C.J.: Mr. Magic wowed by new family ties

With no sleight of hand, Mr. Magic finds himself a relative of Rachel Uchitel's.

"Last week my sister, Lexy Capp (who lives in and has a successful business, Nannies and Housekeepers, USA, in Las Vegas), married the most prominent attorney in Nevada, Sam Lionel. Sam is Rachel's grandfather. Thought you'd like to know I'm now related to Rachel Uchitel!" the Plymouth magician told me via e-mail.

You may be thinking Uchitel: Why does that name ring a bell?

It's not because of her marriage, but the fame that came from her alleged role in the 2009 breakup of Tiger Woods' marriage.

In November 2009, the National Enquirer broke a story claiming that Woods had a relationship with the New York City nightclub manager. She never confirmed the report.

Monday, while researching Uchitel, I came across Diane Clehane's March 20 column on mediabistro.com. Clehane ran into Uchitel at a New York restaurant and asked whether, as some thought, Uchitel's Twitter post that read, "Everyone deserves a second chance," was a thinly veiled reference to Woods' recent Facebook announcement that he was dating Minnesota-born Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn.

"Everyone in the media immediately thought it was about Tiger," Uchitel told Clehane. "I still have not talked about him and never will. I haven't told anyone about this, but the tweet was about my 94-year-old grandfather, Sam Lionel, who is getting married. His fiancée is [53] and there has been some family drama about it, so that's what I was referring to. I'm even throwing her a bachelorette party."

The man known to the IRS as Michael McKay, and reachable at www.mrandmrsmagic.com, is not shy and retiring, so I was shocked that he didn't leave Vegas with a photo of him with his new relly.

"I kind of felt uncomfortable," said Mr. Magic. "For some reason, I thought it would be weird for me to ask.

"It was just kind of a small family event; 25 [people] maybe. The ceremony was at Irwin Molasky's $20 million penthouse in Las Vegas. It was Molasky, Howard Hughes & Sam Lionel who were key players in the 1960s. Molasky found the properties, Howard bought them & Sam (my new brother-in-law) handled all the legal work. Rachel seemed very charming and beautiful. I even dazzled her with a quick magic trick. She is now married and has a one-year-old baby."

Mr. Magic stressed, "She's not as beautiful as Mrs. Magic [Terri]!" Consider that proof that Mr. Magic is not as crazy as his hair suggests. Mrs. Magic was unable to attend the family event but was clearly on Mr. Magic's mind.

Moved by '42'

T.R. Knight said he sobbed through the entire script for "42," the movie about Jack Roosevelt Robinson's experiences as the first black to play major league baseball.

"Even having a small role in telling the story, it's just the weight of it is amazing," Knight said on ABC's "The View."

Knight played Harold Parrot, a writer and traveling secretary for the Dodgers who evolved. At first Parrott was opposed to Dodgers owner Branch Rickey employing Robinson to break baseball's color line. Parrott changed his mind after seeing the threats and verbal abuse endured by Robinson.

When I saw "Django Unchained" I was able to count the N-words, but they were flying by so fast in one scene in "42," I couldn't keep up with them.

Knight wouldn't give Barbara Walters any more juice about whether his departure from "Grey's Anatomy" was related to a black cast mate making a homophobic comment about Knight, who is gay.

"It's so in the past for me," Knight said after a long silence, then a sigh. "It happened and now it's now."

Knight said he's in the season finale of CBS's "The Good Wife," on which he played a fired political consultant.

One more side note: Hey, T.R., next time spring for the pencil-leg pants another size up. You'll still look skinny. That tugging and adjusting on camera suggested the pants were giving you a problem.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.