Dear Abby Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame memorializing the Dear Abby radio show

Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips (born July 4, 1918) started writing the Dear Abby syndicated personal advice column in 1956 under the pen name, Abigail Van Buren. Since her retirement in 2002 after an onset of Alzheimer's disease, her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, has been writing the column under the same pen name. Pauline Phillips (born July 4, 1918 as Pauline Esther Friedman) founded Dear Abby in 1956. ... Abigail Van Buren is a pseudonym or pen name used by the writers of the Dear Abby column, Pauline Phillips (born July 4, 1918) and her successor, her daughter Jeanne Phillips. ... Jeanne Phillips is a columnist who writes the Dear Abby column under the pen name Abigail Van Buren. ...

According to Pauline, she had come up with the pen name, Abigail Van Buren, by combining the name of the biblical character, Abigail, in the Book of Samuel with the last name of former U.S. President Martin Van Buren. Abigail (אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל her Fathers joy or, fountain of joy ;leader of/is dance/, Standard Hebrew Avigáyil, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĂḇîḡáyil / ʾĂḇîḡāyil), once Abigal (Samuel 2 3:3), is a female character in the Bible. ... The Books of Samuel, also referred to as [The Book of] Samuel (Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל), are (two) books in the Hebrew Bible (Judaisms Tanakh and originally writtten in Hebrew) and the Old Testament of Christianity. ... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862), nicknamed Old Kinderhook, was the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. ...

According to its publishers, the column is known for its "uncommon common sense and youthful perspective", and is read by more people than any other newspaper column worldwide.[1]

Biography

Pauline was an identical twin: Her sister, Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer, was 17 minutes older than Pauline, and also wrote the internationally syndicated "Ann Landers" personal advice column. Ann Landers, 1961 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ann Landers Esther Eppie Pauline Friedman Lederer, better known as Ann Landers (July 4, 1918 – June 22, 2002), was best known for writing the famous syndicated advice column Ann Landers. ...

The daughters of Russian Jewish immigrants, the twins grew up in Sioux City, Iowa, and went by the nicknames "Popo" and "Eppie", respectively. They attended Central High School(aka "The Castle on the Hill") in Sioux City, Iowa, and then went on to study at Morningside College. They were very close and had a joint wedding ceremony in 1939 at the age of 21. Sioux City (IPA: ) is a city located in northwest Iowa in the United States. ... Sioux City (IPA: ) is a city located in northwest Iowa in the United States. ... Morningside College is a liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church in Sioux City, Iowa. ...

As competing columnists, however, the two sisters did not have a happy relationship. They publicly reconciled during 1964, although some suggest that the acrimony endured. Just a few years before Eppie's death in 2002, they were not on speaking terms. It is said that they reconciled before Eppie's death, though the reconciliation is somewhat questionable, considering that Pauline had started suffering from Alzheimer's disease that same year.

The Column's Popularity

The day after Lyndon Johnson's landslide victory in the 1964 U.S. Presidential election, nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin drew a cartoon captioned "Dear Abby..." in which he showed Johnson's defeated opponent Barry Goldwater writing a letter. This incident is illustrative of the column's popularity. Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... William Henry Bill Mauldin (October 29, 1921 – January 22, 2003) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist of the United States. ... Barry Morris Goldwater (January 1, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–87) and the Republican Partys nominee for president in the 1964 election. ...

In 1964, "Dear Abby" was also the subject of a pop song with the same title, sung by The Hearts. The Jaynetts was a R & B girl group, a one-hit wonder in the United States with their Sally Go Round the Roses. ...

In 1974, John Prine recorded a song called "Dear Abby" on his Sweet Revenge album. John Prine (born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s. ... Sweet Revenge was a two-part television drama that aired in 2001. ...

References

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Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...

External links

• Official Dear Abby Website
• Dear Abby at Yahoo! News

Further reading

Books About Dear Abby

• Aronson, Virginia. Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren. Women of achievement. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0791052974. (children's book).
• Pottker, Janice, and Bob Speziale. Dear Ann, Dear Abby: The Unauthorized Biography of Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1987. ISBN 0396089062.

Books By Dear Abby

• Van Buren, Abigail. Dear Abby. Illustrated by Carl Rose. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall [1958]
• Van Buren, Abigail. Dear teen-ager. Illustrated by Roy Doty. [New York]: B. Geis Associates; distributed by Random House [1959].
• Van Buren, Abigail. Dear Abby on marriage. New York: McGraw-Hill [1962]
• Van Buren, Abigail. The Best of Dear Abby. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1981. ISBN 0836279077 ; 081613362X (lg. print.)
• Van Buren, Abigail. Dear Abby on planning your wedding. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews and McMeel, c1988. ISBN 0836279433
• Van Buren, Abigail. Where were you when President Kennedy was shot? : memories and tributes to a slain president as told to Dear Abby. Foreword by Pierre Salinger. Kansas City, Mo. : Andrews and McMeel, c1993. ISBN 0836262468