DAVID LETTERMAN & THE PARTY PRINCESS

Lindsay Lohan has been an actress since she was seven years old. She will soon celebrate her 21st birthday and she'll do that in a casino in Las Vegas where she says the people are very strict. What Lindsay Lohan means by that is, they don't (knowingly) allow people to drink or gamble in Las Vegas unless they're at least 21.

As an actress or a party princess, Lindsay Lohan makes Paris Hilton look like an amateur. We don't see sex tapes of Lohan on the market for sale, because Lohan has earned her fame the old fashioned way. She earned it.

Now some of this fame hasn't been the result of good and or responsible thinking, but this young and possible heir apparent to Elizabeth Taylor IS only 20 and that's why it was fascinating to watch her being interviewed by David Letterman last night on CBS' "Late Night With David Letterman".

Lindsay Lohan was on Letterman's show to promote her new film, "Georgia Rule", which will open tomorrow.

Of all the late night (or any time of day) comedians who work the big stages, David Letterman has the REAL imaginative mind and if there was ever a target he could have had a field day with "bulls-eye shots", it was the tabloid target known as Lindsay Lohan.

Instead, Letterman chose to take the gentle route. And in so doing, if you were paying attention, you heard information you hadn't heard before that cried for follow-up questions, but Letterman chose to move on and continue to gently probe and (then) got her to participate in some silliness while continuing to reveal even more about herself. At the end, we got the thing of showing us a clip from "Georgia Rule" and you heard her tell us (without Letterman asking)what it was that Jane Fonda said in that scene that CBS had to bleep.

Lindsay Lohan also told us about another film that will come out soon in which she'll play a stripper. And Letterman gently led her through THAT part of their conversation. When Letterman asked her how much of her would be shown, she said, "A lot!" and Letterman, to his credit, didn't ask for specifics. He didn't have to. That line alone, sold a TON of tickets for that yet to be released film.

In the past, David Letterman has received criticism for coming across as mean in interviews, but that's a long ago past. Last night's interview with the fragile, but beautiful and talented Lindsay Lohan, showed everyone how genuine compassion might give you "gold" and "gold" is what David Letterman got.

"American Idol":

Watching what was (then) American Idol's final four do a rendition of songs made famous by the Bee Gees last night, made me think of a line made famous by Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) when he said, "A man's gotta know his limitations!"

The American Idol finalists didn't do well trying to sing Bee Gees' songs Tuesday night when they tried them solo and you couldn't help but think they might do better if they tried those songs as a group like, you know, the Bee Gees did? Well, we're not thinking that now, because this group proved they have no business trying those songs.
And then when Barry Gibb sang, "To Love Somebody", we heard the dramatic difference.

A teary goodbye was given to Lakisha (she was eliminated), but I thought she went out swinging because her "leave the building song", rocked the house!

"Boston Legal":

If you saw Tuesday's episode of Boston Legal, you saw what makes that show so much fun to watch. The writing of David E. Kelley and what William Shatner and James Spader bring to the table. It's not hard to figure out Kelley's political persuasion, is it? But he does it with biting humor that is magnificently delivered by Spader while Shatner, with a "look", says more than the vast majority of actors do with words.

Sudden thought:

Because of HD, do you know what the highest paying job in show business is now?

Makeup artist.

Firefighters:

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here in the L.A. area, we have developed a new sense of appreciation for you folks because of what you've had to do the last couple of days.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding what you've read or might like to read, you can reach me directly at my home e-mail address. scottstjames@sbcglobal.net

Tomorrow:

Another big Republican name lets it be known she's looking for something different.