Because of this daily entertainment column and my every-other-week watercooler buzz column called ofNotoriety for our Shore magazine, I cover a few society events, parties and openings during the year.

Along with a couple of the bigger downtown Chicago events I annually attend, some of my other favorites are always the glitzy gatherings and bashes held at our casinos, especially on New Year's Eve.

(This year, I have a very different New Year's Eve and New Year's day assignment which you'll read more about later this week.)

However, during my 13 years with The Times, our coverage of the Region's social set has usually been the responsibility of our society columnists, most recently dual duties shared by Adele Mackanos and Marge Kullerstrand, and now penned exclusively as a solo weekly feature on Sundays, with all of the parties and happenings chronicled in the inSight column by my columnist colleague Ms. Kullerstrand.

I've always been proud of our newspaper and our executive editor Bill Nangle for continuing this long-standing journalism tradition, since many newspapers dropped their society columns long ago.

This is a tradition which began with legendary media mogul William Randolph Hearst's chain of newspapers in the 1930s.

It was Hearst who employed the likes of Maury Paul, who invented the name "cafe society" and devised the original columnist pen-name Cholly Knickerbocker which he wrote under in Hearst's New York Journal American and then also distributed in syndication.

When Paul died suddenly of a heart attack in 1942, it was Hearst's daughter-in-law Lorelle who suggested her pal (isn't it always about who you know in this world?) Igor Cassini, brother of fashion designer Oleg Cassini, take over the column and Cholly Knickerbocker pen-name, later aided by a young ghost-writer Liz Smith, who would go on to have her own syndicated gossip column. (Paul's long-time secretary/assistant Eve Brown also took over the column and pen-name for a short time before Igor was hired.) It was Igor Cassini who came up with the tag "the jet set."

And of course, there was also the most famous of the society columnists and hostesses, Elsa Maxwell, whose popular "Partyline" column was also syndicated by Hearst and her chatterbox persona made her a favorite couch guest of Jack Parr on "The Tonight Show."

Today, all of these once powerful names and identities are gone. The only identity (besides Smith) still alive is Aileen Mehle, who the Hearst Syndicate hired to take over Cassini's column after the FBI began investigating him in the 1960s about his connections to Fidel Castro and Cuba. Mehle slightly changed the pen name and column to Suzy Knickerbocker and was even given the vacant seat on the CBS panel game show "What's My Line?" previously held by fellow Hearst columnist Dorothy Kilgallen after she died suddenly.

Today, I want to also pay tribute to the passing of former Times colleague who authored our society column decades before Mackanos and Kullerstrand. Here is her obit notice:

Shirley Lee Johnson Kent, our former society editor at what we call "the old Hammond Times," died Dec. 2 in southern California. She was 84.

Kent, who was born and grew up Hammond, graduated from Hammond High School with the class of 1942 and attended Indiana University.

In addition to her years at The Times, she worked as a sales representative in the classy Twenty-Eight Shop of the historic Marshall Field's store on State Street, and as editor of the weekly Lake Forester in Lake Forest, Ill., and provided social commentary on the Hammond radio station WJOB.

Her father, George Johnson, was well known in Hammond political circles. Her mother, Mildred, was a designer of women's hats.

She is survived by her husband, Francis B. Kent, of North Hollywood, Calif., whom she met while both were editorial employees with the Times; her son, Adam Clay Kent, a lawyer in Redwood City, Calif., and two grandchildren, Alexis and Matthew.

I'm told by her husband that her only regret was that, although she traveled widely in South and Central America, and often got to spend time in New York City, she never managed to see the New England communities where her forebears dwelt in colonial times.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

celebBirthdays

Munchkin actor Clarence Swensen ("The Wizard of Oz") is 91. Actress Inga Swenson ("Benson") is 76. ABC newscaster Tom Jarriel is 74. Actress Mary Tyler Moore is 71. Actor Jon Voight is 70. Country singer Ed Bruce is 69. Rock musician Ray Thomas is 67. Singer Marianne Faithfull and jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. are 62. Actor Ted Danson is 61. Actor Jon Polito is 58. Singer-actress Yvonne Elliman is 57. Screenwriter Paul Rudnick ("In & Out") is 51. Actress Patricia Clarkson and comedian Paula Poundstone are 49. Rock singer-musician Jim Reid is 47. Rock singer Dexter Holland is 43. Actor-comedian Mystro Clark and actor Jason Gould are 42. Movie director Andy Wachowski is 41. Actress Jennifer Ehle is 39. Rock singer-musician Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) and actor Kevin Weisman are 38. Actor Jude Law is 36.

Actor Mekhi Phifer is 34. Actor Shawn Hatosy is 33. Actor Diego Luna is 29. Country singer Jessica Andrews is 25. Musician Alexa Ray Joel (daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley) is 23.