| Talk Show Appearances - 1999 | ||
| Tonight Show, Jan. 8 Today, Jan. 12 Rosie O'Donnell, Jan. 12 Daily Show, Jan. 13 This Morning, Jan. 13 Roseanne, Feb. 19 Leeza, Feb. 22 Today, Mar. 22 Today, Dec. 1 Clicking on the thumbnail images will cause larger versions of the images to open in a separate window.
Tracey comes out dancing to her theme, "They Don't Know." This was in lieu of John Travolta's failure to dance during his spot on the show (he was promoting his new film A Civil Action). He also left after his segment, so she won't be able to ask him about Welcome Back Kotter or his older movies. She and the family have just returned from a skiing and snowblading holiday in Utah at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, named for the Olympic gold medal skier. They got good use out of their walkie-talkies, the "curse of the ski slopes." The things you hear on those walkie-talkies... When they weren't skiing, they'd be doing some toupee-spotting or bad facelift-spotting around the ski lodge. This is made easier by the use of rhyming Cockney slang, which can be nearly impenetrable to those who don't know it. But Jay's hair will not be disparaged tonight. After a detour through Grecian Formula 16 land, Jay mentions the book Tracey Takes On..., which has just come out in paperback (and was wonderfully plugged by Robin Williams a year ago on this show on this very night). After doing the book tours and everything associated with that, Tracey came to the conclusion that putting a swastika, the Titanic or Princess Diana (or any combination of the above) on the book cover would have done wonders for sales! This leads to her observation that on just about any night, you can find a television program about either Adolf Hitler or sharks. And what shows does she watch? Well, Mabel and she have been known to watch the cheerleader competitions (which seem to be sponsored by tampon makers) and the female bodybuilding competitions, where the commentary can be so inane. She exhorts everyone who doesn't have HBO to get it so they can watch her series (you're living like losers if you don't have HBO, she says). Then Jay has a surprise: one of the TTO crew sent over a blooper featuring Tracey as Fern showing one of the deals that came along with the time-share condo: a coffin. She opens the lid only to find someone inside, which startles her. After her segment, she stays around for Chris Isaak's performance and interview. We can see her enjoying his story about his first acupuncture treatment
A clip of Madame Nadja from the Drugs episode opens this interview, conducted by Matt Lauer. Tracey remarks that she looks like her mother in that clip. The inspiration for Nadja came from Madame Alex, one of the characters in the Heidi Fleiss saga. How does she come up with the characters, their backgrounds, etc.? "It's just what I do," she says. First comes the voice, then the teeth. In the case of Nadja, it's "bad Communist teeth". She may have been on intimate terms with former Romanian leader Ceaucescu. Back to the character: next come the wigs, and then it all comes together when filming. It's never hard for her to come up with new characters; she sees potential characters in the street all of the time. She doesn't want to do the same character, week in and week out. Then she notices that the fuzzy cuffs on her sleeves give her arms and hands a bit of a Muppet look. She then observes that she and Matt share a birthday (Dec. 30), so they wish each other a belated happy birthday. She then begins to playfully razz Matt for having made himself over (I won't attempt to summarize what she said). Next, we see another clip from the series: Sheneesha from the Drugs episode. Sheneesha is one of her favorite characters, she says. Matt observes that one of the reasons for the show's success is that HBO leaves her alone. There aren't 15 executives overseeing the production, picking everything apart. A character like Sheneesha couldn't be done on network TV, 'cause the executives have too many things to think about: what do focus groups say, how will it play in Des Moines, etc. Matt points out that she writes, produces, directs (an "all-around bossy boots," she says); is that part of the reason that Hollywood has a hard time figuring out how to use her? That could be; she almost never sees a script or proposal that she doesn't think she could have done a better job with it. There aren't that many good movie roles for funny women, she observes. Back to Sheneesha: the security women at the airport are now beginning to recognize her for that role, because she sometimes gets asked (in a Sheneesha-type voice) "Are you on TV?" One time, son Johnny told them "yes, she's black. She puts on these real long fingernails...." Then again, it's not necessarily the best idea to say this at the airport metal detectors. She repeats the idea she had for improving sales of her book: put a swastika, the Titanic and Princess Diana on the cover, and she offers it to Lesley Stahl, who had been interviewed about her new book in the previous segment. As the segment ends, she says this season was the best one so far. As the camera fades out, she proceeds to admire Matt's suit.
