The American Girl dolls and books are hugely popular among my nieces… and millions of other little girls. So the premiere of the franchise’s first major motion picture, “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” at the Ziegfeld Theatre included tons of cute little girls, each clutching her favorite American Girl doll. So sweet!

Among the stars walking the red carpet were Abigail Breslin, who plays the title character; and Julia Roberts, executive producer of the film.

This event included a whole bunch of “cub reporters.” A crew near me had a girl who looked to be about 7-years-old working the red carpet. (Child labor alert! – Just kidding, it was cute.) The crew next to me included a couple teens doing a report for a Girl Scouts webcast. My good deed of the day was to encourage the young Girl Scout reporter to put her mic right next to mine during my interviews, so she could pick up all my celebrity soundbites. I’m a giver.

Julia Roberts walked by quickly, wearing sunglasses, but I did get her on tape saying she wanted to produce this film because the books are great.

Abigail Breslin was the last to arrive, and a publicist was pushing her so quickly from interview to interview that I felt bad for the 12-year-old star. I asked my questions quickly and then –payback time!– when she talked to the Girl Scouts, I shoved my mic into their interview to pick up a couple more soundbites.

Before you accuse me of exploiting Girl Scouts, I’ll have you know the correspondent from Extra scored FREE COOKIES from the Girl Scouts. (At least, I sure didn’t see him forking over any cash! But I did see him scarfing down some Samoas!)