Next: ‘Jackie’s Kitchen: Recipes Of A Late First Lady’
These days the attitude around publishing houses seems to be that who does the writing is more important than the writing itself.
For example, the publishing house of Carroll & Graf is bringing out a book titled “The Last Will and Testament of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.” The book, which will sell for $18, is simply a copy of her will, some photographs, her death certificate and a chronology of her life.
“She is one of the great icons of our time, and many people will want a piece of what she was about,” said editor Bill Adler.
As wills are in the public domain once they’ve been probated, Adler merely acquired a copy of Onassis’ will to use as the basis of the book.
“A lot of people will view this as an invasion of privacy, but it’s not as if I stole it from her home in the middle of the night,” Adler said.
Loose talk
Caustic commentator Dennis Miller on why he no longer wants to make movies: “I don’t want to work 14 hours a day. I go insane. I just want to go home and sleep.”
She’ll always be a Sweathog’s surrogate mom
Marcia Strassman turns 49 today.
It was in the genes, poor, poor pussycat
Warner Books has inked pianist David Helfgott’s sister, Margaret Helfgott, to a six-figure book contract. A publishing executive says she plans to tell the “true story” that the movie “Shine” shamelessly exploited. “(She) takes exception to the idea that her father was such a nasty guy,” the exec said, adding that “much of (David’s) problem was hereditary.”
Someone tell Alanis Morrisette: THIS is ironic
According to Leah Garchik, columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, the vegetarian restaurant Millennium runs adjacent to Breen Alley - which is named for Donner Party survivor Peter Breen.
Throws up both hands or just throws up?
Joe Jackson, patriarch of the performing Jackson clan, says that his 24th grandchild - son Michael Jackson’s boy - has talent. As he told “American Journal,” the baby - who is named Prince - “throws up both hands and starts crying to the beat!”
He, apparently, has never watched ‘The Nanny’
Theater critic John Simon isn’t known for genteel reviews. But his remarks to Women’s Wear Daily are harsh even for him. “The women who end up in the theater, for the most part, are very unattractive,” Simon said. “If you’re attractive, you go into TV, movies and modeling. What’s left for the theater is not very appetizing to look at.”
As if a scar could mar something that Barbie-like
Cindy Crawford didn’t always like her trademark beauty spot. “When I was a kid, I wanted to have my mole taken off,” she told MTV’s “House of Style.” “My mom always told me no and kept asking me, ‘Do you want a scar?’ It’s true. I would have had a scar there instead of my mole.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster