"It was in a public movie theater, and we were watching Charlie Chaplin's silent film 'Limelight.' The other people in the audience just acted like nothing strange was going on. It turned out that he had rented the theater," [...] "When I saw him on the screen proposing, I said 'Yes! Yes!' He had edited the footage into the movie. I had not suspected a thing. I had no idea . . . I think Thomas Jane is the most romantic man in the world."

Forgive us if that story hasn't just rendered us a shade or two more blush. We must concur with Arquette's assessment: Ignoring for a moment all the surely accidental "Little Tramp" connotations, her paramour's elaborate, Purple Rose of Cairo-inspired proposal lands Jane at the very top of our annual list of Defamer's Least Eligible But Most Romantic Ex-Bachelors, to be toppled only when a certain highly anticipated and overdue bended knee, JumboTron announcement thrills millions with the full-color enormity of its gesture of enduring fake love.

UDPATE: Several readers have written in to tell us that Limelight is in fact a talkie, not a silent picture. Considering the story comes second hand through the Page Six filter, we'll give Arquette the benefit of the doubt in this instance. (Unless of course she was so rapturously in love with her husband/bored with the movie she failed to notice.)

• TRUE ROMANCE [NY Post]

The Arquette family — which includes actors Clifford, Lewis, Rosanna, Richmond, Patricia, Alexis and David — will be honored with the American Film Institute's sixth Platinum Circle Award, said Carole Mitchell, president of AFI Associates, a fundraising branch of the organization.

Family members Courteney Cox Arquette and Thomas Jane will also be recognized as part of the award for creative contributions to film and television.

A ceremony highlight undoubtedly will be Alexis' heartfelt tribute to dad Lewis, who was always at the ready with a few supportive words of advice for his talented kids. But nothing will compare to the montage career retrospective of the Forgotten Arquette, Richmond, who bravely managed to turn the endless hours of costume chest make-believe played during a childhood largely confined to the Arquette attic into a steady career of roles in B-movie fare such as A Midsummer Night's Rave and Hookers Inc.

• Arquette Family to Receive Film Award [Yahoo/AP]
• Previously: A Father-Son Talk At The Arquettes [Defamer]

Alexis Arquette, cross-dressing brother of Patricia and Rosanna, remembers the time he broke the news that he was gay to his father. His father was very understanding, saying: "If it helps, son, I had to suck a lot of c—k to get my first break too."

Pere Lewis went on: "And once you've sucked every last one dry in this town, and that time will come, son, then it's time to turn it up a notch. Get yours sliced clean off! Preferably with basic cable cameras in the room. Breaks don't fall from trees in this town, m'boy! You gotta make them happen." He then tussled his son's hair, cracked open a cold Bud, and proudly shared the first frigid sips with his little man.

• Popbitch
• Changes abound in A&E docu [Variety]