Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! Last night I had the good fortune of seeing Elizabeth Pearsall Lippincott at a New Year’s Eve gathering in my neighborhood. I hadn’t seen Elizabeth since she served as Ann Richards’ gubernatorial campaign scheduling person 21 years ago. I can’t count the times I’ve told the story about the time Ann called Elizabeth from the plane complaining that she was over-scheduled that day. Elizabeth, all of 23 years old, replied to the candidate, “Well, just do the best you can!” Last night Elizabeth provided an addendum and told me about how she always tried to schedule something for Ann close to home on Sundays . . . that is, before Ann explained to her one day that “I have to have at least one day a week when I don’t have to put on pantyhose!”
This is a photograph of the framed program for Holland Taylor’s play “Ann: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards” that assistant stage manager Chris Murry created and hung outside her dressing room door last month at the Empire Theatre in San Antonio. The play was originally called “Money, Marbles, and Chalk,” hence the money, marbles, and chalk. For those wishing to understand Ann Richards on a new level, don’t miss this play, which will be in Austin in May.