South O' The Highway (and the North too)

Ellen and Chuck Scarborough and Marcy and Michael Warren will be honored by the Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons at the home of Liz Brown and Leslie Alexander on Saturday, July 19th. Beth Ostrosky, Caroline Hirsch, Missy Hargraves and Andy Sabin will serve as the event chairpersons. For more information, contact Linda B. Shapiro at 631-329-5480.

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Hamptons fashion designer Jackie Rogers fitted Bethenny Frankel from "The Real Housewives of New York City" for the Belmont Stakes in Rogers' new Gin Lane Collection. Frankel looked fabulous in a seersucker jumpsuit, which Rogers raced to fit in 48 hours.

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East Hampton's Steven Spielberg wants his DreamWorks studio to once again be fully independent and own the movies it puts out, a venture that will cost the master of cinema a tidy $1 billion. He's also recently allowed a bidding war to begin among studios for the rights to distribute future DreamWorks movies; those currently vying for the prize are Paramount, Universal, Disney and Fox.

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Hamptonite Russell Simmons carried a lighter load after a suitcase of jewelry was stolen from a Bleecker Street apartment building. The contents of the case, which included three diamond rings, a pendant, three sets of earrings and two bracelets from the Simmons Jewelry Company, were valued at $15,000.

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Liam McMullan, son of celebrity photographer extraordinaire Patrick McMullan, is recording a dance album and will be performing live throughout the Hamptons this summer.

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It seems "The Cheap Show" from creators Betty and Michael Paraskevas was too cheap even for Plum TV's new general manager. The innovators behind Nickelodeon's "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast" - and the popular "Green Monkeys" comic strip in Dan's Papers - were fired a few weeks ago. They assure fans of Duncan Biscotti, Maurice the Chef and Baby that the show will continue, and that a new home for future episodes is in the works.

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The much-anticipated annual Southampton Fresh Air Home's Decorators-Designers-Dealers Sale, Auction and Cocktail Party was attended by hundreds of bargain-hunting philanthropists. Those shopping for a good cause were Lorraine Bracco, Aida Turturro, Mildred Brinn, John and Kay McEnroe, Somers Farkas, Cathy di Montezemolo, Debbie Bancroft, Jackie Rogers and many, many more.

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Patrick Christiano, one-half of "Gordin and Christiano," Dan's Papers' popular theater-critics team, has been appointed to the seven-member Drama Desk Nominating Committee for the 2008-2009 theater season. This committee selects the nominees for the Drama Desk Awards, which have honored excellence both on and off Broadway for the past 53 years.

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Hamptonite Tommy Hilfiger and fiancée Dee Ocleppo celebrated their love this week with the help of Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, who threw the pair an elegant engagement party at the Neue Galerie in New York. Guests included Donald and Susan Newhouse, Gayle King, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Clive Davis, Daria and Larry Leeds, Sessa and Richard Johnson, Russell Simmons, Daniel Benedict, Andrew Saffir and Anna Wintour.

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The Elaine Benson Gallery, under the direction of Benson's daughter, Kimberly Goff, has a new home at The Southampton Inn. The late Benson, den mother to a legion of artists and Dan's Papers faculty advisor for many years, would appreciate the first show in her gallery's new home. Fittingly, the opening exhibition is titled "Legacy," and features the work of the late Noyac painter Bertram Alper, and his son, Leland Alper.

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Elie and Rory Tahari hosted Kyle MacLachlan, Martha Stewart and other celebrity do-gooders at their Sagaponack home this past weekend. The cocktail party benefited God's Love We Deliver, a nonprofit that prepares and delivers free meals for men, women and children who are living with cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-altering diseases.

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Evelyn Lauder will host the first screening of Mamma Mia!, the Broadway show turned movie musical starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan, at the Southampton Cinema on July 13. The sneak preview is a "cultivation event" to raise awareness for Lauder's Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

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Former Dan's Papers intern Justin DeMarco has co-written a play entitled Hockey: The Musical. The 90-minute show explores the "brotherhood of team" and challenges of being gay in professional sports, and debuts on July 2 at the Fringe, a theater festival in Toronto.

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