"REMEMBER TO look left!" was the advice sportswriter/novelist Bud Shrake always gave to his protege, sports columnist Sally Jenkins. Bud, who died recently in Austin at age 77, was talking about stepping off the curb into the street. But Sally sees it as a metaphor for "Don't forget to check the periphery."

I suppose this wouldn't be a bad piece of advice for the Republican Party these days because if they don't start looking left, they're never going to get back to the middle.

WE WILL see the New York City Center "Encores! Summer Stars" production (June 12 through July 5) with an appealing new kind of star this summer.

Nigel, a brindle-haired Cairn Terrier, abandoned and then rescued by the Northeast Arkansas Humane Society, follows in the footsteps of Lana Turner when she was discovered by a talent scout years ago sitting at the counter in a Schwab's Drugstore. Award-winning animal trainer Bill Berloni "discovered" Nigel when he was looking for a dog to portray Toto in the musical "The Wiz."

"Nigel's headshot just called out to me!" So, Nigel will be playing the famous Toto and is currently trying out in Pittsburgh prior to Broadway. Call 212-581-1212 for tickets to what will be a first for "Encores" -- a dog star!

NEW YORK Times reporter and controversial writer Alex Kuczynski and her very rich hubby, Charles Stevenson, have welcomed a new baby boy to their menage -- he is called Luke Porter Pablo Stevenson.

I forget exactly how Luke arrived -- whether by in vitro, adoption, regular or Pony Express (his mother always does things differently) but he is very welcome!

IN CASE you don't read The New York Times, here's an anecdote I never heard before written by reporter Ralph Blumenthal about the carousel in Central Park. Carousel chief Sal Napolitano tells this one. "People still ask, 'Do I have to pay for my kid?' They asked when it was 15 cents a ride, two rides for a quarter, and now, when it's $2. The answer is still the same: You have to pay to ride the carousel. You know who once asked me, 'Do I have to pay if I'm standing up watching my grandchildren?' Jacqueline Onassis."

JANE FONDA'S play "33 Variations" has now closed, but she performed the final outings on a cane.

This was and wasn't part of the character's role. But Jane, whose character ages and grows fatally ill in the drama, did use a cane because of a bum knee.

"I was supposed to have a knee replacement last January," she said: "When I accepted the play, I postponed the surgery and got cortisone shots." The shots evidently stopped working and audiences just thought Jane's cane was a prop.

The 71-year-old actress will now reschedule her surgery for June.

WHEN THE world's best TV critic, Linda Stasi of The New York Post, and I had lunch recently at Le Cirque, we decided nobody had ever laughed as much in this sacrosanct bastion of the Upper Crust.

Sirio Maccioni joined us for part of our feast and pretended he had never seen the rave review that Linda had given the TV documentary about his famous family. She laughed and said she'd send it to him again.

The Maccionis are going strong, even though, like all restaurateurs these days they pull a long face, shrug and say, "Business is -- you know, so-so." In spite of the recession -- come next December, they'll be opening a new eatery in Las Vegas at its City Center. It will be called what Sirio wanted to call his planned cafe in Paris, the one that hasn't yet materialized. We'll be going to Sirio's in Vegas! Great name.

WHAT NEXT can we expect from cinema's enfant terrible, Pedro Almodovar and his fantastically created star, Penelope Cruz? Their tandem filmmaking has already entered history and she is only 35 years old.

Pedro's latest "Broken Embraces" didn't seem to make good waves recently at Cannes. It concerns a director, played by Lluis Homar, who has become blind and has turned to screenwriting. He sits in the dark reliving his doomed romance with Penelope, now the mistress of a tycoon, and tries to make a documentary about them.

The critics say this film is "too convoluted" and advise Pedro to stick to more deeply felt narratives such as "All About My Mother" or "Volver." But the carpers went mad for Ms. Cruz, with critic David Gritten saying she "gives a far more nuanced performance than for last year's Oscar-winning work for Woody Allen in 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona.'"

I GUESS magazines have to do a lot of different things to stay alive these days. Esquire is one of my all-time favorites and I see that editor David Granger and the revolutionary chef Charlie Palmer are re-opening a version of the latter's famous all-American restaurant Aureole.

