More Celebrity HQ picture and gossip

While speaking to a crowd gathered at the drive-in restaurant The Beacon on Monday (Aug. 15), Minnesota congresswoman and Republican presidential candidate hopeful Michele Bachmann took a moment -, “Before we get started, let’s all say ‘Happy Birthday to Elvis Presley‘ today.

“You can’t do better than Elvis Presley and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started celebrating taking our country back to work.”

Quick fact check on that one …

a) It’s the anniversary of his death, not his birth — that falls on Jan. 8
b) The day Elvis died was actually Aug. 16, not Aug. 15.

It seems someone tipped Bachmann off to her onstage gaffe since she later she told reporters that she was happy to be in South Carolina “on the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death.”

c) Born in Tupelo, Mississippi before moving to Memphis, Tennessee in his teen years, The King has no meaningful ties to Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Points to the unidentified campaign organizer though who - Reuters, “You celebrate Elvis because he never died.” Extra credit if Bachmann makes that her campaign slogan.

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August 5, 2011 10:02 AM ET

Comedienne - was a trailblazer in the world of television and comedy, treading a path for generations of women in the entertainment industry to follow. Saturday (Aug. 6) marks what would have been her 100th birthday and to celebrate, Life - of never-before-published photos of Lucy.

The above photo is captioned: In 1958, on the set of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour — a collection of occasional lavish specials that followed the adventures of the Ricardos and the Mertzes after I Love Lucy — Ball does a comedy bit as a wisecracking clerk. As in real life, the fictional Lucy seemed to have tried every job in the want ads in the hope of eventually becoming famous and successful. Watching her fail spectacularly every week (even as the actress who played her showed off her unparalleled comic skills) made Lucy Ricardo a success — at becoming one of TV’s most unforgettable characters.

The below photo, with husband Desi: Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball strike familiar poses as they survey their new empire, the Desilu Studios, in 1958. The camera set-up behind them is actually one of Lucy and Desi’s greatest innovations. When they started I Love Lucy in 1951, most TV shows were produced live in New York, captured on low-quality kinetoscopes, then re-aired on the West Coast. The Arnazes insisted on working in Hollywood and shooting their show in advance on film. They invented the three-camera staging so they could shoot from multiple angles and distances simultaneously while performing the show before a live audience in the studio. The couple also got CBS to let them keep the filmed episodes, which ended up making them a fortune in syndication before reruns had become commonplace. The three-camera set-up became the standard for shooting sitcoms (and it remains so today), and it began the shift of TV production from New York to Hollywood.

And below the second photo is our very favorite Lucy moment ever seen on screen. Happy Birthday, Lucille Ball.

It’s been a busy weekend for teen music sensation -. - to Us Weekly, the 17-year-old Canadian is set to make a special appearance at the June 26 BET Awards. We don’t know whether he’ll be performing, presenting or merely Bieb-ing up Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium — but he will be there.

On Saturday (June 18), Bieber reportedly celebrated his manager’s birthday with a special guest of his own. Bieber, - to the New York Post, not only performed himself at the party for 30-year-old Scooter Braun, but was joined on stage by one-time rap sensation MC Hammer. Hammer led a rousing rendition of his 1991 hit, “2 Legit 2 Quit.”

“Wont ever forget last night,” - Braun. “Incredible childhood friends came out. Was
just a great night. EPIC is the only word 2 (to) describe it. WE GOT
DOWN.”

Proper.

Here’s a clip of Hammer’s performance:

Retirement, in Hollywood, isn’t often a voluntary endeavor — dropping out of the public eye completely, even less so. But that’s the case with Doris Day, who turns… 80-something years old on April 3.

Apparently the actual birth year of Day is shrouded in ambiguity. Her website claims it to be 1924, while most authoritative sites like IMDB and Wikipedia cite 1922 as the year — the latter noting a - which had Day down as 7 years old. It’s a fitting mystery for a woman who’s spent the majority of her very famous life avoiding fame.

The Cincinnati-born actress and singer appeared in 39 films and recorded more than 650 songs during her career — almost all in the span of just 25 years. She’s been essentially retired since “The Doris Day Show” ended its run in 1973.

Since then she’s spent most of her time off the radar, living at her Carmel-by-the-Sea home in California, devoting her energies to the Doris Day Animal Foundation.

Day has made several radio interviews in the 21st century, but has not appeared on television. She’s been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom and offered a Kennedy Center Honor, but, according to her -, declined to attend out of a fear of flying.

- to the 2011 International Motion Picture Almanac, Day remains the top-ranking female box office star of all time, ranked sixth in the list of top performers.

So in honor of that distinguished achievement, raise a birthday toast and enjoy her in one of the only musical numbers ever to be in an Alfred Hitchcock film: