It's interesting that whenever I write about Martha Stewart, I always get e-mails and telephone calls.
Readers seem to really like or dislike her.
This e-mail from reader Bill Finik of Valparaiso, is an example of the most recent selection of missives I received after last weekend's column about Stewart coming to Chicago as a keynote speaker next month for this year's Merchandise Mart Antiques Fair.
"Good Morning Philip, Here's the headline I'd like to see ... 'Convicted Felon coming to Merchandise Mart ... tickets available' Bill Finik, Valpo"
From time to time, Stewart continues to be reminded of the thorns of her prior legal woes, such as when she was asked to be a celebrity judge at a pumpkin festival in Canada a few years ago or when she attempted to visit England last year, and in either instance, was denied passport clearance to both countries because of her convicted felon status.
But she's always welcome in Chicago, including Macy's flagship store, which just announced this week Stewart will be doing a book signing appearance at 1 p.m. May 1 promoting both her new craft book and her new cooking school cookbook.
Everyone makes mistakes, even Stewart, and since it's Easter week, time to forgive and forget.
Of course, in the media, it's rare to completely forget anything.
Which brings me to a Martha Stewart moment from last week from the domestic diva's daytime show.
While in Chicago, Stewart won't be spending any time with one-time Chicago talk show infamous claim-to-fame Jenny Jones, who apparently, she's never even heard of.
On the March 31 installment, Stewart was joined by her daughter Alexis and Rosie O'Donnell for a craft segment on the show demonstrating making flowerpots decorated with seashells.
O'Donnell asked Stewart's daughter something, to the effect of, whether there are certain subjects they don't talk about or agree not to talk about in the media.
"Right after my talk show first started, it was after the Jenny Jones debacle, when someone was unfortunately killed," O'Donnell, went on to explain, referring to the 1995 murder of 32-year-old Scott Amedure of Lake Orion, Mich., by his 25-year-old neighbor and acquaintance Jon Schmitz. Amedure was murdered three days after Schmitz was "ambushed" on an episode of "The Jenny Jones Show" with the revelation his neighbor harbored a "same-sex crush."
"So it was on my mind. And anytime I would do press for my new talk show, I'd say it's not going to be like 'The Jenny Jones Show.' So then Warner Bros. [which owned BOTH shows] said to me 'Whatever you do, don't mention Jenny Jones!' So then, I was like someone with a disease who couldn't help it, and I kept mentioning Jenny Jones, Jenny Jones, Jenny Jones, who's, a very nice woman, by the way."
With an ever-present cool demure, Alexis said, very matter-of-factly, "I don't know who that [Jones] is. . ." which was following by her mother echoing "I don't either."
Describing Jones as "a blonde," O'Donnell then explained: "She was a stand-up comic, and I don't know, she's a cancer survivor, but she had her own talk show. Then she had a guy on who had a secret gay crush, and the other guy flipped out and went home and killed him."
Stewart responded with "I think our viewers would rather we talk about this beautiful flower pot we're making."
As for Jones, who is 62 and indeed, a breast cancer survivor who began her career as a back-up singer for Wayne Newton, her syndicated talk show was cancelled in 2003 and her reputation compromised, after she was made to testify in a separate trial following Schmitz's conviction of second degree murder and a 50-year prison sentence.
Jones and the producers were sued by Amedure's family in 1999 for neglecting to find out Schmitz's history of mental illness and substance abuse.
Even though Jones testified under oath that the producers had told Schmitz that his admirer could be a man, but that Schmitz thought that the admirer was a woman, Jones also admitted the show didn't want Schmitz to know the outcome of his secret crush. Jones also came under fire for insisting she was only a hired "host," and even though the show beared her name, she claimed to have little or no knowledge of the guests or how the show was produced. Though Amedure's family won the ruling and the show was ordered to pay $25 million, the decision was later overturned by the Michigan appellate court, which found the producers "were not responsible for what happened to the guests after their appearance on the show."
As for what Jones is up to these days, you can visit her Web site at jennyjones.com or an update and plenty of photos from her Chicago television talk show days.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.
Today's Celebrity Birthdays
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner is 83. Naturalist Jim Fowler ("Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom") and animal actor Cheeta the Chimp ("Tarzan" movies) are 77. French actor Jean-Paul Bemondo ("Breathless") is 75. Actress Michael Learned ("The Waltons") is 70. Country singer Margo Smith is 67. Country singer Hal Ketchum is 56. Actor Dennis Quaid is 55. Humorist Jimmy Tingle ("60 Minutes II") is 54. Country guitarist Dave Innis of Restless Heart is 50. Actor Mark Pellegrino ("Dexter") and actress-model Paulina Porizkova are 44. Actress Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and the City") is 43. Singer Kevin Martin of Candlebox is 40. Singer Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance is 32. Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam ("The Cosby Show") is 30. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes is 29. Actor Jay Baruchel ("Knocked Up," "Tropic Thunder") is 27. Singer-actor Jesse
McCartney ("Summerland") and singer Jazmine Sullivan are 22. Actress Kristen Stewart ("Twilight," "Panic Room") and Marston Glenn Hefner (son of Hugh Hefner) are 19. Actress Elle Fanning ("Because of Winn-Dixie") is 11.