Tracey is introduced to very excited applause from the audience (double cappuccinos? No, a sugar rush). Rosie gives her a belated birthday present (it could also be a Christmas present or an anniversary present [Dec. 27]: a vacuum sealer. This is one of those dumb things you see sold on TV. This brings up memories of the Tap Teaser from last year's appearance ("Tap tap tap? More like crap crap crap!"). The story continues: a week after that appearance, Tracey was in Chicago appearing on a radio show. A woman called in and said her friend had developed the Tap Teaser and was devastated when she bashed it on the air. So she decided to give it another try. The result? Stuck stuck stuck! It didn't work. The conversation turns to online shopping. Tracey says she did nearly all of her shopping online this year. No malls for her; they tend to induce chronic fatigue syndrome just by walking in the front door. Not so with Mabel, though, which is to be expected of any teenager (or almost-teenager in her case). And now Mabel's going to be upset with her for talking about her again on national TV -- Latin homework versus Melrose Place: which will prevail?. But Johnny's still cool about it. He'll gladly tell airport security guards how his mommy becomes a black woman. We then get to see a demonstration of the false teeth Tracey uses in creating her characters. With the aid of Ricola-water (water into which has been dumped a Ricola lozenge), she models the teeth for HRH (the teeth had been created before the character, she says) and for, presumably, Madame Nadja (she comments on Bulgarian dentistry). Rosie would try them out if she could, but it's not possible; the teeth are molded to fit Tracey's own teeth. And how did she spend her holidays? Skiing -- they're getting pretty good at it. Once again, she complains about the proliferation of walkie-talkies on the slopes, how you're hearing about somebody's kid losing their hat or gloves or whatever, or somebody else's kid has frozen snot, those sorts of things. Losing articles of clothing or equipment on the slopes is one of those things with kids: it will happen. Here's something else that will happen: Tracey will get a chance to win the vacuum sealer for everyone in the audience by playing the celebrity guessing game. As they go into the break, she plugs her show (Wednesday night, 10 PM ET/PT on HBO) and her appearance at the Borders on West 57th later today. The second segment opened with a fourth-season opening to TTO (you can tell it's from the fourth-season because it includes Madame Nadja). This segment is devoted to playing the celebrity guessing game. The stakes are high: vacuum sealers for the entire audience. Rosie dons her headband, evoking the memory of Olivia Newton-John in the "Physical" video (and in case anyone doesn't get the idea, Tracey sings a couple of bars of the song). Sixty seconds on the clock -- and go! Celeb #1: Leonardo DiCaprio ("major heart-throb -- younger"). Celeb #2: Monica Lewinsky ("doesn't go to the dry cleaners -- scandal, scandal"). Celeb #3: Nicole Kidman ("married to someone you [Rosie] don't want her to be married to"). Celeb #4: Rosie O'Donnell ("really likes kids -- sings show tunes badly.") The clock runs out as Rosie draws the fifth name, but since she is in the act of drawing, they go on. Celeb #5: Barbara Walters ("think gween -- wawa, wawa"). Five for five, the audience wins!
