Playwright off to Princeton

Princeton, N.J. – Edward Albee will teach at Princeton University and write a new play for a local theater as the first person named to a new playwriting fellowship.

Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Princeton University/McCarter Theatre Playwriting Fellowship program will bring Albee to Princeton for several months in the fall of 2007, it was announced Thursday.

The program is a joint effort between Princeton and McCarter, which won a 1994 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater.

Albee, 78, is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes. He first gained notice with his play “The Zoo Story” in 1959.

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” won a Tony Award, as did “A Delicate Balance” and “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” Albee also has been recognized with the National Medal of the Arts and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Sweet smell of success

New York – Mariah Carey has made a sweet-smelling deal.

The Grammy-winning pop diva will develop and market her own line of fragrance products by Elizabeth Arden.

Her first fragrance will debut next spring.

Carey will be personally involved in all aspects of product development, packaging and marketing, according to the company.

“She is, unquestionably, a star of incredible magnitude. All over the world, people aspire to the values she represents,” said E. Scott Beattie, chairman of Elizabeth Arden, in a statement Thursday.

“We look forward to launching an inspiring new global fragrance brand with Mariah that will be a timeless classic.”

A spokeswoman for Elizabeth Arden declined to comment Friday on the terms of the deal or the details of the fragrance.

Other celebrities who have launched Elizabeth Arden fragrances include Britney Spears for Curious and Fantasy, and Elizabeth Taylor for White Diamonds, Black Pearls and other scents.

A new privacy code

Rye, N.H. – Now that a copyright-infringement claim against his publisher has been dismissed, Dan Brown can get on with his private life – or at least, try to.

Brown, best-selling author of “The Da Vinci Code,” is working to put up a wrought-iron fence around his home to keep out uninvited guests. It would sit atop a 2-foot-high stone wall and rise up no more than 6 feet, according to a letter his attorney presented to Rye selectmen recently.

“It sits right out there,” Police Chief Alan Gould said of Brown’s home. “It’s a pretty open area.”

Gould said Brown was concerned that the heightened attention brought on by a lawsuit claiming he stole ideas from a nonfiction book might create security concerns and could possibly lead to trespassers approaching his home. A judge in London ruled Friday in Brown’s favor.

“We shared those concerns,” Gould said. “Whether it’s the paparazzi or someone who wants to pour goat’s blood on the steps or just someone who wants a picture, it’s our job to offer him and his family the same protection we would anyone else in town.”

The fountain of youth

Joplin, Mo. – Rue McClanahan recommends two forms of exercise to fight the effects of aging: weightlifting and frequent sex.

“It just depends on the availability of the material,” the 72-year-old actress said Friday. “Dumbbells are easy to come by, but most of them are married.”

McClanahan said that she used a positive attitude and a sense of humor to help defeat breast cancer and she’s using those same attributes to embrace aging.

The actress, best known as Blanche Devereaux on the ’80s sitcom “The Golden Girls,” was found to have breast cancer in June 1997.

“I was bound and determined I had a lot more to do,” McClanahan said during a visit to Joplin, where her family has roots.

McClanahan’s autobiography, “My First Five Husbands,” will be released around Mothers’ Day in 2007, she said.

Notorious cold case

Los Angeles – A city councilman wants to offer a $50,000 public reward for leads in the unsolved murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G.

Councilman Dennis Zine proposed Friday to offer the reward for 60 days.

“I am hopeful someone will come forward with information which will lead to the eventual apprehension of the murderers involved in this case,” Zine said in a statement.

Zine’s motion was under review by a council committee. A 1997 measure offering a $25,000 reward expired after several months.

The 24-year-old rapper, born Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed March 9, 1997, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

A new team of police detectives was recently assigned to the case.

Writers Guild names ‘Casablanca’ best screenplay

Los Angeles – Round up the usual suspects. It’s time to hand out another “greatest ever” film award, and that means “Casablanca” is front and center.

“Casablanca” was picked last week as the best screenplay ever written by the Writers Guild of America. The script by Julius and Philip Epstein (Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein’s grand-uncle and grandfather, respectively) and Howard Koch was chosen from more than 1,400 nominated works.

The Top Ten:

1. “Casablanca.”

2. “The Godfather.”

3. “Chinatown.”

4. “Citizen Kane.”

5. “All About Eve.”

6. “Annie Hall.”

7. “Sunset Boulevard.”

8. “Network.”

9. “Some Like It Hot.”

10. “The Godfather II.”