Cast member Michael C. Hall attends a panel for ''Dexter'' during the Showtime television portion of the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 30, 2012.

LOS ANGELES | Mon Oct 8, 2012 4:54pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Dexter" star Michael C. Hall has always been attracted to cutting-edge projects, so it's no surprise to see the actor who plays the blood spatter analyst/serial killer pop up in the edgy, dark comedy Web series "Ruth & Erica".

Starring "ER's" Maura Tierney as a lonely middle-aged woman trying to deal with her increasingly frail parents, the 13-episode show debuted on WIGS, YouTube's No. 1 channel for scripted drama, last month.

Hall, who won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award for his role on "Dexter" and who previously appeared in "Six Feet Under," joins the "Ruth & Erica" cast on Wednesday as Tierney's loser, ex-drug addict realtor and would-be boyfriend.

Hall, 41, spoke with Reuters about switching gears for a new comedic role, the new season of "Dexter," and foot tattoos.

Q: This is not your usual TV show - was that the appeal?

A: "Absolutely. The format is unique and you can tell the story in much briefer sketches than in series TV. Each one is just five to seven minutes long, and I did three of them. And then there's the amazing cast, the fact that it won't take over your life for five or more years if it's successful like a network show, and the writing (by "Party of Five"'s Amy Lippman) was so strong and compelling."

Q: The loser realtor is another juicy role for you. How much of you is there in him?

A: (Laughs) "I'm not as organized or fastidious as maybe the average person, and I can certainly relate to his general dishevelment. And after playing someone as remarkably capable as Dexter, it's nice to play someone who's anything but."

Q: Your character's beard is a nice touch. Whose idea was that?

A: "I just happened to have one when they called me about this, and Amy and I just decided it really fit the character."

Q: Despite all the humor, the WIGS show tackles some serious issues - aging parents, illness, healthcare.

A: "Exactly, it tackles those baby boomer fears about getting older and our parents getting sick and how we adjust to that. And my character, like the others, feels the wheel of his life turning in a way that makes him realize that when you lose your parents, you're next."

Q: Have you gone through a similar situation in real life?

A: "My mother's still alive but my father passed away when I was still quite young. She's thankfully in very good health, but you do feel a sense of the finite time that remains for them, and then the finite time you have left. The show did make me think, and I feel very thankful for the relationship I have with my mother."

Q: Is doing an Internet show like this very different from a network or cable show?

A: "Not really. It's pretty much the same process and we moved at a comparable pace - but with a smaller crew. I'd definitely do it again."

Q: It's season 7 for "Dexter," and there's quite a situation now between Dexter and his sister Debra, who's onto his secrets. Has that re-energized the show?

A: "It really has, and we all feel so excited about it now the playing field has fundamentally changed. All the relationships have also changed as a result, and to have that happen this late in a series is almost unheard of."

Q: So what can fans expect?

A: "You'll see both of them negotiate this new information being out there. And I've heard that if there's any major theme in this new season, it's to do with love - its meaning, its nature, familial love, romantic love, all kinds of love."

Q: You excel at playing these wild characters. What's the wildest thing you've done recently?

A: (Laughs) "I got a tattoo on my foot. It looks like a mixture of a doodle and the map to an alien planet. That was pretty crazy!"

Q: How painful was it?

A: "Just painful enough." (Editing by Chris Michaud and Kenneth Barry)

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1 of 10. Visitors look at Raphael's ''Auxiliary cartoon for the Head of a Young Apostle from 1519-1520 which has an estimated value of £10 to £15 million (US$16 - $24 million) at Sotheby's London October 8, 2012.

LONDON | Tue Oct 9, 2012 10:02am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The most surprising thing about this year's Frieze art week, which puts London at the cutting edge of the contemporary art world every October, is that there is so much old art around.

The annual Frieze Art Fair will go ahead as usual in a giant marquee in Regent's Park, a grid of 175 galleries teeming with potential buyers and thousands of contemporary art lovers keen to keep up with the latest trends in a fast-moving world.

And there are the spin-off events across the capital designed to lure the world's wealthiest buyers - auctions, rival fairs, parties, gallery openings, exhibitions and discreet viewings far from the hullabaloo.

But unlike previous editions, the October 11-14 fair this year comes with a separate Frieze Masters event featuring 96 galleries offering works from across the last 4,000 years.

