Robertson's book, The Girls in the Balcony, centered on a workplace discrimination suit filed against the NYT in 1974 by several female employees. We knew the paper was bad, but it's always bracing to hear just how bad it was, not so long ago:

In 1955, Ms. Robertson joined The Times, where she was assigned, as women often were then, to the women's news department. Her early articles for the paper - hundreds of them - were about fashion, shopping and interior decorating...
In 1963, Ms. Robertson began a decade as a reporter in the Washington bureau of The Times, where, as she said in an interview many years later, her de facto job description was to cover the "first lady, her children and their dogs." Her years in Washington would furnish her with the title for "The Girls in the Balcony," a reference to the cramped second-story space in the National Press Club to which female journalists were then relegated.

Crazy! Robertson also wrote a book about recovering from alcoholism via AA, and won a Pulitzer for her writing on her own experience with Toxic Shock syndrome, which almost killed her. You can pick up her book at Amazon, for a pittance.
[Pic via]

She was born to middle-class alcoholics. She dropped out of school at 18, moved to San Francisco, and become a stripper. In the late-'60s, she met Manson, who renamed her Sadie Mae Glutz.

After the murders of Gary Hinman, Sharon Tate, Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojchiech Frtykowski, and Abigail Folger, most of the Manson family was picked up for auto theft charges. While in prison, Atkins supposedly bragged of killing Tate to cellmates, who promptly turned her in.

At the trial, a remorseless Atkins confessed to stabbing Tate over and over again. Prosecutors say Atkins is the one who wrote "PIG" on the front door of Sharon Tate 's home, in Tate's blood. (Tex Watson took credit for all the murders in his post-born again memoir.)

She died of brain cancer. She is perhaps survived by a son, Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

Like so many of her aural generation — for example, Bob Dylan — Travers got her start in the Greenwich Village cafe scene and, like Dylan, too, her politically-charged lyrics helped propel her to international fame. In honor of Travers and her message, here's another one of her and her band's most beloved songs: "Puff, the Magic Dragon."

Feel free to sing along, man.

He did say that she looked like actor Willam Defoe, but that's not exactly threatening her life. Cohen, referred to by fans as "glitter girl" for her makeup rather than her sparkling personality, auditioned most notably in January of 2008 when she delivered her famous rant. She returned the next year and acted nice and sweet, saying she had turned over a new leaf, until she was rejected and flipped off the judges once again. She will be missed for actually doing what we wish we could do every time we watch the show.

After appearing in commercials and as a guest star on various television shows, Farrah rose to fame after posing in a red bathing suit for a poster that went on to sell millions of copies. Later, as a star of the popular Charlie's Angels, she became a bona fide American star. Fawcett went on to star in many theatrical productions and TV movies, most notably playing a battered wife in The Burning Bed, a role which earned her the first of three Emmy nominations she received. In 1995, at the age of 50, Fawcett made headlines when she posed nude for a pictorial in Playboy magazine.

Fawcett was married to actor Lee Majors from 1973-1982. Since 1982, she's been in a relationship with actor Ryan O'Neal. Together they had a son, Redmond. Fawcett and O'Neal were set to marry, though we've no word on whether they were able to go through with the ceremony before she passed.

In 1997 Fawcett made a bizarre appearance on David Letterman's show to promote another Playboy spread that she'd done, an appearance she later claimed was an act intended to engage the audience. Act or not, it will likely remain one of the most memorable moments of her time in the public eye.

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Vid via YouTube

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Charlie's Angels opening credits

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Fawcett in one of her more dramatic roles, the unfortunate Extremities

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.That new Stephen Colbert Newsweek cover? Total ripoff of Spy Magazine. Jeff Bercovici points out that this is okay because every funny magazine is a total ripoff of Spy, even if none of the writers have ever read a single issue of Spy, because Spy invented humor, in magazine form.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.New York Times media columnist David Carr went through an entire internet-person party a lot like this one, for his column today, and didn't even insult anyone there, which is kind of superhuman.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Mediaite.com, the media blog offshoot of Dan Abrams' PR firm, has hired Steve Krakauer of TV Newser as its new "TV editor." So there is at least one open job in the media now.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Just how wacky is wacky WaPo political wacky-pointer-outer Dana Milbank? "The Post's 'wiseguy,' as described in Yeas & Nays ran around the house with a pair of [editorial cartoonist Tom Toles]' very own tighty-whities over his jeans and even waved a pair over his head on the dance floor." Now that is wacky. Your move, Gene Weingarten.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Fleur Cowles, who in 1950 launched a magazine called Flair that "caused a sensation and is still admired for its coverage of fashion, décor, travel, art, literature and other enthusiasms of Ms. Cowles's," has died at the age of 101.

Her striking frame, raspy voice, and taste for one-liners made her a natural subject for female impersonators. Told of her drag following, Arthur said, "I'm flattered." Her roles as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof, the outspoken Maude Finley of All in the Family and Maude, and most famously, the caustic Dorothy Zbornak of Golden Girls, gained her an avid gay audience. No funeral is planned. In wigs and wisecracks, she will live forever.

Of the four Golden Girls, Arthur is survived by Betty White and Rue McClanahan. None of the three attended costar Estelle Getty's funeral last year. White told Entertainment Tonight:

I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much.. I'm so happy that she received her Lifetime Achievement Award while she was still with us, so she could appreciate that. She was such a big part of my life.