Jon Stewart, in his third day of hosting the show, introduces Tracey with a clip from the Dating episode featuring Erin. This will be the first time they've met, and he opens with a confession: whenever he saw her at the end of her old Fox show in her bathrobe, he thought she was "kinda hot" (the man has taste). And he likes what she's wearing tonight, and vice versa (still getting used to the suit and tie). He comments that she must spend half her life in the makeup chair. It may not be that bad, but it can be grim, she says. One time, she had to wear a beard for two days (that's something to look forward to for guys on the weekend, says Jon), and she did take some oxygen on two occasions. The conversation turns briefly to Mabel (the MTV/Melrose Place adolescent thing is kicking in) and then to the teen heartthrobs of the moment, many of whom are on Dawson's Creek. Teenagers don't get pimples on the WB, observes Tracey. She repeats her complaint about shopping malls "sucking the life out of you." Next, Jon asks the 2 Questions (the 5 Questions bit from the Craig Kilborn days are being phased out). Number 1: give the American terms for lift (elevator), flat (apartment), fortnight (2 weeks) and monarchy (privileged a-holes). All correct! Number 2: Do the voices in your head ever tell you to do bad things? (yes) Correct again -- two for two! "I'm a happy schizophrenic," she says. This appearance is not in my collection; however, I have a transcript. The interview starts with a clip from TTO featuring Ruby Romaine. Mark McEwen asks Tracey to comment on it. She says she sees a "dreadful old woman" who probably "has one breast lower than the other." She's an awful woman, but she's a very popular character. And people like that do exist, Tracey reminds us again. She doesn't have much to say that's positive about the upcoming wedding of Prince Edward ("they're not going to do it again, are they?"), and she says once again that Monica Lewinsky wasn't good for the Jews (using Fern's voice, in all likelihood), that she's ruined the Donna Karan beret forever. When asked to give fashion trips to Linda Tripp, Tracey points out that big hair on women over 40 is a mistake. She also says that Tripp looks like an anteater. Mark asks how a character comes together. It always starts with the voice, but everything (the wardrobe, the teeth, the wigs, the rubber makeup, etc.) comes together on the first day of shooting. And during the day, she'll stay in character and talk to the crew that way, improvising all day long. It helps to sustain the energy and everything, she says. But at the end of the day, she's quite sure of who she is at home: "a very quiet English girl." Mark's not entirely convinced of this. The conversation then turns to "Titanic" and the spoof of it in the premiere episode of the 4th season of TTO. Then Mark asks her what it took for someone to appeal to her when dating: "Funny. Totally funny." She never went for looks or anything like that. Is her husband funny, asks Mark. Very, she replies; "funny is money in our family." And after a brief plug for the season premiere airing tonight, the interview ends.
This is Roseanne's talk show, not her sitcom of the same name. The interview segment with Tracey begins with an excerpt from the opening credits of TTO (the characters sing "They Don't Know"). Roseanne introduces Tracey by saying she's in a class all by herself and that she's brilliant. The audience agrees, standing to give her a very warm reception, which she appreciates. She comments that you can find "They Don't Know" in the bargain bin at Tower Records. She tells Roseanne that she was an inspiration to her when she started doing her show [I'm not sure if she's referring to TTO or her old Fox show; I suspect TTO -- RR]. They talk about when they first met, at a television programmers' convention in New Orleans -- Elton John was there in a purple jumpsuit made of calf's leather, Whoopi Goldberg was there, as were Barbra Streisand and James Brolin, etc. Roseanne, who had earlier admitted to being a little scared of Tracey, asks how she does what she does -- how does she steal their souls? It's something she could always do, says Tracey. And it goes beyond the voices to capturing their look, their background, their hair. She focuses on real people, not celebrities. And what helped her in this? The English class system, where everyone is expected to know their place and station. You are what you speak, and she used her talent with voices to jump around the classes, so to speak, demonstrating a very posh accent (ponies and the Volvo, that sort of thing). The US equivalent would be Upper East