The reasons for the shift are both commercial and cultural.

Organizers and exhibiting galleries are hoping for more crossover business between contemporary art collectors and those more interested in older works.

They also want to explore art's relationship with the past, representing an acceptance that what came before should be appreciated as well as challenged by iconoclastic young artists.

"I suppose what makes it interesting is what's come out of conversations with contemporary artists," said Victoria Siddall, director of the new fair. "It becomes apparent that a lot of them are looking at works that were made a long time ago.

"All galleries are interested in meeting new clients," she told Reuters. "There are old master and contemporary galleries, and I hope there will be a crossover. It would be great to broaden people's horizons in terms of what they collect."

"MEDICI" BUYERS

That crossover is already happening.

Among the most coveted clients for auction houses and galleries are so-called "Medici"-style buyers who acquire art across different periods and genres.

Sotheby's said 30 percent of buyers at its old master drawing sales had also bought art at its contemporary auctions, compared with seven percent in 2007.

It is no coincidence that it is displaying Raphael's 1519 "Head of an Apostle", which is worth up to $24 million, alongside Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon and Gerhard Richter at its London headquarters this week.

Artists are also embracing Frieze's shift to the past.

The fair has organized a series of conversations bringing together leading contemporary artists with major curators.

On Thursday, London-born contemporary painter Cecily Brown talks with National Gallery director Nicholas Penny who is more used to talking about Raphael than Richter.

For Matthew Slotover, who with Amanda Sharp started Frieze Art Fair in 2003 and launched a New York edition this year, the new-look format was a way of keeping the event fresh.

"We think it's always good to innovate and try new things, as it keeps people interested and excited and us interested and excited too," he told Reuters.

"What we thought we could do with (Frieze Masters) was to animate all of this art that was radical when it was made."

RIVAL FAIRS

Rival fairs like PAD London, held in the exclusive Berkeley Square from October 10-14 and best known for showcasing 20th century art and design, will also delve into the past.

Galerie Mermoz, based in Paris, will present tribal art including a ceremonial head of Hacha representing the god Xipe Totec, dated 450-750 AD, from Mexico.

Modern PAD highlights include Alexander Calder's 1943 "Constellation with Red Knife" valued at $3.5 million.

Sotheby's offers Richter's "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)" for $14-19 million at its contemporary auction on October 12.

The painting has the added buzz of belonging to guitarist Eric Clapton who bought it and two other works by the German artist for $3.4 million in 2001.

That kind of price rise underlines how the top end of the art market has largely defied broader economic gloom.

Auction records have tumbled as buyers from the Middle East, Russia and China snap up top lots for private collections, long-term investments or to fill new museums and galleries.

"There's a lot of confidence in London at the moment," Slotover said of the art market. "London is a brilliant gateway to the rest of the world."

Not everyone is celebrating the boom.

Benedict Silverman, whose $160 million collection of works from early 20th century Germany and Austria is being sold for charity, blamed "speculators" for driving prices higher and making life difficult for collectors like himself.

"The prices paid these days are for trophies, not for art," he said.

"I think there is a bubble and I can't wait for it to break as real collectors are interested in the art, not the price."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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NEW YORK | Tue Oct 9, 2012 5:06am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vietnamese-born chef Charles Phan shares his passion for his homeland and tips about how to cook its delicious food in his first cookbook, "Vietnamese Home Cooking".

Phan and his family fled to Guam from Vietnam in 1975 before settling in San Francisco a couple of years later. In 1995 he opened his restaurant Slanted Door, which has won acclaim for its modern interpretation of traditional Vietnamese food. He now runs six other eateries in San Francisco.

The 50-year-old spoke to Reuters about his passion for Vietnamese food, his plan to open a New Orleans-inspired bar and his future plans.

Q: What is the goal of your first cookbook?

A: "It's way to spread the gospel, if you will, about Vietnamese culture and food. We try to do that with our restaurant. The book is another way of bringing that culture to you."

Q: What makes Vietnamese cuisine unique?

A: "The Vietnamese were conquered by the French and the Chinese. On a Vietnamese table, there is always a big platter of fresh vegetable and herbs. In Vietnam, up north, the food is a bit different from the south. You have different climates. In Saigon, it's hot and muggy and tropical so the country ranges pretty widely with its food."

Q: What does Vietnamese cooking have in common with others in Southeast Asia?

