Froelich Hits the Jackpot

gentle reader, i invite you to eavesdrop on my first telephone chat with paula froelich, who is leaving her powerful position as deputy editor at the new york post's page six to produce her own mtv series. she is also the gifted author of mercury in retrograde, the hilarious hit novel about three very different new york girlfriends-a socialite, a tabloid reporter and a high-powered lawyer-who live in a soho walkup.

susan braudy: hello paula? i love your new novel. i frightened myself by laughing out loud five times in the middle of the night-both times i read it.

paula froelich, from her desk at the new york post: thank you so much.

susan: what are you wearing? (don't worry, this isn't one of those calls.) paula: right now? skinny black jeans that don't make me look skinny enough, sparkling ballet flats, a white t-shirt.

susan: what's on your desk?

paula: a mess-papers everywhere, calendars, nicotine pills to stop smoking again.

susan: can you say, without naming names, the juiciest gossip tidbit on your desk?

paula: ummm?(giggle)?no.

susan: is your mother jewish and your father born-again like pauline's in your novel?

paula: oh yes, totally.

susan: does she also say things to him like, "put down your goddamn bible and come talk to your daughter on the phone?"

paula: they split up when i was 2.

susan: after you wrote how sean p. diddy combs rudely stands people up or is hours late, he threatened-

paula: -he said stop writing shit about me or when you're not looking i'll get you. i said, "then i'll slice your achilles tendon and while you're writhing on the ground i'll step on your throat." he said, "hey that's cool."

susan: he loved you standing up to him!

paula: amazing!

susan: in your novel, pauline the smart tabloid reporter accidentally burns down the newsroom. autobiographical?

paula: i put out a cigarette butt on my mother's dry lawn, and it went up in smoke. i was a wild kid.

susan: so she sent you to a kentucky convent school. but she's jewish-

paula: -the least expensive place she could find.

susan: how did you get the powerful page six job?

paula: i was writing about interest rate swaps and credit derivatives for dow jones newswire when someone who knew someone said i'd be good at this job.

susan: any other jobs you've had?

paula: you name it, i did it. i was on camera for entertainment tonight and the insider. i worked in a plant nursery, parked cars for a kentucky country and western line-dancing club, passed out towels at a london health club and was checkout girl at ace hardware in corona del mar.

susan: i love in your book how most people aren't mean spirited. is this true in the new york fast lanes you observe?

paula: i find most people are kind-secret charity donations and little things that count.

susan: hmmm?examples?

paula: when i started in new york, i was hostess at the lobster club. one night it was pouring down rain, reservations were pushed back, we were losing coats and everyone's screaming. but diane sawyer's the one who made me cry. i lose her coat, so she waits 45 minutes or something retarded. she says, "don't worry, please take your time."

susan: i'm totally surprised. happily surprised! -- susan braudy is the author and journalist whose last book, family circle: the boudins and the aristocracy of the left, was nominated for a pulitzer by publisher alfred knopf.