Tattle: Some happy endings, none of which was the world's

AS IT'S two days since the rapture occurred Saturday at 6 p.m., just minutes before Shackleford won the Preakness amid the thunderous sound of hoofbeats that some of you thought was the sign of a far greater longshot, Tattle is pleased to once again quote

Barry Manilow

:

"Looks like we made it. . . . "

But that doesn't mean that there weren't some heavenly occurrences. At the Waterford Mott High School prom, in Michigan, for instance, Kayla Staskiewicz got to wear Christina Ricci's Oscars dress, a sparkling, pale gray, floor-length piece from Versace Couture valued in the un-prom-like neighborhood of $25,000.

The Oakland Press of Pontiac reported yesterday that Kayla's father, Mike Staskiewicz, entered her name in a TV contest to win a chance to wear the size 0 dress.

Kayla said that there was just one question when she learned she'd won: Would it fit?

It certainly wouldn't fit the average high-school girl. But Kayla said that she stepped into the dress the day before the prom, and it fit darn near as well as Pippa Middleton's bridesmaid dress. Kayla told the newspaper that she felt "really pretty" and her mom kept calling her Cinderella.

* Cinderella makes Tattle think of princes (and wicked stepsisters). On that note, eBay says that a bidder has paid $131,648 for the silk-bow hat worn by Princess Beatrice to last month's royal wedding. The 22-year-old daughter of Fergie and Prince Andrew, and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, put the Philip Treacy creation on sale to raise money for UNICEF and Children in Crisis.

The silk hat caused a stir at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29.

Forty bidders vied for the prize, but eBay did not reveal the identity of the winner.

Prince Andrew obviously wants to keep his identity secret.

* We may not have had THE SECOND COMING over the weekend, but we will soon be getting the second coming of author Michael Crichton ("Jurassic Park," "The Andromeda Strain").

Crichton died in 2008, only one-third finished with "Micro," a thriller about a biotech company in Hawaii and the graduate students who end up stranded and endangered in a rain forest. Enter Richard Preston, known for his best-selling nonfiction work about the Ebola virus, "The Hot Zone," who used Crichton's outline, reference materials and notes to finish the book.

HarperCollins announced yesterday that "Micro" would be "a high-concept thriller in the vein of 'Jurassic Park.' " In a statement released by the publisher, Preston said that he was immediately captivated by Crichton's manuscript.

"Michael was writing at the top of his game, with a grand sense of adventure, into an eerie world that seems almost beyond imagining," Preston said (after being forced to imagine it). "For me, it was an irresistible challenge to finish the novel, and I was driven by a desire to honor the work and imagination of one of our time's most visionary and creative authors."

"Michael was exhilarated by his concept for this novel," Crichton's agent, Lynn Nesbit, said in a statement. "He felt he was breaking new ground by introducing his readers to a fascinating, almost unimaginable landscape with real scientific underpinnings."

Yes, they Cannes!Awards were presented at the 64th Cannes Film Festival yesterday, chosen by a jury headed by Robert De Niro.

The Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) went to "The Tree of Life" directed by Terrence Malick (United States).

The Grand Prize was shared by "The Kid with the Bike" by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium) and "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)

The Jury Prize went to "Poliss" by Maiwenn (France).

Best Director went to Nicolas Winding Refn for "Drive" (Denmark). Jean Dujardin was chosen Best Actor for "The Artist" (France). Kirsten Dunst was named Best Actress for "Melancholia" (Denmark).

Tattbits

* According to TMZ.com, unemployed Charlie Sheen has been offered $3 million to become the spokesman, president and a part owner of EstablishedMen.com.

The site is a social network for rich dudes seeking needy women. And when they say "needy" they mean they "need" your money.

Although expensive gifts work, too.

* TMZ.com also reported that when the "American Idol" top 11 finalists tour this summer, they will each get paid $1,000 per show.

Additionally, each will share in merchandise profits from the tour and get a $50 per diem on non-concert days.

That's fifty whole dollars.

They're also guaranteed to stay in "Marriott/Hyatt style" hotels (whatever that means) and they're guaranteed to fly coach.

As opposed to what? Strapped to the wing? So the talent on the tour is getting $11,000 per show. Last year's "American Idol" tour, for a bit of perspective, grossed an average of $277,000 per show - $9.6 million for the tour (according to Pollstar) - and last year's tour did one-third the business of the previous two years. Granted, making $50,000 for a summer of singing karaoke is not bad, but when your tour is likely to gross $10 million for a franchise deemed to be worth $500 million, you should be making more than Ryan Seacrest tip money.

* Katy Perry reported that hubby Russell Brand was deported from Japan, where Katy is performing. Katy says it was due to offenses from more than a decade ago, but Tattle knows better. It was "Arthur."

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Email:gensleh@phillynews. com.