men, Jon Cryer, send his regards by video along with: Apocalypse Now’s Martin Sheen, Trump, TV host Regis Philbin, big screen hottie Rebecca Gayheart (Urban Legends) and her husband, Grey’s Anatomy’s Eric Dane.

Up-and-coming dancer/actress Rachele Brooke Smith, star of a Bring It On cheerleading film, performed her dance routine as the surprise entertainment.

Wolfosky is the sister of Sheen’s wife, Brooke Mueller Sheen, a former Benjamin School cheerleader.

Check out Page2Live’s exclusive photo gallery of the party, by Christopher Fay:

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Would be U.S. Senator Charlie Crist with the missus

Kushner and Trump

– Hoping for yet another Trump wedding at Mar-a-Lago? Not this time! Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump, isn’t going where her parents have been. While both The Donald and jet-setter Ivana were re-married to other people at Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago — he in 2005, and she last year — Ivanka plans on exchanging vows with wannabe publishing mogul Jared Kushner at her daddy’s Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. The lovebirds are planning an Orthodox Jewish shindig on Oct. 25, according to the New York Post. The 525-acre property once belonged to sports car builder John DeLorean.

– The country must have its fill of Bernie Madoff. Book-sales trackers report that none of the four major Madoff books published last month has done well in stores, according to The AP. Sales for Madoff mistress Sheryl Weinstein’s tell-all, Madoff’s Other Secret, have barely topped 2,000. Jerry Oppenheimer’s Madoff With the Money tanked, with 1,000 copies sold. Andrew Kirtzman’s Betrayal is doing slightly better, with 3,000. And Erin Arvedlund’s Too Good To Be True is on top, with barely 5,000 copies. Arvedlund, a reporter who questioned Madoff’s investment methods years before the SEC, blamed the lack of interest on Wall Street fatigue. “The public is just weary of financial scandals,” she said.

– NBA champ Lamar Odom, who joined the L.A. Lakers two years ago in a trade by the Miami Heat, is said to be smitten with Kardashian clan’s Khloe. K2, a star of  Keeping up with the Kardashian and E!’s Khloe and Kourtney Take Miami, hooked up with the tallhead at a party thrown in Hollywood by NBA badboy Ron Artest, according to the entertainment website Hollyscoop. They’ve been attached at the hip since. Off-the-court, this is by far the most attention the self-effacing Odom has received in years. The Kardashians, meanwhile, seem to have a thing for famous athletes. Sister Kim recently broke up with NFL running back Reggie Bush.

Lamar and Khloe (Courtesy buzzPhoto)

(Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post)

Palm Beach builder Bob Matthews and his socialite wife, Mia, were the benevolent sponsors of this weekend’s performances of The Wizard of Oz at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

They also have the county’s single largest unpaid residential property-tax bill for 2008, on the home above.

They owe the IRS $501,172 for unpaid taxes in 2006 and 2008.

And while their renovation of the old Heart of Palm hotel is moving at a snail’s pace because Bob hasn’t been able to secure extra financing, their building of a fancy resort in Nantucket, Mass., has provoked the ire of contractors and suppliers who say they haven’t been paid.

Things are piling up for a young couple that’s been one of the most visible on the charity circuit over the past three years. Bob is known as a flamboyant character who once drove a red $300,000 Ferrari and publicly offered Mia a solitaire after she starred in a charity fashion show at Mar-a-Lago.

Now, with the economy in the septic tank and his projects having a tough go of it, the Matthews owe a whopping $272,391 in taxes on their mansion, according to county records. Their Casa Bendita (Blessed House) is 16,000 square feet of sheer luxury assessed at $15.8 million.

For more details on these Palm Beachers’ finances, and the poll, look below (Read more…)

Hard to believe, but the silver-haired lady who became a late-late night local TV fixture alongside the likes of Conan O’Brien, except that she had to pay for the air time to push her Save-a-Pet charity, turned 98 over the weekend.

Maxwell with grandson Aaron Bell

About 300 well-wishers sang “Happy Birthday!” to Gertrude Maxwell at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach.

And ever the businesswoman, the doyenne of Palm Beach society had them pay $125 to get in, with the proceeds going to her Save-a-Pet. Hey, she may be 98, but no one can say the lady doesn’t have all her wits! Maxwell, by the way, promised to be back for several more years.

