The Post is in quite a sympathetic mood with Tatum O’Neal this morning. First at bat is Andrea Peyser, who would normally take so much glee in kicking somebody while she’s down. But not this Oscar-winning actress.
Somehow O’Neal’s camp arranged for a softball piece with Peyser, which explains why she was at the top of the list of phone calls to make after getting sprung from the clink. Why Peyser? “She called me to explain herself,” writes the columnist. “Also, because she liked my columns slamming another discarded wife, Dina Matos McGreevey.” O’Neal retells her crack/coke arrest tale, but also!, how she wants to help the guy who sold her the goods. CONTINUED »
What could be more nauseating than having to trek through an entire column written by Liz Smith? Watching her play videographer. At Michael’s. Bothering celebrities. [WOWOWOW]
Counting men and women, swings-both-ways Liz Smith has slept with twenty people. “But what’s the ratio of women to men,” you didn’t hear yourself asking? CONTINUED »
Rambling octogenarian Liz Smith on whether she’s ever risked her health for beauty: “Have I ever put my health at risk? Let’s see, like drinking lots of Margaritas, using a bit of cocaine for fun and games, taking synthetic marijuana just as an experiment, eating lots of fried food, foregoing vegetables, not getting enough sleep, driving too fast and refusing to exercise?” [WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW]
FOR THE RECORD When Liz Smith told the Observer that “some Web site comes along and says, ‘Liz Smith will sleep with anybody,’” she meant our very own Queerty. Glad to hear you’re staying hip with the blogs, Ms. Smith.
Queen of crazies and Internetphobe Liz Smith ordered a frozen margarita and an enchilada with chili when she sat down with the Observer to talk about her new website WOWoWOW.com and her storied career, which, for all intents and purposes, ended long ago.
“Now that the Post has cut me down to three days a week, I can never get a scoop anymore,” says Smith. “I’ve had to start writing philosophically about entertainment, and try to bring a more mature point of view to whatever is going on. Because if I had any news, if I filed it, somebody would give it to the Internet. Frankly, I don’t think most of it is worth keeping up with.” It’s cute watching those lips pucker as the grapes go down her hatch.
wowowow.com, which is an upside down version of momomom.com, is the website of a bunch of famous white ladies, plus Whoopi Goldberg. It received the Times treatment today, which spends an inordinate amount of copy retelling their search for a domain name: “Hot Voodoo” bad, “Women on the Web” good). It’s founded by five lady friends (former Simon & Schuster president Joni Evans, gossipista Liz Smith, ad exec Mary Wells, columnist Peggy Noonan, and reporter Lesley Stahl) and the support of celebs like Whoopi, Candice Bergen, and Lily Tomlin. So what can the 40-plus female set look forward to when the site launches Saturday?
The fare on the new PG-13 Wowowow is in some ways no different than that of other women-focused community Web sites like iVillage: horoscopes and posts about love and marriage, health and fashion. Wowowow also has political commentary, but what is particularly distinctive are the conversations, like the Halston dialogue, which read like deeper and more intimate versions of the “hot topics” segment of the television gabfest “The View.”
Ah! Okay, so it’s like the Huffington Post, but with horoscopes and famous people. Which means it’s like the Huffington Post, but with horoscopes.
Although we can’t always shake the nasty habit of writing in the royal we, occasionally one of our editors decides to shake off the cloak of anonymity to write a short, pithy statement long, rambling diatribe about a topic of their choice. Today, Debbie Newman is that editor.
Despite their big dreams, roster of celebrity weekly expatriates and highly unrealistic goals of chipping away at the Sunday Times‘ readership, Page Six Magazine hasn’t made nearly as much of a splash with readers—or potential advertisers—as they would have liked.
And because a friend in need is a friend indeed, we’ve decided to take some time out of our busy schedule to offer them some helpful unsolicited advice. Read on, loyal Sixers, and we’ll tell you everything we know about how not to blow a major magazine launch the first, second or even third time around.
ON SEPT. 24, Ted Koppel, formerly of ABC’s “Nightline,” will be saluted at the News and Documentary Emmy awards.
But in a recent interview with Variety, where Koppel was pooh-poohing such awards, did he really mean to say the following: “OK, so we’ve got a lifetime achievement award. Cronkite’s dead, and we gave it to Rather. What about Koppel, is he still alive?”
