TINSEL: A Search for America’s Christmas Present, by Hank Stuever. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 331 pages; $24.

Hank Stuever does his homework. As a Washington Post reporter, we expect no less, but still, this is a writer who paid close attention to those teachers who exhorted him to “show his work.”

The smallest of details can’t escape his eye, from the type of light bulbs used in a massive Yule yard display to the names and directions for multiple subdivisions in the town of Frisco, the fast-growing exurban city outside Dallas that he selects as the setting of his engrossing search for the modern meaning of Christmas.
Yet his self-confessed obsessive note-taking never prevents Stuever from getting the big picture, and his spot-on observations about how modern America celebrates the holiday — in all its retail madness — are satisfying and illuminating.

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Linda judged Andrea McArdle’s voice to be the “best in show,” Florence loved Avery Sommers’ hilarious football widow solo, and Sue liked everything she was able to see. And each of the winners of Charm’s Love is Love essay contest genuinely enjoyed the opportunity for a night out at the theater.
When the three local women wrote to the newspaper about their “love lessons learned,” Florence Block, Linda Gaddy and Sue Foley were just sharing a bit of their hard-won wisdom on how to get by when love is in short supply. But their letters (printed in Charm Oct. 8), were good enough to earn the women — and dates if they chose — free tickets to last Thursday’s debut performance of the new musical revue Love is Love at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.

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Don Reo, the television writer and producer who co-authored Clarence Clemons’ just-released book Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales, said his collaboration with Bruce Springsteen’s famous saxophonist was “like working with Elvis, Jesus and Santa Claus all rolled into one.”

It was also “an incredible amount of fun, inspiring, and there’s really good music.”

The first book by an E Street Band member has been getting a push from The Boss himself, who lately has begun holding up a copy at the band’s concerts and then making a show of producing a Sharpie and asking Clarence to autograph it. Reo said Springsteen also has given permission for the book to be sold at kiosks in concert venues for the rest of the tour, which ends Nov. 22.

“He’s never done anything like that, so it’s pretty cool,” Reo said. “Bruce is so happy for Clarence; he really likes the book. I sent Bruce an e-mail to thank him for promoting it at the shows and his reply was so complimentary it actually got embarrassing.”

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Sue Foley, Florence Block and Linda Gaddy are the winners of the 'Love Lessons' essay contest. (Photos by Ray Graham)

More about ‘Love is Love’ at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre

A retired payroll supervisor, a Palm Beach Community College student and an Arbonne consultant wrote the winning essays for Charm’s “Love Lessons Learned” contest, meaning they earned free tickets to next week’s debut performance of Love Is Love at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre.

To coincide with the love-centric musical revue’s opening, Charm asked readers to share their personal stories of love, along with the lessons they’ve learned about that mysterious, complicated emotion.

Linda Gaddy, a Palm Beach Gardens divorcée who is an independent consultant for Arbonne skin care and a part-time cruise consultant for Compass Rose Cruise Travel in Jupiter, entered because she thought it would be “cleansing, sort of like a release,” to tell her story. “Besides, I love the theater and thought winning tickets to the play would be fun.”

Sue Foley, 37, a student in the patient care assistant program at PBCC, said she was working the newspaper’s Jumble and saw the solicitation for love stories.

“I had my friend on my mind and had been turning things over, so I just decided to work it out in writing,” said the former film industry worker, who identifies herself as a “slam poet” and “riot grrl.”

Florence Block, who at 74 has put her life back together several times, entered the contest because she thought she had something valuable to share with other women.
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As fashion shows proliferate with the cooler weather, it’s satisfying to note that middle-age models are no longer a rarity. Show coordinators such as Rose Meyerowich even prefer them — for a simple reason: Audiences love them.

“Whether it’s a fund-raiser or a charity show, the audience is always filled with ladies who have silver hair,” said Rose, who coordinates area shows for luncheons, charity galas and teas.

“When they see someone with gorgeous silver hair and a nice shape (it doesn’t have to be size 2), then right away there’s an association. They think, ‘Gosh, that lady’s my age! Or she’s older than me. And look how good she looks.’” Read the full story

Before the last leg of an extensive Springsteen tour that visits Florida this weekend, legendary sax player Clarence Clemons unwinds in his Singer Island condo and talks about his new book.

Three couples who all met at The Hut in West Palm Beach in the 50s are still married.

Maybe the fountain drinks at The Hut were spiked with Love Potion #9, or maybe it was just coincidence, but something about that gathering spot must have worked its magic to keep the knot securely tied for couples who met there.

So it was a fun reunion the other day when three couples who first laid eyes on each other back in the ’50s at The Hut gathered to reminisce about the iconic West Palm Beach drive-in and the role it played in their romances.

Joining them: the Hut’s biggest fan, Jimmy Williams, a graduate of the former Palm Beach High School, whose hand-painted mural of the old-time Hut covers one entire wall of an upstairs bedroom.

Lou and Pearl Eassa, who were celebrating their 47th anniversary that very day, told about the evening Lou pulled his car in beside hers, then ended up talking to Pearl’s girlfriend so much that his future sweetie became a bit jealous.

