A photo negative of actress Jean Harlow lounging on a white bearskin rug may sell for as much as $30,000 at an auction of glamorous Hollywood images this week.

The negative and a custom print of the 1934 photograph by George Hurrell are among thousands of items in the auction, which will be held March 26 and 27 at Profiles in History in Calabasas, California.

The sale is expected to generate $3 million to $5 million, according to the auction house’s president, Joe Maddalena. The photographs were purchased over several decades by collector Michael H. Epstein.

The collection has “every iconic image of ‘30s and ‘40s glamour photography by every major photographer,” Maddalena said. “It’s all beautiful photography. His eye is uncanny.”

Epstein, whose mother was a model who posed for Richard Avedon, began collecting art and photography when he was a teenager. Over the decades, his collection grew large enough to fill three Hollywood warehouses with photographs of Gary Cooper, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Veronica Lake, Johnny Weissmuller, Greta Garbo and other stars from Hollywood’s golden age.

“I kept buying and buying and buying, and I didn’t really know what I had until Joe Maddalena and I went to the warehouses,” Epstein, 55, said in an interview. “They were so stuffed with photos and memorabilia and archives that I didn’t have room to walk around.”

Charity Donation

Epstein said he and his partner Scott E. Schwimer will donate a “substantial portion” of the sales proceeds to to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center. Epstein served on the center’s board for seven years. Sales also will benefit the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization promoting acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths.

The negative of the Harlow photograph is expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000, according to Profiles in History. The photo was taken at Harlow’s home on Oct. 18, 1934, a month after the death of her husband, producer Paul Bern. It ran in the January 1935 issue of Vanity Fair, and was Hurrell’s first photograph for the magazine.

“The Harlow bear rug portrait was immediately regarded as the perfect expression of Hurrell’s technical and stylistic achievements and is his most important Hollywood portrait,” the auction catalog says.

Sources : dtaub@bloomberg.net.

The prince who is known as Flight Lieutenant Wales, is currently learning to fly Sea King helicopters at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

A spokesman at the base said acting as a casualty for other course pilots was a routine part of the training.

The 27-year-old prince arrived to start his training on Anglesey in January.

If successful on the course, he will become a fully operational pilot with one of the six UK-based RAF Search and Rescue Force flights later this year.

"Acting as a casualty for other course pilots and rear crew is a routine part of search and rescue training, at the 203(R) Squadron Operation Conversion Unit, based at RAF Valley," said a spokesman.

"It is also an opportunity for the pilot members of the course to gain an insight into what it is like to be handled as a casualty in various rescue situations, and give them appreciation of the role of the winch man and winch operator."

Sources:http://news.bbc.co.uk

Confirmed: Gwyneth Paltrow is a Mean Girl. Just ask her.

"Oh yes, I can be mean," she tells British Vogue (as excerpted in British paper The Telegraph). "I can cave in to gossip. I can ice people out and I definitely harbor revenge."

The 37-year old actress, wife and mom, who dispenses advice about spirituality, fitness, food and other topics in her weekly "Goop" newsletter, is frank with the magazine about her toxic feelings.

PHOTOS: Gwyneth's worst Oscar dress of all time

"I'll wake up in the morning and think, 'Ugh, I feel terrible,' and suddenly realize, 'Ah, that's why. I'm holding on to so much hate.'"

At the time of her interview, in fact, Paltrow confided, "I'm having a situation right now with a friend where I'm feeling pretty angry. But revenge is corrosive and it doesn't make me feel good."

Might that friend be Madonna?

PHOTOS: Does Gwyneth look better with or without makeup?

Often tagged as one of Paltrow's closest buddies, the 51-year-old pop star came up as Paltrow discussed her new business partner Tracy Anderson -- Madonna's former personal trainer.

"Yeah, it's good that [Tracy] doesn't train Madonna any more. It was too much. She keeps people waiting -- it takes up your whole day," Paltrow sniped.

