Joan Crawford, the Waldorf Astoria, Times Square and Moi

Poster from Feud and right : Joan Crawford

There is a new movie Feud about to hit our screens staring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon and it

looks sensational. It tells the tale of the rivalry between two Hollywood legends, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.
It brings to mind Whispers part in making the movie based on Joan Crawford's life, Mommie Dearest into a minor world-wide hit. The film was based on a book by Crawford's adopted daughter Christina Crawford.

It was the late 1970s and Whispers accompanied then Daily Express columnist Timothy Swallow (left) to New York to produce a book about famous women. We ensconced ourselves for a fortnight at the Waldorf Astoria. Our madcap adventures in that two weeks are for another time but one incident has now become a legend. Timothy and I on a free afternoon ventured over to a Times Square cinema to watch Mommie Dearest staring Faye Dunaway. The movie was languishing in the box office doldrums and the Hollywood "elite" had turned their backs on Dunaway claiming her brilliant portrayal of Crawford was some sort of betrayal.
We simply loved the movie and early that evening over drinks in a  bar in the Waldorf we created a tale for Timothy's column in the Express: the William Hickey column. We claimed groups of fans were turning up to watch the film and at the crucial moment when Crawford attacks her children with a wire coat hanger, the fans stood up and waved their own wire coat hangers. Silly stuff to fill a column. Within days the tale was front page news around the world and life imitated art : fans began to do just that. The film became a minor box office hit and a year later back in London a producer tracked us down and took Timothy and I to the uber smart Knightsbride eatery San Lorenzo for lunch to thank us. Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown later recounted our story in her book 1983 book Life As a Party.
Below is a trailer for Feud and beneath the infamous scene from Mommie Dearest.

Gossip finally silenced

Much chatter around town as the Sunday Telegraph's legendary  Ros Reines is finally laid off after the News Corp axe falls on a number of  employees (it's always Danger Time when Rupert Murdoch hits town). One thing is for sure, you could not ignore Reines who became feared for her exposes and sharp words but loved by readers. Her byline "The Columnist They Can't Silence"was well deserved

Packer-just before he spotted Reines at his party

 It's odd but for a country that claims not to take society and their shenanigans seriously, it's also a country that seems particularly sensitive to even the slightest criticism

Timothy Swallow

Whispers having worked in both London and New York where the old adage- as long as they spell the name correctly- still holds sway has found Sydneysiders rather thin skinned. So of course, we are terribly nice to everyone.

Whispers first encountered Ros Reines many moons ago when she wrote for a magazine called London Index where a great friend, the late Timothy Swallow also worked. Swallow went on to work for the Daily Mail gossip king Nigel Demspter and then wrote the famous William Hickey column on the Daily Express. Sadly Timothy died during a trip to Australia but he always paid tribute to Reines superiority in being able to present a paragraph that was both amusing and wicked at the same time.

Kelly Cutrone in Sydney

# Timothy Swallow & Whispers put the then languishing film Mommie Dearest on the map during a trip to New York. A tale for another time. 

Ros appeared in these pages when we reported on her tussle with New York PR Kelly Cutrone. At the time a well known New York columnist lamented that in another era Reines & Cutrone would have got on a like a house on fire, so similar were their temperaments. 
Whispers was also with Reines at the famous Nine Network TV season launch on Garden Island when media king James Packer took her aside and tore strips off her over some alleged sleight. It became the only news that weekend as new TV offerings were forgotten. In fact, we also appeared in the same Australian Story about gossip writers along with writer Simon Kent (now on the Toronto Sun in Canada). No doubt Ros Reines with a wealth of local social knowledge will surface in a new capacity and publication but it's an indication of the rapidly changing world of media.

Tina's Perfect Storm & My Role In Mommie Dearest

You have to feel sympathy for Tina Aldiss, a publicist at Mango PR who wrote an article for the media website Mumbrella.
Tina was commenting on the current woes at Fairfax Media where up to 1900 workers are to be laid off over the coming years. News Ltd will do likewise. The Shuttle has been quizzing hacks and snappers from both organisations and the fear and loathing is palpable.

Tina reckons when printed newspapers crash and burn her job flogging Arnott's biscuits and McDonald's Chicken burghers will be that much easier as she harnesses net power.
In the mean time the comments section has gone ballistic attacking poor Tina with most thinking her timing is a bit off.

The lines between reporting and publicising were blurred well over two decades ago and it's gotten worse. The Shuttle has worked both sides of the fence and gave up trying to think in terms of ethics years ago and decided to concentrate on survival.

Our only gripe is the attitude of Australian PRs and publicists ( Sydney ones are the worse.. Melbourne publicists are far better mannered). Many come across as far grander that the product they are flogging yet are really quite ignorant when it comes to inventive publicity.

Charlotte Dawson, Sarah Murdoch & Alex Perry at the WALL.

Hence the rise of the tiresome photographic/publicity board that pops up at every event from a blockbuster movie premiere to a minor beauty product launch.
And the press section will be crammed with paparazzi with sometime half a dozen working (unpaid and only on commission) for one agency who reckon the scatter gun approach will get sales. Amass hundreds of snaps of the same celebrity in varying poses and a handful might sell.

Regular Shuttle contributor Bill Ranken (right) who knows just about everyone in town and probably dated their grandmothers (at 81 years of age) discovered this recently at a charity bash for a children's hospital.
He was snubbed at the entrance by a bright-eyed 20 something publicity operative who scolded him for missing the 'wall' and scoffed at the idea guests could be photographed whilst sitting at tables. The fact the guests were the same people we all see day after day, week after week in this town was incidental.

And the problem is not really that Tina Aldriss is just stating the obvious, newspapers and magazines are responsible for blurring the lines and you can't blame a publicist for taking advantage of the fact.

Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph has long been criticized for it's Sydney Confidential pages which resemble at times, a series of press releases full of inane information. It's significant that the former top Packer PR and journalist Annette Sharp has now been given her own Saturday edition spread and is delving into the lives of anyone who isn't Lady GaGa or Beyonce in an obvious move to challenge er rivals-not that it should be too hard.
As for the Shuttle, we have been shameless at times and never let accuracy get in the way of a good publicity campaign.

Years ago we travelled to New York with the UK Daily Express' William Hickey correspondent, the late Timothy Swallow and set up shop in a suite at the Waldorf Astoria in order to interview US celebrities for a series of show biz style books commissioned by a top promoter.

One day we went to a Times Square cinema to see the just released Mommie Dearest with Faye Dunnaway starring as Joan Crawford. Hollywood had boycotted the film, the star and producers deeming it a treacherous portrayal of a Hollywood legend.
 We loved it.

At one point in the movie Joan beats her children late one night after discovering their wardrobes contained wire coat hangers (apparently Joan had a thing about wire hangers), screaming "NO WIRE COAT HANGERS !!!"

 That night over cocktails at Studio 54 (working our way through our generous expenses allowance) we concocted a story that groups of fans were attending theatres and when the scene appeared, would wave wire coat hangers in the air. The Daily Express duly ran the tale which was picked up and swept the world's newspapers and TV news broadcasts.

Life imitated art and soon people were appearing at cinemas and doing just that. Not only had we created a movement (and a Wikipedia page), we had given the ailing flick a million dollar boost in free advertising by propelling it into the mass media.
All for the cost of a few drinks !