Cribsheeters know New York transplant Lenore Moritz as the founder of Mom Culture, organizer of Twin Cities daytime events that feed a mom's mind and senses. Lenore recently launched an online magazine with weekly interviews with people you'd love to have to dinner (if you only had time to plan a dinner party...). They include documentary filmmaker Kate Perotti, Twin Cities singer/songwriter Ellis, and my friend, photographer Eric Melzer. Here, Lenore talks about her choice this week: Hollywood's Candy Spelling...
It's a little known fact that someone who adores high culture (opera, dance, sculpture, etc.) can equally love pop culture (pop music, pop film and, of course, television.) Pop culture is the whipped cream on my mousse, the toast point to my caviar, the merlot to my Doritos (as if you've never tried this combination....)
Yes, I'm an unabashed pop culture junkie and after some thought, I have pinpointed the source.
I can clearly trace this back to my love of Aaron Spelling shows -- particularly "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island." In their heyday, these shows were my Saturday night babysitter while my parents went out to dinner (no, I was not too young to be alone, and yes, my parents were mindful, responsible parents.)
"Love Boat" even inspired creativity: I would take my mom's black jersey dress and wrap it around all different ways to create my own gown for the dinner scenes -- in my mind, I was always at the captain's table.
How could I not want to live on the "Love Boat" or "Fantasy Island?" It never rained on the lido deck where all the glam passengers hung by the pool. And aside from granting wishes on Fantasy Island, the place was the Caribbean and Hawaii rolled into one glorious Eden.
Aaron Spelling's tv world most definitely laid the foundation of what would become my great interest in pop culture, so imagine my excitement when I got to interview Candy Spelling (Aaron's widow) for Mom Culture.
Candy's best-selling book Stories from Candyland offers an insider look at life as the wife of the man who defined television pop culture for decades. Yes, her life with him was as fantastical as you'd think it would be if you were living with the person who created Dynasty.