PHOTOS: Look back on these memorable catfights

Paltrow said that she and Anderson plan to open a London exercise studio later this year. Anderson helped the Oscar winner lose 20 pounds after the birth of son Moses, who turns four this week. (He's her second child with husband Chris Martin of Coldplay; daughter Apple is 5.)

"I had to work hard to get it like this," Paltrow says of her svelte shape. "But now I'm here it's so great because I don't have to think about it. I can just enjoy life. What a relief is that."

PHOTOS: Incredible post-baby bodies

She adds: "I can eat what I want, as long as I exercise, which is just as well, because if I put the word' diet' into my brain, I immediately gain a stone [i.e. 14 pounds]."

Sources: voices.washingtonpost.com

Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy each announced their breakup on Tuesday -- in 140 characters or less.

"Jenny and I have just ended our 5yr relationship," Carrey wrote on Twitter. "I'm grateful 4 the many blessings we've shared and I wish her the very best! S'okay!"

McCarthy, who attended Mother McAuley High School in Mount Greenwood, also turned to the social networking site to comment on the breakup. And like Carrey, the 37-year-old actress took the high road when answering Twitter's "What's happening?" question.

"I'm so grateful for the years Jim and I had together," McCarthy tweeted. "I will stay committed to Jane (Carrey's daughter) and will always keep Jim as a leading man in my heart."

Fans of Carrey and McCarthy will be glad to know they are still following each other on Twitter.

Sources : leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com

TMZ has learned the emails targeting Erin Andrews were initially sexual and then turned extremely violent -- in one case the writer threatened to gun her down in L.A.

Sources say the emails to "The Dan Patrick Show" began September 16, 2009 -- the email that day was sexual in nature.

That email was followed by sexual emails on October 5, October 28, November 16, and December 2.

Beginning on March 14, the emails turned violent ... and continued on with two on March 29 and one on March 31.

The threatened violence escalated in each email.

There was yet another sexual email on March 22, in between the violent ones.

Many of the emails were sent during the criminal case of Erin's stalker, Michael David Barrett.


Sources : http://www.tmz.com

CINCINNATI — A star high school football player from Ohio who was recruited by Notre Dame died after falling from a hotel balcony while on spring break in Florida, a high school spokesman said.

Students at St. Xavier High School gathered on the football field Friday night to remember senior Matt James following reports of his death in Panama City Beach, Fla., spokesman Mark Motz said Saturday. James, 17, apparently died instantly after he fell from the third-floor balcony of the Days Inn Motel at around 6:30 p.m. Friday, police told WJHG-TV in Panama City.

Police had not confirmed James' identity as of Saturday morning, but Motz said the school was "devastated" by the news. Motz said the impromptu vigil was organized as word of James' death spread through social-networking sites such as Facebook.

"When one of their own is in trouble, they band together," Motz said.

Whit Majors, a forensic investigator with the Florida State Medical Examiner's District 14 office, said the person who died was on spring break but did not release his name. The cause of the fall was being investigated, and officials planned to do toxicology tests, Majors said.

The 6-foot-6, 290-pound offensive lineman was an all-city and all-state football player for St. Xavier and signed a letter of intent Feb. 2 to play for Notre Dame. He also was a member of the high school's varsity basketball team.

James' family received the news at a gathering to celebrate the 50th birthday of an uncle, according to Dan Rudolph, who attended the gathering and whose son Kyle Rudolph is a Notre Dame tight end.

"His mom and dad were here when they got the call," Dan Rudolph told the Chicago Tribune. "The whole James family was here. I can't believe that happened."

James isn't the first spring breaker to die from a balcony fall this year. Brandon Kohler, a 19-year-old from Winder, Ga., died March 24 when he fell from a fifth-floor balcony at the Holiday Terrace Motel in Panama City Beach.

Funeral arrangements were pending. Motz said the school would take its cues from James' family, noting that St. Xavier is on spring break until April 12.

Sourches : http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article