INC., always eager to help a Chicago neighbor feeling the heat, has a tip for the new products department at Quaker Oats. If you’re under duress to develop something cheap that’ll make us forget Snapple, give a call to Laura Sue Higgins in Des Moines. She won the blue ribbon at the Iowa State Fair for best use of a Quaker product: Gelatin made with Gatorade in an egg-shaped mold, or “Gator Eggs.”
More fair game: The Illinois State Fair, which ended Sunday, apparently had some not-so-important “VIPs” on the grounds after a number of special parking passes were stolen. A hot list of the missing passes’ numbers was circulated to gate attendants, but there were goofups. In one case, a fair visitor with a legitimate pass had a car towed by a too-aggressive towing service and got detained nearly two hours while fair officials corrected the mess with state police.
Gentleman Jim 1: A day before the verdict came in, Gov. Jim Edgar should’ve known MSI would go against him after watching Seattle Swift, father-in-law Don Smith’s horse, finish third in a four-horse field at Arlington. The winner? A horse named True Lies. Oh, and what was the guv doing at the time the verdict was learned? Announcing new prison sites.
Gentleman Jim 2: If Gov. Edgar lets us know his future Wednesday, as hinted, it’ll be in time for the Midwest Republican Leadership confab next weekend in Indianapolis. The party’s key players–George W. Bush, Fred Thompson, Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander, J.C. Watts, Jack Kemp–are expected. Edgar’s also got it on his schedule.
Show time: While the GOP’s “beautiful people” gather in Indiana, Glamourcon, an exhibit for real BPs, takes place at the same time in the O’Hare Clarion Hotel. This is a show for those who collect pin-up photos, calendars, movie posters, Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, etc. Fifty past and present Playmates, representing five decades, will be there.
More pol watching: Look for Dem gubernatorial hopeful Glenn Poshard to urge candidates Monday to make use of their web pages for complete disclosure of campaign contributions. . . . Illinois comptroller candidate Fred Lebed entered a rose that placed third in its division during the state fair, but we hear his “FredEx” slogan could get thorny for organized labor, which isn’t known for close ties to Federal Express.
Synergy: At about the same time the Rolling Stones kick off their tour next month in Chicago, an album of their songs done by country and western stars is set to hit stores. We hear the lineup includes: Travis Tritt (“Honky Tonk Woman”), George Jones (“Time Is On My Side”) and Deana Carter (“Ruby Tuesday”).
Monday birthdays: Malcolm-Jamal Warner, 27; Christian Slater, 28; Madeleine Stowe, 39; Patrick Swayze, 43; Martin Mull, 54; Robert Redford, 60; Roman Polanski, 64; Rosalynn Carter, 70; Shelley Winters, 75; Caspar Weinberger, 80; Rose M. Grundman, 103.
On the move: You’re a TV nut if you recall WMAQ-Ch. 5’s “Kidding Around,” a teen show that won a local Emmy but lasted only the ’84-85 season. But the show’s host, Highland Park’s Jill Leiderman–barely in her teens at the time, went on to work in production for MTV’s Jon Stewart, now works for David Letterman and is the subject of a feature in the new Cosmpolitan.
EAVESDROPPING
“This was the first time in history a human being saved an airbag.” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, on Bob Dole’s loan to Newt Gingrich to help pay the U.S. House speaker’s ethics penalty.
