Northrop alum counts dimes for 'The Help'

If there's one subject freelance movie production accountant Stevie Lazo appeared never to need -- forgive me -- "The Help" with, it would be math.

"After her early years at Northrop she didn't. But that's where she got help," said her mom, artist and prolific young adults book author Caroline Lazo. "She credits her ability with numbers to her early years at Northrop Collegiate School [now the Blake School] in Minneapolis."

Stevie, a nickname derived from Stephanie, was the production accountant on "The Help," a movie based on Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel that is expected to be a non-action, non-special-effects theater hit of the summer.

"I didn't always have an affinity for numbers. I was tutored in math in third grade," said Stevie, when reached in California. "I had such an extraordinary teacher, Miss Kohl, who made it so fun! She was at Northrop. She used to give me a dime when I got my division problems right."

The dimes for division was news to Stevie's mom!

Since 1983, Stevie's been paid lots of dimes to keep track of how money is spent on more than 30 movie sets, including "Baby Boom," "Back to the Future" II and III, "Midnight Run," "Almost Famous" and "Rent."

"People don't know that a movie is like a little company. You run it, you are done with it and you move on," said Stevie, who along with a staff makes sure the movie "pays the bills."

She got her start working with the late Robert Altman's movie company. She spent a stint at TriStar Pictures. But for the last 25 years she's been a freelance production accountant. "I've been blessed," she said. "I pick movies I want to work on, but the criteria is the people I get to work with, not so much the movies themselves. That's kind of secondary.

"Working on 'The Help,' there were great people and a great movie. I think 'The Help' is going to do well," Stevie said. "We just all have that feeling because it's such important subject matter and it was such a unique experience for most of us."

Priming for the Stars?

The first dance by Kris Humphries and Kimberly Kardashian Humphries* may be a stuffy waltz.

TMZ reports that Kardashian's former "Dancing With the Stars" partner and professional hoofer Mark Ballas has been working hard with the couple expected to marry in August in a ginormous shot-for-TV special. Ballas, who charges $300 an hour for lessons, is refusing to take money from Kardashian.

And he's holding to that, even though a lot more hours are going into this routine than might have been calculated.

"We're told that K&K have been practicing up a storm over the last few weeks, but Kris is 'a perfectionist' when it comes to his footwork and INSISTED on more training," states TMZ.com.

TMZ's Harvey Levin remarked on his TV show that "Mark can't ask. Kim should say, I will only do it if I can pay you."

Kardashian may yet pay for the dance lessons, but this is looking like the rare wedding where in the end, the newlyweds will be enriched, as services are being swapped for the publicity.

*If Kardashian adds her second husband's name to her already headline hog of a maiden name, it will be one of the longest ever written here. Longer than Wendy Williams Blackshaw, the Sun Country exec, and longer than Amelia Santaniello Vascellaro, the WCCO-TV anchor.

"My husband and I ate at Tilia [Thursday] night and we swear we saw Laura Innes there," wrote e-mailer Jane Hixson. "Is she in Mpls for some reason? Or, was it a look-alike? It had to be her! =)"

The inestimable actor of "ER" and "The Event" fame has in-laws here. Usually Innes sightings increase around Christmas, but there's no law that she can't visit during summer.

"I worked here last night and I just do not know who Laura Innes is," said the Tilia staffer to whom I spoke twice on Friday. I was hoping after our first chat that the staffer would Google images of Innes, but the restaurant sounded rather busy.