New York, July 27, 2006 – Johnny Depp drew one of the largest and most frenzied crowds of fans ever to David Letterman’s midtown Manhattan studios on Thursday. Several hundred people, some dressed as Depp’s character Edward Scissorhands, waited hours in the oppressive heat and humidity for a glimpse of the movie star. You may have seen Depp's gold teeth on the TV show, but insanity reigned outside.

Arriving only minutes before show time, Depp waved to the crowd, and indicated that he would sign autographs on his way out.

While the Pirates of the Caribbean star was taping the segment, one girl waiting outside got sick, and vomited, but refused to leave her front-row spot behind the police barricade. (The other fans around her also refused to move, but certainly wanted to.)

Another woman passed out, and an ambulance was summoned. EMS technicians attended to her and even poured water on her.

After the show, Depp walked all the way to the famed deli at the end of the street, which was closed to traffic, and then made his way back down the block, signing autographs for at least 20 minutes. The heat even got the best of cool Mr. Depp, and he pulled off his embroidered shirt.

When he finally left, we hear that seven cars full of professional autograph-seekers chased Depp to his posh hotel, where he drove around the block, leaving time for even more fans to gather around the hotel. It seems that someone in that crowd got hurt, and an ambulance was called.

New York, July 26, 2006 – American Idol runner up Katharine McPhee’s bouts with bulimia and with bronchitis and laryngitis seem to have had no effect on her bouncy locks. She recovered sufficiently from her respiratory problems to announce that she’s the new face – (head?) – of Sexy Hair Concepts. At the press conference at New York’s Ritz Carlton Hotel, McPhee told us that she doesn’t carry out any superstitious rituals before a performance, but “Sometimes I pray”.

The 22-year-old returned to good health at an opportune time: she’s going to join her fellow AI tour mates at the White House, where they’ll meet President Bush, and she’ll record an album in the Fall.

New York, July 26, 2006 – How smoking hot is Scarlett Johansson? With war raging in the Middle East, and the day after an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon killed four unarmed U.N. observers, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Dan Gillerman, left work in time to mingle with Johansson at the 7 P.M. premiere of her new film, Scoop. We really don’t know why Open All Night is telling you this when the Museum of Modern Art screening was swarming with news anchors, including CBS’s Bob Schieffer and ABC’s John Stossel.

But it wasn’t only news types at the screening. Johansson’s “good friend” Wilmer Valderrama, Regis and Joy Philbin, Lauren Bacall, presidential nieces Lauren and Ashley Bush, and the Devil herself, Anna Wintour, all checked out Scoop. Unlike Gillerman, the movie’s director, Woody Allen, had something more important to do, and couldn’t be there.

New York, July 25, 2006 – Approaching the Lincoln Square movie theater for the New York premiere of the charming movie Little Miss Sunshine, a dim memory surfaced from about three weeks prior, at the L.A. premiere of the same film. Later, we checked our archives, and there it was: Back on July 2 at Little Miss Sunshine’s sunny Hollywood debut, we were surprised at the appearance of the grown-up Haley Joel Osment, and wondered what the heck he’s been up to lately. (And we in no way suggest that there is any connection between this road-trip movie and Osment’s infamous, er, road trip of last week.)

But in New York, on the golden carpet, Alan Arkin recalled the ultimate road trip of a more idyllic time: he hitchhiked cross-country in his teens, without worrying about safety. Arkin complimented his young co-star Abigail Breslin: “She has a complete [acting] craft at her disposal. She just….she has it.”