Quick Takes: Wesley Snipes ordered to prison
Actor Wesley Snipes was ordered Wednesday to voluntarily surrender at a federal prison in Pennsylvania next week to start his three-year sentence for failing to pay taxes.
The U.S. Marshal’s Office ordered Snipes to report to the Federal Correctional Institution McKean in Lewis Run, Pa., by noon Dec. 9.
Snipes had tried to remain free on bail while appealing his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 48-year-old star of the “Blade” trilogy was convicted in 2008 of willful failure to file income tax returns.
—Associated Press
Major remodel for Tate Britain
The national home of British art from the 16th century to the modern age will embark on a major revamp of its galleries starting in 2011.
Tate Britain — which houses works stretching from portraits of England’s Queen Elizabeth I to modern art by Gilbert and George — said this week it would spend $70 million on new walls, roofs, floors, improving its entrance and rehanging its collection.
Beginning in February, nine galleries in the southern and oldest part of the Tate Britain’s 19th century building will be given new walls, roofs and floors, while the domed atrium at the entrance of the gallery will be opened up, with a new spiral staircase leading down to the lower level.
Visitor numbers at Tate Britain have swelled by 60% over the last 10 years, placing high demand on the building’s facilities; with that in mind, a new cafe and learning studios are being designed.
—Reuters
$16.7 million paid for ceramics
A Hong Kong tycoon paid $16.7 million on Wednesday for a quartet of Chinese cloisonne cranes at a Christie’s sale in Hong Kong that also saw strong prices paid for high-end Chinese ceramics amid a white-hot streak in the market.
While parts of Europe have plunged into a debt crisis and the U.S. economy remains stagnant, China’s antique-loving millionaires are splashing out on rare Chinese antiques and ceramics, driven by cultural patriotism and potential investment returns.
The four enamel cranes had been cloistered for decades in the late Alfred Morrison’s Fonthill estate in the western English county of Wiltshire.
Crafted in the Qing Yongzheng period (1723-1735), the near life-sized birds were sold after brief bidding to Hong Kong tycoon Joseph Lau, who has paid high prices for works by Andy Warhol and Paul Gauguin in recent years.
—Reuters
Kramer still has a good lawyer
More than a decade after “Seinfeld” ended, one of the TV series’ memorable characters has been reborn online. Jackie Chiles, the fast-talking attorney whose civil lawsuits were dependably foiled by Kramer, is starring in his own series on the comedy video website Funny or Die.
Chiles is played by Phil Morris, a 41-year-old Los Angeles actor who never wanted to fully relinquish the role. After “Seinfeld” ended in 1998, Morris tried to develop a spinoff about Chiles, but it never got off the ground.
“It always kind of festered in me that that was an opportunity missed, that the public missed something, that I missed something,” says Morris. “It was always in me to do. As an actor, you rarely get characters that are as full as a Jackie Chiles, where I can just put on the suit and the mustache and — boom! — he’s there.”
Working with a Funny or Die production team, Morris made five clips. Two have been released and the rest will come out gradually. To bring Chiles back, Morris first had to get permission from “Seinfeld” production company Castle Rock Entertainment and the show’s creators, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David.
“We always enjoyed Phil’s ability to bring that character to life,” says Seinfeld. “Glad that it’s living on.”
—Associated Press
‘Scottsboro’ ends Broadway run
“The Scottsboro Boys,” a serious musical that drew protests and has struggled to find an audience since opening on Broadway on Oct. 31, will close on Dec. 12, one of its producers said.
The musical, the final effort by the composer-lyricist team of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb (who also co-wrote “Chicago” and “Cabaret”), will have amassed a loss of $5 million, producer Barry Weissler said.
“The Scottsboro Boys” concerns the fate of nine young black men accused of raping two white women in the South during the Great Depression.
Meanwhile, another Broadway musical, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” — seen at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City in 2008 — also posted its closing notice Wednesday, setting its final performance for Jan. 2 after 120 outings.
—Bloomberg News
Finally
Renewed: Spike TV has ordered a second season of 20 episodes of “Auction Hunters,” which premiered Nov. 9. When they will begin airing was not announced.