"The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men – from mothers most of all, who carry the key to our souls in their bosom" – Oliver Wendell Holmes.

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Now let’s say you are one of the most beautiful women in the world and live with one of the sexiest guys in the world and you are a busy bee. You have been making a movie down in Washington and you have also been pushing your various charity projects worldwide. At the same time you are the mother of six children.

Spring and summer signal a marathon of kids’ birthday parties. You have to celebrate Shiloh and the twins, Vivienne and Knox, and Maddox. (You do actually have two children who weren’t born in the spring and summer.)

So who are you? Why, you are the beleaguered Angelina Jolie and you’ve been supervising one birthday after another – in May, Shiloh; on July 12 there’s Vivienne and Knox; come August, one for Maddox. (Zahara was born in January and Pax in November, so this gives a bit of breathing room between blowing out candles.)

Says Angelina: "Now the older kids can help plan the birthdays for the younger kids. Birthdays are one of the great pleasures of life! … With so many children, it feels like we just have year-round birthdays."

The Jolie-Pitts © Getty Images
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The fabled but reclusive Lena Horne was 92 years old recently so we still don’t know how this legendary star feels about James Gavin’s new book on her life, Stormy Weather. But I did give the incredibly frank and straightforward biography a big thumbs-up when it came out a couple of weeks ago.


Lena Horne © Getty Images

On its first day of publication, the book made Amazon’s Top 100. Splashy reviews have been everywhere and it made Oprah’s list of "Top 25 Summer Reads." Gayle King also touted it on "Good Morning America."

There is, of course, word whizzing about for a movie. In late 2007, Oprah announced her plan to star Alicia Keys as Lena in a biopic. But we haven’t heard anything on that front since. I frankly don’t see how they could produce such a movie without generous use of Mr. Gavin’s work, which is a gem of its kind. Click here to read my review of the book on wOw.

While Mr. Gavin is traveling to promote Stormy Weather, he is also busy with his documentary based on Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret. They have interviewed yours truly, Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers and Professor Irwin Corey. (He is 94 and undiminished in the slightest!) They are trying to see Carol Burnett, Jonathan Winters and Hal Holbrook. (All have said yes.) Phyllis Diller is being cagey but I hope she’ll come around.

Meanwhile, I urge you in this summer weather to pick up a copy of Stormy Weather, which may just be one of the best biographies about show business, race, love, sex and music ever written.

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Lindsay Lohan’s movie "Labor Pains" will have a TV airing before it heads for DVD. You can catch the comedy on ABC Family Network on July 19. Please don’t be tiresome and e-mail me, "Who cares?" I’ll start writing about Michael Jackson again.