• Ashley Dupre, call girl to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, thanked her MySpace fans "for taking the time to send me a bit of strength and inspiration... your words have touched me." She thanked her detractors for making "me push myself and want it even more." [MySpace]
• Corey Feldman fought with old buddy and fellow child star Corey Haim on a reality show, and it emerged both had been molested at kids. Feldman felt the need to clarify that pop singer Michael Jackson was not the molester.
• A handwriting expert is suing Bryant Gumbel for allegedly smearing him on HBO's Real Sports. [Post]
• British singer Boy George really wanted to put on a special show for the New York sanitation workers with whom he performed community service, but he was denied a visa to enter the country, on account of an upcoming trial for allegedly imprisoning a male escort. [Post]
• British author Ian McEwan said he despises "Islamism" because it oppresses gays and women. [Times]
• Michelle Williams, mother of deceased actor Heath Ledger's child, is worried Ledger's mother and father will blow through the money in his estate before the child is 18 and able to claim any. [P6]
• Clearly trying to seed a sequel to his 1986 laugh riot The Money Pit, actor Tom Hanks keeps insisting his mansion in Sun Valley was poorly constructed. His latest appeal for legal intervention was rejected by a California court Friday. [P6]
• The 13-year-old daughter of billionaire Revlon chief Ron Perelman asked for a protection order against her mom and Perelman's ex-wife Patricia Duff. [Post]
• Singer Stevie Nicks said everyone should buy records and in turn save the music business and in turn "bring peace to our earth." [R&M]

• Marc Jacobs' threesome-friendly boyfriend Jason Preston is chivalrous and brave, if not literally ass-kicking. He saw a guy throw a drink on a girl, in a club, and told the dude to apologize. Unfortunately, the guy then whaled on Preston. Still, Bryanboy will be so totally proud. [P6]
• Owen Wilson maybe hooking up with Jennifer Aniston shows how two people can somehow look crazy, desperate and hot at the same time. [Star]
• Wilson jumped across a pool in front of 150 people in Miami, and went crazy when a hired photographer took a picture. He made the photographer delete the picture, because he's too insane to realize that 10 other guests probably already have the video on their cell phones. [P6]
• Britney Spears' dad has been sifting through the singer's financial wreckage, along with his lawyer, and it looks like former Britney hanger-on Sam Lutfi is going to take the fall for some of her problems. A source told the Post: "Her business affairs were in disarray because Sam [Lutfi] had isolated Britney, and it's going to be a very tedious task of going through everything." [P6]
• Reporters, photographers so busy stalking disgraced Gov. Eliot Spitzer they miss movie superstar Tom Hanks walking right by. [P6]
• Actress Keira Knightley sings three tracks on her new soundtrack and is all, "a sound emerged that wasn't too disagreeable." You're supposed to be all, "you were GREAT!" [Perez]
• Janet Jackson is too sick to show up for Saturday Night Live, even though it could save her weak album sales.
• Entertainment TV host Pat O'Brien is out of rehab, positively gorging on junk food and his network just isn't talking about him so don't ask. [TMZ]
• Rapey Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is now free to go wild outside of jail. [P6]
• Sean Penn was seen at the Oscars looking thrilled with his blonde supermodel date, but now he's been spotted with a "mid-twenties brunette... wearing tight jeans with tall boots" at the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco. Also, "his car looked like the 'Bat Mobile.'" [OK!]
• How sensitive is singer John Mayer? He keeps Xanax on his person at all times. [P6]

[Tom Hanks arrives at the Ed Sullivan Theater for a taping of the "Late Show with David Letterman", Jan 7; image via X17]

New line from commenter FiveInchTaint.

So in this week's column, when McInerney runs into the big-faced Tom Hanks, we learn Hanks supposedly auditioned for the movie, or tried to, but didn't make the cut. (Hanks later that year filmed the Oscar-nominated Big).

Back on June 12th, McInerney runs into his old friend Michael J. Fox at Del Posto. Fox played Jamie Conway in the movie but the two hadn't seen each other in years. Perhaps, McInerney writes, "the movie probably hadn't been everything we hoped it would be."

Why all the mentions? As far as we can figger, the 20th anniversary of McInerney's celluloid masterpiece rolls around next year—and perhaps the hobbled boy-prince is trying to drum up support for a re-release? That way, it can be viewed by more than the 19 people who saw it back in '88. After-party to be held at the Waverly, clearly.

Another Night at the Waverly [HG]

So how did Vanity Fair manage such a tremendous comeback? Were the Veefers served pre-game HGH omelettes? Not so much. Instead, their sudden dominance was no doubt boosted by the magic of celebrity: Tom Hanks was in the stands, as his daughter Liz is the magazine's latest famous-spawn assistant. It's almost impossible to lose when you've got Jimmy Dugan on your side.

Softball 2006 [Vanity Fair]
Earlier: Gawker's Coverage of Media Softball