Celebrity Sighting: The River'ses

Can we talk?

Walking past the front window of Jerry's Deli, I thought I saw a distorted version of Joan Rivers before we walked into the place ourselves. We were then seated near her table, so I had a chance to see the woman sitting across from the distorted woman, who was wearing as much makeup as the distortion across from her and could have been her daughter, Melissa, but oh, the make up!

I asked my friend to confirm the identity of the daughter, since he was seated to be able to look right at them. He said yes.

It was in the next few minutes that I learned of Joan Rivers suing GQ over an article written by Bert Hacker (later identified as Ben Stein- former game show host and utterer of "Bueller... Bueller"). Apparently, Mr. Stein said that Ms. Rivers complained that her husband, who later died, was driving her crazy. Maybe you already knew about this 1987 scandal, but it was news to me.

A few minutes later, they left and looked around as if searching for screaming fans. Outside, someone took a picture with them, although I don't know how anyone could recognize anybody underneath all the pancake - sheesh!

We watched the fan outside watch Joan's car pull away. My eyes darted to their table, as I studied its contents for interesting tidbits. Coffee cup with pink lipstick stain. Leftover matzo ball soup. As I turn around to report to my firned of my findings, I see the fan outside peeking into the restaurant at Joan and Melissa's table. My friend looks at the fan. Their eyes meet. They smile.

Our behavior is exactly why the C list celebrities act like they do with their "Don't you know who I am?"

If I were quicker-witted, I would have run outside and asked her who she was wearing.

The Many Faces of Joan...