Ex-Wife Adds to Variety of Opinions About Bart

Peter Bart , controversial editor in chief of Variety who was suspended without pay for three weeks after making what many considered inflammatory comments in a Los Angeles magazine profile, is once again dissected in the magazine. In a letter published in its December issue, which is out today, the former Mrs. Peter Bart takes issue with Bart’s assertion that “he has never once dated a Jewish girl.”

“My name is Dorothy Callman,” she writes. “I am Jewish. We dated for three years, were married close to twenty.”

But, she continues, “I am addressing here that Peter is considered anti-Semitic, anti-blacks, anti-homosexuals, a bigot in many respects. I wish only to add my belief that this is a simplistic judgment based on insufficient knowledge.”

Reached by phone at home in Monterey, Dorothy Callman Bart said the two married in 1961 and divorced in 1980. The letter was not intended to slight Bart, she said, but to set the record straight. “I don’t want to dine out on this,” she added.

In her letter, Dorothy Callman Bart, who said she is a psychologist, writes: “His behavior, in my view, is based not on bigotry or anti-Semitism but on his inability to transcend the wounds of his childhood, on a deep inner need to be acknowledged to feel a sense of power, and that he is in control of his world.”

Peter Bart, who has publicly apologized and said his language did not reflect his beliefs, was traveling, and could not be reached for comment.

Double’s Troubles

Robert De Niro’s former movie double for years has capitalized on his striking resemblance to the film star, cruising Manhattan in a Mercedes-Benz with a cigar clenched in his teeth, seducing young women, landing hotel rooms and good tables at fine restaurants, according to New York State Police.

On Wednesday night, however, Joseph Manuella, 51, arrived at a Holiday Inn in Middletown after receiving an offer to impersonate the star at a private party and was arrested in a sting operation.

Manuella could face two counts of criminal impersonation for using a credit card that he acquired with De Niro’s name to pay for hotel rooms, said New York State Police investigator Patrick Beyea. Both counts are misdemeanors and could carry a maximum of a year in prison.

Manuella lives in a small house in Glen Rock, N.J., and is married to an Air Force officer.

Manuella doubled for De Niro in the 1996 thriller “The Fan” and 1998’s “Great Expectations.”

A Literary Spat

Madonna biographer Barbara Victor bristled after reading celebrity biographer Andrew Morton’s comment this week calling her a “first-time writer.” “He’s off the mark,” she told us during a break from her book tour in New York. “This is my 10th book.”

A Mideast correspondent for CBS for 15 years, Victor covered three wars and has written four novels, two nonfiction books and four biographies, including a biography of Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, she said.

Morton “got famous doing an authorized book on Diana and an authorized book on Monica Lewinsky,” said Victor. “You have to be a good detective and journalist to give people something new. And I also feel strongly that if you want to understand a woman, it takes a woman.”

Starry Night

While none of the film’s stars made the trip from New York or London for the Westwood premiere Thursday night of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” the locals turned out in droves.

Among them were Darryl Hannah, John Cleese, Magic Johnson, Matthew Perry, Dustin Hoffman, Rob Lowe and Samuel L. Jackson.