Ivana Could Out-Trump Mate by Selling Image
“IVANAMANIA IS sweeping the city,” writes Gary Levin in Advertising Age.
Believe it or not, Ivana Trump is the new hot ticket on Madison Avenue, what with the way she and her famous husband, old what’s his name, have been making the headlines.
Marty Ingels, one of the greatest celebrity bookers in show business, says marketers already “see Ivana as the hero in this foofaraw and believe it’s Donald who’s besmirched . . . so it seems from the reaction we’re getting from advertisers already. She’s held up as a champion of women’s rights. In today’s marketplace, she’d be a natural spokesperson for VISA, MasterCard, a computer company, a line of clothing, even an automobile. She’d show some strength, and those products tend to fall into a man’s world. . . . Beauty is not her personal calling. These days, it’s more strength and fortitude.”
Some ad types think Ivana should contemplate selling her image to hotels and casinos and airlines that would rival those owned by her husband. Others have equally unsuitable or silly ideas for her.
So, if Ivana has to “make do” with $25 million and can’t get the prenuptial agreement graded upward, she’ll still do OK with endorsements. And she has already proved she knows how to work. That delightful madman of Mad Avenue, Jerry Della Femina, says, “She’s going to be very interesting because she will have to come out as her own personality. I think she would be a terrific endorser.”
IF ALEC Baldwin doesn’t drop from exhaustion, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying! This terrific, sexy actor, who I’ve been raving about since he did “Loot” on Broadway in 1986, never stops working. Alec has two big movies being released back-to-back, Paramount’s “The Hunt For Red October” with Sean Connery in March, and Orion’s “Miami Blues,” coming in April.
Currently, Alec is on-stage in previews at the Circle Rep in New York with “Prelude To A Kiss,” which has its official opening March 14. This play, by Craig Lucas, is described as “a comic fairy-tale.” It co-stars Barnard Hughes (Tony winner for “Da”) and Mary Louise Parker. But wait, there’s more! Alec Baldwin is definitely the Ginso knife of actors. As soon as he finishes his stage chores in “Prelude,” he’s off to Hollywood to join Kim Basinger for the new Neil Simon movie, “The Marrying Man.” Filming on this begins in April.
MUSIC LEGEND Ray Charles is getting a real kick out of his role in the movie “Limit Up.” In it, he plays an angel visiting Earth who plays the sax outside the New York Stock Exchange to collect money for the poor. Ray’s other big project this year is the Ray Charles School of Music. He says he wants to do for music what Robert Redford has done for filmmakers with The Sundance Institute in Utah.
THAT TALENTED and melodic couple, Diahann Carroll and Vic Damone, are, as you know, battling rumors of trouble in paradise. At a recent concert in Philadelphia, the pair departed from their usual lovey-dovey togetherness on-stage. Each performed his/her own set and then they only did a brief duet. After the show, Diahann and Vic went their separate ways. However, since they are still booked together at Caesars in Atlantic City, Feb. 23-25, this could be just one of those things--or absolutely nothing at all. Married people are not required to be joined at the hip 24 hours a day.