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The Liz Smith Column | 09/03/2009 12:00 am

Liz Smith: After a Terrible Summer, I Need Peaches and Pixie to Amuse Me

Also from Our Gossip Girl: GQ on the rise … NYC in autumn – lots to do and see!
Liz Smith
"The 2000s will be remembered as the decade of the diva flameout, a long national nightmare of public crackups, disastrous marriages and no-panty flashings," writes Allison Stewart in The Washington Post.

***

Paris and Nicky Hilton are "so" two years ago … Jessica and Ashlee Simpson are "so" three years ago … The Kardashians are so – er, well – trashy. Their shelf life has just about expired. But that does not make them bad people, just trivial ones.

So, is there a new celeb sister act for red-carpet flashbulbs to bounce off of? Maybe. European paparazzi have snapped topless shots of Pixie and Peaches Geldof. These are the daughters of rock star and humanitarian Bob Geldof. The girls, ages 18 and 21, were snorkeling off Majorca. (Try saying that three times as fast as you can!) Both of these ‘perfect" young ladies have made bits of news in the United Kingdom – the usual stuff. Semi-nude pics, piercings, tattoos. No sex tapes – yet.

We do need a fresh infusion from Great Britain. Sending us the Beckhams has not really worked out. He is handsome and a true stud, but nobody in the U.S. cares all that much about soccer. As for Mrs. Beckham, the former Posh Spice? – well, she keeps her wraithlike, lollipop silhouette and a size-zero personality. She somehow never learned to smile from babyhood on. (If she becomes an "American Idol" judge that perpetual frown might scare the vocalizing right out of contestants!)

So I just love writing about sisters named Peaches and Pixie. It’s so retro. I don’t care what they do and I hardly know what they look like. I just want them to translate to America and start carrying on like mad things. Then I can report: "Last night at NYC’s Monkey Bar – Peaches and Pixie, etc."

It has been a long, horrible, wet-in-the-Northeast summer of stress, mildew and death. Now, I’d like to be amused. I think the Geldof girls will do nicely.

***

But perhaps not even Pixie and Peaches can help the flagging magazine business. The Times pointed out last week that readers seemed to be getting slightly exhausted with celebrity weeklies – OK!, In Touch Weekly and Star. All posted a ten percent drop in subscriptions and around 20 percent at newsstands.

I am pleased to report that my own wOw favorite – GQ magazine – was the one publication to show a gain in newsstand sales. I like to think that’s partly because of our touting here how good GQ has become, with its inevitable superb monthly journalism piece.

***

If you really plan to keep up with what’s happening in New York City for the near future, I’d recommend you pick up New York mag’s "Fall Preview" dated August 31 to September 7. I don’t know how they did it, but it looks as if they didn’t miss a single thing, whether it be cafes, drinks, theater, nightclubs, architecture, sports, museums, opera, dance, TV, movies – whatever!

And they offer chapter and verse on some of this wOw column’s truly favorite fabulous women: Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey …The rare Vermeer "Milkmaid" painting on loan at the Met … Carrie Fisher’s one-woman show … Bernadette Peters crooning for AIDSNicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz, coming in film of "Nine" … Robin Wright Penn on our horizon in a movie "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" … Drew Barrymore as director … the one and only Gina Gershon coming in the new revival of "Bye Bye Birdie" (She has the Chita Rivera role of Rosie) … the fabulous "agent" Julie White in a backstage comedy "The Understudy" … Sienna Miller (did you ever see this under-rated actress as Edie Sedgwick in "Factory Girl"?) … Lea Michele in Fox’s "Glee" … the elegant put-down artist Christine Baranski as a real woman in "The Good Wife" … and many more talented females of the species. Buy New York mag and see what you may be about to miss!