A: "Obviously, rice is the common link across these cultures. They use meat as condiments rather than a main course. We don't have ovens so we don't bake things. We steam things. Fuel is scarce so we use very little wood. You have the fruits and vegetables that come from Southeast Asia you use over there. When you compare all of Southeast Asia with Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, they are very similar. Things get different when you get into China."

Q: You have plans to open another restaurant?

A: "We are about to open to Creole bar concept. I happen to like bourbon a lot; so does my architect. So this bar will have an extensive bourbon list and interesting bourbon from the last three years. It's tiny. It's only 1,300 square feet. So the bar drives the concept. It's inspired by New Orleans. There will be oysters from New Orleans. We'll have gumbo. We'll make a mean fried chicken."

Q: Do you have second thoughts about serving Creole food?

A: "I cook all this food at home all the time. I'm not saying I'm an expert at it but it's simple enough and it's high quality food .... You don't have be Vietnamese to cook Vietnamese food as long as you understand the sensibility."

Q: What should one be mindful of in making Vietnamese food?

A: "You have to learn how to eat Vietnamese food before you cook it. You have to understand what the sensibility is or what I call the gold standard. This is how the Vietnamese want it. This is how people in Vietnam treat their food. You might not agree.

"In Vietnam people like their meat medium to well done. You could change that. There's nothing wrong with that. Again in Vietnam, people eat their soup with herbs and lemon in it. But you don't have to do it. Cooking is knowing where you are going and achieving that goal."

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce (Makes 20 to 25 skewers; serves 10 to 12 as an appetizer)

2½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs

¾ cup sliced shallots

¾ cup shallot oil or canola oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1½ tablespoons roasted chili paste

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons mild Madras curry powder

Peanut sauce (see below)

Sriracha sauce, for seasoning

20 to 25 (10-inch) bamboo skewers

1. Trim any visible fat from the chicken thighs, then cut the thighs into long strips, about 1-inch wide. Put the chicken into a bowl and set aside.

2. To make the marinade, in a food processor or blender, combine the shallots and shallot oil and process until smooth. Add the garlic, chili paste, sugar, salt, and curry powder and process until smooth.

3. Add the marinade to the chicken and mix well to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours. In a shallow dish, immerse the bamboo skewers in water to cover.

4. Prepare a medium-hot fire for direct-heat grilling in a charcoal grill (you should be able to hold your hand 1 inch above the grate for only 3 to 4 seconds).

5. Just before the coals are ready, drain the skewers and thread 1 strip of chicken lengthwise onto each skewer, taking care to insert the skewer through the center of each strip. Do not leave the tip of the skewer exposed or it will burn.

6. Place the skewers on the grill grate and cook, turning once, for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until well browned and opaque throughout.

7. In a small bowl, stir together the peanut sauce with Sriracha to taste. Transfer the skewers to a large platter and serve immediately, accompanied with the sauce.

PEANUT SAUCE (makes about 2 cups)

1 cup sweet (glutinous) rice

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

2 cloves garlic

1 Thai chili, stemmed

3 tablespoons red miso

3 tablespoons ketchup

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vegetarian stir-fry (aka vegetarian oyster) sauce

1-1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh sieve until the water runs clear, then transfer to a heavy-bottomed pot with a lid. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to low, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered for 10 minutes. Then uncover, fluff with a fork, and let cool to room temperature. Alternatively, the rice can be prepared in a rice cooker.

2. In a food processor, combine the cooled rice, peanuts, garlic, chili, miso, ketchup, canola oil, sugar, stir-fry sauce, lemon juice and sesame oil and process until the mixture is a fine paste. Thin with water (about 1/2 cup) until the texture is smooth and creamy. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. The sauce will keep, refrigerated, for up to four days.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; editing by Patricia Reaney and Richard Chang)

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PARIS | Mon Oct 8, 2012 1:31pm EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - French group PPR plans to sell its declining Fnac music and book retailer, a source familiar with the matter said, to focus on its more profitable luxury and sports brands such as Gucci and Puma.

The board will meet on Tuesday to discuss splitting off Fnac, which analysts estimate could be worth up to 800 million euros ($1 billion), the source told Reuters on Monday. It will then present the plan to employees, the source said.

PPR confirmed it plans to hold a board meeting on Tuesday "to study the strategic options concerning Fnac."