Side or Boston -- like Carolyn Bissette. Roseanne observes a political bent to Tracey's characterizations. The conversation then turns to putting on shows for your parents or your grandparents in their bedrooms. Tracey did it, and so did Roseanne, whose grandparents lived in a home with many Holocaust survivors. Roseanne asks Tracey about Fern, and this allows her to speak as Fern, complimenting the researcher on the show. She likes the Jews; she thinks they are quite funny, that they can easily laugh at themselves. When discussing the couple who inspired the creation of Fern, she says they don't know that Fern is based on them. Back in England, her best friend never realized that Tracey based a character on her [Roz from Three of a Kind -- RR]. As they go to commercial, Roseanne tells Tracey that as an actress, there's no one as good as her. The next segment opens with a clip from Three Of A Kind. Tracey is a bit surprised to see it; she hadn't seen it in 15 years, she says. In that clip, she explains, she was speaking like the Spice Girls, with an ugly Northern, industrial accent. She admires the Spice Girls, who were able to get out. She was able to get out, too. She tells about how she learned she was going to go to arts school in London, how the headmaster had called her over and how she thought she was in trouble again. It was really exciting to be able to go in London and experience the culture. She expresses her gratitude to the socialist government of Britain of the time for paying for her schooling, her school uniforms, her dinners, etc. [money well spent -- and money long since paid back and then some in taxes, no doubt -- RR]. But the school itself was horrible, with all those horrible child actors. Yes, she was looking to get out of Hackbridge -- as a travel agent, if necessary. Who did she admire growing up, asks Roseanne. Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live, says Tracey, and Peter Sellers, especially in Dr. Strangelove with the multiple roles and accents he did. She really connected with his work. Roseanne asks "do they [the voices] just come?" Yes, they're in there, replies Tracey. She doesn't use voice coaches; if she needs to get a voice, she'll call somebody with that accent and listen to them. Perhaps she's been reincarnated many times.... Roseanne thinks that might be true, but that's a topic for a whole other show. She asks Tracey to talk about Mrs. Noh Nang Ning, which is the only character she's received some guff for. Why? Because there are so few Asian characters on TV. But she's spent some time with Asians and in Asian communities, visiting Vietnam and Hong Kong last year. One thing she's noticed about Asians: they tend to question our large meal portions ("that's too much for two people"), to which she replies, yes, she's a piggy Westerner. The next segment begins with a clip from the Road Rage episode of TTO in which Ruby is carjacked. This gives Tracey an opportunity to do Ruby and to talk about her -- "who is she to talk like that?" Ruby's an alcoholic bigot with no redeeming qualities, but she's a fan favorite [I don't agree that she has no redeeming qualities -- few, perhaps, but not none. Birdie, on the other hand.... -- RR]. Ruby was inspired by the old-timer makeup artists she worked with when she first came to America. Speaking of America ... she finds it bigger over here, and exciting, too, but we're so obsessed with our bums [rears -- RR]. You'd never find anything called "stool softener" back in England. And hemorrhoids -- hoo boy! When you hear the ads for laser hemorrhoid surgery on L.A. radio after being in England for a few weeks, you know you're back in America! All that, but no topless sunbathing over here. We Americans do have a puritanical streak. We're also much more open here, where you're liable to learn more about your seatmate at a dinner party than you'd ever want to know. Why tell me this things, she says; I'm not your psychiatrist! In England, if you go to a psychiatrist, you're wearing a strait jacket. But she enjoys the optimism and the friendliness over here. The conversation turns to motherhood and adolescence -- Tracey's facing it with Mabel, and Roseanne's been there and done that four times. She gives some advice to Tracey on how to handle teenagers: crack on their ass constantly. Don't be their friends; treat them as though they're criminals and you're the warden. Tracey raises a good point: what about the books the kids are going to write when they're older? Roseanne retorts, where do you want them to write them, from a nice home or from prison? Earn your way, kids. And on that note, the interview concludes.
