TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

OH, NORMAN: Anjelica Huston has a crush on Norman Mailer. And she let everyone know it when she presented the provocative author with the Los Angeles Library Literary Award on Thursday night.

``He's a man's man, he's a ladies' man and, even at 83, he's a very sexy man,'' Huston said during a cocktail reception in the Central Library's Maguire Garden. She looked on admiringly as Mailer patiently sat in a wicker chair drinking Barefoot Chardonnay and posing for photos with some of the 500 philanthropic guests.

``Personally, I think he's one of the great sex symbols of the 21st century,'' Huston added when she introduced Mailer to an outdoor dinner crowd that included MC Keith Carradine and author Judith Krantz. ``It's never too late, Norman!''

But Mailer didn't get too excited about Huston's sweet talk.

``She's just being polite because she sees that I can barely make it up the steps to the podium,'' said the infamous author, whose dark Ugg boots and sweat pants contrasted with his blue blazer and pinstripe shirt.

Still, Huston's flattery might have helped tone down the frequently combative and pugnacious Mailer during his acceptance speech at the 11th Library Awards dinner.

``I'm usually a curmudgeon, but tonight I'm a gentle, sweet lamb, just an old and amateur philosopher,'' Mailer said. ``Maybe because I cannot bite the hand that feeds me an award.''

Then the controversial author discussed his numerous critics, his worst reviews, existentialism, nihilism and Jean-Paul Sartre at an event that raised $650,000 for library programs and services.

``Maybe 30 years ago,'' Mailer said with a wink as he watched Huston leave with her husband, sculptor Robert Graham, after he received a standing ovation. ``But now I just want to keep writing things that keep people who don't like me awake in the middle of the night.''

DANCE SPIRIT: The (slightly) older Hollywood crowd -- including Stefanie Powers (who MC'd the event), Julie Newmar, Florence Henderson and Buzz Aldrin -- was out in force Wednesday eve for USA Today's first Hollywood Hero award gala. It honored actress, dancer and choreographer Zina Bethune for her contributions to the community through Infinite Dreams, a program of the multimedia Bethune Theatredanse company that's been teaching dance and drama to disabled children and teens for the past 25 years.

Bethune didn't just make a gracious acceptance speech -- first, she performed several dance pieces on stage with some of her students (``She wouldn't have it any other way,'' quipped Powers), including a lively version of ``Steam Heat,'' to standing ovations from the packed house at the Beverly Hilton. In the audience were Ernie Hudson, Jerry Mathers, Tara Lipinski and a tres chic Veronique Peck who, though French, noted that she'd ``far rather be here'' than at Cannes for the current festival.

ALL ABOUT EVA: Talk about backstage buzz.

During the recent taping of the 2006 NCLR ALMA Awards (airing June 5 on ABC), several stars got good vibrations from a new fitness craze: a machine called the TurboSonic.

``CSI Miami'' hunk Adam Rodriguez, Gloria Estefan, Sofia Vergara, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Poppy Montgomery and ``American Idol'' judge Randy Jackson all stepped up on the TurboSonic Deluxe TT2590 (costs a mere $12,000), which claims to improve muscle strength, flexibility, bone density and circulation.

But lucky Jessica Alba won a TurboSonic in the Backstage Creations Talent Retreat celebrity raffle. ``I love it!'' she exclaimed, adding that she planned to take it to all her movie sets to warm up before stunts.

Hmmm. Wonder if she'll use it before love scenes, too.

But the big buzz was about one Hollywood couple's possible impending marriage. No, not Tom and Katie. No one cares about them anymore. The ``M:I III'' box office was disappointing and the Free Katie Web site is also suffering, despite their new ``Free Katie--Suri Too'' t-shirt.

But folks are curious if ALMA Awards hostess Eva Longoria and her San Antonio Spurs sweetie, Tony Parker, are getting hitched.

Longoria's personal stylist, Robert Verdi, who dressed her in eight different outfits for the show, may have let it slip when he picked out a Movado Ona Mia silver necklace in the Talent Retreat as a present for Longoria. He had it personalized with two diamonds and a heart dangling between ``E'' and ``T'' initials.

Call us crazy, but we think that necklace will make a very nice wedding and/or shower present.

Verdi didn't get Longoria the new Fashion Fever Latina Barbie that looks eerily like her. Mattel was already doling out the dolls to everyone backstage, and Longoria laughed when she saw the doll, and even she admitted that it really did look a little like her.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) MAILER: Still sexy at 83

Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

(2) POWERS and BETHUNE: At Hollywood Hero gala

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

(3) ALBA: Turbo charged

Mark Mainz/Getty Images

(4) LONGORIA and PARKER: Will they or won't they?

Vince Bucci/Getty Images