PPR, the world's third-largest luxury group behind LVMH and Switzerland's Richemont, has been trying to sell its various retail businesses for several years to concentrate on its luxury and sports brands which have stronger growth prospects.

Analysts and bankers have said getting rid of Fnac would be particularly difficult as the unit's sales and profits have been dwindling steadily, hit by music piracy and fierce competition from the Internet.

PPR would also face resistance to any job losses at Fnac from the government, which is trying to fight rising unemployment and putting pressure on companies to safeguard jobs.

Labour minister Michel Sapin said on Monday he was closely watching PPR's decision to cut ties with Fnac and its impact on jobs.

Fnac, which has outlets in Brazil, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, employs 18,000 staff, with about 12,000 in France.

"The exit plan is not completely decided," the source said, adding PPR aims to seek shareholders' approval at next year's annual general meeting in the spring.

PPR could put Fnac's assets into a new legal entity which could either be sold to a third party - which analysts say would likely be a private equity firm - or listed on the stock market, the source said.

If Fnac applied for a separate Paris listing, PPR shareholders which include the Pinault family holding Artemis with a 40.7 percent stake, would receive shares in Fnac.

The scheme would be similar to that used by Carrefour to spin off Spanish discount chain Dia which left the retail giant free to revamp its poorly performing French business.

"Fnac has a good chance of attracting private equity or industrial bids," a Paris-based trader said, citing a price of around 550 million euros.

PAINFUL PROCESS

Getting out of general retailing has been a long and painful process for PPR, whose initials stand for Pinault-Printemps-La Redoute, which began in 2006 with the sale of the Printemps department store.

Fnac, in which PPR started investing in 1994 and fully owned in 1996, was identified as a non-strategic asset three and a half years ago.

"At least we will know how much Fnac is really worth once it is no longer consolidated in PPR's accounts," said Catherine Gaigne from the Sud union, which represents Fnac employees.

Analysts at CM-CIC Securities put a value of 775 million euros on Fnac, or 6.1 euros a share, saying a spin-off was a suitable option given "the difficulty of selling this asset".

Others said an IPO was usually reserved for growth stories, not declining businesses, and that option seemed less likely.

Investors cheered the prospect of seeing PPR free from Fnac, sending the shares up as much as 3 percent. The stock closed 2 percent higher, the only gainer on a 1.4 percent weaker French blue-chip CAC 40 index.

The company, which owns fashion brands Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen, sold furniture retailer Conforama last year.

In July it raised 968 million euros by selling its remaining stake in distribution unit CFAO to Japan's Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC).

Last week, PPR Chief Executive Francois-Henri Pinault said he would update investors on plans to sell its Redcats unit - which owns mail order businesses La Redoute, Cyrillus and Vertbaudet - before October 25.

Fnac, which also sells toys and home electronics, made an EBIT loss of 7.5 million euros in the half year to June 30 while PPR's luxury divisions made a profit of 727.1 million euros.

($1 = 0.7657 euros)

(Additional reporting by Christian Plumb, Blaise Robinson and Elena Berton; Editing by Erica Billingham and David Cowell)

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1 of 4. European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi (L) speaks during the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels October 9, 2012.

BRUSSELS | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:55am EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greece has made progress on reforming its economy but has more work to do, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Tuesday.

"It's quite clear that the progress at the level of undertaking the necessary policy reform has been perceptible and significant and it's also clear that more needs to be done," he told the European Parliament Committee.

"We see progress, we see a need for further work," he added.

The ECB, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund form the so-called troika of international lenders. The troika is working on a report on Greece's progress in tackling its debts.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Patrick Graham)

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NEW YORK | Mon Oct 8, 2012 3:41pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. hedge funds and other clients of Wall Street investment firms raised their level of borrowed money in August, a sign they may be more confident in the markets, data published Monday showed.

Leverage rose to $286.6 billion last month, according to New York Stock Exchange margin debt data, up 5.4 percent since August last year. It is the first time in nine months that margin debt has increased on a year-over-year basis, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch showed in their Hedge Fund Monitor report.

Leverage levels "can be used as a sentiment indicator" so the increase could mean investors have regained some confidence in the market, the report said.

While the level of leverage recorded in August is a 3.2 percent rise on July levels, it still lags the amount of borrowed cash that investors were using to make bets in the stock market before Lehman Brothers collapsed, according to NYSE data.

