All-American Italian

Who was that piling on the shirts and sweaters at the All American Boy shop in West Hollywood recently? None other than Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli, shopping with friends and chatting in his native tongue the whole time. But he wasn’t all talk, and there didn’t seem to be any indecision--as in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” his future screen project starring Mel Gibson. We’re told the director was dressed in khaki pants, an oversize shirt, carried an oversize leather bag and opted for more oversize goodies. His eclectic cotton mix included a few Henry Grethel cardigans and crew necks, some rib-textured sweat shirts and a Picasso-print T-shirt.

Packing It In

Joan Rivers didn’t mean to call attention to herself at a baggage claim at LAX. But when she reached for a black linen suitcase with brown leather trim, she--and Listen--heard someone gasp, “Don’t take that; it’s mine.” By then, Rivers had already collected six big bags exactly like the one she nearly took by mistake. The comedienne mentioned that the locks on hers pop open during long trips. Does she overstuff them, her new acquaintance asked. “Of course!” said Rivers. “What’s the point of having them?”

Covering a Novel Design

When Listen heard that novelist Jackie Collins recently requested that all the paperback covers of her novels be redesigned to feature photos of Tallarico precious jewels (alone, not on models), we decided to find out what was behind the changes. The answer turns out to be simple. Collins just likes the way the stuff looks. She was photographed on the covers of Vanity Fair and Los Angeles magazines in Tallarico jewels. And, says Tallarico president Donald Tallarico, who designs most of the pieces in the collection, “I feel Jackie selected our jewelry because of our unique and original designs.”

Pour On the Gifts

Old World traditionalism, it appears, is on the rise on the wedding-gift front. Two Hollywood couples received as wedding gifts crystal decanters from Pavillon Christofle. Newlyweds Mary Hart and Burt Sugarman received a Baccarat crystal decanter with four cordial glasses, while the one producer Steve Ross and his fiancee Linda Fogarty took home was made by St. Louis. So whatever happened to toasters?

A New Racket

Looking elsewhere for one-time “St. Elsewhere” regular Ed Begley Jr. (Dr. Victor Erlich on the show), Listen caught sight of him at Le Raquette Club, an underground, as in subterranean, gym in Manhattan. Begley was getting exercised over the Nautilus leg-lift machine.

School of Finance

Otis Parsons fashion-design students are breaking into the retail biz this spring, with their original styles for Nike sport shoes, Tadashi evening dresses and Betty and Sheila, a label for women’s casual clothes. Student creations will actually be produced and included in the companies’ commercial collections. It’s part of a growing trend, says school spokeswoman Frances Balcomb, where manufacturers from around the world ask students to enter design competitions. If they win, they get a cash award, the school gets scholarship money and the company gets some bright student’s ideas.

Designed to Relax

Paris-based designer Patrick Kelly arrived at the Ole Henriksen salon on Sunset Boulevard last week for a skin-care session and was promptly asked to remove his high-tops and T-shirt. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but the visiting fashion dignitary had said he wanted to relax and be pampered. He was given a foot massage and made to wear “little warm mittens on his feet,” explains Henriksen. Next came a sound-wave skin treatment, which was so soothing it put him to sleep for about 10 minutes, followed by a relaxing facial application of warm honey and paraffin. When Kelly wasn’t dozing, “he was the charming, fun-loving character you see in his ads,” Henriksen assures us.