Davis invited into another potential Par deal

GOOD MORNING: Will there be more big-bucks players vying for Paramount? Marvin Davis thinks so -- and he should know. Davis told me he was asked to be part of another group looking to buy in. And he thinks there'll be others as well. Davis and wife Barbara were two of the non-speaking dais members at the X-rated Friars' roast of Roseanne Arnold at the BevHilton Tuesday. The Davises' grandson Jason, 9, was called back for an interview to play one of Tom Arnold's kids in his upcoming CBSeries. Jason's mom, Nancy Davis, will marry investment broker Ken Rickel March 19, Barbara happily told me ... The Arnold roast contributed $ 10,000 to the Roseanne and Tom Arnold Foundation for Abused Children and the SRO evening grossed $ 145,000 with the net going to Friars' charities. With that in mind, the night was a success -- however, the scatological humor, presented as promised, detracted from the gala, entertaining night it should have been for one as funny as the talented Roseanne ... I did get a chance to ask Roseanne howcum she didn't attend the Emmys. Her answer: "I forgot." Now that's funny ... Steve Allen, the Friars' Abbot who emceed, shifts his creativity to the G-rated world: He got permission from the Rodgers & Hammerstein estate to redo the book of --"Cinderella," in which he and wife Jayne Meadows starred at the Pantages two years ago. Allen's new libretto opens at the Lincoln Center Nov. 9-21 ... And talking about dinners at the BevHilton, Michael Jackson's Scopus Dinner there Jan. 29 is getting unprecedented advance support. The American Friends of Hebrew University is receiving ticket requests from all over the world. And we don't mean paparazzi. Elizabeth Taylor is honorary chairperson.

BUDGET ON GARTH BROOKS' NBC special, being taped at the 65,000-seat Texas Stadium in Irving, is "several million dollars." It will also be a homevideo. The configuration of some of the special effects -- fire, rain -- was changed when an enormous grid toppled, injuring 15 crew members. But it's still expected he'll be shot from a cannon for a finale. "Hard Copy's" Meredith MacRae's there to chronicle the shoot -- but not to join him in the cannon! After three paid concerts, a fourth will be free to audiences who will sit through stops and starts for camera angles on the show, which will air during May sweeps. Brooks continues on to the Sept. 29 Country Music Assn. awards, where he's a nominee, and then resumes his tour -- during which he's writing a movie script and discussing a studio development deal ... Alumni of "Winged Victory" are paged for a 50th reunion Oct. 24 in New York. The WWII Air Force B'way-film-touring unit was instigated by (Capt.) Irving Lazar through General Hap Arnold and created by Moss Hart. Members included Karl Malden, John Forsythe, Harry Lewis, Mario Lanza, Edmond O'Brien, Don Taylor, George Reeves, Red Buttons, Lee J. Cobb , Gary Merrill, Peter Lind Hayes, Joey Bushkin, David Rose, Martin Ritt, Barry Nelson, Whit Bissell, Louis Nye, Kevin McCarthy, Ray Middleton, etc. Kitty Carlisle Hart and Dr. William Cahan are looking for members to reunion. Call Cahan at [phone] ... On hand for the "Bopha!" preem celebration here was Jacqui Mofokeng, the first black woman to be crowned Miss South Africa. What courage she had to enter the contest. "I had nothing to lose," she smiled. She dined here with Debbie Allen, Diahann Carroll, Suzanne de Passe, Susan Sales and Anna Perez. Mofokeng has no plans to be an actress -- sez she wants to be a stockbroker. But she next competes in the Miss World pageant Nov. 27 in Sun City ... The "Bopha!" preem raised $ 80,000 to fund Artists for a Free South Africa. Director Morgan Freeman stopped by exec producer Arsenio Hall's show before the pic's preem with stars Danny Glover, Alfre Woodard, Marius Weyers and Maynard Eziashi also on hand.

SPIKE LEE'S WEDDING DATE is set for Oct. 2 ... Bill Cosby is here Oct. 10 to concert at USC's Bovard Auditorium to establish a minority screenwriting program at the USCinema-Television School in memory of wife Camille's father, Guy Alexander Hanks. Carsey-Werner and NBC co-sponsor ... Dinah Shore, Denzel Washington and David Wolper are honored by the Boys & Girls Club of America tonight at L.A.'s Hotel Intercontinental ... Madame Wu is celebrating the 33rd anni of her garden restaurant this week ... Whatta sendoff for young (26) restaurateur Alan Jackson at the opening of his charming, southwest cuisine'd Jackson's on Beverly Boulevard. Goodwishers on hand included vet eatery stars Patrick Terrail, Joachim Splichal, Bo Spivak, Anwar Saliman and a phone call from Bob Morris in France -- and the attendance, of course, by Alan's parents, Alana and Michael (KABC's) Jackson and the entire Ladd family ..."Hollywood," Greg Thompson's latest musical extravaganza, bows at Harrah's Lake Tahoe Oct. 2.