wowOwow - The Women on the Web

02/17/2010 5:00 am

Culture

Liz Smith: Peggy Siegal's Business Tips

And more from Our Gossip Girl: Kathleen Turner takes Molly Ivins to the stage … And Michigan is moving on up.

"IT IS a curious fact that major new steps in evolution weren’t usually taken by the most advanced members of a class of animals, but by one of the more primitive and simple members of the class. The explanation for this seeming paradox is clear at once if the word ‘primitive’ is taken to mean unspecialized, not committed to narrow behavior patterns," to quote Susumu Ohno.

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I KNOW, I KNOW that frequently I am busy here mentioning our fascinating friend, the uber-press agent, Peggy Siegal. Years ago when I first met Peggy she seemed intent on finding a guy. She was forever talking to me about how I should introduce her to "Mr. Right," as if I had a large collection of these ready to hand out.

Now, as you know if you’ve been paying attention here, Ms. Peggy has become well known as she has successfully concentrated on her brilliant career, arranging social parties and pushing movie openings, influencing the Oscars, covering the Cannes Film Festival and so forth. She now knows more famous people than anyone I know and that includes me.

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IF YOU look at Avenue magazine for March, Peggy has penned a delightful article on the filming of "Wall Street 2," telling how she turned many would-be socialites into movie extras for director Oliver Stone.

But here is the best part. Peggy just takes off for exotic climes whenever she feels like it and she is often busy jetting around the world with her niece Mattie Siegal. So now she has sent a set of the most beautiful and delightful photographs, which she had taken (or which she starred in) on the Mathews Range of Northern Kenya last Christmas.

To make these more fun, Peggy has written the identifications of these photos, calling it "Six Business Tips I Learned in Africa."

Click here to see Peggy’s pictures and to read the business tips she learned in Africa.

So study them and take note. And be brave like Peggy. Remake your own life. Travel. Seek adventure. Make it happen. Be your own Mr. Right!

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LET’S SEE, who is the modern Texas woman who made quite an impact on history and politics? No, for a change, I’m not talking about the late Ann Richards, but about one of Ann’s most admired friends, the late gadfly journalist Molly Ivins.

And the great Tony-winning actress Kathleen Turner will be playing Molly in a one-person show that is about to go into rehearsal February 23 in New York. The director is David Esbjornson.


Kathleen Turner/Image courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Co.

Journalists Margaret and Allison Engel have written the play titled "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins." It opens in Philly on March 19 to April 18 at the Philadelphia Theater Company. With good reviews, it will doubtless come to Broadway and then go all over the country.

I always loved Molly Ivins, especially after she lost her job at The New York Times because she used the expression "chicken pluckers." I had the privilege about a year or so ago of recording Molly’s very last book, the one titled Bill of Wrongs. This was published and made ready for listening after Molly died of breast cancer back in January 2007.