Well, I’m not so sure about Koppel, but Walter Cronkite most definitely is not dead. He’s still alive and kicking at age 90. He even has a devoted girlfriend.
–Excerpted from Liz Smith’s column in today’s New York Post
Sick of all the “psychojournalism” out there about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, gossip’s great-great-grandmother, Liz Smith, has decided to take the bull by the horns and print a possibly true, definitely boring story about a conversation that may (or may not) have taken place between Pitt and his African cabbie.
After reading Smith’s column, an excited Cindy Adams cried, “Thanks, Lizzie! I almost look sane by comparison!”
• After three whole hours of sipping wine, Cameron Diaz dished that her new surfer boyfriend has a penis like 9-inch long breadstick!
• Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake to show off his own manhood by performing “Dick in a Box” (with SNL’s Andy Sambrrg) at Madison Square Garden.
• Isaac Cohen has supposedly dumped Britney Spears while simultaneously pet sitting for her annoying yappy dog.
• Mischa Barton reportedly dumped Cisco Adler because of his naked, NSFW pic that hit the internet amdist Paris Hilton’s giant bag o’ crap. Also, because of his “creepy beard.”
• Posh and Becks go on vacay, giving Victoria a “much-needed” break from her busy schedule of designing clothes for full-figured women and eating only 300 calories a day.
• The media rep for the Wonderland Center also reps NY Post octogenarian gossip, Liz Smith! Upcoming: Lindsay Lohan to “flip out,” Cindy Adams to write incessantly about her Yorkies and Liz Smith to dine with some “really, really old people” at Elaine’s.
• Heidi Montag (from that MTV show, The Hills) hopes to inspire underage teenage girls across the country by stripping down for a sleazy, Stuff mag photo-spread.
• NYT to LAT: We weren’t actively trying to insult you—we were just saying nice things about our newspaper that happened to expose the shortcomings of yours.
• American Idol epitomizes the unpleasant side-effects that accompany living in a democracy.
• Magazines in heated competition to see who can throw the best post-Super Bowl cokefest.
• Folio Magazine reports a 400% increase in magazines targeting people “much, much richer” than you.
• Summary of this year’s Mag Lifetime Achievement Awards: Liz Smith tried, failed, to bang Lewis Lapham; Rachael Ray “loves” spaghetti, still hates black people.
• Billionaire accuses Sahara author of “duping him” on film rights; rest of world accuses Sahara author of writing a book that makes no fucking sense.
Good to know, Liz. For a moment there we thought you were re-embracing that whole feminism thing.
• Reuters appoints new leader.
• Liz Smith’s crazies to appear in New York Post only three times a week instead of six.
• The Chandler family hope to one day bring their wrath on Tribune Co.
• More respected journalists abandon real jobs for stab at online political journalism. At least the site has a name (thepolitico.com) now.
• GE chief Jeffrey Immelt to NBC Universal: “You’re doing a well job, Peacock.”
• Tony Snow had told reporters “I don’t know” more than 400 times. And he’s down to just 3 “Shut the hell up”’s per day.
• MollyGood answers Nerve.com’s sex-ionnaire, with great tips on how to make your sex tape Oscar-worthy.
• Because the H&M/Madonna collabo worked so well the first time, they’re gonna do it again.
• Proud papa and biz pioneer Joe Simpson whores out Jessica for $10k to be filmed reading a tabloid of your choice in Blonde Ambition.
• Liz Smith cries for Dakota Fanning.
• Si Newhouse expected to continue the grand tradition of dropping major pink slip bomb after the New Year with the canning of former Vanity Fair publisher and current group prez Mitchell Fox.
• Tim Gunn may have to pull out of Project Runway’s fourth season for something called “job responsibilities.”
• CNN celebrates one year of discovering broadband video.
• Time Warner chief Richard Parsons dumped Warner Music in ‘03, but first he backed up the catalog for his iPods.
$bull; 666 5th goes for $1.8b.
Wondering where the gossips get their grub gratis? Sure, the New York Post and Daily News may have strict policies against their “reporters” getting freebies, but how else to explain the obvious planted plugs from some of New York’s finest establishments?
Post’s Page Six, Friday, Oct. 27:
METS third baseman David Wright, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Jerry Bruckheimer watching football at Hawaiian Tropic Zone amidst a bevy of beauties in bikinis.
