Did you hear the one about J.J. Abrams, Tom Cruise, and a Rabbi?

The Simon Wiesenthal Center honored Cruise with its humanitarian award for his support of the Museum of Tolerance at their national awards on Thursday night

Did you hear the one about J.J. Abrams, Tom Cruise, and a Rabbi?

The Simon Wiesenthal Center honored Cruise with its humanitarian award for his support of the Museum of Tolerance at their national awards on Thursday night. Brad Grey presented the award to the long-time Paramount star, as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Jeffrey Katzenberg, J.J. Abrams, and Rabbi Marvin Hier joined them on stage. (Photo by Getty Images.)

Katie Holmes, Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, and Jerry Bruckheimer clapped along in the audience at the Beverly Wilshire on Thursday night.

At the same time, Ryan Seacrest and Randy Jackson went right from the “Idol” stage to the Fourth Annual Television Academy Honors where Seacrest’s “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” was honored as one of eight “shows with a conscience”. (Photo by Frank Micelotta).

Other honorees included James Gandolfini, Sheila Nevins, and executive producer Jason Katims, who won for both “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights”.

It was a weaker than normal showing of stars in Kentucky for the Derby, most coming from the NBC Universal stable that broadcast 14.5 hours of coverage surrounding the two minute race.

NBC talent like Christopher Meloni, Guy Fieri, and Maria Menounos made the trip to Churchill Downs, while Ian Somerhalder (CW’s “Vampire Diaries”) was the rare non-peacock, who checked in to the Style Icon Luxury Gifting Suite on Friday.

Last weekend’s royal wedding goosed a latent appetite for crazy hats, both in Kentucky and here in L.A., as organizers gave away so many at Samsung’s Droid Charge viewing party in West Hollywood on Saturday afternoon that they ran out 40 minutes before “post time”. (A female jockey greeted arrivers outside instead.) 

Inside, “Celebrity Apprentice”/chef  Curtis Stone and Lindsay Price chose foosball over horses, as Trevor Donovan and Teck Holmes (one of the few live action hosts on “Cartoon Network”) hit the Grey Goose and Verizon sponsored soiree.

"Dancing With the Stars'"Dmitry Chaplin and others had to leave early to hightail it down to Anaheim for the rare Saturday night premiere: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”.

Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, director Rob Marshall and producer Jerry Bruckheimer met the fans at Disneyland with Geoffrey Rush, Keith Richards, Vanessa Hudgens, and America’s Sweetheart Steven Tyler (who posed with a pirate-themed Mickey Mouse).

Earlier on Saturday, both Disney and NBCU were busy away from their main events with the 18th Annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women. Over 40,000 participated in the event, with Disney’s team of “VoluntEARS” topping all industry teams with $68,000 while NBCU athletes finishing second with nearly $12,000.

Halle Berry and Alyson Hannigan co-hosted the event with co-founder Lilly Tartikof. With events on back to back weekends in New York and LA, they’ve raised over $60 million for grants targeting women’s cancers.

Elsewhere over the weekend, Mother’s Day events pervaded.

Christina Milian brought her mother Carmen to Joico’s annual “On the Go Beauty” event at Siren Studios where stars get to shower their moms with perks.   Even those who have  furry, four-legged children got in on the action at Nintendo’s “Nintendogs + Cats” event with Denise Richards and Joanna Krupa promoting the recently launched 3D portable gamer the Nintendo 3DS at a house in Beverly Hills.

Finally, on Saturday night, Zach Quinto and Emma Roberts were amongst the many heading downtown for celebrity photographer Tyler Shields’ new show “Life is Not a Fairytale”.

Since last year’s breakthrough show, Shields’ celeb subjects and fans continue to grow, with Lindsay Lohan, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Shenea Grimes heading downtown. Organizers had to bring in Dyson Air Multipliers as a fan sponsor to cool down the packed room.

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