It gets a kick-off on June 17 at the exciting new building One Bryant Park, across from the New York Public Library at the corner of Sixth and 42 Street. This will mark 21 years since Palmer created the first Aureole (esquireevents@hearst.com).

(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)

Variety

President Obama returned to Los Angeles fund-raising circles for the first time since taking office, appearing at a duo of Hollywood-centric events for the Democratic National Committee that sold out despite donor fatigue and a faltering economy.

Obama's visit to the Beverly Hilton was met with a series of demonstrations outside, the largest of which urged the president to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and to support same-sex marriage rights.

But the protesters created little if any disturbance at the event itself, where a heavy entertainment industry presence including Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ari Emanuel and Casey Wasserman were expected to help bring in more than $3 million to the DNC, which is trying to erase a fund-raising gap with the Republican National Committee this year.

The more exclusive of the events was a late-afternoon dinner, where couples ponied up $30,400 each at smaller gathering that allowed for photo ops and some face time. Among the 250 or so who attended were stars like Seth Rogen, Ron Howard, Kiefer Sutherland and Tyler Perry and politically active industry types like Chris Albrecht, Bruce Cohen, Bryan Lourd. Peter and Megan Chernin, Ron and Kelly Meyer, Skip Paul and Alan and Cindy Horn. Also present were Nicole Avant and Charles Rivkin, the Obama campaign's Southern California finance co-chairs, along with John Emerson, chairman of the Los Angeles Music Center.

Hundreds of other donors paid far less for a general reception, where Jennifer Hudson and Earth, Wind & Fire and the Crenshaw High School Choir were among the performers before a crowd that included Ryan Phillippe and Abbie Cornish, Zachary Quinto and Jamie Foxx. Perhaps reflecting the need to open up the event to a wider array of donors in tight times, tickets originally set at $2,500-per-person were re-priced at $1,000 per person and $2,500 for VIP seating.

Joining Obama were Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), the latter of whom was making his first appearance at a Democratic fund-raiser since switching parties.

In speeches at both events, Obama outlined accomplishments of the administration's first four months, including his economic recovery plan and lifting the ban on stem cell research funding. He received warm applause when he talked about his nominee to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.

"I would put these first four months up against any prior administration since FDR," Obama said at his dinner speech, adding that he is "not satisfied. I'm confident in the future, but I'm not yet content."

Obama didn't directly address the nature of the demonstrators outside, other than to note that he heard what one said as his motorcade pulled into the hotel grounds.

"One of them said, 'Obama, keep your promise,' and I thought, 'That's fair.' I don't know which promise he was talking about," Obama said to some laughter, before noting that his administration has set out to do what was promised during the campaign.

Across the street from the hotel, at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Trenton Drive, some 300 demonstrators -- from groups including the Courage Campaign and the Stonewall Democratic Club -- chanted slogans like "Equal Rights Now!" Lt. Dan Choi, a military linguist facing expulsion after he declared his sexual orientation on "The Rachel Maddow Show," addressed the gathering as cars honked their horns in passing by. Some demonstrators cautioned that they were not opposed to Obama's administration, they hoped the visibility would help sway the president to take bolder action.

It was a sentiment reflected by some in the hotel itself. Political consultant Chad Griffin said he and Cohen had a brief conversation with the president in which they urged him to support marriage equality.

Obama's appearance was in the same hotel where, more than two years ago, his fledgling campaign staged an initial fund-raiser hosted by Katzenberg, Spielberg and David Geffen, kicking off what turned into a heated battle with Hillary Clinton for show biz dollars.

After Katzenberg introduced the president at the dinner, Obama said, "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be in the White House."

Obama did repeat a message that he expressed to the entertainment community at previous events, to "make movies that inspire us" and to tell stories "that are not being told." He cited "Milk," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan" as examples.

Although the event was aimed at the Los Angeles donor community, Obama's willingness to appear at an event so linked to entertainment -- and by extension celebrity -- reflects a greater confidence by the White House that GOP attacks on Hollywood aren't as potent as they once were.

On Tuesday, Obama appeared at a fund-raiser at Caesars Palace for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is facing a tough re-election fight next year, that featured entertainers Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow. As it turned out, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released a Web ad the next hitting Reid for the "blowout" Hollywood party. Obama wasn't even mentioned.