22 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Lizzie R.
OMG - a snood. I haven’t thought about snoods since back then, I suppose. I had a hideous turquois one which I can remember actually wearing. I must have looked a fright other than the fact others were wearing snoods too. Will pompadours make a return soon - perish the thought.
By Lizzie R. on 09/02/2009 11:22 pm
Lin Cercone
WHAT are snoods?
By Lin Cercone on 09/03/2009 5:29 am
Lee Harrison
Snoods are ornamental hair nets or bags worn over hair, usually fixed in a lose bun or pony tail-type arrangement.
By Lee Harrison on 09/03/2009 6:02 am
Carole Del Monte
Delightful & refreshing with new faces, besides!  Thanks for picking us up, Liz.  Your remarks about the Duggars are spot on.  I also remember snoods.  My mother owned at least one. 
By Carole Del Monte on 09/03/2009 7:19 am
Susan Crawford

Liz, I heard the "news" about this Duggar family’s newest pregnancy, and I am SO glad you commented on it. Years ago, I got interested in ZPG - Zero Population Growth. Back in the ‘70’s it was an important movement, but somewhere along the line, the burgeoning economy, the change in the feminist movement, who knows what, happened, and one doesn’t hear much about it any more. People were outraged when China instituted the mandatory birth control policies that proved so draconian and intrusive and cruel. But for heaven’s sake, enough is enough! Nineteen children? Do the math: this Mrs. Duggar has been pregnant for 14.25 YEARS! (There is part of me that is laughing hysterically, and part of me that is just hysterical at that statistic.) Considering the population crisis and the environmental crisis - can we maybe stop to think about these "mega-families" a little? OK, so the Duggars appear to be able to support all their children in comfort, and - from what I’ve read - they are a happy family. But again, let’s do some math: suppose six of these kids decide to go on in their adult lives and have mega-families … and their kids in similar proportion decide the same … eeeeek! And the point Liz made abouot the fact that they are white is a good one indeed. If you read about a poor Latina woman with nineteen children, or a black family of this size … it would "play" differently in the media, I’m sure.

Here’s to families everywhere; here’s to love and caring for one’s children; and here’s to caring for the future by making sure that we begin to think about population control so that children of the future will HAVE a future.

PS: Peaches and Pixie? For a moment, I thought Liz was writing about a pair of pampered Yorkies on the Upper East Side! What is it about these names lately? Apple? Zuma Nesta? Brooklyn? Pilot Inspektor? Is there some kind of contest among the rich and famous to name their kids after fruit, beaches, boroughs and so on? Yikes!

PPS: Snoods were quite chic back in the day! I seem to remember one or two in my mother’s accessory drawer, including an "evening snood" of black netting with rhinestones - tres chic!

By Susan Crawford on 09/03/2009 7:59 am
Lila Kuh

Susan, I am a big ZPG fan. 

And… Moon Unit Zappa.

By Lila Kuh on 09/03/2009 9:37 am
Susan Crawford

I forgot about Moon Unit! And it’s great to hear ZPG still exists.

By Susan Crawford on 09/03/2009 9:49 am
Marcia Cupschalk

Susan, what a funny response to Liz’s article. I had my first laugh of the day…or was it in two days! Regardless, very witty. I did not know what a snood was either. I never saw anyone with one in their hair and I know I never wore one. Thanks for the explanation.

By Marcia Cupschalk on 09/03/2009 4:45 pm
zora brozina
I love this article! It is excellently written and intelligently funny!
By zora brozina on 09/03/2009 8:22 am
Patrice Baldwin
Yes, LIz, you’re getting funnier by the day! I see a nice, sharp, funny jab here and there. I like it.
By Patrice Baldwin on 09/08/2009 1:52 am
Deirdre Cerasa

Liz, this morning’s column was just such fun!  Fruit and fairies, oh my!  And the snood!  I too remember my mother’s collection; silk illusion with rhinestones, white damask and terry for the beach.  Thanks for getting the day started with a smile!

 

 

By Deirdre Cerasa on 09/03/2009 8:42 am
Char Stevens
Peaches & Pixie!  I thought you had gone to a orchard and gotten a new haircut! 
By Char Stevens on 09/03/2009 9:12 am
Char Stevens
When will I learn to preview… stop the presses! That is "an" orchard.
By Char Stevens on 09/03/2009 9:13 am
Chrome Toe
Yes… Liz deserves some fun after this past year. So more power to Pixie and Peaches! that WAS fun to write…
By Chrome Toe on 09/03/2009 9:31 am
Norma Grooms

When I first saw the column, Peaches and Pixie, after a hard year.  I was thinking of a new drink.

I agree Liz we need a new infusion from UK,  come on over Peaches and Pixie.

Perhaps you know a good drink to sip on while reading about them, Liz?

 

By Norma Grooms on 09/03/2009 11:34 am