. . . and taking this opportunity to plug my next book

By JOE X. PRICE

Sorry it’s taken me so long to let everyone know how much I enjoyed the Anni Book. Peter Besas really did a job. It’s beautiful! And thanx, Pete, for running my stuff — not just one, but two pieces! And for mentioning me in your speech at Sardi’s.

I really regretted not being there. I still do — especially after my buddy Doug Galloway came home and gave me the book and told me about the event from his POV. He said he had more fun there than he’d had in weeks. Which for him is quite a statement. Believe me, Duggles is a pro at it; he has fun 24-7, even when he sleeps. (Especially when he sleeps, actually.)

Me? I’m fine. Take me off the “Ill ‘n’ Injured” list. The surgery is behind me now — in more ways than one — and I feel great. Also, I’m svelte again. (Funny, I always thought “svelte” was a Jewish word, like “kvetch” till I looked it up.)

I lost about 50 pounds and I don’t miss a single one of them. Sure, I don’t move as fast as I used to but what World War II vet does at age 59? Come on, admit it. You guys have got to be as old as I am, if not older, for God’s sake!

Which brings me to the subject of my new novel, For God’s Sake! Sure, it’s a sneaky way to get a plug in, but why not?

It’s a hellava book. I wrote it about eight years ago and couldn’t sell it. Why? Because all it was was a lousy first draft and I was too stupid to see it. It needed a major rewrite, page for page, which I’m giving it now.

I’m about two-thirds done and should be finished by Xmas time. It’ll be in the stores by the end of ’06 selling for $25.95 a copy and will be a socco smashit. How can I be so sure? Simple. It’s all about sex and religion.

Thanks to everyone for thinking of me – and yes, I’m taking good care of Abel’s ashtray.

Ex-mugg to run Irish Film Board

Bord Scannán na hÉireann, otherwise the Irish Film Board, has tapped former Variety London staffer Simon Perry as chief exec. Simo, scrammed the London office to get into the British film biz, became a producer and wound up as head of British Screen, an outfit that part-financed ambitious European flicks.
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MORRIE GELMAN, having just watched the baseball World Series, succumbed to a little nostalgia about an unlikely band of sporting brothers.

ONCE WHEN I WAS INTERVIEWING producer Dan Curtis he made me take a vow. He was then executive producer-director of Herman Wouk‘s War and Remembrance, the 18-hour 1988 miniseries for ABC. It was a credit he wasn’t likely to mumble.
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