Weekly or Weakly? Only Time Will Tell About Us

Taking Us magazine from a monthly to a weekly may have been risky, considering the landscape is already dominated by People and Entertainment Weekly. But Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone who publishes Us, has taken risks before. Still, a negative buzz is starting to circulate.

Wenner has reportedly sunk $50 million of his own into the project, several staff members have bailed out after the first few weeks and the New York Post has reported that the magazine, which launched March 17, has not been selling.

“Content-wise, they are on the right track, marketing-wise they are on the right track, but launching a weekly takes time,” said Samir Husni, a University of Mississippi professor of journalism known in the industry as “Mr. Magazine.”

“I was surprised at the piece in the New York Post that said it’s not selling,” he said. “It takes at least six weeks to get sales figures for the first week. It may take some time. Entertainment Weekly was not born a success.”

Wenner, who is used to being scrutinized, seemed upbeat Tuesday night at a small launch party at Hollywood’s Argyle Hotel. As he propped his foot up on an Art Deco sofa, he told me that reaction to the magazine has been enthusiastic. And, he added, “the thing I like about it myself is that it’s smart, intellectual coverage on the level of ‘Rolling Stone.’ ”

Well, I guess . . . if you call “How to Get Great Gams by Summertime” intellectual.

*

Hutton Wilkinson, associate of the late, great design legend Tony Duquette, opened Duquette’s famous Beverly Hills home and gardens to guests the other night.

The occasion was a celebration of the renovation of the Bauer Hotel in Venice, Italy. The relationship may sound tenuous, but Duquette, who died last year, was a member of the Save Venice Project (a group of Americans who raise money to help preserve the historic city) and a friend of Bauer Chairwoman Francesca Bortolotto Possati. When she wanted to have an event in L.A., the Duquette home was a natural, Wilkinson said.

I couldn’t wait to see the gardens, which were magical. There was something to look at in every square inch: metal peacocks, random tree trunks painted red and abalone shells shimmering on otherwise ho-hum planters. The effect is at once glamorous and folk artsy . . . and always over the top.

No one lives in the house, which serves as a headquarters for the thriving Duquette business. Wilkinson, who continues to design one-of-a-kind jewelry under Duquette’s name, has done pieces for Tom Ford and Pierre Balmain. Wilkinson added that he had just received a call from Oscar de la Renta asking for jewelry for his couture show in Paris in July.

With a wave of his peach juice-spiked champagne, Wilkinson said, “I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

*

A clarification: The May/June issue of Glue magazine will be available on newsstands as reported, but copies with the Steve Bean/Beck flexi-discs will be available only at select retailers.

Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.