Catfight between Dear Abby/Ann Landers daughters
LandonEx
CHICAGO, Illinois -- The daughter of advice columnist Esther Lederer, better
known as Ann Landers, has accused her cousin, who writes the "Dear Abby" advice
column, of trying to cash in on her mother's legacy, according to a published
report.
"My mother has not been gone a full week yet, and I am highly offended by
Jeanne Phillips' not-at-all-subtle move to make hay of my mother's death,"
Lederer's daughter, Margo Howard, told the Chicago Tribune in Thursday
editions.
Her comments were prompted by Phillips' appearance Tuesday on CNN's "Larry King
Live" show, where she expressed grief at her aunt's death.
Howard told the Tribune she had also learned that Dear Abby's distributor,
Universal Press Syndicate, was offering a farewell letter from Phillips to her
aunt to newspapers and other media.
"This is not about grief," said Howard, who writes an online advice column.
"This is about new clients."
Phillips is the daughter of Lederer's twin sister, Pauline Phillips, originator
of "Dear Abby." The two column-writing sisters had a much-publicized feud.
Lederer died Saturday at her Chicago home at 83. The cause of death was
multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer.
At stake in the wake of her death are the revenues from the newspapers that
subscribed to the Ann Landers column.
A statement Wednesday from Universal Press Syndicate said Phillips had turned
down several national TV shows to discuss her aunt's death, but felt obliged to
fulfill an earlier commitment to appear on "Larry King Live."
"Her television appearance, flogging her 'grief' at my mother's death, in
addition to her 'farewell' column, is beneath contempt," Howard said.
The Associated Press
June 28, 2002 / 07:14 AM EDT
=L=
Dennis or Karen Eichorst
LandonEx wrote:
> 'Dear Abby' Writer Criticized by Cousin
>
> CHICAGO, Illinois -- The daughter of advice columnist Esther Lederer, better
> known as Ann Landers, has accused her cousin, who writes the "Dear Abby" advice
> column, of trying to cash in on her mother's legacy, according to a published
> report.
>
> A statement Wednesday from Universal Press Syndicate said Phillips had turned
> down several national TV shows to discuss her aunt's death, but felt obliged to
> fulfill an earlier commitment to appear on "Larry King Live."
>
> "Her television appearance, flogging her 'grief' at my mother's death, in
> addition to her 'farewell' column, is beneath contempt," Howard said.
Why do I have the feeling that if she'd gone the other route and said nothing
she'd be accused of 'cold-heartedly ignoring the family loss' or some such? I
haven't seen the Larry King thing (don't have cable) and didn't read the farewell
column (don't get the paper on a daily basis) so I have no idea of the tone of
either but it appears to me that Phillips is damend if she does and damned if she
doesn't here.
Maybe they should clear up their own problems befor they try dishing advice to the
rest of us...
Karen E.
--
_______________________________________
"In the end, our society will be defined not only
by what we create but by what we refuse to destroy."
John C. Sawhill
Mary Campbell
> LandonEx wrote:
>
>> 'Dear Abby' Writer Criticized by Cousin
>>
>> CHICAGO, Illinois -- The daughter of advice columnist Esther Lederer, better
>> known as Ann Landers, has accused her cousin, who writes the "Dear Abby" advice
>> column, of trying to cash in on her mother's legacy, according to a published
>> report.
>>
> she'd be accused of 'cold-heartedly ignoring the family loss' or some
> such?
I don't know why you have that feeling. Most people don't go on Larry
King to talk about their aunt's death and yet I doubt that they're accused
of being cold-hearted.
Why should Phillips have pushed herself forward at all? It's more
appropriate that Ann Landers' daughter should be the family's
spokesperson. If Ann's daughter didn't think it was seemly to appear on
Larry King, that's her privilege - it's not up to Phillips. I thought
Phillips was totally out of line.
KAR
"Mary Campbell" <cc...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message
news:afi765$qln$1...@freenet9.carleton.ca...
There was a more detalied and uglier accounting in the LA Times
today...looking...hold.
Found it. Here's the link and story:
link:
http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-lv-landerfeud28jun28.story?coll
=la%2Dheadlines%2Dliving
story:
Columnists' Daughters Carry On the Feud
By BEVERLY BEYETTE, TIMES STAFF WRITER
A second-generation feud between the daughters of long-embattled twin advice
columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby heated up Thursday night as Landers'
daughter castigated her cousin--who now writes Dear Abby--as a hypocrite for
penning a mushy goodbye to her "Dear Aunt Eppie" this week and for
criticizing Landers' decision to keep her fatal illness a secret.
