Elton’s Oscars party is a hit

Oscars night proved a big flop with television viewers, as predicted on The First Post. With so few box office hits up for awards - of the key films, only Juno has done any real business at the cinema - the audience fell by 20 per cent according to overnight figures. But that didn't stop Hollywood's A-list partying the night away, with Elton John's after-party being the place to be seen after the traditional Vanity Fair soiree was cancelled because of the writers' strike.

Best actress winner Marion Cotillard, Tom Wilkinson and Amy Adams were among the 750 guests who helped the 60-year-old rock star raise a record $5.1m for his AIDS foundation. As promised, John (pictured centre) sat down at the keyboard with his band, playing 11 songs, while Mary J Blige and Jack Shears of Scissor Sisters also took the stage. "I've never played at my own Oscar party," John said the next morning. "It was so uncertain as to whether the party was going to happen (because of the recently resolved writer's strike), so we didn't have enough time to ask a younger act to do it. So I said, 'I'll do it!'"

Sean Penn (above right) caused a stir when he arrived at the party with Tsunami-surviving supermodel Petra Nemcova (left). The actor only recently separated from his wife of 12 years, Robin Wright. At the end of the evening Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford were whisked away from the party in the back of an LA County Sheriff’s car, when their limo driver failed to show up.

The other hot post-Oscars ticket was to Prince's house, where the pop star unfurled a purple carpet for anyone still awake after 2am. Among those spotted at the party were Oscar winners Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton.

At the Governors Ball, the Academy's formal after-party, George Clooney, who had lost out to Daniel Day-Lewis in the best actor stakes, was heard declaiming: "You know what this is!? This is the losers' table! Look at me! You know what I am? I am a loo-ser!"