He’s One Model Player
Roger Craig, the San Francisco 49ers star running back, has had a steady stream of modeling and acting jobs since he started appearing in Macy’s California Passport fashion shows. Now he’s doing ads for Calvin Klein underwear and for various drinks and shoes favored by jocks. And then there are his TV-host and exercise-video careers. If you think he’s ready for a starring role in a movie, you’re right: Craig plays a cop in a Roger Corman action film due out next month.
NO MORE MR. NICE GUY: Guy Greengard, the genial owner of the Mr. Guy store who left Rodeo for Canon Drive less than a year ago and recently filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, says it isn’t over yet. “The location just hasn’t worked out traffic-wise,” he told Listen. But he added that he will probably open another, smaller store soon.
VAL’S PALS: Italian fashion king Valentino will be wined and dined Beverly Hills-style when he arrives in town Nov. 25 to celebrate the recent opening of his store at Two Rodeo Drive. Reported plans include Swifty Lazar’s dinner at Spago, Betsy Bloomingdale’s lunch at home and Barry Diller’s dinner at an undetermined location. The capper is Valentino’s own cocktail party at the new store Nov. 28, with a cast of several hundred including “so many stars it will look like the Academy Awards,” says his new West Coast spokeswoman, Laurie Bodor.
BACK TO SQWEAR ONE: Although he says he enjoyed helping pioneer the brightly colored wardrobes the New Kids on The Block wear in their Coca-Cola commercials, designer William Beranek, who co-founded L.A.-based Sqwear with designer Henry Duarte, will step out on his own this holiday season. He has a new line of contemporary men’s apparel under the William B. label, to be carried at J. C. Amber in Hollywood and Traffic in Los Angeles. He’s gone mainstream, but Beranek assures Listen his star-wardrobing days are not numbered. Late night talk show host Arsenio Hall and singer Stevie B. have placed orders between $220 and $600, he says.
THE 18-K HEDGE: What recession? Gianmaria Buccellati, designer and owner of the Buccellati jewelry and silver company, unveiled about $20-million worth of his latest designs, including diamonds and gold worked to resemble a delicate Venetian lace choker ($309,000). “Yes, there is a little contraction (in business),” he said, “but I’m a worldwide jeweler, so one day if it’s not good in the United States, it is in Japan or France or Italy.”