Hedge funds have gained about 5 percent this year through September, according to hedge fund tracking firms, but still trail the broader stock market. The S&P 500 index rose more than 16 percent through September.

August's rise in leverage could be an indication that hedge funds and large investors, reassured by rallying stock markets, are willing to use more borrowed money try and amplify their returns, though another month of data would be needed to confirm this, Bank of America analyst Mary Ann Bartels said in an email.

Before the financial crisis, hedge funds, particularly those focused on bets in credit markets, used leverage in different forms boost returns, such as increasing exposure to inherently levered products like derivatives, or by using margin or borrowed money from Wall Street.

In 2007, NYSE margin debt rose above $317 billion and stayed there for the remainder of the year, hitting a peak of more than $381 billion that July.

Investors reduced their leverage in 2009 and 2010 to levels as low as $173 billion and then began to borrow more money again through July of 2011. Spooked by whipsawing markets last summer, which devastated the portfolios of some of the country's savviest investors, money managers took off leverage again in the second half of the year.

Through August, NYSE margin debt is down about 4 percent from its 2012 peak of $298.5 billion, recorded in April. Beginning in May risk-averse investors reduced leverage, pulling back from global financial markets riled by fears that Greece would exit the deeply troubled euro zone.

Margin debt remains down roughly 10.6 percent from its post-2008 peak of $320.7 billion, which it reached in April last year.

NYSE member organizations are required to report monthly the total amount of money borrowed by customers to purchase securities.

While hedge funds have yet to ratchet up to pre-crisis levels, or even to the highs of 2011, Bank of America analysts said the fact that investors increased leverage last month is a positive sign.

Margin debt is one way to measure how much risk hedge funds and other large investors are taking by using borrowed cash, but it fails to address or measure the exposure those firms have to 'embedded' or 'hidden' leverage, which they can obtain by investing in structured products like collateralized loan obligations or asset-backed-securities, which are more highly levered in themselves. Some hedge funds have been eyeing those riskier, more exotic assets in their hunt for yield.

Data published Friday by BarclayHedge and TrimTabs showed that hedge fund managers "are strongly inclined to maintain current levels of leverage," and "plans to lever up fell slightly in September while plans to reduce leverage climbed by a small margin."

(Reporting By Katya Wachtel)

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1 of 2. The sun sets behind Stonehenge in Wiltshire, southern England January 7, 2010.

LONDON | Tue Oct 9, 2012 7:38am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - A cutting-edge laser scan of Stonehenge has shown how Britain's enigmatic neolithic monument was built to enhance the dramatic passage of sunlight through the circle of stones at midsummer and midwinter.

The slabs were intended to appear at their best in the dawn light on the longest day of the year and at sunset on the shortest, the scan for English Heritage found.

The two solstices attract thousands of visitors to Stonehenge, which dates back some 5,000 years.

The 3-D scan showed the stones to the northeast were carefully "pick-dressed" - worked to be smoother and neater than the other columns - creating a more dramatic spectacle from that angle.

Those stones were set where they would be seen first by people approaching the monument from the northeast along the Avenue, a processional route that would have been particularly spectacular at the midwinter sunset.

The scan uncovered 71 new images of axe-heads carved into the surface, doubling the number of known such carvings recorded in Britain. It also showed up damage and graffiti from Georgian and Victorian visitors.

In the 19th century, visitors could hire chisels at the site to hack off their own souvenirs from the stone.

According to the new evidence, the axe-head carvings were made in the Early Bronze Age, around 1,000 years after the first builders got to work at Stonehenge.

The lofty stones were transported some 400 km (miles) to the site in around 2,100 BC. Archeologists are still puzzled as to how the stones, weighing up to 45 tonnes, were made to stand upright.

(Reporting By Isla Binnie, editing by Paul Casciato)

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A photographer take a picture of a portrait of Mona Lisa on a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci during a presentation in Geneva September 27, 2012. A package of diaries said to have been posted to the United States from Britain in the 1960s could provide a vital clue to the origin of a controversial portrait presented in Geneva last month as Leonardo da Vinci's original ''Mona Lisa.'' Picture taken September 27, 2012.

GENEVA | Mon Oct 8, 2012 5:47pm EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - A package of diaries said to have been posted to the United States from Britain in the 1960s could provide a vital clue to the origin of a controversial portrait presented in Geneva last month as Leonardo da Vinci's original "Mona Lisa."

