Birth, movie, marriage plans

Berlin – Tom Cruise has told Germany’s leading tabloid that he and Katie Holmes want to tie the knot this summer, after the birth of their baby and the release of his new movie, “Mission: Impossible III.”

Cruise, 43, was in the country to promote the film on the popular “Wetten Dass … (I’ll Bet …)” TV show. He said on the show Saturday that two pilots were at the ready to fly him home should Holmes go into labor.

Holmes, 27, is in the final stages of her pregnancy with the couple’s first child.

Cruise confirmed to Bild in Monday’s editions that he and Holmes plan to wed in the coming months. They have been engaged since June.

“First the baby, then the film,” he was quoted as saying. “Then, in summer, we want to get married. I won’t let this woman get away.”

“Mission: Impossible III” will be released May 5.

Dead head caper

Sonoma, Calif. – The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia’s toilet.

Police say the Grateful Dead leader’s commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet.

Garcia’s salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino.

It’s unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police said they have no suspects or leads.

Henry Koltys bought Garcia’s Marin County home for $1.39 million in 1997 and removed the toilet and other items he planned to sell to raise money for a charity.

After Koltys sold the house to a friend of the band’s, the new owner sued to block the auction. The dispute was resolved last year, and Koltys moved the items to his home in Sonoma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.

Last month, Koltys sold Garcia’s toilet for $2,550 to online casino Goldenpalace.com, which planned to use it as part of a traveling marketing exhibit. The casino is offering a $250 reward for its return.

Koltys said Friday the toilet once stood in the master bathroom of Garcia, who died in 1995 at age 53. “It would have been his personal head,” he said.

Jerry Lewis gets serious

New York – Jerry Lewis’ next acting gig is no laughing matter.

This fall, the 80-year-old comedian will play the homeless uncle of Richard Belzer’s police Detective John Munch in a guest spot on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” an NBC spokeswoman said Monday.

In the episode titled, “Uncle,” detectives find Lewis’ character living on the street and arrest him as a suspect in a murder case.

Belzer will lead a Friars Club celebrity roast of Lewis in New York on June 9.

Madonna announces tour

New York – The Material Girl/Mom will embark on a world tour this summer.

Madonna will open the “Confessions Tour” in Los Angeles on May 21, work eastward through North America and jump to Europe on July 30 in Cardiff, Wales, it was announced Monday.

Other stops include Las Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago, Montreal, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and Atlantic City, N.J.

European destinations include London, Rome and Paris. The tour will also extend to Japan, featuring concerts in Tokyo and Osaka. More dates are expected to be added.

As previously announced, Madonna will make her first festival performance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 30.

Under fire for smoking

Wellington, New Zealand – Russell Crowe is under a cloud of suspicion in his country of birth for allegedly smoking while performing with his new band.

Crowe allegedly lit up during concerts in New Zealand – a move that would have breached the country’s Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act, which bans smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos and all other indoor public venues.

The 41-year-old actor and his new band, The Ordinary Fear of God, had been on a three-concert tour of the country.

Crowe will not face any legal action for the breach because prosecutions are directed against venue proprietors, who each could face fines of several thousand dollars.