Margo Howard, daughter of Eppie Lederer, a.k.a. Ann Landers, who died
Saturday in Chicago at age 83, told "The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather"
that, although in the "Dear Eppie" letter Jeanne Phillips quoted her late
aunt as having praised her as talented and "doing a wonderful job" with the
Abby column, "my mother had told me and her inner circle that she thought
the column was quite subpar."
While the letter that ran earlier this week in some newspapers as the "Dear
Abby" column showered love and admiration upon Lederer, Howard said she'd
heard only last fall that Phillips was bad-mouthing Lederer as
"old-fashioned" and telling features editors that she, as Abby, was the
future of advice columns. Beyond that, Howard told CBS, she was highly
offended by Phillips' comments in a Wednesday appearance on "Live With Larry
King," in which Phillips called Lederer's decision to keep secret her
terminal cancer "a tragedy," an ill-advised decision to protect her image.
"Despicable and in extremely poor taste," Howard said of the comments.
In a telephone interview Thursday from her Cambridge, Mass., home, Howard
pooh-poohed the letter as "self-serving and loopy. They really had no
relationship. My mother was very kind to everyone, [but] she thought Jeanne
had her limitations." Howard suggested that Phillips' letter, and her Larry
King appearance, were ploys on Phillips' part to call attention to herself
and to "Dear Abby," now that the Ann Landers column will cease to exist at
the end of July. (Creators Syndicate will offer in its place Annie's
Mailbox, to be written by two longtime Ann Landers aides, and with Howard's
blessing). Phillips' syndicate offered the "Dear Aunt Eppie" letter free to
all media, not only to paying "Dear Abby" clients.
Jeanne Phillips would not comment Thursday, but Universal Press Syndicate,
which distributes "Dear Abby," said that although Phillips had rejected
requests from several national TV shows, including "Today," to discuss her
aunt's death, she had committed to Larry King before Lederer died and could
not control the show's content or questions.
Not so, said Howard, who accused Phillips of "flogging her grief at my
mother's death" in her own interests and of being "beneath contempt" for
making "publicity grabs."
Howard said it is her intent to stop this second-generation feud before it
goes further but feels obligated to respond "until Jeanne decides to shut
up." She also suggested on her CBS appearance that Phillips "cease and
desist with any more appearances or written material having to do with my
mother, because anything further from her could take her to places I don't
think she wants to go."
In her interview with The Times, Howard said her response is intended to
stop the bickering. If Phillips does carry on, Howard observed, "she is more
of a fool than I thought."
Stay tuned. Phillips told Larry King that her July 4 "Dear Abby" column will
be a birthday greeting to her mother and her late aunt, who were born in
Sioux City, Iowa, on July 4, 1918. Universal Press Syndicate confirmed that
the column would run--with an addendum explaining that it was written before
Lederer's death.
Zannah
"KAR" <fin...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> There was a more detalied and uglier accounting in the LA Times
> today...looking...hold.
>
> Found it. Here's the link and story:
>
> link:
> http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-lv-landerfeud28jun28.story?coll
> =la%2Dheadlines%2Dliving
>
> story:
>
> Columnists' Daughters Carry On the Feud
>
> By BEVERLY BEYETTE, TIMES STAFF WRITER
>
>
> A second-generation feud between the daughters of long-embattled twin advice
> columnists Ann Landers and Dear Abby heated up Thursday night as Landers'
> daughter castigated her cousin--who now writes Dear Abby--as a hypocrite for
> penning a mushy goodbye to her "Dear Aunt Eppie" this week and for
> criticizing Landers' decision to keep her fatal illness a secret.
>
> Margo Howard, daughter of Eppie Lederer, a.k.a. Ann Landers, who died
> Saturday in Chicago at age 83, told "The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather"
> that, although in the "Dear Eppie" letter Jeanne Phillips quoted her late
> aunt as having praised her as talented and "doing a wonderful job" with the
> Abby column, "my mother had told me and her inner circle that she thought
> the column was quite subpar."
Although I enjoy Margo Howard's column (she writes "Dear Prudence",
right?) Ann Landers calling Dear Abby "subpar" is greatly hypocritical.
Over the last few years, if Ann Landers wasn't publishing "How we met"
or "I greatly enjoyed some column you wrote... would you reprint it?"
stories, her advice *entirely* consisted of "go talk to a professional."
Zannah.
Gulffritallary
>or "I greatly enjoyed some column you wrote... would you reprint it?"
>stories, her advice *entirely* consisted of "go talk to a professional."
>
prevention, signs & symptoms of diabetes, letters from organizations
championing their cause such as mothers agains drunk driving, etc. I felt she
should have retired long ago.