Seen among Maxwell’s fans: Horse farm owner Gale Brophy, polo player Peter Rains, rookie Town of Palm Beach Councilman Bill Diamond, and others.

For more pictures by Page2Live lenswoman Michele Sandberg, click (Read more…)

We’re now smack-dab in the social season’s equivalent of hump-day.

The shine of opening weekend has worn off, but there are 30-something big shindigs left over the next six weeks.

Bling, anyone?

Yet, Friday night’s black tie at Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago for the Boca Raton addiction-treatment center Caron Renaissance netted $770,000. That makes the loot one of the richest of the season so far. Even more impressive is that some tickets went for a “mere” $500.

“We groveled and we begged for sponsors and we got some,” said ball chairwoman Petra Levin. I reached her in her Caribbean hideaway because Levin, a former Miss Germany, high-tailed it out of town at a time when the night crew at  Donald Trump’s private club were still cleaning the ballroom.

“I’ve had a big smile on my face since yesterday because in this economy, believe me, we had to work for it.”

Among the guests: U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.); former Minnesota U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad; and Kennedy clan writer/actor/activist Chris Lawford.

(For more pictures of the wingding by Michele Sandberg, click below)

(Read more…)

If only this little one were on his daddy’s TV show, ratings would be much higher, even on NBC. Who’s he? Click on the link below.

(Read more…)

Mar-a-Lago

With rumors swirling that the economy is forcing Donald Trump to sell Mar-a-Lago, the star of The Apprentice phoned Page2Live this morning to say unequivocally that the historic property on the south side of Palm Beach isn’t for sale.

“I would never sell Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “I’m golfing at Trump International (in West Palm Beach) and 30 people came up to me to ask if I’m selling. I have members begging me: ‘Please, Mr. Trump, don’t sell!’

“I think there’s been a lot of confusion in town since I sold the Abe Gosman estate for $100 million last year. Some people thought I sold Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago isn’t for sale. I love that place.”

Even in an unprecedended economic quagmire, Trump said the luxury club is doing just fine. (Read more…)

If the organizers of Friday’s 51st annual Cancer Ball in Palm Beach cut down their expenses to make up for the $250 markdown on tickets ($750 instead of the traditional $1,000), you could barely tell.

Donald Trump, Tom & Tracy Clinton

The entertainment of the New York-themed party at Mar-a-Lago was the 1980s jazz/big band sensation The Manhattan Transfer. Top-shelf liquor flowed. And the decorations, including a different New York skyscrapper on each table, was what could be expected from one of the season’s biggest balls.

But at a time when charity galas on The Island are seeing drops in attendance proportional to the Dow Jones, more than 400 people showed up for this one.

Among them: Donald Trump, whose attendance was guaranteed when crafty Chairwoman Patty Myura made him the ball’s “New York Ambassador;” Trump’s wife, Melania, who looked poutier than ever; horse breeder Gale Brophy; Wellington philanthropists Joe and Ashley Maguire; unescorted socialite Lois Pope; insurance guru Richard Bernstein and his missus, Robin; TV producer/writer Linda Corley; G-STARS School of The Arts founder Greg Hauptner; Dame Celia Lipton Farris; Patrick Park and his special friend, Nathalie Gutierrez; The Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks and wife Melinda; Palm Beach mayoral hopeful Jerry Goldsmith; and many more.

Click below for more event pictures.

(Read more…)

. . . Disney World hasn’t been former Glades Central star Santonio Holmes’ only destination after the Pittsburgh Steeler caught the Super Bowl-winning TD Sunday. The Internet has been the other.

Is that Santonio? You make the call!

Only there, he obviously dropped his Terrible Towel: he’s buck naked. There’s no confirmation the picture of Holmes stretching out in a shower somewhere is really him. But it sure created a buzz, including on Howard Stern’s radio show. I won’t go full monty since this is, after all, a family website. But let’s just say if that football thing doesn’t turn out, the man’s got a future in porn . . .

. . . More than 400 people have bought tickets to Friday’s Cancer Ball at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. That may make the ball one of the most successful of the season. “We lowered the ticket prices to $750 (from $1,000),” said ball chair Patty Myura. “In this economy, that’s the least we could do.” In the goodie bags, guests will find the $60-book by society grande dame Celia Lipton Farris. The leather-bound tome is partly about her four decades in Palm Beach . . .