New Mrs. Rydell a fan, but not club president

Bobby Rydell's new wife is Linda Hoffman, but it's not the Linda Hoffman who is the president of his fan club, as reported in yesterday's SideShow.

The wedding was Saturday in Las Vegas.

The new Mrs. Rydell, a cardiac sonographer, met the entertainer in October 2007. The fan-club president, who grew up in Philadelphia and founded the club in 1960, has been married for 38 years to Jake Hoffman and lives in Margate, N.J.

The Linda Hoffmans met years ago when both lived near each other in Montgomery County and shared a dentist, family doctor, hair salon and jeweler.

"It got to be a joke," said fan-club president Linda Ferrino Hoffman, who used to live in Dresher, where she maintained the club's post office box. New wife Linda Hoffman then lived in Ambler.

"People would ask directory assistance for Linda Hoffman, and they'd call me," said wife Linda. Asked once about a Rydell cassette tape, she said, she told the caller that she thought Rydell was dead. " 'Didn't he sing "Mack the Knife"?' I asked her." The caller set her straight.

Bobby Rydell, whose first wife, Camille, died in 2003, said yesterday that when a friend offered to fix him up with Linda Hoffman, "I said: 'That's my fan club president.' " They discovered another coincidence: Her boss, the doctor, is Rydell's next-door neighbor.

Fan-club president Linda attended the small, private ceremony, as did Frankie Avalon and his wife, Kay. Best man was Rydell's drummer/musical director, David Kovnat.

Confusion may remain. Wife Linda said she would keep using her last name.

- Michael Klein