Inqlings | Big talker will try out Imus' seat

Will somebody give

Michael Smerconish

his own national show already?

The lawyer-turned-morning-talk-show-host - whose plate has been brimming with fill-in spots lately - will do the former Don Imus simulcast slot on MSNBC tomorrow through Wednesday. In other words, he'll literally sit in Imus' old chair in MSNBC studios in Secaucus, N.J., and talk on WPHT-AM (1210) from 6 to 9 a.m., while MSNBC audiences see his smooth head. Guests will include Jackie Mason, Chris Matthews, Richard Clarke and Yes front man Jon Anderson.

MSNBC reached out, he says. Is this a tryout? "We'll have a variety of people filling in over the next several weeks," said MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines.

Smerconish, 45, filled in on Bill O'Reilly's CBS radio show on April 4, and replaced Glenn Beck on Headline News last Monday and Tuesday. In the last four weeks, he's popped up (between his WPHT show and columnizing for The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News) on NBC's Today, MSNBC's Hardball, HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher and MSNBC's Scarborough Country. In January, Smerconish shot a talk-show pilot for CNN - but that's up in the air as his chief backer, Joel Cheatwood, just left for Fox. Smerconish is not sure of its status.

"I'm just out there hustling, taking these opportunities when they're presented," Smerconish said Friday.

A buyer has been found for Inwood -

Walter and Leonore Annenberg's

baronial estate in Lower Merion Township - and if talk among Main Line real-estaters is true, it is Philadelphia Eagles owners

Jeffrey and Christina Lurie

.

And

- in a move that will delight open-space boosters - they reportedly won't subdivide it.

True? A team spokeswoman waved off comment Friday.

John Latourette, Lee Annenberg's lawyer, confirmed Friday that the Wynnewood property was under agreement of sale, and that details were covered by a confidentiality agreement. He declined further comment.

During an interview with The Inquirer in December, Latourette said it was being offered "in the ballpark" of $15 million. Details will not be public until settlement, reportedly scheduled for late next month.

Shortly after the 2002 death of Annenberg - the longtime Inquirer publisher, ambassador and philanthropist - his widow moved to their even more palatial residence in the California desert.

Inwood, on Cherry Lane, consists of a two-story, 18-room house, gorgeous gardens and greenhouses, and a three-hole golf course. Thirteen acres - equivalent to about 10 football fields, including end zones.

The Luries live a little over a mile away on about 2.3 acres.

It's easier to keep your job as a player for the Eagles than as a cheerleader for the Eagles. The field of 400 aspiring cheerleaders was finally winnowed Wednesday to the squad of 38 - that's 20 veterans and 18 rookies, all of whom had to try out. Several hundred spectators showed up at the Annenberg Center -

Annenberg? Eagles?

- and about 8,000 people watched the kicks over the Internet. Judges were looking for "the wow factor," said

Amanda Bedford

, who was first hired last year on her second tryout. First order of business, after the squad is unveiled later this week: The women will be flown to Mexico for the obligatory calendar shoot.

WPEN-AM (950) afternoon sports host

Jody McDonald

has signed a one-year contract extension, keeping him talking through September 2008.

Candace Cook, who grew up in Broomall (Marple Newtown High, Villanova U), will do Jersey Shore traffic for NBC10. She last reported/anchored for WRBL in Columbus, Ga.

Billionaire

Sam Zell

, here Friday to speak at Wharton, chatted with Inquirer-Daily News publisher

Brian Tierney

at the Rittenhouse Hotel. Earlier this month, Zell bought Tribune Corp., owner of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Cubs. Deal? Purely social, Tierney tells me.

The Japanese House and Garden in Fairmount Park is getting a major lift as Japanese artist Hiroshi Senju will cut the ribbon Friday on the donation of more than 20 painted murals. The murals are affixed to paper sliding doors and an alcove wall inside the Japanese House to replace those that were destroyed by vandals in the 1970s.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey comic Bello Nock took to the sky above the Wachovia Spectrum - site of the circus - to do a trapeze act early Friday morning. News choppers from CBS3, 6ABC and NBC10 watched as he hung from his own chopper for 10 minutes in the cold. Alas, Fox29's bird arrived 30 seconds after Nock was lowered safely to the parking lot.

Comcast will rerun Suzanne Roberts' 2004 interview with Kitty Carlisle Hart tomorrow on Seeking Solutions With Suzanne, acknowledging Hart's death Tuesday at age 96. Roberts, herself an actress for most of her life, discovered that both had mothers who encouraged exposure to the arts and both grew up with a commitment to philanthropy. Feisty into her 90s, Hart at one point off-camera stretched out her gams and said, "Aren't my legs still gorgeous?" It'll be on Headline News at 11:55 a.m., 4:55 p.m. and 9:55 p.m., and clip is at www.suzanne.tv/show.asp?sid=387.

Tommy Jordan of The Wake Up Crew on WPST (94.5) has given up his beard of more than two weeks. He swore off shaving while Sanjaya Malakar persisted as an American Idol contestant. "My face is a lot lighter," says Jordan. As for girlfriend Jen Grinspan, "she said she liked it but she seemed relieved big-time."