“I had my nose out of joint,” Pearl said, but when Lou called the next day, she eventually agreed to accompany him on a picnic. Pearl was 19, Lou was 21, and since she worked at the hospital and found out he’d been treated there, she pulled his file to check up on him.

The Hut, an iconic West Palm Beach diner, as it appeared in a Saturday Evening Post photo from June 1946

Gale Anderson met her husband, Charlie, at The Hut in the summer of 1958, when she was working at the five-and-dime after her freshman year of college. When she and a friend walked up, Charlie remembers warning his friends, “Guys, I’ve got dibs on the one in red shorts.”

He lied and told her he was a football player, but while walking her home, he realized he wanted to tell only the truth to this special girl. He asked for a date the next night, and “spent the whole time unraveling everything I’d said before.”
On the third date, he proposed.

“We dated for two years by Greyhound and letter,” Charlie said. “We wrote every day — but I bet I haven’t written 15 letters since.”
The couple retired to Tennessee a few years back, so their visit served as an excuse to reunite the friends.
Jimmy arranged it all, since he’s stayed connected to everyone.

“Jimmy is the hub of a wheel,” Gale said. “He stays in touch and is like our conduit.”

Judie Affron and Chuck Stoddard, longtime Haverhill residents and the third couple, met in October of 1960.

“I had pulled up in my white DeSoto and he had a baby blue Lincoln,” remembered Judie, a ’59 graduate of Palm Beach High.

“She thought I was crazy because I ordered a beer and a glass of milk,” said Chuck, who had an ulcer at 23.

Judie said he asked if she’d like to go to the country or the city.

“I said I liked the country and we ended up at the drive-in!”

Don’t ask her what movie was playing; she doesn’t remember — and neither does Chuck.

“Who watched the movie?” she giggled.

The frisky couple has now been together 48 years.

And if that’s not proof that Love Potion #9 was being distributed at The Hut, what is?

Longtime friends Alana Stewart (left) and Farrah Fawcett attend the 2004 after-party for the premiere of The Manchurian Candidate at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

UPDATE: “Charlie’s Angels’” Farrah Fawcett dies after battle with cancer

Farrah Fawcett through the years | Fawcett, 1947-2009

• TV Talk blogger Kevin D. Thompson’s interview with the actress five years ago: Remembering Farrah: She was funny, gorgeous

You’ve seen them in the tabloids, on Entertainment Tonight and in Farrah’s Story, the documentary chronicling Farrah’s battle with cancer that drew almost 9 million viewers to NBC last month.

But behind the scenes, there’s a real-life friendship between Farrah Fawcett and Alana Stewart, two former models with Texas roots who share a 30-year bond.

They’re more than celebrity darlings. They’re friends.

Which is why Alana happened to be the one Farrah turned to for a favor in May 2007, as the former Charlie’s Angel, battling anal cancer, faced another round of doctors’ meetings.

“She handed me a camera to document the meetings,” said Alana, former wife of local residents Rod Stewart and George Hamilton. “It was a new experience and Farrah wanted to be able to remember what the doctors said.

“I just started filming; there was no plan to do a documentary.”

But the camera kept running, and after a year, Farrah began to think her story, if shared, might inspire others.

Alana, who filmed and eventually produced the project, never anticipated a two-year undertaking.

“When I watch it now, I can’t believe I shot all that,” she said. “I was walking through this experience to be with my friend. The filming was secondary, an aside. It was about showing up and being there for Farrah.”

Ex-husband Hamilton, who remains good friends with Alana, said that while Farrah’s Story was a “huge stress” on Alana, “nobody ever had a better patient advocate.

“You can’t get through hospitals and our medical system without an advocate,” he said. “I’ve seen Alana be there every day for Farrah for two or three years.”

Ask about the origins of her friendship with Farrah, and Alana will tell you she was raised in tiny Nacogdoches, and Farrah in Corpus Christi. And if you know anything about Texas, you know that says it all.

“We had that Texas connection,” Alana said. “Texas people have a direct honesty and down-home values. It certainly contributed to our friendship.”

The two met during a modeling assignment in Los Angeles, but didn’t connect officially until a dinner party some years later.

“The friendship slowly built over years,” Alana said. “When you’re younger, you’re busy with kids and your life goes in a million different directions.

“But life changes when you get into your 40s and 50s; it’s more settled and serious — and your friendships become more serious. Girlfriends support you in your 20s and 30s, sure, but as you get older they become even more important.

“You can’t go to the man in your life for certain things, if there’s a man in your life. Women friends are always there.”

Hamilton said the two women are “just so much alike. … They’re close in age, and certainly Alana related to Farrah as someone who’d succeeded at what she most wanted in life. “They’re so real with each other,” he said. “They had the same reference points, which made it easy for one to finish the other’s sentence. And, of course, both of them are very strong women.” And when the hard times came, they leaned on one another, as friends do. “Farrah felt that I could protect her,” Alana said. “She knew I would kick ass for her, that I had her back.” Despite the gravity of Farrah’s illness, the two years of filming yielded precious memories for the women. Though now in their 60s, the two friends can get downright girlish when they’re together. “You should see them,” Hamilton laughed. “Put them together and they’re exactly like two kids having cheeseburgers and Cokes at a small-town drive-in.” Said Alana: “That’s a great description.”