Daily News‘ Gatecrasher, Sunday, Oct. 29:
Jerry Bruckheimer had dinner and drinks at Times Square’s new Hawaiian Tropic Zone restaurant
But our favorite example comes only from the pages of the New York Post, where Le Cirque earns a smattering of plugs just a few pages apart.
Post’s Page Six, Sunday, Oct. 29:
KEVIN Kline and Phoebe Cates dining with Meryl Streep at Le Cirque
Post’s Liz Smith, Sunday, Oct. 29:
If you go to the new Le Cirque, you often get to see one of the most beautiful girls in town. She’s the grandchild of Sirio and Egi Maccioni, Stella, age 14 months. The Maccionis are training Stella in the restaurant biz, and she is irresistible. Tonight, they’ll celebrate Egi’s 70th birthday with sons Mario, Marco and Mauro in attendance. (I dare you to tell them apart!) Kevin Kline was there recently being joined by pal Meryl Streep
We understand. It’s tough running around those movie premiers. Great teamwork Liz Smith and Cindy Adams!
SCARLETT’S A SASSY BRIGHT STAR [Cindy Adams, New York Post]
The ’scoop’ On The Screening [Liz Smith, New York Post]
• Celebs come out to support their favorite thing in the entire world, the Sidekick. Oh, we’re sure coke was there, too. [ET]
• We’re sorry to hear that so many young people were duped into watching Angelina Jolie blah, blah, blah on CNN last night. [TV Newser]
• Liz Smith heard EW parties are really, really fun.[NYP]
• Who is Lindsay Lohan’s new dude? Um, we actually don’t care. By the time we figure out who he is, he’ll be just another guy filling his RID perscription. [Socialite’s Life]
• All this hype over the LA Times staffers being blocked from peacefire.org can be summed up in one sentance: read the New York Times first. [LA Observed]
• Someday New York City will look almost as beautiful as Chicago. (Please don’t flip out. It’s just that Millenium Park adopted nice steel “street furniture” over a year ago.) [New Yorker]
• Trump magazine goes public. Readership expected to stay exactly the same. [Mediaweek]
Thanks to Liz Smith, we are now aware of the new celebrity “magazine” that launched — and totally skipped over our radar. Ok, maybe because it’s one of those little pocket mags, or because it doesn’t break news, or because it is covering stories that are like a year old (Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston divorcing? Puh-lease.)
A new magazine on the stands. It’s titled Justice: Real People, Real Stories. Of course, the “real people” are celebs, like Lindsay Lohan (inside there’s an interview with her troubled dad), Brad and Jennifer (”Why Can’t Stars Stay Married?” screams the cover) …
Oh, and Justice also features a bunch of TV crap you really don’t care about.
Now on its third issue, the mag snagged the desperate-for-publicity Michael Lohan interview, and perched it alongside some very random crime cases. They also have a pretty convincing mission statement.
With Justice, we’ve set out to create a unique magazine, one that reveals the real-life dramas that unite us all. Whether tales of celebrities facing their greatest trials or of everyday heroes elevated in their defining moments, these are the stories that tell us who we are — and who we hope to be.
The real-life dramas that inspire us all? Um, we like to think that “real-life” is very different from the Michael Jackson case or Brad and Jen’s crazy public break-up. Come on, if we couldn’t separate ourselves from celebrities, we’d all have “breathe” tattoos and weigh as much as a Diet Dr. Pepper.
GONE, NOT FORGOTTEN [Liz Smith, NYP]
Justice Magazine
Since we never read Liz Smith’s column unless doctor prescribed (which happens more often than you think), we missed this spectacular Jann Wennderful item she ran about Bette Midler’s 60th birthday party. And we do mean spectacular.
I NEVER thought I’d be at a birthday party where the chieftain of Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner, made a toast wearing a yarmulke, noting that someone famous had turned him from straight to gay. This was at Bette Midler’s fabulous 60th birthday party down in TriBeCa, at what was once a synagogue. Wenner brought down the house. But all the speeches were sensational: Barbara Walters, joking that she’d been gay and has become straight; playwright John Guare, who recited all the historical instances of happenings on the date Dec. 1; and Ahmet Ertegun hilariously recited how he “discovered” Bette.
Wenner queered out in a former Jewish temple and nobody rang us? Where’s the holiday spirit, you guuuuys? (And don’t think we missed that Babs WaWa item, but the joke is in the copy.)
FROM B’WAY TO CLASS [Liz Smith]
Editorial Director
