Hutton

When E.F. Hutton speaks . . . everyone laughs! KENNETH A. GREEN Marina del Rey

C. David Heymann, a bestselling biographer whose titillating accounts of famous lives often were criticized as inaccurate or dishonest, including a book on heiress Barbara Hutton that was recalled because of factual disputes, has died. He was 67. Heymann died Wednesday after collapsing in the lobby of his New York City apartment building, said his agent, Mel Berger. The cause was believed to be cardiopulmonary failure. Initially a poet and critic, Heymann wrote books on Ezra Pound and Robert Lowell before turning to popular biography with "Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton," published in 1983.

Under the agreement, the brokerage firm agreed to give investors in the state the option of getting back the approximately $3 million they put into the Silver Screen II movie partnership. On May 22, Daniel Bell III, North Carolina's deputy securities administrator, issued a stop order to halt sales of units in Silver Screen II because E. F. Hutton & Co. went ahead with the offering in the state without registering the securities.

Long before she won her supporting actress Oscar for "The Fighter" at this year's Academy Awards, Melissa Leo was a television veteran. She played Kay Howard on "Homicide: Life on the Streets" for five seasons before largely moving on to feature films — and almost never looking back. But on the set of 2003's "21 Grams," she had an epiphany. "I was working with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, and it dawned on me that while I was intimidated by working with [top level] film stars, it occurred to me that more eyes had probably seen me on the smaller screen than had seen them on the big screen," she says.

E.F. Hutton Group Inc. Chairman Robert Fomon retired today, ending a 17-year tenure as head of the big brokerage firm that was marred when the firm pleaded guilty in 1985 to 2,000 counts of federal mail and wire fraud in connection with a check-overdrafting scheme. Fomon, 62, who helped build Hutton into one of the 10 largest brokerage firms on Wall Street, will receive an immediate $4-million retirement payment and a supplemental pension in addition to his regular pension, the company said.

E. F. Hutton & Co. has belatedly discovered 18 documents that should have been turned over to a federal grand jury investigating Hutton's multimillion-dollar overdrafts of its bank accounts nationwide, the brokerage house announced Wednesday. Employees had overlooked some files left behind by former Hutton President George L. Ball, who left the firm in 1982, company Chairman Robert M. Fomon said.

Thanks to the digital revolution, we can now perform multiple tasks in ever skimpier slices of time. But thanks to that ease and speed in getting things accomplished, we've forgotten the value of disconnecting from the world of doing, and connecting to a quieter, more reflective state of simply being. Do we remember how to daydream? Consider Peter Hutton's short, ravishing film now screening continuously at Shoshana Wayne Gallery a refresher course.

The chairman of Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. has agreed to a censure by the New York Stock Exchange for failing to oversee E. F. Hutton & Co. properly when he was president of that firm during an overdrafting scheme, sources familiar with the settlement said today. The sources said the exchange determined George L. Ball was not aware of the scheme, which was conducted in the 1980s and became a key element in Hutton's subsequent demise.

E. F. Hutton Group, parent of the brokerage house, said its profits dropped to $6.7 million in the third quarter from $23.1 million a year earlier. The financial holding company noted that last year's third-quarter net income was bolstered by a $14-million retroactive tax credit. Without the credit, E. F. Hutton would have earned $9.7 million during the quarter last year. This year's results were aided by the Aug. 1 sale of E. F. Hutton Credit Corp. to Chrysler Financial Corp.

The venture capital group of the investment banking and brokerage company sold 121,100 shares in California Biotechnology Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., bringing its holding in the genetic engineering company to 10.5% from 12.4%. Hutton sold the shares from Oct. 16 through Nov. 1 at prices ranging from $10.625 to $11.25 a share, documents filed with the SEC show.

"Multiple Sarcasms" is Woody Allen lite — there's a lot of introspective fumbling around and intellectual foreplay. But in the end, instead of a satisfying climax, it feels like someone is faking it. Our central character is Gabriel ( Timothy Hutton), a NYC architect in the midst of a mid-life crisis of the mind. He's cheating on his clients by spending afternoons at the movies. He's lying to his wife Annie ( Dana Delany) and himself about his heart's true desire: to write a play about his unraveling life and his fractured relationships — so it's a comedy.

The '60s and '70s were Lauren Hutton's heyday as the fresh American face of fashion. In the new film "The Joneses" -- her first movie in 20 years -- hers is the predatory face of big corporations. Opposite co-stars Demi Moore and David Duchovny, Hutton, 66, plays the big cheese of a stealth marketing company, who dispatches faux families to live in huge houses where they hawk clients' products by showing off their pricey lifestyle. The luxury marketplace is an arena Hutton knows well as a former magazine cover girl and a businesswoman with her own eponymous cosmetics line.

SERIES The New Adventures of Old Christine: Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) tells her therapist (Eric McCormack) that she is in love with him (8 p.m. CBS). Mercy: The hospital admits three promiscuous college students who have meningitis (8 p.m. NBC). American Idol: Auditions continue in Atlanta (8 p.m. Fox). Gary Unmarried: Sasha (Brooke D'Orsay) flirts with surfer Laird Hamilton in this new episode (8:30 p.m. CBS). The Middle: Mike (Neil Flynn)

More Is More Hutton Wilkinson Abrams: 368 pp., $75

Tony Duquette was more than a designer of film and theatrical sets, movie-star mansions, gardens, furniture, costumes and jewelry. The legendary Hollywood decorator (1914-1999) was also a conjurer, magically transforming plaster, paint, discount-store wares and mirrors into dazzling sculptures and exotic tableaux inspired by the storybook fantasies of his youth. For years his particular brand of decorative abandon was under-appreciated, even dismissed by some as over-the-top. This decade's revival of Hollywood Regency décor -- a theatrical blend of classical and modern styles practiced by iconic designers such as William Haines and Dorothy Draper -- sparked a renewed interest in ornate and luxurious interiors, and Duquette's work reasserted its allure.

There is something weirdly endearing about Meg Ryan's woman in denial in "Serious Moonlight," blissfully confident that she can reclaim her husband's heart despite the mistress she's just discovered, despite the divorce he is demanding. He rages, she's understanding; he roars, she bakes cookies; he negotiates, she shows their wedding slides. Of course there is the small matter of Ian, the cheating spouse played by Timothy Hutton. He is forced to wage this battle while tightly duct-taped to a chair, then a toilet (be careful what you ask a woman on the verge . . .)

Robert P. Rittereiser, recently named president of E. F. Hutton Group, has been elected to the additional position of chief operating officer, the company announced Thursday. In his new role, Rittereiser will be responsible for day-to-day operations of both the parent company and its broker-dealer subsidiary, E. F. Hutton & Co. He will continue to report to Robert Fomon, chairman and chief executive, the New York-based company said.

FINDS Textile homage To launch a collection of his luxury textiles by manufacturer Jim Thompson, designer Hutton Wilkinson opened the doors last week to Dawnridge -- his Beverly Hills residence that he purchased and preserved as a living museum to the extravagant vision of legendary Hollywood decorator Tony Duquette (1914-99).

Lauren HUTTON is sitting at her favorite Santa Monica coffee shop, voraciously reading the morning paper.