The Simons Give It Up

“Marriage is really tough, because you have to deal with feelings and lawyers,” Richard Pryor said.

It took 41 years of wedlock before the glue in the marriage of Carol and William Simon gave out. Bill and Carol split in spite of their four-decades-plus of wedding anniversaries, hundreds of mutual friends and seven children.

The Simons are very rich. The former Secretary of the Treasury invested heavily in the Pacfic Rim after leaving the cabinet of President Gerald Ford. His investments have paid off like crazy. The Simons own a $10-million house in Hawaii, another showplace in East Hampton, and they also have a home in New Jersey.

But these days, Bill is to be found spending much of his time with Tony Donnelly of Los Angeles. She is formerly of Chicago.

Barbra Streisand’s “The Prince of Tides” is getting wonderful word-of-mouth. The movie will be an “event” in itself, seeing that it is the great star’s first film since “Nuts” in 1987.

Among Barbra’s fans is Pat Conroy, author of the marvelous novel on which the Streisand/Nick Nolte film is based. Conroy recently attended a screening of their film and was blown away! Several days after, he sent Streisand a copy of the novel with this inscription: “To Barbra Streisand: You’re many things, Barbra, but you’re also a great teacher . . . one of the greatest to come into my life. I honor the great teachers and they live in my work and dance invisibly in the margins of my prose. You’ve made me a better writer, you rescued my sweet book, and you’ve honored me by taking it with such seriousness and love.

“Great love and great thanks and I’ll never forget that you gave ‘The Prince of Tides’ back to me, as a gift. Pat Conroy.”

Barbra’s “Tides” opens around Christmastime.

Is there life after Bruce Springsteen? That’s what Max Weinberg, longtime drummer for Bruce’s now disbanded E Street Band, wondered. Max then formed his own group, Killer Joe. “K.J.” has an album titled “Scene of the Crime” coming out Oct. 9.

However, before the album debut, Max got together with some old friends--Little Steven, Jon Bon Jovi, Branford Marsalis and the Beach Boys--and produced “Summer on Signal Hill.” This will appear as a single in stores on Sept. 16, benefiting Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America. And “Summer on Signal Hill” will also be a special bonus track on Killer Joe’s album. It was written by--Bruce Springsteen!