This 'n' that -- Alec Baldwin ...

D on't let yourself miss the premiere bow of my pal Alec Baldwin as a host of his own show on MSNBC this week. The promo ads where the appealing liberal MSNBC host, Ed Schultz, sits inflexibly as Alec paws him are very funny. Funnier than those credit card ads for the Capital One Venture card, where pre-Vikings keep bashing one another. What in the world does this have to do with credit cards? But Alec Baldwin as a host may well be remarkable. Let's hope so; I am hopelessly enamored of this guy.

"Never in my life have I been depressed, and never tired. And never worried. I've just been sort of happy. That's why I never drink. Never have to."

That was Elsa Maxwell, the hostess with the mostess, talking to Edward R. Murrow in 1953.

I found this quote in the Sam Staggs biography of Elsa, titled "Inventing Elsa Maxwell: How an Irrepressible Nobody Conquered High Society, Hollywood the Press and the World." That's quite a mouthful, but it accurately describes a woman, forgotten today, who once ruled the world party circuit like an empress.

The book came out last year, but I missed it in hardcover. The trade paperback is a bit of a trial to read -- tiny crammed print. But Elsa's tale is fascinating. She is one of those people who...