Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Discussion About Life and Legacy of Ann Landers
Aired June 24, 2002 - 10:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Two days after the death of newspaper advice columnist Ann Landers, her daughter's farewell column is going to be distributed today, and that's going to mark the beginning of the end. Landers, whose real name was Esther Lederer, didn't want the column to outlive her. It's going to cease later next month, with the publication of columns that she finished before her death Saturday at the age of 83. Her longtime editors will write a new column in that trademark, straightforward style, under the heading "Ann's Mailbox."
Now to millions of readers, Ann Landers was a gifted sage, and a trusted confidante, someone who could address issues too intimate to share with even beloved family members.
Michael Sneed is a people columnist for "The Chicago Sun-Times," and she knew Ann landers well. She joins us with some reflections.
Good morning. How are you today? Good to have you with us.
MICHAEL SNEED, "THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Good morning. Great. It's a great morning by the way in Chicago.
HARRIS: That's good to hear. I wish you could share some of that. Well, listen, share some of your thoughts this morning about "Eppie," as you all knew her. I think it's kind of interesting here that she says she doesn't want the column to outlive her, and in fact, she got the column because the original columnist passed a I way, correct?
SNEED: Actually that's true. And one of the very interesting things is later on, when Ann -- Eppie. I used to call her Ann sometimes. She'd go, "Eppie!" But when Eppie left the "Sun-Times," the "Sun-Times" went on another contest to find somebody else, and lo and behold, who shows up but the daughter of the original Ann Landers, Diane Crowley, and it was sort of interesting for a while, but Diane then eventually left. But you know what, there was nobody like Eppie. I mean, she was absolutely larger than life. She used to called herself the manager of the world.
And actually it was true, even with her really good friends, she always advising us on what to do, and we always knew exactly how she felt.
HARRIS: If I didn't know her. Say I come in from outside the country, and I hear someone describing themselves that way, a manager of the world, and it's a person who deems themselves so important they're giving advice to other people and telling other folks how to live their lives. I would think this is a very pompous and self- important person.
SNEED: Actually. No, no, not at all. As a matter of fact, when she walked into your life, it was very quietly, and then as soon as she was there, she just opened up. I mean, she was one of the world's great dames. I mean, she loved to dress up. Her hair was always done. She wore high heels. She was very elegant. Why she had a friendship with a slob like me is beyond me. But I mean, she was absolutely terrific. And if she cared about you, she wanted to tell you how she really thought that maybe you should live your life.
And there were times she would send me little notes on my column saying, hey, great job, funny, funny, or she's send me a note and say, you know, a little bit off base. The one thing about Eppie is that she loved having tea, because she slept late in the morning, because she did much of her work late at night many hours sometimes in the bath tub, writing her columns on a little marble slate.
HARRIS: I'm sorry, she wrote while she was in the bathtub.
SNEED: Yes, many times Eppie would get into that bathtub after she came home from a night out, and she would sit there, lay there on the tub, and she had this little marble slate, and then she would write her columns and do her work late at night. It was really, really a riot when she explained to you how she did them. And she always very concerned about her readers.
HARRIS: Is that right? Let me ask you about her twin sister. I know her twin sister is also an advice columnist. She is "Dear Abby" for those who may not be familiar with them. Did they ever really patch things up between the two of them?
SNEED: You know, yes, I believe they did. There is no doubt that there was some acrimony, and I have to say that Eppie never really talked too much about, Po Po (ph), her sister with me, and that was sort of led me to believe it wasn't the warmest of relationships, but I do believe, yes, they did. And I think Eppie believed that there was nothing more important than family, and she was very devoted to her daughter, and I think she was ultimately very devoted to her sister.
HARRIS: Final thoughts this morning, Michael. Can you share something with us, a special thought you have of her, perhaps something that no one has heard about before.
SNEED: Yes, the think that I found really interesting about her was the way she chose to die, and that was, was that when Eppie was told six months ago that she had a fatal illness, she was basically given two years to live, and she chose not to do chemotherapy, radiation, whatever. She chose to spend the rest of the time in the beast way she could. She would take pain killers, apparently, toward the end, but that was basically it. And she did not want any memorial service whatsoever, no funeral. I found that strange for a woman who knew everybody. She was, to me, probably one of the most powerful women in the world, absolutely one of the most powerful women in the world. She could call up anybody at any time, and people knew exactly how she felt, very liberal on issues and very strong.
HARRIS: Yes. Boy, amazing story. And what I love the fact her birthday is July 4th, true American story.
SNEED: She was a cracker jack that would have gone out on July 4th.
HARRIS: Michael Sneed, thanks very much. All my best to you.
SNEED: You're welcome.
HARRIS: Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
