Mimi as Ann Landers

“The Lady With All The Answers” is a script written by David Rambo with Margo Howard, Ann’s daughter. It’s a one-hander (1-woman show) that I got to do at Pasadena Playhouse and Cleveland Playhouse. Margo said there were times watching my performance when she thought she was seeing her mother, especially in profile. I had photos of Ann all over my dressing room. I’d read her column, as a child, in our Rochester NY papers. She had the morning advice column, while her twin sister, Dear Abby, occupied the evening paper. Twin sisters as competing advice columnists—you can imagine why it was a rich subject for a play.

Some interviewer asked me how I liked doing a one-woman show, and my answer was, “God help me, I love it!” I’d stand backstage every night with my palms upward, just before my entrance, and basically invite Esther Pauline (“Eppie”) Friedman Lederer (her real name) to come on down and inhabit me onstage for a while. And we always had a great time together. I only went up on my lines once, and sidled over to the side of the stage, where the stage manager prompted me, as I told the audience, “I have the most wonderful secretary who tells me whatever I forget to say—yes dear?” I asked to the wings and got my cue.

Staying in character wasn’t hard; there was a bright boundary between the role and me. The wig, the make-up—but most importantly, an accent known as the “lateral s” that twists the mouth to the side a bit and causes a shhhh-ing sort of lisp.