Category Archives: Tributes

Hello Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea.  Now coming aboard, Mr. William Zwecker- gossip columnist, television commentator, film critic, and gent.  This old-fashioned term doesn’t get used very much any more.  It signifies a certain type … Continue reading →

Thirty-three years ago, my then husband Bill and I belonged to the Racquet Club in Palm Springs.  In those days every vacation we took revolved around tennis.  I didn’t play but I didn’t mind.  While he was on the courts, I … Continue reading →

Stop the presses!  For the first time in Letter From Elba history, I am benching a post!  I am sending in a substitute.  The post that was supposed to run here today is entitled “Tattoo You”  and it’s fun.  But … Continue reading →

The summer of ’65 my mother got tired of combing the corn fields, empty lots and weedy playgrounds of Wilmette, Illinois night after night.  She was looking for my eleven year old brother who never met a pick-up baseball game … Continue reading →

Cher. Diana. Fergie. Madonna.  There are women who are instantly recognizable by one name only.  I want to add another to the list: Lili Ann. (Okay, technically that’s two names, but I vaguely recall her telling me that it was … Continue reading →

Did you happen to catch the bedroom farce Pillow Talk on television the other day?  If you’ve never seen it, Doris Day plays an interior decorator who gets revenge on her scheming boyfriend, Rock Hudson, by deliberately transforming his cool bachelor … Continue reading →

Have you ever spotted a rare butterfly?  Stumbled across a priceless gem?  Discovered a new species of orchid?  Well, here’s your chance to meet up with something unusual, exotic, and beautiful – my one-of-a-kind girlfriend, Joan. Tall, slim, hazel-eyed, and … Continue reading →

When she was a little girl, my daughter Natasha, went to a coed summer camp in Maine. And she would come home at the end of the eight weeks and say,”You know, Mom, I think Jacob Bernstein likes me.” And I would … Continue reading →