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Houdini meets Fergie |
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Duchess Stoops To Offer Pooch Some China
Sam McManis Friday, May 19, 2000
©2000 San Francisco Chronicle
[Note: We were unable to obtain
the actual article in newsprint but the online Chroncile story can be seen
at the following link, but if that doesn't work, we've copied the text of
the article (after the link) and red-highlighted the relavent text.]
Chronicle story URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/05/19/CC38593.DTL
Contra Costa County -- Caught Fergie at the Stoneridge Mall last week. She looked absolutely mahvelous, the picture of ectomorphic health. No wonder Prince Andrew reportedly wants her back. That gig as a Weight Watchers spokesbabe has paid off big time. And, no, she didn't sneak off to the food court for a Cinnabon before showtime. We kept watch.
But Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and pitchwoman extraordinaire, didn't come to Macy's in Pleasanton to shill for her weight-loss program. Nothing that tacky. No, she came to shill for a line of Wedgwood china and give us Yankee cretins a lesson on how to set a proper table.
More than 800 Anglophiles crowded into the men's department to Fergie-watch. By rough estimate, they were 97 percent women, 2 percent hubbies dragged there by their wives and 1 percent kids whose nannies apparently had the day off.
Why did they come?
Simple.
``Because she's royalty, and we don't have that in America,'' says Annette Peterson of Pleasanton. Her friend, Judy Swift of Livermore, added, ``I give her credit for rising above her problems.''
Yes, the love for Fergie was flowing. And when she finally made her appearance, dressed smartly in a charcoal suit with a skirt that showed just enough thigh to prove she really has followed Weight Watchers' guidelines, the crowd gave her a standing ovation.
Even the most hardened cynic -- uh, that would be me -- was won over by Fergie's warmth and humor. No wonder the Royal Family booted her. She's much too lively for that sour old bunch.
Highlights of Fergie's 25 minutes in Pleasanton:
-- She scanned the crowd, saw a leather-clad man with long blond hair (later identified as Jesse Lane of Oakland) and his leather-jacketed dog (a Belgian Schipperke named Houdini) and motioned them to come to the stage, where she presented the dog with a Wedgwood bowl for drinking.
-- On why she pitches for Wedgwood: ``Because diet food tastes a lot better on pretty plates.''
-- On her philosophy of enjoying the good life: ``I try to imagine I'm Wendy with Tinkerbell running around me. We run around in our lives so much with our lovely tea in Styrofoam cups, and we don't have time to cherish the little things in life, like fine Wedgwood cups.
``You think a family of Kosovo refugees really worries about what (china) is on their table? What I'm saying is, we're fortunate, so let's get together and enjoy the energy of life.''
-- When she bent to pick up her teapot, an intrepid photog snapped away, to which Fergie snapped, ``Don't you photograph up my skirt!''
-- Fergie travels everywhere with her own teapot because, ``Queen Victoria did, you know.''
The crowd just ate it up. And Fergie obliged by signing plate after Wedgwood plate as Macy's West CEO Jerry Sullivan beamed.
-- -- --FERGIE KNOWS DOGS: The duchess didn't just pick any dog out of the crowd. She picked a noted biker dog, Houdini. Lane says his pooch has shaken paws with the famous before, having nestled next to rocker Bruce Hornsby and baseball manager Tony La Russa. [note from Jesse: Houdini never met Tony La Russa, not sure where the reporter got this info, but Houdini did meet Bruce Hornsby] Lane and Houdini didn't make the trip from Oakland just to see Fergie. ``Nah, I'm here to get a tux for my niece's wedding,'' he says. And a tux for Houdini as well, no doubt.
-- -- -- AND FINALLY: Since Fergie so magnanimously gave a Wedgwood bowl to the biker dog, you'd think she could spare at least one table setting for some lucky Kosovar refugees.
Sam McManis welcomes column contributions. Write to him at The Chronicle, 2737 North Main St., Suite 100, Walnut Creek, CA. 94596. Phone: (925) 974-8346. E-mail:mcmaniss@sfgate.com. ©2000 San Francisco Chronicle
The Duchess about to pet Houdini
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[photo courtesy Jay Solmonson]
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