Roger Rydell Dishes the Dirt
‘ROMEO & JULIET’ WEDDING WATCH: Peter Blackwell and Beatrix Harper still refuse to reveal when they plan to Mendelssohn March it, but I’m hearing from all sorts of little birdies that the big day is set for a week from Saturday.
I’ve interviewed dozens of people in Ellicott Mills, and they all have one thing in common: Romeo and Juliet have not requested the honor of their presence.
“No, wehaven’tbeen invited,” said Tamara Croft, wife of the mayor. “I don’t know a soul who has!”
For years, all that stood between Miss Harper and starvation was Mayor Sam Croft’s kindness. He employed her at his general store, even though “there were men wanting a job who would have been more of a help to him,” Mrs. Croft disclosed. “He was sorry for her, you see. Her father owned the store before he died.”
Now Miss Harper is the famous Juliet. Mrs. Croft, shaking her head, told me, “It breaks my heart to see how high and mighty she’s become.”
March 17, 2021
Md. House Boosts Typic-Rights Campaign
By Helen Hickok
Starstaff reporter
Maryland’s House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved its “typic rights” bill last night, part of an effort across the country to boot out the half-century-old constitutional amendment requiring all candidates for national office be wizards.
The vote of 130-11 sent a sharp message. But it’s unclear whether the Senate — seen as far more wizard-friendly — will echo it. That vote is scheduled Monday.
Nine states have passed similar measures as of yesterday evening. But advocates will need twenty-nine more to call a constitutional convention, the first since 1787. Activists have managed to get bills introduced in forty-five states, leaving just seven they can afford to lose.
To date, two states have voted the measure down.
“It’s a high bar,” said Tam Rannon, a constitutional scholar at the University of Maryland. “The odds are stacked against them. But if I were a wizard, I’d be worried the activists might pull it off.”
March 20, 2021
Frenzy builds as ‘Romeo & Juliet’ wedding approaches
By J.T. Moore
The Associated Media
ELLICOTT MILLS, Md. — Walk into this hilly little town, and the first thing you notice is the man in the screaming-yellow hat. He’s sitting in a chair outside the dressmaker’s shop, directly across from the Episcopal church.
Roger Rydell, the country’s most famous gossip columnist, is not about to let the country’s most famous couple wed without him as a witness. He’s been in this chair since Tuesday, buttonholing townspeople for interviews.
“He’s paying people to sit here overnight in his place,” said Joe Sederey, a local farmer. “Has the world gone mad?”
First camethe morning “call your senator” rally in Baltimore, then the meeting with the Informed Voters Council in Annapolis, and finally, with an hour and a half to go before the church supper, Beatrix and Lydia rushed into their parents’ bedroom—bugged only with audio equipment, unlike theirs—to prepare for what she ardently hoped would be a surprise wedding.
She shimmied into Sue’s ivory wedding dress, lacy and a bit too short. (Rosemarie had looked long and hard the day before at the hemline, which swept the floor for Sue but exposed Beatrix’s ankles, and finally decided that it would be less shocking than marrying in a red dress.) That was the “something borrowed,” and Lydia helped her latch their mother’s sapphire necklace, the “something blue.” Mary Blackwell’s engagement ring on her finger was the “old,” and the simple gold band Peter had bought would complete the rhyme.
Lydia worked on Beatrix’s hair for what seemed an unreasonable amount of time. Then she raised a hand mirror to show off the results and Beatrix saw how intricately her sister had braided it.
“That’s … beautiful,” she whispered.
Lydia came around the front of the chair Beatrix was sitting in, little glass jars in her hand. They were filled withsubstances that could only be one thing, and it was all Beatrix could do not to laugh.
She leaned in to murmur in Lydia’s ear: “Rosemarie will have afit.”
“Watch and see,” her sister said, smiling.
The rouge was rubbed onto her cheeks and chin so artfully that she wouldn’t have believed it was anything but good health if she hadn’t witnessed its application herself. The color Lydia added to her lips was equally subtle. Then her sister fussed with her eyebrows and eyelids, and when Beatrix could finally look, she had to admit that nothing gave her away as a painted woman—she simply looked far more impressive than normal.