Leeza Gibbons begins the show by interviewing "Joe", who's backstage. He's a real male chauvinist pig, and the audience does not care for him. When he comes on stage, he is revealed to be a she; it's Leeza in male makeup. This is her tribute to Tracey, who comes out to applause. If she'd have known Leeza was going to do this, she'd have brought her fake genitalia (the actual term was bleeped out) for her to use. She calls Leeza's solution (a pair of socks) "novice." We then see footage of Leeza being transformed into Joe. Afterwards, Tracey encourages Leeza to act like a typical redneck from her homestate of South Carolina -- gunracks, huntin' dogs, drinking Coke with peanuts inside, that sort of thing. They then discuss the roots of Trevor and Chic. Trevor comes from the many British Airways stewards she's met on the L.A-London route over the years (and one in particular) -- in the cabin, they acted very straight but relaxed in the galley. If she's ever frightened on a plane, she thinks about Trevor, who'd wouldn't be scared. Chic comes from a guy in a London restaurant who thought he was hot stuff by saying things like "you like sex?" as though he were calling to a lost dog. Leeza says she enjoyed the bit where Chic was filling up the gas tank in his cab and wondering if the cab were enjoying the experience. We then see a clip of Chic (from the Lies episode). As they go to break, Leeza says she's got to remove her moustache. The next segment begins with the opening from a TTO episode; the audience cracks up at the sight of Sheneesha. Leeza asks Tracey when the characters come together. It's not until the first day of filming, because it takes months to prepare. First comes the voice. Then the wigs are made in the summer, in London; the makeup artists take molds of her face for developing the appliances, then come test makeup sessions, developing the body shape, the padding, etc. As she's discussing this, we see a clip from a forthcoming TTO episode where Trevor's in a dance contest. It's exhausting, hot, uncomfortable and cumbersome, but it's also very fascinating to become these characters. When she's made up as a man, she likes hitting on the female crew members. In fact, her dresser finds her character Chic to be very attractive. They briefly talk about the paper dolls in the book, and then the conversation turns to the family. We see Allan offstage, trying to be unobtrusive. Tracey says she feels very relaxed at home, with no pressure to be "on." She tells the story of how she almost tried to pick up Mabel while made up as Chic (we see another clip of Chic from Lies as she's telling this). The next segment begins with a faux Leeza. Actually, it's the TTO segment where she's interviewing Linda Granger (a hilarious bit). Back to reality, and Tracey observes that Leeza now looks like "a nice lesbian girl from West Hollywood" -- perhaps named Stephanie, with a girlfriend named Margo, who do all the benefits, etc. Leeza notes that many of the characters have a strong sexual context, and Tracey agrees -- some of her characters are nymphomaniacs. Leeza then reads the section from Tracey's book where she says she won't talk about her own sex life ("I'm not American -- I'm from England", she explains). The conversation then turns to Viagra ads and then to Birdie Godsen, whose roots spring from the women who are "the acceptable face of the extreme right." The next segment begins with a clip of Tracey talking about Fern, followed by a clip from Fern and Jobie in the Fantasy episode. She observes that Fern is just one of those women who don't like sex. Leeza then reads from the book where Tracey said she was never a child but actually an old soul trapped in a child's body. Tracey observes that Mabel's the same way. When she (Tracey) was young, she never cared for clowns or mimes or people who'd talk down to her. During this segment, we see several pictures of her at various ages, taken from the book. One of them engenders the reaction "late '70s hairstyle coming up." The audience asks some questions. Did she ever base characters on family or friends? Yes, her character Roz (from Three Of A Kind) was based on her best friend; she thought it was a brilliant character but never realized that it was her. A guy asks for advice about breaking into the business; he's on camera now, and if he's got an agent, there you go. Another guy begins to remove Leeza's false eyebrows as we go to break. The next segment begins with a behind-the-scenes look at Fern harassing Jane Seymour's trailer from the Hollywood episode. A guy in the audience asks Tracey if any of her characters have offended anyone. Not really, because she's doing them with the right spirit behind them. Mrs. Noh did cause a bit of a flap initially, but that died down as she became