Bobby Rydell writes memoir, and it's a 'Wild One'
Also in Tattle: Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill, Gal Gadot, and more
AFTER
Frank Sinatra
became an elder statesman, before
David Cassidy and Davy Jones took over Tiger Beat and in
between Elvis Presley and The Beatles, the pop idol who made the girls swoon was South Philly's own Bobby Rydell.
Born April 26, 1942, Rydell won a TV talent show for children and never looked back. He charted with "Kissin' Time" in 1959, had a string of gold records, became the youngest headliner ever at New York's Copacabana in 1961, starred in the 1963 movie version of Bye, Bye Birdie opposite Ann-Margret and Dick Van Dyke, and after 50-plus years of performing lived to perform again after a double-organ transplant at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in 2012.
Not only is Rydell still performing, he has also written an autobiography, Bobby Rydell: Teen Idol on the Rocks (with Allan Slutsky), that's set to hit stores May 4. It's got anecdotes about Sinatra, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Dick Clark and American Bandstand, and many other of the greatest entertainers of the past 75 years.
Can't wait until May 4? How's April 16? Rydell will be signing the first books off the presses after his show that night at Atlantic's City's Golden Nugget.
Minaj shows love for Mill
Nicki Minaj
is standing by her man,
Meek Mill
, even if she's doing that standing nearly 8,000 miles away from him.
While Meek remains on house arrest here, Nicki was performing in South Africa, and TMZ.com reports that she got her fans to send Meek a loud, loving, shout-out.
Nicki's show even contained photo projections of the couple together.
Meek, meanwhile, got a visit from Rick Ross, according to a report in musictimes.com. Ross can relate to Meek's cabin fever as he was released from house arrest in November.
In February, Meek (a/k/a Robert Williams) was sentenced to 90 days' house arrest. As of March 1, he had to wear an ankle bracelet and was prohibited from releasing music, recording music or performing.
Waiting for Gadot
Tattle's Comics Guy
Jerome Maida
was at the Los Angeles press event for
Batman vs. Superman
and reports that a highlight of the event-and the movie- was the appearance and performance of
Gal Gadot
as Wonder Woman.
The Israeli actress said at the press conference she is happy to play someone her daughter can look up to.
"I have a 4-year-old daughter and she adores princesses," Gadot said. "At the same time, she would tell me 'The princess, she's so weak. She falls asleep, the prince will come and save her and kiss her and he's the hero.' So I am happy I'm going to be the one who's going to tell the Wonder Woman story. It's such an important story. But I also think it's so important for girls to have a female, strong superhero to look up to."
Steven Rea's review will run tomorrow, but Maida believes the Wonder Woman's role in the film, not much more than a cameo, is more of a distraction.
Yet so much attention has been focused on Gadot and her Amazon warrior, Maida said, it's taken away from the focus of DC's top two heroes battling it out on screen for the first time ever.
"I was obsessed with the Trinity," director Zack Snyder said. "I really wanted to see the Trinity - that being Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman-in a single moment. That was a thing I was really interested in getting into this movie."
Maida thinks Snyder should have worried more about the two heroes in the title.
- Daily News wire services
contributed to this report.
215-854-5678 @DNTattle