All Grown Up

"Early Show" contributor Lisa Birnbach
goes from ``preppy' to "parenthood"

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often-controversial Bryant Gumbel,
Birnbach says, is a real delight. "I
think he is absolutely wonderful.
There is a lot of pressure doing this
isa Birnbach, contributor to
show, considering the competition.
CBS News' new morning
But I believe The Early Show will do
program, The Early Show,
well
in morning television, and I am
has her children to thank for
excited
to be a part of it."
her plum job. It was when the show's
If the 40-year-old Birnbach looks
producer Steve Friedman spotted her
familiar to viewers, it's because back in
in a New York City store with her
the early '80s she authored The Official
three young children that he knew she
Preppy Handbook, a phenomenon that
would be perfect for the program's
threw her into the public eye.
parenting segment.
The book, which appeared in 29
"It was one of those rainy Saturday
printings
in the United States and
afternoons about a year ago and I had
spent
two
years on the New York
been cooped up with my three chil-
bestseller list, kept
Times
dren all day in the apart-
Birnbach
on the talk show
ment," Birnbach recalls
Lisa Birnbach is in
circuit
for
close to a year.
during breakfast in an
pont of the camera
Oddly enough, the book
Upper East Side
every other week on
was not expected to create
Manhattan eatery. "So I
"The Early Show,"
decided to take them to the offering her reflections such a stir.
"The book was a huge
on lift as a wife,
neighborhood drugstore.
mother
and
daughter.
surprise
to everyone,
"My kids — ages 9, 6,
and 2 1/2 — all wanted
something different. One wanted a
beanie baby, one wanted something to
eat — and in walked Steve Friedman.
I thought, 'Oh no, Steve would [have
to] see me like this.
"But I introduced Steve to all the
children, and I said — joking around,
`Mommy needs a job!'"
A few months later Birnbach had a
more formal meeting with Friedman,
a former Today show producer, and he
offered her an on-air spot, called
"Yikes, I'm a Grown Up," on the
Bryant Gumbel/Jane Clayson hosted
Early Show.
"I believe he got the idea for
this segment when he saw me
with my kids," says Birnbach.
She is in front of the camera
every other week, offering her
reflections on life as a wife,
mother and daughter.
"So far I have done a
piece on kids and their
homework and how it
becomes a struggle
when parents have to
devote their evenings
to their child's home-
work. Another piece
I did was on women
dressing their age."
Working with the

ALICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER
Special to the Jewish News