The Wisdom of SIR Charles CHAPLIN

LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By

CHARLIE CHAPLIN:

I remain just one thing, and one thing only and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician. (1960)

Ryan Seacrest jumps to CAA

'American Idol' host was with WMA for 10 years

By Matthew Belloni and Nellie Andreeva

July 15, 2009, 08:15 PM ET

Ryan Seacrest has signed with CAA after 10 years at WMA.

The news comes on the heels of the "American Idol" emcee becoming the highest-paid reality host with a new three-year, $45 million deal to continue his duties on America's top-rated show.

Seacrest did not use an agent in that deal.

Instead, he was repped by his attorney Craig Jacobson and Adam Sher, a former WMA agent who once co-represented him with John Ferriter until recently leaving the agency to join Seacrest's production shingle Ryan Seacrest Prods.

Going into the renegotiations for "Idol," Seacrest had informed his long-term reps at WMA, which had just merged with Endeavor to form WME, that the agency would not commission any future deals for "Idol" or for his lucrative radio deal with Clear Channel.

That was not acceptable to the agency, sources said

The "Idol" and radio pacts are probably the biggest revenue source in Seacrest's portfolio, but he is also a big earner in other areas, including his wide-reaching deal with Comcast and its E! Entertainment,

his hosting job on New Year's Eve, and his growing production company that is behind such shows as E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and ABC's upcoming Jamie Oliver reality show.

In the past 10 years, Ferriter and Sher negotiated Seacrest's first pact with "Idol," as well as his original radio deal.

Seacrest recently met with CAA, with the agency's Kevin Huvane, Alan Berger Jeff Jacobs and Brian Weinstein present at the meeting.

After returning from vacation early this week, Seacrest made the decision to go with CAA and informed his new agency Tuesday night.

For CAA, not representing Seacrest for "Idol" is not a big financial hit as the agency has the package on the show and wouldn't have been able to get a commission on him anyway.

Additionally, CAA reps Seacrest's close friend on the show Simon Cowell, whose main rep at CAA is Alan Berger.

With Seacrest on board, CAA will have the three main talent pieces on "Idol": creator Simon Fuller, Cowell and Seacrest.

simon cowell (top ) simon fuller and wife ( bottom )

Pollack takes over at Celestial

New CEO comes on board over a year after Pfeiffer departure

By Patrick Frater HONG KONG --

Former Sony television executive Ross Pollack is to take over as CEO of Celestial Pictures, the Hong Kong-based TV and film group that is part of Malaysia's Astro group.

He replaces William Pfeiffer, who quit in March 2008 to launch Tiger Gate Entertainment with Lions Gate as a backer.

Pollack, who was previously senior vice president of distribution in Asia for Sony Pictures Television International, starts at Astro from next month.

Celestial, which owns and has digittally restored the 700-strong Shaw Brothers film library, these days positions itself as a branded television company with operations that extend into feature film.

It is understood to be planning a couple of remakes based on Shaw properties.

Celestial this week shifted its headquarters away from Clearwater Bay and a location near Shaw's historic studios, to new premises in Kowloon Bay.

Pollack's replacement at Sony is expected to be announced Thursday.

LAPD TREATING JACKSON DEATH AS HOMICIDE:

Multiple law enforcement sources tell TMZ the LAPD is already treating Michael Jackson's death as a homicide, and they are focusing on Dr. Conrad Murray.

Law enforcement sources tell us the evidence points to the anesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of Jackson's death.

As we first reported, vials of Propofol were found in Jackson's home after he died.

Law enforcement sources say there is already "plenty of powerful evidence" linking Dr. Murray as the person who administered the drug to Jackson.

The evidence includes various items found in Jackson's house, including the Propofol, an IV stand and oxygen tank.

Dr. Murray's lawyer would neither confirm nor deny if his client administered the Propofol.

LBN-MEDIA TRACKER:

LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:

***In a massive start, Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was course to score the best midnight gross of all time, taking in as much as $20 million when opening at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at the domestic B.O., according to early estimates.

***Working Title is developing a third installment in the "Bridget Jones" series with Renee Zellweger reprising her starring role.

The untitled film probably won't go into production until the end of next year, according to Variety, and will likely be based on the weekly columns author Helen Fielding wrote in 2005 for the Independent about Bridget trying to have a baby in her 40s.

***California's attorney general Jerry Brown has yet to announce whether he is running for governor, but has he already landed a few of Hollywood's most lucrative endorsements?

Last month, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen each contributed to his 2010 AG re-election committee, money that can be folded into a gubernatorial campaign if and when Brown announces.

LBN-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY By HELLEN KELLER:

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. (1929

LBN-COMMENTARY By PETER BART:

Too much knowledge can be a mixed blessing in the movie business.

At a panel discussion not long ago, Amy Pascal observed that "the more you know, the harder it becomes.

" When making decisions at a movie studio, she said, "benign ignorance can be downright helpful."

Her observations are interesting in view of the fact that Pascal, in her 20 years at Sony Pictures, may be setting a record in terms of studio experience, as well as savvy.

LBN-OVERHEARD:

***Robert Redford married his partner, a 51-year-old German artist, over the weekend, a German church said Wednesday.

Renate Massfeller of the St. Catherine Church in Hamburg said that Pastor Frank Engelbrecht presided over the wedding of the 72-year-old U.S. actor and artist Sibylle Szaggars at the luxury Louis C. Jacob Hotel.

***Ukraine's Culture Ministry says it has banned Sacha Baron Cohen's new hit movie "Bruno" because it is immoral.

The movie is centered around the adventures of a flamboyant gay fashion journalist from Austria.

***The more Jada Pinkett Smith brags about her incredible sex life with Will Smith, the more it makes us wonder whether she doth protest too much.

Why the sales job?

What are we buying?

Jada's most recent over-sharing comes in Shape magazine, where she gushes:

"When you have three kids, you've got to take your opportunities when they come.

In a limo, on the way to the Academy Awards this year, Will started looking at me in this way that drives me wild.

We started kissing passionately, and the next thing I knew, well, let's just say we missed the red carpet and I ended up with almost no makeup on."

***Things are heating up between Jane Fonda and music producer Richard Perry.

Sources say that since their very public display of affection at the Sunset Tower last week, the two are now "inseparable" and may even be living together.

Perry is now working on a musical called "Baby, It's You" in Los Angeles, and our insider said,

"Jane has been attending almost every rehearsal with him."

***Taking a cue from her fictional counterpart,

Samantha Jones, Sex and the City vixen Kim Cattrall has officially called it quits with her much younger longtime boyfriend, restaurant chef Alan Wyse

LBN-DID YOU KNOW:

***If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19.

You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

***The numbers '172' can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

***Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.

***In the average lifetime, a person will walk the equivalent of 5 times around the equator.

***According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.

LBN-QUOTE:

"As in political, so in literary action, a man wins friends for himself mostly by the passion of his prejudices." - Joseph Conrad.