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*On this day in 2015, Pat Colander's book Hugh Hefner's First Funeral was announced (and offered up for pre-sale) by Eckhartz Press. The book eventually was named CWA Book of the Year. The blurbs on the back cover gave a hint of things to come....
“As Paul Simon bookended..."Time it was, and what a time it was....A time of innocence. A time of confidences." Chicago in the '70's was surreal, scary and freaking hilarious. My Second City kith and kin may have found brighter lights in N.Y. and L.A. -- but we were spawned and fermented at North and Wells. Good thing Pat Colander thought to take notes and chronicle everything."
-Tim Kazurinsky,
Actor, screenwriter, television and movie star, Saturday Night Live, Police Academy, Neighbors
“Pat Colander toiled with me in the belly of the Chicago journalism beast in the 1970s and 1980s. When major stories were reported, she asked questions. When the questions were poorly answered or evaded, she asked even more questions of even more people. Then in a clear, true voice, she wrote it all down. She found the real stories behind the stories and this collection of her work is just great. She ought to be long-listed for the Man Booker prize, If I can figure out how to do it I will."
-Denise DeClue
Writer of films including About Last Night, teleplays, documentaries, journalism, humor columns and a great deal of other funny stuff
"Reading Pat Colander’s wonderful collection, Hugh Hefner’s First Funeral and Other True Tales of Love and Death in Chicago, is like visiting your old neighborhood. Most of the old folks are gone, either dead or moved on, but there are a few old-timers left. And eventually you get around to talking about things like, “Hey, remember the poet who committed suicide?” Or, “Did they ever figure out how that guy killed his wife?” Or, “Do you think that guy actually poisoned all those people?” There are seven tales of Love and Death in Colander’s book, which is chock-full of details about specific Chicago crimes, deaths, and personalities, including the death of Hugh Hefner’s executive secretary, Bobbie Arnstein, who basically ran the business of Playboy. She weaves the stories of their demise through a definite Chicago lens, where gritty bits of key information flesh out the headlines. Much of this material originally appeared in The Reader, and this volume is an upgrade on an earlier 1985 publishing under the same title. This is a book you devour because it has all the courses of a good meal. It’s meaty and satisfying, like a visit to that old neighborhood."
--Vicki Quade
Playwright, Late Night Catechism
“Pat is a very talented writer. Unfortunately she cut back on her serious writing to run magazines. She was a girl-wonder when she worked at the Chicago Tribune in the late seventies. The veteran male reporters hated her because she could out-write and out produce them with one hand tied behind her back and her eyes closed. She did feature articles, reviews and celebrity interviews. Now she has put together a collection of her very best work from the 1970s and early 1980s. The stories age well."
-Bruce Elliott
Geriatric Genius blogger and author of Last Night at the Old Town Ale House.