more familiar. Sheneesha hasn't generated any complaints. We then see a clip from the Lies episode featuring Sheneesha. Another audience member asks who was the first person Tracey impersonated. When she was 4, she'd impersonated Annie Cox, the neighbor across the street who wore Wellies and a woolen hat. She'd never married; her fiance had died in World War I. Another audience member asks if Tracey had taken time off to raise the children. Yes, there were times when she did that. There was a time when she'd taken off for two years, and at the end of that, she'd taken some of the wigs out of the closet, which awakened memories of the characters, so she'd begin to talk to them in character. Mabel told her this was a sign that it's time to go back to work. Nowadays, the only intense period of working is the 10-12 weeks of filming. The next segment begins with a clip from Ally McBeal featuring Tracey as a therapist. This clip came from the second season premiere; another episode featuring her will air tonight. She has nothing but praise for David Kelley and Calista Flockhart. Then Leeza asks her if she'd be willing to coach some audience members who would be actors. The first one, who looks like Cyndi Lauper as a '30s movie star, does a bit from Guys and Dolls in a style reminiscent of Jennifer Tilly (who was in Bullets Over Broadway with Tracey). Her advice: find something you can do that nobody else can do. Try to do a bit of everything -- singing, dancing, acting. Write your own material, especially if you're a girl. That way, you'll be a step ahead of everyone else. You won't have to be waiting by the phone for a call from your agent. As the segment ends, Tracey begins to remove Leeza's chin (actually, the chin appliance). The next-to-last segment finds the chin removal almost completed. Tracey tells Leeza she needs to exfoliate more often. The next would-be actress comes up, and she does an imitation that grew out of a Halloween costume: Miss Alabama. The original costume had her wearing a tiara and big hair. Tracey observes that the Miss America contestants still have hairstyles from 1964. Leeza asks if Tracey's as reticent about her age as she is about her sex life. No, she freely admits that she'll be 40 this coming December [1999], and it won't bother her growing older ("I haven't got looks to lose," she says, but Leeza disagrees). The final segment has Leeza introducing Monica Hirschhorn, who bears an amazing resemblance to Tracey. Monica is originally from Romania but now lives in California. Back in Romania, nobody knew about Tracey, because outside programming was banned under the Ceaucescu regime. And on that note, the program ends. Personal note: A few days before this episode was taped, I was contacted by the producers of the show, who were considering having me call in and speak to Tracey. But by the time I got back in touch with them, they'd changed plans and asked me if I knew of any Tracey lookalikes in L.A. or southern California. I'd remembered seeing Monica's pictures on Andrew Mitchell's site (the "Go Home" Page) and passed along her e-mail address and the URL so they could see for themselves. Obviously they liked what they saw, for we saw Monica at the end of the program standing next to Tracey, and the resemblance was indeed remarkable, more so than in the pictures. This appearance is not in my collection, but I have a transcript. On the day after the Oscars are presented, Tracey appears along with Rosie O'Donnell and Jon Stewart to comment on the telecast, the outfits, the speeches, whatever. Tracey's first observation about the ceremony: "it was long." Everyone was surprised by Shakespeare In Love winning Best Picture; Tracey thinks that Harvey Weinstein of Miramax won the advertising campaign. But SIL was a lovely movie, she goes on to say. Rosie said she didn't see the whole film, so Matt Lauer and Katie Couric spoil the story for her. The conversation turns to Joseph Fiennes and why he was so neglected. Jon says "he's paying the price for Ralph." Both Rosie and Tracey thought Gwyneth Paltrow's acceptance speech was lovely, with Tracey wondering how her "spaghetti strap" managed not to break. On to Roberto Benigni: Jon mock-complains that he's really from New Jersey, and when is he going to drop his "My English is no good" shtick. Tracey observes that his wife has seen it all before, so she's thinking "Please, don't encourage him." But all were impressed by his enthusiasm and his charm. Next, the Elia Kazan controversy. Tracey calls it a "disappointment, a damp squib." She says he could have made a better speech. The discussion becomes somewhat mocking, at which point Katie complains that they're being a little mean to him. "What did you have us on the show for?... What did you expect, Katie, goody