Liz Smith RIP

Back when the world felt like a classier place (it wasn't really, but never mind) part of the reason was because of people like Liz Smith. She was the doyenne, the grand master of NYC gossip. Her brand of gossip wasn't scandalous rumor mongering, attacking or embarrassing people -- it was good old-fashioned "dish". She had the "inside scoop" or "the goods" on what was going on in this town, and she told everybody it first in her column. Before the Internet, before social media, columnists like Liz Smith were real sources of, as you might say, all the rest of the news that was fit to print.

Liz Smith came to NYC from Texas, a young woman who got on a bus with little more than a dream to her name. She could have made it anywhere but she made it here, the classic-up-from-your-bootstraps American dream, and she was the ears and eyes for NYC society for decades and decades. She knew everyone, everyone knew her, she was the pulse of what was going on. Like many a New Yorker, she was itinerant, working for the Daily News, Newsday, and the New York Post, and appearing on TV all the time. She was the brassy dame who could hold her own with any man -- and often got the better of them. 

I loved Liz Smith, what she represented, and what she meant to this town. I wrote about her several times on this blog and you can find those posts here. Liz Smith died yesterday at the age of 94. She was too young in my opinion. Doubtless she was dishing until the end. This city will be lesser place without her and her particular voice. 

Liz Smith loved NYC and NYC loved her.

Where have you gone, Liz Smith?

One of the reasons Donald Trump is (ugh yak puke) the President of these United States is because he became a so-called "tabloid darling" in 1980s NYC. He was "good copy" and sold papers (today it would "get clicks") and the city tabloids couldn't get enough of him. He got publicity, the papers got sales, and The Donald rose to become a reality star and finally POTUS. (I'm not happy about, it's just what happened.)

Perhaps his biggest chronicler and cheerleader was Liz Smith whose column appeared in the New York Post and other tabloids for decades. Liz Smith was the gossip columnist in NYC, no name was bigger, no one else got the biggest scoops -- in a city of 8 million people, no one knew more than her.

Liz Smith is now 94 and hasn't had a regular column in a city paper since 2009. And, as this article makes clear, as she watches her Frankenstein monster wreck havoc on the whole country, Liz Smith realizes that she's a relic of a different time, another city and another country. She bemoans these changes and wishes she was still in the game.

Everything changes.

P.S. When I'm 94, if I'm lucky to live that long, I don't think I'm going to want to work so God Bless her.  

So Long Liz ...

Liz Smith Bids City’s Tabloids Goodbye

As of Thursday, her column will no longer run in any New York City paper. The New York Post is dropping her, yet another victim of a nasty economy and dying newspaper business.

Liz Smith is a New York institution. A Texas girl who found her calling in our fair city, she's probably the greatest gossip columnist in this city's history. A pal of the powerful, a foe to the phony, a great big glamorous gal, Liz has been dishing the dishy-ish dish in town for over fifty years. No one has ever had a more perceptive finger on the pulse of celebrity culture in this city like her. Not being able to open a tabloid and see Liz Smith's mug and being able to read her scoops is truly sad indeed.

But she'll still be available online. Check her out at wowowow.

Interview: Michael Musto of "La Dolce Musto"

Cindy Adams, Liz Smith, Rush & Molloy -- and Michael Musto. He's one of the legends of the New York gossip and culture scene -- an iconic voice and authority of all things "downtown" -- and if he ain't written about it, it ain't happened.

Michael's been writing his Village Voice column "La Dolce Musto" for more than two decades. He's appeared on PBS, NPR, E! Entertainment Television, and MSNBC (amongst many other media outlets), and although he's got a national presence, Michael's never strays from his New York state of mind.

Michael was kind enough to share a few thoughts with Mr NYC readers about gossip, New York City, and bloggers.

How long have you lived in NYC and been writing "La Dolce Musto"?

I've lived in New York my entire life. I couldn't exist anwhere else. I don't drive and I'm allergic to too much sun--or at least to people who stay out in too much sun. I've been writing the column for at least 20 years. My first column was in hieroglyphics, ba dum pum.

What made you, an Ivy League graduate, want to become a gossip writer?

Even at Columbia, I mainly cared about gossiping about my dormmates and buzzing about Cher's latest hairstyles (in between studying The Iliad, of course), so it all made sense to me. Gossip is what I do best. It deflects attention from myself and onto others who live in a faster lane while at the same time, ironically enough, getting me some attention as well.

Tell us briefly about the art of gossip writing. What makes one a good gossip writer? Who influenced you?

Gossip writing should be fair (there are two sides to every story), yet a bit jaundiced, so your eyebrow is always raised in response to the p.r. hype machine. It should also be carried on with an underlying sense that none of this stuff really matters much--not in the larger picture--yet it's all important because we care about it passionately and guilty pleasures should not be ignored. A gossip writing style should be bold, personal, individual, and opinionated. Through the years, I've been influenced by Tom Wolfe, Rex Reed, Truman Capote, Liz Smith, Cindy Adams, and many others.

What are your favorite "gossipy" things to cover?

A walking train wreck like a Lindsay/Britney/Paris is fun to cover because their entire careers seem to consist of providing great tabloid copy. Plus I like what they do careerwise--Lindsay's a terrific movie star, Britney puts out really fun music, and Paris has a certain poise, even with egg on her face. She's telegenic and in fact so seemingly blank you can project whatever you want onto her and put her in any medium you like.

