Tired of losing out to “Page Six,” the New York Daily News has hired Washington Post gossip columnist Lloyd Grove to add some fizz. Alex Williams gets the dish.
You had your own column at the Washington Post, and you’re leaving for the Daily News?
Mort Zuckerman, whom I’ve known slightly for years, came up to me at a party in L.A. on Oscar weekend. We were just chatting, Mort and Diandra Douglas and me and my girlfriend, and Mort took me aside and said, “Have you ever considered plying your trade in New York?” Five months later, here I am.
How will you compete with “Page Six”?
I’m a competitive person, and so is Richard Johnson. I think we’re going to have fun.
What will the column be called?
We’re still not sure whether to call it “Lloyd Grove” or try to come up with a great name. But it’s enormously difficult to do that. You don’t want to do “Page Five”; that seems fraught with trouble. At one point, I suggested that we call it “The Swirl.” The paper’s editor, Ed Kosner, very prudently didn’t respond.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but this town is littered with ex–Daily News columnists!
I’m starting right out of the gate with five columns a week. If I do a shitty column on Tuesday, I have a chance to redeem myself on Wednesday.
We saw you lunching with Lizzie at Michael’s last week. How’s your Rolodex?
I know people who know stuff and who are connected, and who I’ll lean on hard in the beginning. Regis gave me a huge plug this morning. I sat next to him at this Peggy Siegal–arranged dinner, and he said, “I’m going to give you a plug.” So he did. It was great!
So what was your biggest scoop in D.C.?
Well, Watergate. Seriously, my Watergate scoops were about the tenants in Watergate South squabbling over what kind of carpet they were putting in the lobby.