Word of advice

One of the highlights of my journalism career was having the chance to meet and chat with the legendary Eppie Lederer aka Ann Landers on a few occasions.

With this gal, what you saw was what you got.

And that's what made both her and her amazing long-running syndicated advice column so great.

All the more reason I've been so curious and excited to catch tonight's Midwest premiere of the stage play based on Landers' life and career.

It's by David Rambo, and titled "The Lady with all the Answers," playing at Northshore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Ill., presented by Northlight Theatre through June 29.

Tony Award-winning actress Judith Ivey, who also starred in the final television season of "Designing Women," is playing the columnist who became equally famous for her trademark crown hairstyle, a hairdo shared by her rival and twin sister, advice columnist Pauline "Popo" Phillips, aka Abigail Van Buren aka "Dear Abby."

Here's the theater's "nutshell pitch" for the play: "For decades, newspaper columnist and Chicago icon Ann Landers dispensed wit and wisdom to lovelorn teens, confused couples and others in need of advice. Now she finds herself writing a column about a new kind of heartbreak: her own. Drawn from her life and letters, this touchingly comic portrait will remind you why so many put their faith in this wise, funny, no-nonsense woman, whose good advice made her a household name."

The play is based, in part, on a book written by Margo Howard, the only child of the celebrity columnist who was named by the World Almanac as "the most influential woman in the America."

Howard's book, "A Life in Letters: Ann Landers' Letters to Her Only Child" (2003 Warner Books $22), debuted just a year after Landers' death.

The 391-page book is composed entirely of letters, primarily daily correspondence, between mother and daughter during the five decades before the newspaper advice columnist's death in June 2002, providing some of the basis for the play, which also prominently features letters from the more than 40 years of Ann Landers' columns that dispensed advise on a range of subjects to 90 million readers around the world via 1,200 newspapers, including The Times.

But readers rarely got a glimpse of Lederer's personal life and thoughts, which is one reason Howard sanctioned this play, which premiered in 2005, because, like her book, she believes it helps open that locked door.

The play also chronicles how Landers' views and opinions changed over the years as she grew and evolved through her relationships and dealings, as well as her rollercoaster rival relationship with her surviving twin sister, now retired and soon to celebrate her 90th birthday on July 4th. (Phillips' daughter, Jeanne Phillips, now writes the column under the "Dear Abby" alias.)

However, the play is said to shy away from one of the most private revelations in Howard's correspondence with her mother -- the short affair Lederer had with a married man after she divorced Jules Lederer, the man who founded Budget Rent-A-Car. I'm told it also doesn't dwell much on Landers' most famous column, the one announcing to readers that she was divorcing, which is odd, since that's the very column that gives this play its title.

On that July 1, 1975, Lederer wrote: "The sad, incredible fact is, that after 36 years of marriage, Julius and I are being divorced. The lady with all the answers does not have the answer to this one." She received 30,000 sympathetic letters in response and support.

I'll have a complete review of this play to share with readers next week, after I've previewed it.

I'm told by the show's publicist Cathy Taylor, the always gracious and glamorous Howard is already in town for the play and will catch a performance of it on Sunday, along with her special guests, famed movie columnist Roger Ebert and his wife Chaz, a couple who actually met thanks to an introduction by Landers one day, while she was having lunch with co-worker Ebert.

Meanwhile, for tickets ($40-$45) or more information, call (847) 673-6300 or visit www.northlight.org.

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

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