Update: The cult of Saint Beatrice has begun. Gays are posting this blasphemous Virgin Dorothy mashup in her holy memory:

(Photo by AP/Wally Fong)

A straight-A high school student and graduate of Vanderbilt University, Page worked stints as a teacher, secretary, fur coat model and stage and television actress before a police officer and pinup photographer discovered her on the beach at Coney Island in 1950. She soon moved on to racy S&M-themed photos with a brother-sister team team who "cut her hair into the dark bangs that became her signature." The photos became the subject of a congressional investigation and, page said, led to harassment by federal agents.

Page posed in a Christmas-themed Playboy centerfold in 1955 (image NSFW). Heffner told AP Page "had a tremendous impact on our society... an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion."

Soon after, she became depressed, and two marriages in quick succession ended in divorce. Page was diagnosed with schizophrenia and sent to a mental hospital. She later had a religious conversion. After living for years on Social Security benefits, Page benefited from an image revival the Times described thusly:

David Stevens, creator of the comic-book and later movie character the Rocketeer, immortalized her as the Rocketeer’s girlfriend. Fashion designers revived her look. Uma Thurman, in bangs, reincarnated Bettie in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” and Demi Moore, Madonna and others appeared in Page-like photos.

There were Bettie Page playing cards, lunch boxes, action figures, T-shirts and beach towels. Her saucy images went up in nightclubs. Bettie Page fan clubs sprang up. Look-alike contests, featuring leather-and-lace and kitten-with-a-whip Betties, were organized

Page also came to be worshipped on the internet. Fan sites widely circulated old pictures, typified by those below, which mix racy S&M shots with tamer beach-and-bikini material. These pictures give a sampling of the sort of pictures that were, according to AP, " quickly tacked up on walls in military barracks, garages and elsewhere, where they remained for years."

Later in life, Page refused to be photographed, saying she wanted to be remembered as she had looked in her heyday.

The next time you see a naked picture on the internet, or some good bondage porn, think of Bettie Page. She specifically requested it! In addition to making it all possible. (So hot!)

Though it's largely forgotten today, the case also served as something of a prequel for the O,J. Simpson legal-media collaboration of the 1990s. Alan Dershowitz (whose book served as the basis of the film) represented Claus in his appeal, while Dominick Dunne wrote extensively on the case, such as his 1985 Vanity Fair story, "Fatal Charm: The Social Web of Claus von Bülow." As for Claus, he's now 82 and living in London, according to a Daily News report last year, enjoying life: "I go to Covent Garden [an opera house], I go to music festivals, I go to Paris."

Here is how Heileman described the scene from nearer the stage:

He calls her a "quiet hero" — like a lot of quiet heroes in the crowd, in the country...
As Obama says all this, his voice is mostly steady, but tears are streaming down his right cheek — the first public tears he has shed, as far as I know, in his time on the national stage. When he finishes, he reaches inside his pocket, pulls out a white handkerchief, wipes his eyes, then carries on with his speech, returning a few times to the woman who shaped his character as much as anyone in the world.

On a different day, in a different year, such meditations on the emotional life of a politician might seem treacly. Maybe to some they do, even now. But in the context of a historic election, and of a candidate who has earned a reputation for being unflappable, it is hard not to be moved.

It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer.

Obama's grandmother was clearly dear to him, and it's incredibly tragic that she won't live to see him in the White House (should, you know, he win tomorrow).

As Obama said to ABC last month:

She's really been one of the cornerstones of, of my life. And, and she's a remarkable woman. And the, the nice thing is, is that ever since people found out that I was leaving the, the campaign trail for a day, she's been, been inundated with, you know, phone calls and e-mails and flowers from total strangers. And so, maybe she is getting a sense of, of long-deserved recognition at, at, towards the end of her life.

And as he said in his acceptance speech for the nomination:

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business or making her way in the world, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman.

She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight and that tonight is her night, as well.

At least she got to hear and see that.

Palfrey, a former receptionist, cocktail waitress, and probable escort herself, began her escort service under the name "Pamela Martin & Associates" in 1993. By 2006 her girls charged $300-per-hour and allegedly counted as clients thousands of important Washington figures.

She was finally busted in 2006 (by the Post Office!), whereupon she began her second career as an inescapable media figure (in DC, at least). She made headlines by threatening to sell her client list to pay for her attorneys—attorneys she kept firing, until finally deciding to defend herself. The presiding judge eventually convinced her to take a court-appointed lawyer as the case went to court this February.

Meanwhile, Palfrey continued insisting she'd done nothing illegal. She was merely offering an "erotic fantasy service." The first high-profile johns Palfrey outed—Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias and some think-tank nut—admitted no wrong-doing. Tobias did eventually resign.

And finally she released what is probably the biggest name on her list—Senator David Vitter. Vitter, who's even been linked to other whores, did not resign.

She didn't sell the list. She did hand it over to ABC, but they apparently found nothing on it newsworthy enough to share.

As her trial for money laundering and racketeering drew closer, Palfrey found herself settling into a comfortable role as a media talking head—DC's own unrepentant Heidi Fleiss, happy to opine on the whoring of great men in case tomorrow's column was looking a little dry.

Faced with the convictions on all charges, though, and possible jail time, well—who the hell knows what was really going on. You never do.

Now we await the conspiracy theorists who'll swear she was killed by the government before she could reveal that Dick Cheney was a client, or something.

Related: US detains nearly 25,000 in Iraq [AFP]