Celebrity Gossip /By Liz Smith
Streisand epitomizes grace
As you probably already know, Barbra Streisand has topped the Billboard chart yet again. Her “Love Is the Answer” CD is No. 1. She beat out Mariah Carey and someone or something called Paramore.
Now, just because we wrote a glowing review of Streisand’s recent stint at the Village Vanguard, we would never dream of taking any credit for Barbra’s success.
But her rep did send a sweet note—along with all the staggering stats on Barbra’s album— “Couldn’t have done it without you.” He probably sent a similar missive to everybody who worshipped Barbra in print over the past week or so. Still, with civilized thank-yous an almost forgotten art, we will accept that compliment.
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Some years ago, before the death of Anna Nicole Smith, while she was free-falling into drugs and sad exhibitionism, I said to a friend, “She is the kind of girl who, if she hadn’t become famous, would have ended up in prison for murder.”My friend was shocked. I said I didn’t think Anna had many moral boundaries, and her abuse of substances lowered whatever boundaries she did have. And, she was dumb. No crime in that, but she was.
I had been the recipient of some inside info on her, too sad and sordid to print, but it gave me a terrible glimpse into her life. Often, I would call a press rep that stuck it out with her for more years than I thought possible. I’d always say, “Forget about her; she’s a lost cause, what about her son?!” He’d reply, “Oh, but she really loves him,” which was not the point I was trying to make.
So, does it come as a surprise that the late Anna is now being accused of once having wanted the son of her late billionaire husband dead? Nope. She was not smart or calculating enough to have planned anything, but in the grip of her addictions, her fear that she’d lose her lawsuit against the estate—could she have said it, and more than once? I think so. Luckily, she was surrounded by people as spacey and dim as she was, so nothing came of it.
In a way, it’s too bad the FBI couldn’t have jailed Anna for conspiracy. She’d be alive today, clean and sober and with good behavior, out of prison before she was 45. And her son would probably be alive, too.
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Speaking of the sad and sordid, Phil Spector remains locked away, convicted in the death of actress Lana Clarkson. But one of the better products to spring from Spector’s fevered brain is being rediscovered and reissued. I do mean the producer’s 1963 “A Christmas Gift for You” album, one of the most famous holiday discs of all time, featuring Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, Bob B. Sox and the Blue Jeans. Sony Classic Music is spiffing this up for an Oct. 27 release.
Spector continues to appeal his sentencing. Good luck on that— nobody is leaping to his defense. However, NBC Universal France is putting together a major documentary on the fabled “Wall of Sound” creator; it will be largely a career tribute, touching only sparingly on his trial and imprisoned denouement.
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