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ON THE BROADWAY SCENE ey Burt Boyar NEW YORK, May 8.-rOFF THE RECORD: Ask some member of the Hwood crowd to tell you Joan Collins nick-name. Its hilarious. Sounds like a golf tournament. . . . Casa Caribs Cu-gat going into the big name jazz biz. Abbe Lane couldnt draw customers so theyll try some sax appeal. . . . Lee Mortimers writing his column from his hospital bed. Get well quick. . . . Veronica Lakes new cigarette lighter is named Ar thur Osner. . . ."Louis Prima and Keely Smith, who open Thursday at the Copa, will arrive in NTTawk separately. She flies, he doesnt. . . . "Middle of the Night," the new Kim Novak-Fredric March pic, is the first one she has ever made in which she had rehearsal before shooting. Previously, theyd hand her the script the night before and then shoot it the following day, syl-able by syllable. . . . Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier will co-star in a western. AAA PARAGRAPHIC: It happened at the Stork Club last week. . . . His name is Jose Berga de Lema. . . . Hes the guy who is threatening to marry Rosina Pagan next month. ... He works for TWA. . . . Sherman Billingsley doesnt like him. Mr. de Lema was aware of this when he attended Hope Hamptons party there last week, but was puzzled when a Stork Club photog took" his picture. He later asked a- Stork employee, "If Billingsley doesnt like me then howcum he sent the photographer over to take my picture?" The staffer didnt understand until Sherman explained, "I dont intend to send his picture to any of the papers. This is one I want just so Im sure he, doesnt get in here again." AAA THE HI-FINEST: Mario Lanzas new RCAlbum, "Mario," reminds you that not all singers are kids with adenoids. This album takes you to Italy faster than jets. Lanzas voice, particularly as he sings "Santa Lucia," has a power and richness they dont hardly make no more. AAA TAXIGABBING: Jules Podell, the Copa boss, sent Buddy Hackett a wire for his opening night at the Latin Quarter. . . . Vivian Blaine let Jay Waxman help her put on some weight at the Luau 400. . . . The "Lets have a smoke and fly away" set isnt as "hip" as they, think. Narcotics squad members have found that many of the marijuana cigarettes uncovered at "pot parties" are stuffed with oregano, the kitchen herb, which isnt illegal unless you steal it from ~a grocery store. . . . Roz Russells coming here this week. . . . Liberace may not like his brother, George, any more, but he and Mrs. G. -Liberace were best pals when he was at the Essex House last week. ... I hear The Opera in Englewood, N. J. is attracting so many New Yorkers you cant hide away there any more. . . . Jayne Mansfield is endorsing a deep freezer which comes in an upright chest model. * A A SHUBERT ALLEY: It is a constant irony that if you dont want something it comes easily, but if you yearn for it somehow it eludes you. Polly Bergens great desire to have children had been thwarted before her most recent sadness. The last time, it was twins that she lost. She and her husband,- Freddie Fields, have a .child by his previous marriage and another whom they adopted. Her last experience would have discouraged most women, but, she again prayed that she might give birth, and again it just wasnt in the cards. Its just very sad that you can pick up almost any newspaper on any day and find a story about a parent who destroyed his own child, while a girl who was willing to risk her life to have one, cannot. No one can say what caused the sudden complications for which she was rushed to the hospital Monday morning. She had been out of "First Impressions" with a heavy virus for several days last week. She suspected, toward the week end, that the show was losing pustomers due to her absence and she told the producer that she would return. Her doctor suggested that she stay in bed a few more days. She overruled him and went to work. It is doubtful now that she will return to the show.
