Ed McMahon dies at 86

By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ed McMahon, a fixture on U.S. late-night television for 30 years as the full-throated announcer and sidekick for Johnny Carson on NBC's "The Tonight Show," died on Tuesday at age 86, his spokesman said.
The veteran TV personality, best known for his nightly introduction of Carson in a deep, booming voice with the drawn-out line, "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" died at a Los Angeles-area hospital, spokesman Howard Bragman said.
"He died early this morning with his wife and loved ones by his side," Bragman said.
McMahon had been battling pneumonia and other illnesses. Bragman declined to confirm or deny reports that the performer had been diagnosed with bone cancer.
Outgoing, affable and possessing a robust, baritone voice, McMahon began his career with stints as a bingo caller, carnival barker and boardwalk pitchman before becoming a broadcast announcer and TV host.
Trained as a U.S. Marine fighter pilot during World War II, he flew missions in Korea in the 1950s.
He went on to become one of the most celebrated sidekicks in TV history as Carson's right-hand man on "The Tonight Show" starting in 1962, stopping in 1992 when Carson retired as host.
The gregarious McMahon, a frequent comic foil for the Carson during ad-libbed banter at the top of the show, was familiar even off camera for his "Hi-oooooh!" and frequent guffaws at Carson's monologue jokes, especially when a punch line fell flat.
Carson died in January 2005 at age 79.
ENDURING CATCHPHRASE
McMahon's signature introduction of Carson endured as a catch-phrase. Jack Nicholson's maniacal character in the 1980 movie thriller "The Shining" announced "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!" as he burst through a door to menace his wife with an ax.
McMahon was a leading figure on several other television shows, including the syndicated talent show "Star Search," which helped launch the careers of a number of well-known performers, including comedian Dennis Miller.
The long-time co-host of Jerry Lewis' annual telethon benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association, McMahon also became well-known as the presenter of the American Family Publishing sweepstakes prize and as a pitchman on numerous TV commercials.
McMahon made headlines a year ago when he defaulted on a $4.8 million mortgage on his six-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion, although he later found a buyer for the house to avoid foreclosure.
The television star blamed his financial woes on having broken his neck about 18 months earlier, leaving him unable to work. He also sued Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, accusing the hospital of failing to diagnose the neck fracture and botching two subsequent operations. Continued...
Source: Reuters

"Transformers" aims to recharge U.S. box offices

By Edwin Chan
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Big-budget "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" hits U.S. movie theaters on Wednesday, aiming to recharge box offices in a summer season that has lost momentum after 2009's strong start.
Early reviews are mixed for director Michael Bay's effects-filled story of an alien vs. robot war on Earth that follows 2007 smash hit "Transformers," which raked in more than $700 million worldwide for its backers at DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, a unit of media giant Viacom Inc.
But movies like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" are widely considered to be immune from negative criticism in their first weekend at box offices because, generally speaking, their core audience of mostly young men rarely read reviews.
In fact on Monday, movie ticket site Fandango.com reported that hundreds of midnight showings ahead of Wednesday's debut already are sold out, and advance sales on Fandango are double what they were at this same time ahead of "Transformers."
That is good news for Hollywood and for DreamWorks and Paramount. The movie cost $195 million to make, Bay told reporters at a news conference last week.
"Year-to-date box office is great, but summer-to-date we're actually down in attendance ... I don't think there is anything wrong with movies, it's a typical summer season, but the first quarter was so strong," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box Office.
SUMMER HEAT?
Hollywood's summer films, which can make up as much as 40 percent of overall annual box office tallies in the United States and Canada, started the first weekend of May with the launch of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
Since then, about $1.68 billion worth of tickets have been sold, which is roughly equal to the same point one year ago. Attendance, however, is off 2.1 percent and the average ticket price is up to $7.35 compared to $7.18 last year.
Year-to-date, U.S. and Canadian ticket sales remain up a strong 10 percent at $4.8 billion compared to $4.3 billion at the same point last year and attendance is up about 8 percent.
The difference, box office watchers said, was 2009's first quarter, which was exceptionally strong with surprise hits such as "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." May and June saw a few key films like "Angels & Demons" fail to make a big mark with fans.
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" features toy cars that transform into robots and battle aliens who are looking to control Earth. Shia LaBeouf returns to his starring role as Sam Witwicky, a geeky boy with a sexy girlfriend (Megan Fox) and an otherworldly Camaro that shifts into an alien-fighting robot.
Critics say LaBeouf does an able job, but with a dizzying array of alien robots loudly morphing into military hardware and blasting away at enemies, he's given too little to do.
Variety called the movie "longer, louder and perhaps 'more than your eye can meet,'" compared to its 2007 predecessor.
Others blasted the story. "Characters and comedy are in short supply in a plot that's basically an Indiana Jones-style search for a buried treasure," the Hollywood Reporter said. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Chris Brown gets probation for assault on Rihanna

