"CANDLE" WAXED: Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" tribute to Princess Diana won't be in stores until September 23--a week later than previously announced. Some last-minute artwork changes to the packaging the given reason for the delay. Already, U.S. record stores have received 5 million orders for the single.
TRIBUTE ADD: That special version of "Candle in the Wind" goes on sale Saturday in Britain. Pre-orders stand at a 1.5 million. And, in Paris, where Diana died, customers are snapping up copies at the rate of more than 500 an hour.
ELTON ADD: Footage of Elton John performing "Candle in the Wind" at Diana's funeral has been snipped out of a couple of quickie video documentaries about the princess by two British TV networks. That's per an edict from the pop singer, who's upset that neither company will guarantee that all proceeds from the videos will go to Di's charities.
TERRIBLE SECRET: Diana's bodyguard--the lone survivor of that brutal Paris tunnel crash August 31--does not yet know that the princess, Dodi Fayed and their driver are dead. That's according to a London newspaper report Friday. Trevor Rees-Jones, 29, is said to be too weak to be told. Also, there's speculation that once recovered, Rees-Jones won't have any memory of the crash because of all the anesthesia treatment he's received.
TERESA TUNE: A priest has penned a tribute song, a la Elton John, to be performed at Mother Teresa's funeral in Calcutta on Saturday. The song is called "A Flame in the Slums."
CRYING FOUL: The broadcast networks say there's a reason they get aced out by HBO for Emmys for TV-movies and miniseries: Unfair competition. If the cable giant dominates those categories again (as expected) Sunday, look for lobbying to increase to get the non-networks out of the primetime competition.
TABLOID SUPPLIER: Here's an unlikely freelance photographer for the National Enquirer: Michael Jackson. The pop singer says he was forced to sell pictures of his baby son to the tab--for $2 million--to "set the record straight."
ELEPHANT PEOPLE: Actors Judge Reinhold and Ali MacGraw want a circus to pay for the death of Heather, an 8-year-old African elephant found stricken inside its big top trailer last month. Friday, Reinhold and MacGraw called on the feds to revoke the circus' license.
GUN PLAY: Charlton Heston's commandment: The Second Amendment is essentially more important than the First Amendment because without the right to bear arms, we wouldn't have any way to protect our right to free speech. The remarks by the actor/National Rifle Association leader came in Washington, D.C. Thursday.
STERN VS FCC: Howard Stern's new corporate boss is finding out what it's like to have the radio host for an employee. Westinghouse Electric Corp. is protesting a $6,000 Federal Communications Commission fine levied against a New York City station because of a (what else?) Stern broadcast.
ALBERT CASE: There was hearing Friday in a Virginia court on the Marv Albert sexual assault case. Lawyers for the NBC sportscaster want to subpoena records about his female accuser. Albert has admitted to carrying on a 10-year affair with the woman.
UPSIZING: Gadfly filmmaker Michael Moore (Roger & Me), has just had his new documentary about corporate down-sizing, The Big One, bought by Miramax. So what's he gonna do with the dough? Donate half the net profits to his hard-luck hometown, Flint, Michigan.
BATHING SUIT WATCH: The bikini invasion at the Miss America pageant is complete. Miss California, clad in a pink two-piece, won her preliminary bathing suit round Thursday night--making it two-out-of-three for bikini-wearers in prelim competitions this week. The pageant finals will be broadcast Saturday on ABC.
MAKE IT SO: Resistance is futile, so Star Trek: The Next Generation captain Patrick Stewart will wed for the second time. According to a published report, the British-born actor has announced his engagement to Wendy Neuss, a producer for another Trek spin-off, Voyager. No date is set.
EXTRAORDINARY LIVES: Folk legend Bob Dylan, actors Lauren Bacall and Charlton Heston, and opera singer Jessye Norman are among those named to receive Kennedy Center honors this year. The lifetime achievement awards, handed out every year for the past 20, will be presented by President Clinton at the White House on December 7.
CARNIE WORLD: Jodie Foster reportedly may return to the director's chair for a film about circus life called Flora Plum. The Oscar-winning actress' last directorial effort was 1995's Home for the Holidays. For all the latest casting news, see The Dotted Line.
NAME GAME: A Lawndale, California, woman has helped the Keenan Ivory Wayans Show dream up a moniker for the late-night show's all-woman musical group: No Man's Band. That was the winning viewer-supplied suggestion, and, now, that's the name of the band.
OH, GOOD: Playmate-turned-sitcom star Jenny McCarthy has received a $1 million advance for her autobiography, Jen-X. For those of you without calculators, that works out to about $41,666 for each of Jenny's 24 years on the planet.
OBITUARY: The producer-director who helped bring more than 55 acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame movies to TV audiences has died. George Schaefer was 76. His last Hallmark production, a remake of Harvey, starring Harry Anderson, will air this season on CBS.