Kids Next Door Tv Tome

The best part about the near-extinct art of letter writing is that sometimes the recipient is so moved by them, they tuck them away.

Which is exactly how Ann Leary came to write "An Innocent, A Broad," her tale about a London weekend in 1990 which evolved into a five-month foreign odyssey with a premie baby and a stand-up comic hubby on the cusp of celebdom.

"While I was going through it, people told me I should write a book about it," said Ann, who has been married to funnyguy Denis Leary since 1989. "It's only taken me 14 years."

Leary's letters from London, saved by her friend, author Heather King, were filled with humorous tales about life in a National Health Service hospital where the young mothers chain-smoked and germs around babies were encouraged.

"I was terrified, stuck in that maternity ward with no TV or anyone to talk to," Ann told the Track yesterday. "But my friends back home were worried about me, so I would write these letters filled with funny stories about the nurses or my roommates."

At the time, there was little humor to be found in delivering your first baby 5 1/2 months early in a country where your wardmates think you're mooching off the NHS (she wasn't). And the nurses scoff when you complain about urchins with the runny noses playing around your 2- pound son's "isolette."

"I read lots of sad stories about premature babies when I was going through it and they never had a happy ending," said Ann, mother of Jack, a very healthy 14-year old, and his sister, Devin, 12. "So I think people will appreciate this story - which also just so happens to occur around the time Denis' career is taking off."

Ann, BTW, will appear tonight at 7 at Wordsworth in Cambridge to sign copies of "An Innocent, A Broad" - should any parents feel the need to unload their tales of premie woe.

Leary's next literary project is about her 22-year ride with her Emerson College comedy-writing instructor whom she discovered shortly after Jack was born, had become a full-blown star!

"This slob who stayed up all night watching `Columbo' re-runs now had producers calling the house and people laughing a little too hard at his jokes," said the celeb spouse, who admits she doesn't stray much from the family's farm in rural Connecticut to play Hollywood dress-up. "Then there's stuff about kids, pets and tantric sex."

TANTRIC SEX? Is Denis Leary another Sting????

"Oh, that's an L. A. story about when I turn to a woman at dinner and ask her what she does for a living and she tells me she's a tantric sex instructor," said Leary. "It's so L. A."

Well, whaddaya expect from that city's not-so-Innocent Broads?

Laying Sinatra Lowe

Start spreading the news and all that shoobie doobie doo.

Because, yes, that WAS Red Sox hurtin' hurler Derek Lowe belting out "New York, New York" with the Al Vega Trio at Lucky's the other night after his pathetic performance on the mound against the Yankees.

And word from the Congress Street club's weekly "Sinatra Night" was that the not-so-king of the hill's pitch on Old Blue Eyes' tune was just as forgettable as his 2 2/3 innings at Fenway!

Oh, but wait, there's more.

Derek wanted so much to be a part of it, he proceeded to hop behind the drum set every time Al's guys took a break - like the off- key performance wasn't enough to hear vagabond shoes shuffling out the door!

"He was playing them like a kid, ya know," said Someone Who Was There. "There was also a guy with him who tried to play piano, but he couldn't do it either."

File under: Little Mound Blues?

Celebrity tracking

Dawn Timlin, wife of Red Sox pitchman Mike Timlin, partying with pals in a private room at the Boston Park Plaza after her 4:49:55 Boston Marathon finish . . . Claudia Williams, daughter of the late Splendid Splinter, riding the bus to the marathon starting line in Hopkinton . . . Yankees coaches Willie Randolph and Mel Stottlemyre and relief pitcher Paul Quantrill dining at Davio's . . . Designing divo Joseph Abboud, UConn hoop honcho Jim Calhoun and Orlando Magic veep Pat Williams taking in yesterday's 5-4 Sox win over the Yankees . . . New England Patriots safety stud Sean Mayer signing autographs at Sportsworld in Everett . . . New England Cable News nabob Chet Curtis celebrating his 65th at a surprise birthday bash at Siro's . . . Former Boston Bruin bruiser Marty McSorley and Fox Sports baseball guy Tim McCarver - but not together - shucking around at the Union Oyster House . . . Sox second baseman Mark Bellhorn and comedians Steve Sweeney and Jim McCue celebrating the grand re-opening of the Rattlesnake Bar . . . and actor John Larroquette and Sox outfielder Ellis Burks feasting on fish at Legal Sea Foods at the Pru. . . .

Exec shows Yankee spirit

And finally, did you hear how WEEI-AM GM Julie Kahn thought she'd score a home run for her station the other night at Davio's by offering to buy Yankees big guns Joe Torre and Brian Cashman a bottle of wine?

Now, we don't know how many points Julie scored for 'EEI.

But she racked up a few with the restaurant's wine steward, who sold the duo a vintage worth $270!

Caption: Brady sisters take a run at fund raising

Boston Marathoning sisters Nancy and Julie Brady didn't break any records yesterday, but they're still champs to their little bro, Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, and the kids at the American Liver Foundation. The Brady girls, who were part of the ALF's Run for Research team, made the 26.2-mile trek in tandem and clocked in at Copley Square at 5:18:42 (Julie) and 5:18:43 (Nancy). So, Bro, where are the Cadillac Escalades??? HERALD PHOTO BY STUART CAHILL

Caption: WILLIAMS

Caption: BOOK 'EM: Ann Leary, wife of comedian Denis Leary, shows off her new book, with son Jack, 14, during a book signing at Tatnuck Booksellers in Worcester yesterday. STAFF PHOTO BY KEVIN WISNIEWSKI

Copyright 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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