Anne Landers On Stage

A new play about Anne Landers makes its debut, but the stars aren’t the actors. “It’s the darn letters. Many of the famous ones are here: ‘Would it be possible for me to be buried in my 1937 Dodge instead of a casket?’ ‘I like to do my housework with no clothes on. . . . ‘ What could be more apt? Such is the dirty little secret of the advice biz. Pick the letters well, stick ’em in print, and people will flock to the column. After all, nothing is more soothing for the ego than reading about someone else’s crisis. Oprah Winfrey and her post-Landers ilk, you could argue, merely take those Ann Landers-type letter writers and stick a camera in their faces.”