Who are your favorite people to cover? What makes a person good gossip fodder?

I'll cover anyone on the way up or the way down. These are the people who are desperate for press, so the'll say anything to get into your column. Once they're on top, they're generally too guarded by p.r. watchdogs to say anything interesting. I also like anyone who will provide conflict and good copy. "I hate my costar" is much more interesting than "My newest sequel was a labor of love."

What was your biggest scoop or most exciting thing you covered?

I was the first to run the details of the murder of drug dealer Angel Melendez by club kid king Michael Alig and his roommate Freeze. It was truly grisly, from the Drano injection to the smothering by pillow. I also was ahead of the curve on outing people like Rosie and Ellen, who weren't thrilled, but who ultimately came out with a vengeance and left me behind to out others. It was exciting to push buttons and go where no one was going at the time. Huge magazine profiles of Rosie were portraying her as an ambiguous single mom with a crush on Tom Cruise!

Did you really coin the term "Celebutard?" Please give us a brief definition.

I said the word on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and it somehow went into my Wikipedia profile as having been coined by me. I'll take credit, if they want to give it, but I can't say for sure if I coined it. On other sites, I've been credited with everything from being a martial arts expert to having written a movie starring Jayne Mansfield, so don't believe everything you read (except my column).

In many ways gossip columnists were the original bloggers. Are blogs and bloggers a threat to gossip columnists?

I feel like my column was the original blog. It consists of my wicked, personal thoughts and opinions interspersed (one hopes) with information and insight. The advent of actual blogs has been threatening to columnists, but I feel it's a welcome burst of energy that forces us to work harder and dig deeper to compete. And at least we get paid for it!

What do you love about NYC? How has the city changed in the years you've lived here?

New York has lost much "edge"--God, I hate that word--ever since Giuliani made it a giant Disneyland for tourists and rich people, but I feel those who fled in horror are complete wusses. I stayed and continue to find fringey nightlife and wacky people living on the precipice. I'd rather celebrate them than give up and move to San Diego just because you get a terrace there.

Is NYC still a great place for gossip?

Yes, it's great. L.A. has more celebrities per square mile--you can't even go into a 7/11 without running into a Pamela Lee--but here we have theater, movies, music, nightlife, everything, and it's all on a somewhat higher level.

Tell us something about Michael Musto we don't know.

He's actually a nice guy. Now THAT'S shocking!

Thanks Michael!

Check out La Dolce Musto every week in the Village Voice.

New York Broads

"There ain't nothing like a dame!"

And there's nothing like New York dames -- or broads -- either.

Take these two very different but very interesting examples.

Liz Smith is probably the greatest gossip columnist in this town's history. She's been practicing her trade for decades (as I've written about here). Recently, Vanity Fair did a great short profile about her and how she's an only in New York kind of gal, how New York has made her what she is today. But she's not originally from here -- oh no, she's from Texas. But when she's a classic New York broad because she came here and conquered, she made this town her own and made her mark. This town may have made her but she also made part of it too. Tough as nails, smart as a whip, a living legend, Liz Smith is one great New York broad.

But New York produces his own great broads too. 

Ellen Barkin has a been a prominent actress for almost thirty years. She's made classic movies like Diner, The Big Easy, Sea of Love, and countless others. And this year she won a Tony for the play The Normal Heart. But for all her fame and fortune, Ellen Barkin is and wants the world to know that she's a New Yorker first and last. You must read her hilarious and wild Twitter feed, where this famous actress bills herself simply as "Bronx girl." And boy -- does her Twitter have a Bronx attitude! She's a real talent and a real New York broad. 

They don't make 'em like this anywhere else.

Naughty Nostalgia: Robin and Al

My favorite new show of the summer is the Netflix series GLOW (a.k.a the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling), a fictional comedy/drama about the crazy, off-the-wall syndicated show of the same name that ran on Saturday mornings from 1986 to 1990. If you haven't seen GLOW, you must! It's really good nostalgia.

Shows that look back several decades, to a specific time/place/scene, appears to be a new trend. Hence, the new HBO show The Deuce that'll premiere in September, about the 1970s NYC porn scene. I blogged about this  show recently and can't wait to see it. 

I don't remember the 1970s, and I sure don't remember the porn scene, but (Mom - if you're reading this, STOP NOW), I do remember Channel 35, the nasty after midnight cable channel that showed, well ... not porn exactly but the next best thing.

Namely, Al Goldstein's Midnight Blue, the only "porn" news show that's ever existed, and The Robin Byrd Show, where the host would interview various strippers and porn stars and they'd dance. 

Both shows were very bizarre and lots of fun. If you were a teenager in NYC in the last 20th century, it was paradise.  

Of course, today, in the age of the Internet, they shows are long gone. Al Goldstein is dead and Robin Byrd is doing live shows (I've blogged about both Al and Robin in the past, go to a Search for more). But the ways in which NYC has changed isn't just in the buildings that've been built and torn downs or the stores and restaurants that have closed, it's also what's on TV or on the radio or in the newspapers (see Liz Smith). They exist today only in our memories.

P.S. Robin Byrd is on Facebook and I sent her a message, asking for an interview, but she still hasn't responded. Robin, if you're reading, or if you're someone who knows her, please tell her to respond. I REALLY want to interview her!