Thursday, July 27, 2000
Wrestling school owner tightens his hold on Hollywood
A bit of this, that and the other thing gathered at the buffet table on the cocktail party circuit ...
Truthfully: Going to prove again, stomp on enough heads and sooner or later people take notice.
Witness one Les Thatcher, former pro wrestler and owner of Evendale's Main Event Pro Wrestling Center, a facility that trains men and women to bounce each other around in the ring.
He and his school already have been on three national shows about wrestlers in training: MTV's True Life and ABC's 20/20 in 1999; and MSNBC early this year. Now this ...
Thatcher flies to Burbank today to tape a segment on the revived To Tell the Truth, which will debut this fall. That's the late game show on which a panel would grill three people and try to figure out which one was telling the truth. All three contestants will claim to be Thatcher, pro wrestler trainer.
“As I understand it, I spend some time Friday prepping the two fakes, then tape it Saturday. I don't think I win anything if I fool them, but I do get four free days in California, and that's pretty much enough.”
Truth will be syndicated, airing in 90 percent of U.S. markets, (including here at 10:30 a.m. Monday-Friday on Channel 12) starting Sept. 18.
The reunion: Biiig talk on the party circuit, now that the invitations are arriving, is the Reunion — Jerry Springer and Norma Rashid. Or Normer, as Springer used to call her.
Invitations, don't you know, are to the Sept. 6 Jeff Ruby Roast, the cystic fibrosis benefit studded with such stars as Sparky Anderson, Tommy LaSorda, Rob Lowe, Bobby Knight, Michael Douglas, Ed Marinaro, Mario Lopez, Anthony Munoz and a cast that's growing daily.
So anyway, Ruby wanted former Channel 5 anchor Rashid all along, because he likes the way she works (especially the ever-so-quick and plenty sassy mouth). He asked and she said OK. Then, he got the idea that Springer would be a good co-emcee, what with all the years he and Rashid spent co-anchoring Channel 5's news.
Ruby spent four months trying to reach Springer and couldn't. “Finally, I asked Norma and she found him in London,” says Ruby. “He agreed right away.
Ruby says Rashid knows a lot about him. “I expect her to go after the jugular big time,” Ruby says. “And I expect her to tell Jerry some stuff, too, though he already knows a lot. I guess they'll be roaster/emcees or something.”
For the Scotch: How about a round of applause? Clap it for Walnut Hills writer Karen Marie Moning. Her historical romance — Beyond the Highland Mist (Dell; $5.95) — is one of eight nominated for a Romance Writers of America RITA Award, the Oscar of the romance world. More than 700 books were entered.
Moning sets her novels in medieval Scotland. Her books are the products of exhausting research into everyday medieval life and are slavishly accurate on everything from lunch to plumbing to what was used for soap.
The winner will be named Saturday.
Knip's Eye View appears Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at (513) 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