goody Pollyanna, Couric?" says Tracey, calling on her to "trash somebody ... once in [her] life". Next, Whoopi Goldberg as host. Rosie enjoyed her, though Katie points out the press didn't -- they think she was a little coarse ("too many genitalia jokes," says Tracey). She then questions the tap-dance routine set to the theme from Saving Private Ryan. So does Katie. See, she's trashing something! Then they talk about the honors -- Stanley Kubrick, Val Kilmer and the horse, John Glenn and Colin Powell, etc. In the midst of this, Tracey says that the technical awards really should be moved to another night, like the Emmys, as it was too much. They all questioned the appearance of Glenn and Powell. The conversation turns back to Gwyneth Paltrow's dress; Tracey says "she could have had more breasts." Jon wonders how that's possible, but Matt clarifies that Tracey meant Gwyneth didn't fill the dress out that well. She thought the best dress was on Sandy Powell, who won the costume award. She liked the Japanese girl who won the documentary award, too. On to Sophia Loren and speculation about how her bosom looked so good (nature had a helping hand in the form of a support system -- gaffer's tape?). After a break, the discussion continues. Katie asks Tracey about this year's "British invasion." She thought it was great, she says, but when the ceremony got dull, she was hoping that Lynn Redgrave's estranged husband (who'd been barred from the theater) would rush the stage. She appears to be surprised by the news that Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck have broken up. This is in the context of comments about Affleck not paying attention to one of the award winners who was giving an acceptance speech. All agree that the songs were a drag on the show. They talk about Celine Dion's hat, the tensions between Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, the outfit Whoopi Goldberg wore when not in costume (Tracey says Whoopi "was dressed courtesy of Big Bird"), etc. And on that note, the segment ends. (Observation: I have a feeling that this segment may not have aired in much of the country, as I think it was the 8:25 segment, which is usually a local news break)
Katie Couric introduces Tracey by saying we know her for her comedy, acting, writing, etc., but that we might not know that she's a major fashion maven who's opening a new online boutique, Purple Skirt (http://www.purpleskirt.com). Yes, says Tracey, she's totally into clothes. In the course of her Web surfing, she's never seen a really great Web site that had an eclectic selection of merchandise or wasn't overwhelmed by mind-blowing graphics and sounds. She and her partners wanted to create a site that had the merchandise but was low-frills and easy to shop. Every six weeks, the selection will change, for we women are fickle. It's turning into the Home Shopping Network here, she observes. She takes mock umbrage at Katie putting her hands on her hips. Katie seems to get back at her moments later when, while mentioning the accessibility of the site, she firmly grabs Tracey's arm and seems to pull her over. Back to the accessibility: customers can feel free to be honest about their body types. In fact, there's a feature whereby if you sign up and complete a profile, you'll get your own body type. We see a few examples: hippy, short-waisted (Tracey described herself as this) and classic column. If you want help on what would look good on you, you can get it. Next, we see some samples of the clothes that are available from both established and up-and-coming designers. The first example we see would look especially great on models with no hair, no eyelashes and no eyebrows (not to mention no eyes) -- they're describing the mannequin, of course. Next up is a coat and scarf combination. Tracey demonstrates three potential uses for the scarf: the "Sally Field in Not Without My Daughter look"; the Axl Rose look; and, blindfolded, the "hostage Terry Waite" look. Later, she shows a skirt and says her daughter Mabel likes it. This leads to her mentioning what has become known as "the hat incident", where she wore a hat to a school outing, a hat to which Mabel took offense. This then turns into a condemnation of the wearing of leggings by anyone over 30. The last outfit we see features a cow-skin patterned skirt [perhaps there should have been a tie-in with Gateway Computer <g>]. Tracey mentions that 10% of the profits will be donated to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund in memory of Elizabeth Tilberis, editor of Harper's Bazaar, and that she's in town for a tribute to Elizabeth. As the interview concludes, she shows sketches of the body type of the Today show crew -- Katie, Matt Lauer, Elizabeth Vargas and Al Roker. Prepared by Roger Reini |
