Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Has Wayne Newton lost the ability to sing?

That's the word that has spread from a Las Vegas critic to a syndicated columnist and is, says Newton, "Absolutely, positively untrue. All someone has to do is come to one of my shows and draw their own conclusions.

"The story is ridiculous," blasts the man dubbed Mr. Last Vegas after performing more than 30,000 solo shows in that gamboling town. "But it becomes an enormous problem because people start to believe it."

The singing star has had to cope with rumors that he's retired and/or that he signed on for the hit "Dancing With the Stars" to breathe fresh life into a flagging career.

The fact is, says Newton, "I couldn't be much busier. I probably do five months a year in Las Vegas and another three months in the rest of the country. I've just toured Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and New York — sold-out dates I couldn't cancel in spite of 'Dancing With the Stars' rehearsals."

Those rehearsals, he wants us to know, have been grueling. "We rehearsed yesterday from 8 a.m. until 2, then went back and worked from 8 to midnight. It's been like that every day. Exhausting but exciting."

Tomorrow night will tell whether the "Dancing" excitement will go on for Wayne for at least another week. Last week, he and model Albert Reed went down to the wire as the celebrities with the lowest votes. Newton squeaked by with help from his loyal fan base.

TWO TRUE: Tamera Mowry, who teams with twin Tia in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Twitches Too," debuting Friday, Oct. 12, tells us plans are moving ahead for the sisters to make their first movie together where they'll play their actual age. That is 29, and the Mowrys also are planning to be executive producers for the first time on the romantic comedy "Double Date" for Lifetime. "She plays a successful, very competitive lawyer who has her own firm, and I play a pastry chef. I won't give away more, but it's a great story," says Tamera, who adds that the movie is being targeted for production after Tia's "The Game" series wraps for the season in spring.

With Tia's current show and Tamera's two years of playing a doctor on "Strong Medicine," Tamera says, "We developed individual careers, which is what we wanted to do. So now it's fun to work together again when we want." The former "Sister, Sister" stars definitely wanted to return to their "Twitches" roles as young women, who learned not only that they were twins, but that they were princesses of a magical land of witches, all on the same day.

"Twitches Too" was more physically demanding than the first witchy movie. "We were up in harnesses, we were kicking down doors. … My character is very concerned with fashion, and I like that she shows that, but I forgot about how it would be running in those red heels," she says with a laugh. Now Tamera feels ready for an action picture "or more drama. I'd love to play a doctor again, or a lawyer, or … "

FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES: "I felt like a little kid playing dress-up," says "American Pie's" Eddie Kaye Thomas of his role as a reluctant werewolf in ABC Family's "Nature of the Beast" telepic, airing Oct. 21. "I got to roll around in the dirt. I had this really intense set of teeth that made it hard to swallow, so I had to just let the drool fly," says Thomas, who plays a man forced to confess to his fiancee he's a werewolf days before their wedding. "It was great. ('The O.C.'s') Autumn Reeser plays my fiancee, and she said whenever the drool would fly, it helped her to get that screaming out."

Thomas — who's also a regular on FOX's "'Til Death" sitcom with Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher — says getting and staying in werewolf mode all day for "Nature of the Beast" was not quite as much fun. "I had to be a full-on werewolf for nine of the 20 shooting days, and it took three hours to put the whole thing on. Once I had it on, I couldn't eat, and by the end of the day, it got pretty hot." Consequently, he adds, "We did all the werewolf stuff for whatever location we were, lumping it together because once you're in werewolf mode, it's kind of tough to do anything else." "Nature of the Beast" — which also stars "Ugly Betty's" Eric Mabius as the Alpha Wolf, whom Thomas' character must kill to be free from the curse — airs as part of ABC Family's "13 Nights of Halloween" programming event.

SEATS OF POWER: Jay Leno auctioned off the furnishings used in about 800 broadcasts of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" — likely taking in more than $30,000 before the eBay auction closed over the weekend, with money going to fund an old friend's after-school program for at-risk kids in Brooklyn, N.Y. Perhaps Jay should start getting guests to sign the new furniture. What a fundraiser that could be.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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