Dang, it's going to be hard for Betty Dammert to sit still Dec. 21 when the Rockettes open their Christmas show here. Might even see her in the kick line.

        Dammert, see, is a former Rockette. The Northern Kentuckian danced with the company in the mid-'50s and remains active in the Rockette Alumni Association.

        So active that she recently went to New York, along with 125 other ex-Rockettes, to celebrate the troupe's 75th birthday.

        “It was a good time all around. We took in the new Christmas show, it's as good as ever, then had a party. A great reunion.

        “They didn't make us dance, but they did get us onstage. I stood in the exact same spot I danced in back in 1955 ... eerie.”

        Right. So what brings a retired Rockette to Cincinnati? “I was on tour with the June Taylor Dancers at Beverly Hills 42 years ago, met Wayne and just stayed.”

        Wayne is husband Wayne Dammert, the former banquet captain of the Northern Kentucky club and the author of Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire (Turner Publishing; $21.95), about the deadly 1977 fire.

        As for the Rockettes opening night here, she's not taking any chances. “I'm ushering.”

        Hardware-wear: If Keith Mueller starts tearing his hair out, well, who would blame him? Mueller, see, is in charge of dressing models for Friday's Hedz, Wigz and Rosez, a Hedwig and the Angry Inch-themed benefit for Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. Hedwig plays ETC next summer.

        Mueller's problem is it's a fashion show and he has to dress models in flowers and hardware — transform them into human works of Glam Rock art.

        Mueller, of Flowers and Beyond, has been at it for two months. He'll wrap the models in black fabric, he says. “Some get a lot, some very little, then accessorize with hardware — copper tubing, dryer vents, screening, galvanized pieces. And a lot of flowers. I've always wanted to use flowers as art. It's a runway show with a twist.”

        Mueller isn't stopping there. He has Diva's, an Over-the-Rhine hair salon, doing “outrageous hairstyles. All colors with glitter and more hardware. I'm looking to make it as cutting edge a I can get away with.”

        Pricey shirts: So, you were wondering whose clothes are most marketable?

        Wellsir, says Jim Taylor, chair of Sunday's seventh annual Celebrity T-shirt Auction wherein they sell off T-shirts autographed by celebrities. Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor and Reba McEyntire always go for the most bucks.

        “Madonna usually gets close to $2,000. Taylor and Reba are always in the thousands, too.

        “But you know who else? Cher's always a heavy hitter, and so are Whoopi Goldberg and Elton John. You never know, because you get a pair of devoted fans and bidding wars break out.”

        The T-shirt auction, thrown by the Imperial Sovereign Queen City Court of the Buckeye Empire, benefits American Foundation for AIDSResearch (amfAR) and AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati. It's 4-8 p.m. at Cicero's the splashy dance club on the Syndicate's lower level.

        Contact Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330. Read his previous columns at the Enquirer web site on Cincinnati.Com.

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