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The Insider

Aug 25, 2003  •  Post A Comment

Lawyer-turned-TV-personality Greta Van Susteren has been telling folk she is going to be a judge. A Miss America Pageant judge.
The Insider also hears some thought has been given to having Ms. Van Susteren do her Fox News Channel show, “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren,” from Atlantic City during the week leading up to the Sept. 20 pageant, which will be hosted by “Hollywood Squares”’ Tom Bergeron and broadcast live on ABC.
The Washington-based Ms. Van Susteren, who is quite the hoot when she’s off-camera and can dish, is in for a real whirl. The Insider spent a memorable week covering the pageant when sister Orlandoan Delta Burke went to Atlantic City as Miss Florida 1974.
But that’s not the only cosmic connection between The Insider and Ms. Van Susteren, who quotes The Insider’s alter ego in her book “My Turn at the Bully Pulpit: Straight Talk About the Things That Drive Me Nuts,” which is just about to hit bookstores. See Page 273 of the book excerpt, about Ms. Van Susteren’s very public plastic surgery and the reactions to it, published in the September Harper’s Bazaar.
BARING, GRINNING AND BEARING IT
At last week’s screening for HBO’s rousing Sept. 7 flick “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,” The Insider was reminded of how wise she was to decide at an early age that she did not want to be in the spotlight-particularly not naked in the spotlight.
The Insider had gotten her popcorn and her close-up glimpse of “Pancho” knockout Antonio Banderas (and wife Melanie Griffith). She was sitting and chatting happily with friends. She was just one row behind Evan Handler, who was sitting happily with his fiancee, Elisa Atti, and actress Rosie Perez when their chitchat was rudely interrupted by a man who boomed: “I saw your ass last night.” It was a reference to the cheeky “Sex and the City” plot line that called for Mr. Handler to play most of his scenes “butt-naked.”
The Insider asked Mr. Handler whether he had been similarly barraged all day. Only when he left his apartment, he said, with some bemusement. “I pretty much stayed in today.”
Also in the crowd at the after-screening party was The Insider’s favorite comedian, Jeffrey Ross, who will be writing jokes for Chris Rock, the host of MTV’s live Video Music Awards show, set for 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28.