"THE AVERAGE unmarried female, basically insecure / Due to long frustration may react with psychosomatic symptoms / Difficult to endure, affecting the upper respiratory tract..."

You'll surely recognize these Frank Loesser lyrics from the song "Adelaide's Lament," right out of the famous musical "Guys and Dolls."

This song is being sung nightly at the Nederlander Theatre and warbled plaintively by the talented Lauren Graham. But all true Broadway mavens, including Lauren, know the song (sometimes called "A Person Can Develop a Cold") forever belongs to the late great actress who originated it, the immortal Vivian Blaine.

"Guys and Dolls" was made into a 1955 movie musical starring Miss Blaine and some mighty big names -- Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons. Now, director Guy Ritchie, best known for his noir-ish gangster epics, is said to be mulling a new screen version.

This is no surprise for me. When my office interviewed Guy at length about his film "Revolver," he was clear that he wanted to make "big" movies, such as his recently completed "Sherlock Holmes" -- and he mentioned doing musicals, too.

I guess it's a pity that Guy and his ex, Madonna, won't be together to cast the latter for the role of Miss Adelaide. It would be perfect for the big M.

Come on, Madonna and Guy, make nice and do another movie together that is not . . . uh, swept away. Forget that you are divorced.

REMEMBERING Vivian Blaine -- many years ago on a Tony Awards ceremony, someone (and it doesn't matter who it was) was slated to perform "Adelaide's Lament" as part of a tribute to famous composers. The actress in question -- I kid you not -- caught a cold! So someone got wise and invited Miss Blaine to repeat her triumph. Vivian, a good sport, who should have been asked in the first place, came out, performed the number as if the musical were still running, and her ovation was one of the most thrilling in Tony history.

OUR FAVORITE press agent, one Miss Peggy Siegal, regaled friends as she entered a Bavarian clinic once again to have her second hip operated on.

Peggy rushed right to Ghent from the Cannes Film Festival and wisecracked via e-mail that she hoped her doctors would also give her, when she was out, " a thigh reduction, tummy tuck and tushi lift."

She is now in Villa Rehab swimming to get well and hoping to take a day trip to Bruges. "I hope to get back to the U.S. for Woody Johnson's second wedding on June 4; and definitely for the Tony Awards on June 7. Hope all of you will come to the cocktail party at the Four Seasons on June 11, celebrating the restaurant's 50th anniversary."

Dear Peggy, still promoting even under anesthesia.

TRAFFIC STOPS in New York when the Oscar-Tony-winning director Mike Nichols puts his name on an invitation. Now he and Richard Stengel, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Jeffrey Sachs, Clifford Ross and Edward Nahem are inviting pals to the premiere of "Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love."

This is a music-infused cinematic documentary by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi about the power of one man's voice to inspire change. (Ndour is the best-selling African artist of all time and a collaborator with Bono, Neneh Cherry and Peter Gabriel.)

It happens June 4 at the Paris Theatre with supper after in The Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel across the street.

NOT SO long ago it seemed that most of the celebrated Friars were going to their reward and that perhaps the legendary Club would not survive. But the home of a million laughs on East 55th Street is enjoying a revitalized membership.

They'll put together a Comedy Celebration of the world's funniest actors and comedians taking place September 24-27 at New York movie theaters. They'll show classics, curated films that show the best and brightest in comedy movies, and offer a platform for new moviemakers.

IF YOU stumbled over the following "names" in a restaurant, you might wonder what brought them there. I do mean Linda Fairstein, the former DA who was the template for "Law & Order, SVU" . . . network anchors Barbara Walters, Lesley Stahl and Cynthia McFadden . . . social movers and shakers Anne Tannenbaum and Alice Tisch . . . "Sesame Street" creator Joan Ganz Cooney (featured this very week in Newsweek) . . . best-selling author Marie Brenner . . . and TV producer Jessica Velmans!

I'd say they had heard about the maitre d' to the stars, one Bruno of Circo. And they probably heard about the French pizzas and tender veal scallopine Bruno has his chef bring out for the faithful.

This is my all-time favorite West Side cafe where you can actually hear what your lunch and dinner companions are saying! It gets quite a starry crowd, as you see. Put it on your list if you are visiting New York.

(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)