But in a twist typical of the intrigue-prone world of art, the diaries -- notes by early 20th century British connoisseur and collector Hugh Blaker -- disappeared and the Washington address they were sent to seems never to have existed.

"Those papers could well provide the key to pushing back the provenance of this version of the 'Mona Lisa' by at least 150 years," Robert Meyrick, an academic and expert on the largely forgotten Blaker, told Reuters.

And, of course, to helping establish if the so-called "Isleworth" variant of the world's most famous painting in the Paris Louvre could indeed be an earlier -- and priceless -- portrayal by Leonardo of the enigmatic, smiling lady.

Blaker, an unsuccessful painter who as a museum curator and dealer had a reputation for recognizing lost Old Masters, found and bought the "younger Mona Lisa" in 1913 -- in, he later said, a nobleman's country house in Somerset in western England.

Sure it was a real Leonardo, he kept it at his home in the London suburb of Isleworth -- giving it its informal identity tag -- until it passed to his sister Jane on his death in 1936.

But Blaker told no one the name of the country house or of the seller. Meyrick, who was invited to the Geneva presentation to talk about the bachelor connoisseur, is keen to solve that mystery for a biography he plans to write.

"I think he must have put the details in his diaries," he said in an e-mail message this month from Aberystwyth University in Wales where he is Head of the School of Art.

"But the very brief published extracts we have give no clue. If we have that knowledge, we should be able to trace how it came into the Somerset family's possession, and where."

GRAND TOUR PURCHASE?

Meyrick theorizes that it could have been picked up by an 18th century member of the family during one of the Grand Tours across Europe undertaken by young English nobles. Many great works of European art came to Britain that way.

After Jane Blaker died in 1947, the painting was eventually purchased by an international art dealer and then lay for nearly 40 years in Swiss bank vaults until last month's Geneva presentation by a Zurich-based "Mona Lisa Foundation."

At that session, Italian Leonardo specialist Alessandro Vezzosi praised its quality but held back from endorsing the foundation's claim that it is the work of Leonardo, who died in 1519. For that, much more work was needed, said Vezzosi.

Some experts who were not present like British professor Martin Kemp of Oxford University, scoffed at it as a poor copy -- although, as foundation member Stanley Feldman noted, Kemp had never actually seen the portrait.

"The controversy underlines the importance of the diaries," says Meyrick.

With other papers and an unpublished novel, they passed after the death of Blaker -- whose keen eye had brought the scorned Italian artist Amadeo Modigliani to the British art public in the 1920s -- to his painter friend Murray Urquhart.

Before he died in 1972 Urquhart, whose son Brian was a key figure in the United Nations in the 1970s and 80s, said he had sent Blaker's notes from before 1931 to a researcher named Charles Woods who had written asking to see them.

According to Urquhart's account, he posted them to Woods at 116 1/2 (Eds: correct) Maryland Drive, Washington DC -- but heard nothing more. "All I can establish is that there is no such address, and probably never was," says Meyrick.

There is also no trace of Woods.

But in 2010, in response to a standing appeal on his website (www.robertmeyrick.co.uk), Meyrick was sent Blaker's diaries for the last five years of his life by a family who found them years before in a junk shop in Gravesend, east of London.

"Did all the papers end up as junk, or did the earlier diaries really go to Washington?" asks Meyrick, who has written widely on British 20th century art.

"Perhaps we will never know, but I plan to keep looking."

(Reported by Robert Evans)

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Actor Danny DeVito and his wife Rhea Perlman kiss as they pose on his star after it was unveiled on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California in this August 18, 2011 file photo.

LOS ANGELES | Mon Oct 8, 2012 5:54pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actors Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman are separating after 30 years of marriage, DeVito's spokesman said on Monday.

Stan Rosenfeld said the pair had split but gave no details.

DeVito and Perlman married in 1982 and have three adult children. The duo, both known for playing characters with sharp tongues, acted alongside each other in the 1978-82 TV comedy "Taxi," in which she had a recurring role as his character's girlfriend, and in the 1996 children's film "Matilda."

Perlman is best known for her role as sarcastic waitress Carla Tortelli in the 1980s hit comedy "Cheers," for which she won four Emmy Awards.

