Lester caps rally at Marshfield school

“Deal or No Deal’’ host Howie Mandel doesn’t make it to every casting call, but he won’t miss the one in Boston this weekend. It’s Howie’s first in the Hub since his highly rated game show moved from sunny LA to suburban Connecticut. “Yeah, Howie will take his private jet and fly in,’’ said Neil Konstantini, senior producer of the prime-time show. “Howie’s very involved in the show, and we’re hoping for a huge turnout in Boston.’’ With an assist from Boston Casting’s Angela Peri, producers are holding an open call for the show Saturday, and they’re looking for “high-energy, dynamic, and competitive’’ contestants. (For now, at least, they don’t need any more leggy models.) In moving to Connecticut, Mandel followed the leads of Rachael Ray, Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, and Martha Stewart, all of whom now tape in the Nutmeg State. “Connecticut is giving away mind-boggling tax incentives,’’ said Konstantini. “And because we’re just two hours from New York, Boston, and Philly, we’ll have our hands on a ton of people.’’ The surprise success of the show apparently hasn’t gone to Howie’s head. “He’s a household name again,’’ said Konstantini. “You’ll never meet a man as grateful as Howie.’’ So what’s the difference between a dud and a good “Deal or No Deal’’ contestant? “First of all, when they hear the words ‘million dollars,’ they go nuts,’’ he said. “They’ll only have 30 seconds to speak to a casting director Saturday, so people better bring their A-game.’’ The frenzy begins at 10 a.m. at the Seaport Hotel.

If you can believe the hype, Katherine Howe could be the next Dan Brown. Her debut novel, “The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane,’’ is getting a mighty push from the publisher, including an appearance last week on “Good Morning America’’ and mentions in everything from USA Today to the UK edition of Glamour. Turns out, Howe, who lives in Marblehead with her husband, Louis Hyman, isn’t - or at least wasn’t - a writer, really. A descendant of accused Salem witches Elizabeth Proctor and Elizabeth Howe, Howe wrote the book while working on her doctorate in American and New England studies at BU. “I was keeping myself amused and entertained while doing research,’’ she says. “Whenever I hit a snag, I’d turn my attention to the book,’’ which focuses in part on the Salem witch trials.

Bill Lee a man of the cloth? Apparently. The Spaceman delivered the sermon on the mound at Bedford’s First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church the other day. Lee delivered a rousing renunciation of cellphones, wristwatches, and other technologies that limit humans’ face-to-face contact. Enjoying every word was the Rev. John Gibbons and Bedford’s minister emeritus, 91-year old Rev. Jack Mendelsohn, who played for Orleans in the Cape Cod League in the 1940s.

It’s one of the strangest PR stunts we’ve ever heard of: 14 members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, along with several family members and six staffers, will run - yes, run - the 150 miles between Symphony Hall in Boston and the orchestra’s summer home at Tanglewood in Lenox. Why? To mark the beginning of the BSO’s 2009 Tanglewood season, of course, which opens July 3 with an all-Tchaikovsky program led by BSO music director James Levine. (No, the conductor will not be among those hoofing it to Tanglewood.) We’re told BSO bassist Todd Seeber and violinist James Cooke are longtime runners, and dreamed up the plan. The fun begins at 2 p.m. June 29, when Seeber will be introduced by a brass fanfare and then bolt for the Berkshires. We’re pretty sure the musicians will not be carrying the instruments.

The soon-to-open W Hotel Boston celebrated Pride 365 with a private party at Rocca over the weekend. The crowd included Commonwealth Shakespeare founder Steve Maler, interior designer Dennis Duffy, W Boston GM Bill Bunce, fashion designer Sam Mendoza, photographer Eric Levin, and Renee Leblanc, owner of Yoga Power Studio.

The opinionated Chris “C.T.’’ Tamburello of MTV’s “Real World: Paris’’ laced up a pair of bowling shoes and hit the lanes at Kings the other night.

Josh Beckett and a female friend dined at Legal Sea Foods in Park Square the other night, and seated nearby was Jeffrey Loria, owner of Beckett’s former team, the Florida Marlins. The two chatted for a moment before the Sox ace sat down to a dinner of Alaskan king crab legs grilled Saigon style, with mashed potatoes and rice pilaf. . . . Mimi Gates, stepmom of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, walked around Mass MoCa the other day, and bought a few expensive ceramic items in the gift shop before leaving.