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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

Tee Zee
Great article Liz, now I’m hungry…and we’re out of nectarines…
By Tee Zee on 09/03/2009 12:55 pm
Pat Browning

Snoods are the most glamorous hair cover ups ever designed. Does anyone still sell them? I would love to have a couple.

Pat Browning

By Pat Browning on 09/03/2009 1:35 pm
Judi Hershel

Sad to see that Bob Geldoff has children who are so vacuous and self-involved.  I guess that when you name them Peaches & Trixie (and isn’t there a Fifi lurking about somewhere?) there are bound to be lowered expectations.

 

As for snoods, I put my insanely long hair up in the 60s and 70s and they looked prertty cool.  Additionally, my sister Lynda would put a snood (made by Mom, as were ours) on her Afghan hound, Sadie Rose, while The Rose had her dinner.  This prevented Sadie’s incredibly long, silky, luxurious ears from getting yucky from her food.

 Still a good, if retro look, I think.

By Judi Hershel on 09/03/2009 1:41 pm
kate sanford
I remember years ago, my wonderfully hilarious grandmother removing the "snood" from around a roast of beef, putting it in bleach overnight to remove the stains, and threatening to wear it.  Thank you for reminding me, and I lift a toast to the grandmothers around me who laugh with their relatives!
By kate sanford on 09/03/2009 4:56 pm
beth willis

Thank you for your article, Liz.  You know, it isn’t just that you know everyone, but that you capture them in sterling sentences and whimsical words.

Say, could you send some snoods down here for ‘Good Hair’ Perry?  Kinky has signed up for the jamboree and Tom Scheiffer (-2 for spelling).  Kay Bailey should be riding in soon after quitting the Senate.  It’s goin’ be a shootout for sure, Liz.  Would not surprise me if Dubya threw his hat in the ring.

peace and grace

By beth willis on 09/03/2009 10:54 pm
Lizzie R.
I started thinking about snoods again after Liz resurrected the thought and finally remembered why they came into being. It was during WW2 and so many women were working in defense plants as the men were all gone to the war. Since they all had long hair then and there was a danger of the hair getting caught in machinery the snood was introduced as an attractive way to confine their hair. Then they caught on with the rest of the women as a fashion statement. I was in high school  & we all managed to get a snood too, but, dang, they were really stupid looking.
By Lizzie R. on 09/03/2009 11:46 pm