Hollywood's best chefs stuff them with Kobe beef. Publicists ply them with spa treatments. But no amount of spoiling can ease the anxiety of the Emmy nominees the night before the awards.

As if she didn't have enough to worry about, facing Edie Falco, Sally Field, Minnie Driver, Kyra Sedgwick and Mariska Hargitay on a ballot, Patricia Arquette had to wrestle with two disobedient breasts.

"Whoa, I don't think I'll be able to sit down in this dress," the "Medium" star confided to "Starter Wife" nominee Debra Messing in the ladies' room at Saturday's Entertainment Weekly party at Opera and Crimson.

"Me neither," said Messing, rearranging her own cleavage. She watched as Arquette started to bop around to a Gnarls Barkley song that beckoned her wayward bosom to bounce free again.

Despite the competition, the nominees sounded like a support group. At the NBC party at Spago, "Heroes" actor Adrian Pasdar recalled how, falling asleep on a flight to San Francisco the other day, " I had a dream that [co-star] Milo [Ventimiglia] and I were on stage at the Emmys. I called Milo later and said, 'We just won … in my dream.'"

Ventimiglia got a lot of support at the NBC party from another co-star, Hayden Panettiere. "Entourage" star Jeremy Piven steadied his nerves by chatting up a dozen or so women, who didn't have to be nominees. "Project Runway" nominee Heidi Klum, on the arm of husband Seal, told "30 Rock" nominee Alec Baldwin that she didn't dare hope to win.

"On behalf of all the men in the world," Baldwin told the supermodel, "if I lost and I looked like you, I wouldn't give a s—."

Baldwin said he expected to lose in the Lead Comedy Actor race, but prayed his show would win Best Comedy Series so that NBC might keep the ratings-challenged, critically hailed sitcom on the air.

"[Winning] could absolutely make a difference," agreed producer Lorne Michaels, who was huddled with NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman, the guy who does the network's plug-pulling. "I don't know if an Emmy gives a TV show the boost an Oscar gives a movie," Silverman told us.
"It didn't help 'Arrested Development.' It did help 'The Office.' I think it could help '30 Rock.'"

Silverman was dressed at the NBC party in a dark business suit — a sober style turn after the mirrored suit he wore the night before to a bash he threw with club impresario Brent Bolthouse. The party featured gambling tables, sequined-bikini-clad pool girls and a live tiger. Betting with fake money were Chris Tucker, David Spade, Rob Morrow, Molly Sims (with new short hair), Shia LaBeouf (with new highlights) and most of the "Office"-mates.

Paris Hilton, who showed up with sister Nicky, multitasked by helping DJ AM spin, bartending, dancing on tables and playing air guitar.

The fete — which had a Vegas theme, though Silverman said it had "New York style" — wrapped at 6 a.m.

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HBO flew out to the Emmys just about everybody who'd ever been on "The Sopranos." So, for the past few days, the bunch of them — over 20 actors — have been moving around Hollywood like one giant multi-legged creature that crawled out of the Paramus Mall.

At Saturday's Emmys rehearsal, they found themselves in a green room with Ben Vereen, Lou Gossett, Jr. and the rest of the reunited cast of "Roots." "Everybody got along great," says a spy.

After walking through the tribute where the cast of "Jersey Boys" sings and the whole "Sopranos" family comes onstage, the crew headed for dinner at Simon LA to reminisce and assess the odds of being the only dramatic series in 30 years to win an Emmy after the show went off the air.

"After seeing that tribute, it would be pretty crazy if we didn't win it," said Steve Schirripa, who's been turning down mob parts in favor of doing a funny cooking show for Lifeskool On Demand and an MSG Network pilot. "I know I don't sound like an English professor, but I'm tired of playing gangsters."

Michael Imperioli shrugged off Emmy handicappers who thought the bloody ending of his submitted episode, "Walk Like a Man," might whack his Supporting Actor chances. "That episode had the biggest emotional range," he told us.

After dinner, it was on to a party at manager Roger Haber's, and then more drinking at the Four Seasons, where they were all staying.

Sunday morning found the group by the pool, touching up their tans. Among them was precisely coiffed Tony Sirico. Laughed Schirripa: "He's making sure his hair doesn't get wet."


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Luckily, a huge misunderstanding was averted Thursday night at Bette.

Marilyn Manson was accompanying his lovely girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood, to the restaurant after a screening of her film "Across the Universe."

Someone in the bathroom line got completely the wrong idea and thought they heard the ghoulish rocker asking for "coke."

"And this annoying guy in the line kept going on about how great [prescription ADD drug] Adderall was," says the snitch. "Marilyn [supposedly] finally said, 'So do you have any?' And he was like, 'No.'"

Owing to the dim lighting, the source also mistakenly thought Manson was seen going into the bathroom with another person.

Fortunately, I was able to ask a film publicist who was present throughout the episode if any of this was true, and he assured me it wasn't.

Which is a huge relief!



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It's hard to begrudge a 7-year-old his looks, even in these competitive times. But it doesn't seem fair that Helena Christensen's striking son should be a genius as well.

"Mingus is really good at chess right now. His teachers say that he foresaw 18 moves ahead," his dad, Norman Reedus, said at the Catherine Fulmer fashion show.

"He beat his teachers two games in a row his first day at school — he is in second grade," Reedus told Webster Hall's Baird Jones.

So is he considered a genius?

"Yes, absolutely," said his proud dad.

Mingus himself was asked how he felt about being the "discovery" of Fashion Week. His response?

"No no no!"


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MAYBE Kid Rock should have been spending more time with his model girlfriend May Anderson than fighting with Tommy Lee in Las Vegas over his ex, Pam Anderson. While Rock was throwing punches at Lee, May was cozying up to Calvin Klein underwear model and Bloody Social rocker Jamie Burke here in New York. "They met at Gwen Stefani's In Style party," said one insider, who noted the blond duo were "getting very cozy on the couch . . . even though Jamie was wasted." The tipster added, "They've been seeing each other every night since, and spent the night together after the Calvin Klein party" when the designer celebrated 25 years on Sept. 5. Friends of the couple confirmed to Page Six that "there is definitely something going on," between the runway experts. Burke is no stranger to modelizing - the sexy singer has been linked to Sienna Miller and Kate Moss. Anderson and reps for Rock did not return our calls for comment, and a rep for Burke couldn't be reached.


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GORGEOUS Molly Sims was overheard backstage during Fashion Week cooing over Cartier CEO Frederic de Narp and how she has a major crush on him. The two met when she hosted an opening at the new Cartier store in San Francisco last week. "I want him to break up with his wife. I was just staring at him. He is the hottest thing," said Sims. Too bad Molly - de Narp, who's been called the "hottest CEO in America," is married with six kids.

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Howard Stern admitted on his show last week that he was getting "cold feet" over his upcoming wedding to fiancée Beth Ostrosky. "I wonder what I'm doing getting married," the shock jock wondered aloud. "I want nothing to do with a wedding." Stern said that it was his idea to have a fancy wedding instead of "running off somewhere." But now, Beth wants to invite more people than Stern would like. But, of course, Ostrosky can persuade him in the bedroom. "I get horny and come up with wedding ideas," said Stern.