DeVito, who won an Emmy for his turn as the despotic dispatcher in "Taxi," currently stars in the FX comedy "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

The pair also founded TV and movie production company Jersey Films, whose titles include "Pulp Fiction" and "Erin Brockovich."

(This version of the story has been corrected in the 4th paragraph to show Perlman played a waitress) (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Gary Hill)

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The Olympic Stadium is reflected on a temporary structure sponsored by BP at the Olympic Park in Stratford, the location of the London 2012 Olympic Games, in east London July 18, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 6, 2012 10:16pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senators from the U.S. Gulf Coast urged President Barack Obama on Friday to ensure that any legal settlement for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill does not undermine a recently passed law that would funnel billions of dollars worth of fines to their states.

The U.S. Justice Department and BP Plc have discussed a potential settlement for damages caused both to Gulf waters and the coastline, which could be worth billions of dollars to states still trying to recover from the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

While the details of those discussions have been kept under wraps, Democratic and Republican senators from the region said they have "grave concerns about developments of the settlement terms" that have been cited by local media outlets.

Senators pointed to recent press reports that the Justice Department and BP are discussing settlement terms that would maximize penalties to be paid under Natural Resource Damage assessments, and minimize those paid under the Clean Water Act.

The RESTORE Act, signed by President Barack Obama on July 6, directs that 80 percent of Clean Water Act penalties paid by BP be placed in a new trust fund for restoration efforts in the five coastal states damaged by the worst U.S. offshore oil spill: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas.

In a bipartisan letter - a rare sight ahead of the November 6 presidential elections - eight senators told Obama they are worried the Justice Department is considering allowing the bulk of fines to be assessed under the Oil Pollution Act for damages assessed to the coastline, with a minority of fines assessed for damages under the Clean Water Act.

Fines arising from Clean Water Act violations could reach $21 billion, if BP is found to be grossly negligent of causing the April 20, 2010, explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 rig workers and unleashed 4.9 million barrels of oil that soiled the shorelines of four Gulf Coast states. BP has adamantly denied any accusations of gross negligence, and declined to comment on the senators' letter.

Without the bill, federal Clean Water Act fines would have gone straight to the U.S. Treasury. Anywhere from $4 billion to $16.8 billion could flow into states' coffers under the bill's terms.

The Mobile (Alabama) Press-Register first reported the proposed deal earlier this week, citing unnamed officials who had been briefed by the Justice Department.

The potential settlement could be attractive to BP, because fines under the Oil Pollution Act are treated more favorably by the U.S. tax code than are Clean Water Act fines, congressional sources said.

"Not only would the federal government have final say as to what qualified as environmental damage but BP, who is responsible for this, would also get a tax deduction that could write off millions," Representative Jo Bonner, an Alabama Republican, told Reuters. "The audacity of giving BP a tax write-off."

A Justice Department spokesman had no comment on either negotiations nor the criticisms from elected officials.

Senators told Obama the trade-off would mean less money allocated through a formula lawmakers negotiated in the RESTORE Act, legislation which puts decisions on how the money is spent in the hands of states and local governments.

"Circumventing the will of Congress by short changing the RESTORE Act is wholly unacceptable to us. We urge you to reject such an approach," said the letter, signed late on Friday by Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, and Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, who co-authored the legislation.

Shelby is concerned that Alabama's two coastal counties could lose out on planned recovery projects if the settlement was skewed toward Oil Pollution Act damage assessments, aides told Reuters.

"We urge you to negotiate a robust settlement that does not achieve a higher amount under one of these statutes at the expense of the other," said the letter, also signed by Florida senators Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat.

Republicans Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and John Cornyn of Texas also signed the letter.

Louisiana, which bore the brunt of environmental damage from the spill, expects to be compensated for damages regardless of the legal means, said Garret Graves, senior environmental advisor to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"Every statistic that's out there in regard to the impact of the spill clearly points to a disproportionate impact on the state of Louisiana, and Louisiana's focus will be ensuring that we fulfill our legal obligation to address all of these impacts to the Gulf," Graves said.

(The story corrects paragraph 17 to read "Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi" instead of Missouri)

(Additional reporting by David Ingram in Washington, Verna Gates in Birmingham, Alabama, Kathy Finn in New Orleans and Emily Le Coz in Tupelo, Mississippi; Editing by Chris Baltimore and Gary Hill)

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