Crowe gets in another row

London ” Russell Crowe got into a brawl at a chic London restaurant and was questioned by police, newspapers reported Thursday.

The Oscar-winning star of films including “Gladiator” and “A Beautiful Mind” had a fist fight with a New Zealand businessman early Wednesday morning in the bathroom of Zuma, a hangout of music and film stars in the expensive Knightsbridge neighborhood, the Sun and Daily Mail tabloids reported.

The stories were accompanied by several photos, including one that showed marks on Crowe’s face.

Rocket Man to have laser surgery

London ” Singer Elton John, who claims to own some 4,000 pairs of eyeglasses, says he plans to have laser surgery so he won’t need corrective lenses.

“I’m so fed up with ‘Where are they?’ I can’t see anything, so why wait?” John said in a televised interview Wednesday.

The 55-year-old plans to have the procedure in February.

Outrageous eyewear has been part of his flamboyant image, and he once said he had bought 20,000 pairs over the years. They included eyeglasses with wipers, flashing lights and sun visors.

There was even a London comedy production, “Elton John’s Glasses,” in which his beloved soccer team, Watford, lost a championship match when the goalkeeper was blinded by a flash of sunlight from the star’s specs.

Lewis: Telethon a weightier issue

Washington ” When Jerry Lewis hosted his annual Labor Day Telethon this year, his face and body were bloated and puffy from the steroid medication he takes for pulmonary fibrosis.

“I put on 54 pounds. I look like Orson Welles in heat,” he told AP Radio recently.

But the 76-year-old comedian said the weight gain didn’t stop him from appearing on the 21 1/2-hour fund-raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.

“I knew I’m going out there. What’s my problem? I’ve got an 11-year-old who’s dying. How do I think about how I look like? But my presence there can save him? Come on! If I was ever tested : to find out if I was real, I did it (on) Labor Day folks.”

Lewis had a bout with spinal meningitis two years ago and later was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, an increase of fibrous tissue in the lungs.

Here he is: Mr. Miss America

Atlantic City, N.J. ” Mr. Miss America now has the job on a permanent basis.

George Bauer, who took over leadership of the Miss America Organization as interim chief executive officer last March, has been appointed president and CEO, the organization announced Wednesday.

Patching up some of the dissension within the organization is among his first priorities, he said.

“In the past several years, we’ve seen a lack of unity at all levels : with people taking shots at the institution and at each other. That’s all over now,” he said.