By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown pleaded guilty on Monday to assaulting his former girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, in an agreement with prosecutors that calls for him to spend five years of probation and attend courses on domestic violence.
Brown, singer of the hits "Run It" and "Kiss Kiss," will be formally sentenced August 5. He had faced four years in prison if convicted in a trial on charges of assault and a making a criminal threat. There was no plea deal on a second charge.
In addition to the probation and the domestic violence course in his home state of Virginia, Brown also must perform 180 days of community service.
He was ordered to keep his distance from Rihanna, 21, who was in the courthouse on Monday and prepared to testify against him.
Brown, 20, showed no emotion as his high-profile defense lawyer Mark Geragos told Los Angeles Judge Patricia Schnegg of the plea agreement with prosecutors.
Dressed in a gray suit, the singer was accompanied into the courtroom by his mother and an entourage of supporters.
"I think it's commendable that you took responsibility for your conduct, sir," Schnegg told Brown.
He was accused of beating Rihanna, whose hit songs include "Umbrella," in a rented Lamborghini after the two attended a swanky music industry party in February on the eve of the industry's Grammy Awards.
A police photo of Rihanna's bruised and battered face taken after the incident was leaked to the media but details of what happened that evening have been scant. Brown's plea means that evidence against him will not be heard in an open court.
"Rihanna believes this is a fair and just resolution to this case," her attorney Donald Etra told reporters outside the courthouse following the hearing. He said Barbados-born Rihanna learned of the plea about an hour before the hearing was set to begin Monday afternoon.
L.A. District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the plea was similar to other cases for first-time offenders like Brown and prosecutors had discussed it with Rihanna.
(Additional reporting by Laura Isensee, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Bill Trott)

Source: Reuters

Springsteen, Ticketmaster battle escalates

By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Bruce Springsteen's manager has come out swinging against the Newark Star Ledger and Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller following a news report that the rocker's organization kept many of the best tickets to a recent show out of the public's hands.
The Ledger reported last week that about 2,300 total tickets for a May 21 performance at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., were held back for "friends of the band, the record label and the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority, which operates the venue."
Diller was quoted in the New York Post as saying Springsteen "has been one of our most vocal critics on our ticketing policies and while he's more than entitled to his opinion, it seems minimally fair-minded to point out that in the concert that created the battle, where Ticketmaster apologized for making a technical mistake, it seems that Mr. Springsteen held back from his fans all but 108 of the 1,126 tickets closest to the stage," Diller said.
The entire fracas dates back to February 6 Springsteen on-sale chaos for the Izod show, where the Springsteen camp claimed Ticketmaster directed fans to its in-house secondary site TicketsNow in a "bait-and-switch" maneuver.
In his response, posted Monday on Springsteen's Web site, Landau says Springsteen's holds "had nothing to do at all with the breakdown of Ticketmaster's system. When fans were redirected to TicketsNow, "an undetermined but large amount of money flowed into TicketsNow (and eventually Ticketmaster) even though there were still tickets at normal prices yet to be made available on Ticketmaster. We perceived this to have been a major abuse of our fans, complained about it mightily, and added that because of behavior like this, the pending merger of the number one ticketing company and number one management company (both owned by Ticketmaster) with the number one venue owner and operator (Live Nation) might not be such a hot idea."
Landau says a public apology from Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff "which apology we promptly and graciously posted on our site" substantiates the Springsteen camp's position when coupled with the volume of complaints received by New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram, whom "ultimately secured a consent degree from Ticketmaster, in which they promised that some of their practices ("glitches") with regard to its sister company TicketsNow will never be repeated."
Landau calls the Ledger piece "the same article that the Star Ledger runs whenever we do a few indoor shows in New Jersey" and Diller's spin as "flatly untrue. He is merely using the time honored tradition of blowing smoke to distract attention away from Ticketmaster's already acknowledged responsibility for their "glitches" on February 6, the on-sale date of the two Izod Center shows."
Regarding holds by Thrill Hill, Springsteen's touring division, "Perhaps the first thing to be said is that when we play New Jersey, our fans know that we are usually going to do more than two indoor shows in order to ensure, among other things, that during the course of a tour, Springsteen tickets will be plentiful so as many fans as possible will have a chance to get great seats (hence the five upcoming shows at Giants Stadium.) As our fans also know, we have kept all of our tickets under $100 and do all that we can to ensure that as many as possible are sold at face value."
Landau admits to "significant holds" in New Jersey, as well as New York and Los Angeles" (which indeed is a common industry practice for major tours), saying the holds are for band members and their families, the Springsteen organization, the label, reviewers, radio stations, and charities.
Then he offers the following charge: "Unlike some Ticketmaster managed artists, no tickets are held for high dollar resale on TicketsNow, or through any other means."
Springsteen's ticketing practices have "evolved over more than 30 years of experience. Does anyone seriously imagine that any element of these practices caused Ticketmaster to redirect ticket requests to TicketsNow for the Izod Center shows? What would our incentive have been? It's not we who earned vastly larger sums when fans paid way over the face value of the tickets. It was Ticketmaster/TicketsNow."
Landau admits such public airing of Springsteen's business is uncharacteristic of the organization. "But we do get upset when we see fans being taken advantage of, as they were on February 6," he says. "So, when that stuff stops happening (and the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow problems surrounding our recent show in Washington D.C. shows that these issues are far from resolved) we will stop complaining. And when the facts cease to be misrepresented, we will stop explaining."
(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)

Source: Reuters