Word: gossipers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1990
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Arriving in New York City in 1949, she learned her trade at Modern Screen, Newsweek and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED and by working in radio and TV. When she was offered a column in the Daily News in 1976, Smith says, "I didn't want to do it. I thought a gossip column was passe." But she couldn't resist the money -- or the forum...
...column, which consists of sweet-'n'-sour snacks served up drive-through quick, hit a public nerve that still tingles. The Trump divorce, she says, is typical of why people love gossip. "It is a faux scandal. You don't have to grapple with it morally. It's the kind of story that takes the public's mind off its own problems...
Cozying up with sources is par for the gossip course, and Smith has her own techniques. "My effort is to turn everybody I know into a legman for me," she says. Reporters at newspapers, magazines and the three networks, she claims, often leak snippets to her. Agents of all kinds drop nuggets, as do friends, parties and openings. Public relations people are "mostly so inept that you should just forget it totally." Though, in truth, Liz has been known to run their press releases verbatim, as well as to promote shamelessly her favorite restaurants, charities and plays...
...times Liz's favorites are named in her column: the Today show's Deborah Norville shares top honors with Barbara Walters, both having garnered a mention every six days on average. (Frank Sinatra and Sylvester Stallone crop up every eight days; Madonna gets a boost every twelve.) Boston Herald gossip columnist Norma Nathan thinks Smith is a celebrity groupie who protects her pals: "She's so In, she's Out. She's become part of the story...
PRESS: Hold on to your hat, Hedda -- gossip is back and bigger than ever...