That’s HARVEY as in Harvey Weinstein!

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I sure hope all the Hollywood know-it-alls who keep telling me that Harvey Weinstein has nearly blown through all the money he scored to start the Weinstein Co. and is in danger of finally giving up the ghost are, well, sadly mistaken. Lately there’s more than the usual amount of concern about his financial health around town, given the fact that his latest enterprise is a custom label for all the movies he’s acquired that aren’t even good enough for a more than token theatrical release. Everyone else may be rooting for Harvey to fail, but I’m hoping he pulls another rabbit out of his hat. He’s one of the few bigger-than-life characters left in show business. For Harvey, life is a carnival, with him in the leading role of carny barker supreme.

The latest example: Even though Harvey has only a rudimentary knowledge of the Internet--whenever I would get a note from him about a story I wrote, it came by fax--he has posted a blog item on Portfolio.com about New York theater. I was expecting a smart take on the new economics of Broadway or perhaps a tribute to a great new theater director, but with the exception of one brief anecdote about the time the young Harvey fled ‘The Sound of Music’ at the first sight of nuns gallivanting on stage, the entire piece was devoted to (gasp) Self Promotion!

The only question about the piece is: How many Weinstein-made movies, Weinstein theater productions and prospective Weinstein Broadway shows could he possibly plug in a 519-word piece? The math is a little tricky, but if you count everything, including the movies that he claims will soon be stage productions as well, the answer is: 23!

Here’s a brief plug-crowded sample: ‘I’m so thrilled that we are involved with Working Title’s ‘Billy Elliot’ that my friend Stephen Daldry is directing, who also just finished shooting a new film for us called ‘The Reader’ with Kate Winslet. We also worked on ‘The Hours’ with Stephen, and we’re involved with Dolly Parton and ‘9 to 5.’ in addition to ‘The Seagull’ with the incomparable Kristin Scott Thomas. She’s a longtime friend, whom we worked with on ‘The English Patient,’ and who....’ Well, you get the idea.

The real shocker: All those plugs and not even one for the Weinstein movie we’re all looking forward to: ‘Piranha 3-D’!

Here’s a bonus attraction. See where the Weinstein story begins: