A Week of Red-Carpet Days

When Emmy organizers rolled out the red carpet on Sunday, they unofficially initiated a week of decadent parties on both sides of the Atlantic.

First came TV's biggest night, the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, where celebrities such as picked up their first Emmy trophies.

Following the ceremony, stars guzzled cocktails at , which kicked off with a performance by Seal, HBO's bash in West Hollywood, and TV Guide's shindig at Social Hollywood featuring bad-girl, Pink. The Emmys even compelled Prince to spice up the Entertainment Tonight — People magazine party at Mondrian Hotel's Asia de Cuba restaurant and Skybar. A hangover cloud was hanging high over Los Angeles come Monday morning.

Tom Cruise, though, must have been ready to party; he with Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder. The financial terms of the deal were not made public, but the AP reported that it will allow Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner to run their company and make deals to produce films, some of which could star Cruise himself.

Paris Hilton could have used Cruise's star power to liven up the red carpet at an after-party in her honor at Caesar's Palace's Pure Nightclub, following a day of promotions on Tuesday for her album "Paris."

Some of the D-list guests who floated down the red carpet were Joe Jackson, father of Michael, and porn star Stormy Daniels. But Hilton's day in Sin City wasn't a wash out. At a street fair earlier in the day, comedian Jeff Beacher presented the heiress with an official proclamation naming Aug. 29, 2006, "Paris Hilton Day" in Vegas. Mark your calendars, folks!

Across the Atlantic, the Venice Film Festival opened with a red-carpet screening of Scarlett Johansson's "Black Dahlia," followed by gala screenings for "Hollywoodland," "World Trade Center" and "Infamous."

A very pregnant Maggie Gyllenhaal walked her third red carpet in as many weeks for the premiere of her movie "Sherrybaby." She was also in "World Trade Center" and "Trust No Man," both of which opened earlier in August.

3An onslaught of New York-based promotions and TV appearances by Jessica Simpson for her new album "A Public Affair" was halted this week when the poor dear bruised a vocal cord. But she still managed to rollerblade at her launch party, wearing a sign that read "I lost my voice."

How does one bruise a vocal cord? Perhaps it happened when she was playing tonsil hockey with , who also had to cancel a concert on Saturday because of a nasty case of Laryngitis. Gee, what a coincidence that Simpson's budding relationship was announced the same week her album launched! I think congrats are in order, Joe Simpson.

Jessica was fully recovered, thank God, by Thursday night's much-anticipated Video Music Awards in New York City. Dressed in a spandex minidress, the bronzed and toned goddess walked up on stage to present and flubbed her lines as usual.

2In fact, Jessica's blonde-moment was just one of the predictable things about the night; , Jack Black seemed to be begging the audience for laughs, and Vanessa Minnillo's dress was just as bad as the one she sported at the Emmys only a few days before. Come on, Vanessa, you're no longer just an MTV host, you're Nick Lachey's girlfriend! It's time for a stylist.
By Amy Bonawitz