Newsday from New York, New York • 15

A15 By Michael Shain and Anthony Scaduto would Donald sue? We hear that Trump just wants to break lease and bring in another management company that would pay higher lease fees More later no doubt a So Up Emma? Hollywood people just back from sunny Bouth France are wondering whatever happened to Kenneth Branagh? He failed to show up to accompany wife Emma Thompson to the Cannes Film Festival dehut of her new film It a year ago that Emma and Kenneth seemed inseparable a blonder version of Lunt and Fon-tanne First they starred together in then and Ado About But since Branagh's high-profile flop in even his wife may not want to photographed with him All right we're exaggerating: But this just in: making her own screen adaptation of Jane and and gone and hired Hugh Grant instead of Branagh Suit All Trumped Up Author Declares The man who wrote the book on the Empire State Building is taking sides in the Donald Trump-Harry Helmsley lawsuit and the side taking charges are trumped says author John Tauranac who has done the definitive history of the skyscraper due out in October from the highly regarded publisher Tauranac has spent years researching his book and says he figure out what Trump has been going on about The developer is suing to oust the Helmsleys from a 100-year management lease (due to expire in 2075) by claiming the Empire State is mismanaged and plagued by rodents (Donald and several associates bought the landmark last year) building has won several awards for good management over the past few years and I see no indication of the place being vermin-infested" Bays Tauranac Says the writer: are a lot of shady dealings going on in this The Helmsleys countersued Trump this week claiming his partners include a Japanese businessman with mob ties a fellow now serving out a three-year jail term If Tauranac is right why P00CHY DAY: Stefanie Powers showed up with a former co-star named Harry to pitch the press at the Hotel Pierre yesterday Harry worked with Powers on to and he was perfectly cast to help her promote a pet-finding device called HomeAgain which tracks down lost animals na AST TALK CHUNG-HO: fU Connie Chung wfH get to count her II friends today over lunch It's a if show of solidarity for Chung at Gabriel's restaurant on 60th StreeL Expected to attend: Lesley Stahl Katie Couric Barbara Walters Diane Sawyer and something like 45 other women from the broadcast business Oh we wish we were waiters again LATE DANE: At the Sunday matinee Keanu Reeves never -returned to see the rest of Ralph after intermission All right who told him how it ends? PAUL'S PLACE: Paul Sorvlno has a few days off from filming Oliver (he plays Henry Kissinger) just enough time to open a new Italian restaurant that bears Ns name on the East Side Sorvino's at 74th Street and Third Avenue has been ready to open for weeks we hear But the eatery's backers had to postpone its first night until the actor got freed up from Ns work in Washington What a relief! The first of two big nights arrives tomorrow Sorvino must have told a Action! Lou Vs Herb Lou Gossett Jr is over the shock of being abruptly replaced as Walter Matthau's co-star in Not and brother is he ever in a talking mood Gossett says he clashed with the movie's first-time director Herb Gardner pretty much from the beginning Seems the director (who also wrote the script and the play before that) insisted that Gossett memorize all his lines before filming began as if he were performing on stage Gossett says he also fought Gardner's tendency to treat the movie as if it were still a Broadway show Gossett says he told the playwright: an you need to say is 1'H take care of it from That didn't go down too wefl with Gardner So by the time filming began in Central Park two weeks ago Gossett was out of the picture and Ossie Davis was in could say we had artistic says Gossett flashing a cold smile lot of people he was opening Ns own place takes two nights of invitation-only parties to accommodate ail the celebs on his guest list Photo by Aubray Reuben Lon Gossett Jr with Phylicia Rashad at her opening night at Rainbow and Stars Landmark Restaurant Changes Hands chandeliers The maitre lights the lamps in the evening Since the days when Brooklyn was a city Gage Tollner was known for clam bellies and oysters But in more recent years its drawing card was a southern-flavored menu that reflected the expertise of its well-known former chef Edna Lewis She brought the restaurant such dishes as Charleston she-crab soup crab cakes catfish stew shrimp gumbo panfried chicken and an acclaimed lemon meringue pie The restaurant retains an atmosphere of Victorian splendor with cherry-framed mirrors mahogany tables and bentwood chairs A rickety revolving door admits customers while shutting out the sounds of Fulton StreeL Aschkenasy said that the location on Fulton Street surrounded by bargain stores was the biggest problem He said that the volume of business had increased since he bought Gage Tollner in 1989 but that he was disappointed it attract more people from the new MetroTech office development or nearby Brooklyn Heights By Paul Moses STAFF WRITER Gage Tollner the landmark gas-lit restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn shut its doors yesterday and is expected to reopen under new management late this summer Owner Peter Aschkenasy said he able to generate a profit even after bringing the restaurant through a bankruptcy reorganization last year But Aachkenasy said the restaurant was saved thanks in large part to Independence Savings Bank important thing is he said as he greeted customers amid the wood-paneled elegance of a restaurant that opened in 1879 four years before the Brooklyn Bridge you take over a landmark its Aachkenasy said he turned Gage Tollner over to Independence in a The bank found a new owner Joseph Cirrico who owns the Marco Polo Ristorante on Court StreeL Gage Tollner at 372 Fulton St boasts its original gas lighting which glows-in elaborate brass WiwWIV Kkiwnl Kara Peter Aschkenasy former owner of Gage Tollner.