What a turkey: Mariel Hemingway a no-show again

Mariel Hemingway stiffed Dan Buettner's Butterball.

This is the second time that the actress and granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway was scheduled to make an appearance at the event and didn't. The Butterball raises money for Open Arms Minnesota, a provider of nutritious meals for people with life-threatening illnesses.

Hemingway sounded like she was heading our way at 9:53 p.m. Friday on her Twitter.com account: "Getting ready to fly to Minneapolis tomorrow for the Butterball... whatever that is... haha."

On Saturday she was tweeting about "crazy LINES everywhere" at the airport and missing her flight. Said she was on standby for the next flight but also said "maybe it wasn't meant 2b."

It's meant to be IF YOU GET YOUR BEHIND TO THE AIRPORT EARLY and don't act like ROYALTY when you see lines.

Today I sent messages via Twitter to Hemingway; wanted to know if TMZ or other papers got photos or video of her that would confirm she was actually at the airport. I'm the suspicious type. The second time something happens it starts to look like a trend.

Hemingway responded to my three e-mails with this: "Then I couldn't get seats with my boyfriend... it felt like it wasn't meant to be... I felt horrible... and yes 2nd time." I'm not clear where this comment from Hemingway goes in the version of the story I got from Buettner's girlfriend Kelly Hegna. As an exasperated Hegna retold the story Saturday, she said she told her eternally optimistic beau to "Give it up."

According to Hegna, Buettner got a call from Hemingway saying she had missed her flight. When Buettner told Hemingway she could try to get on a later flight, Hegna said Hemingway complained that there were no first-class seats, which she requires due to back problems.

I can almost hear Hemingway whining about this.

At any rate, The Hold Steady lead singer Craig Finn was at Buettner's Butterball pre-party.

Finn later joined his band mates for their performance at Graves. Brother Ali also "did an amazing job -- pro bono," Buettner told me via e-mails that stopped coming after I asked for the correct spellings of the names of his girlfriend and mother, Dolly. Buettner's buddy Josh Hartnett arrived at the gala around 10:15 p.m. and was "with my Mom until 1:30 a.m.," Buettner wrote. Hartnett's "40 Days, 40 Nights" writer Rob Perez, whose latest project was directing "Nobody," was at Buettner's pre-party.

I'm sure Dolly was protective of Hartnett. As you can see at startribune.com/video, Dolly was playfully shaking her finger at me and saying "Be nice to my son, now." That's something Dolly must say often; when I was talking to somebody whose name I can't remember, Buettner's mom walked by and told that guy: "Be nice to CJ."

Next time I see Dolly, she'll probably tell me Be nice to Mariel Hemingway.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on FOX 9 Thursday mornings.