meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
An Old Timey Podcast

76: Bad Blood: Ann Landers, Dear Abby Feud Goes Public (Part 3)

An Old Timey Podcast

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.91.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 92 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For a few years, the feud between twin sisters Ann Landers and Dear Abby was an industry secret. That changed in 1958, when Life Magazine printed a story that exposed the rivalry. In the article, Abby shared stories that weren’t hers to tell. She talked about Ann’s nose job. She talked about Ann’s broken engagement.

Abby told the reporter, “I understand why she’s disturbed. She wanted to be the first violin in the school orchestra, but I was. She swore she’d marry a millionaire, but I did.”

From that point on, the sisters’ feud became part of their permanent public narrative.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from: 
The book “Dear Ann, Deary Abby: The Unauthorized Biography of Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren” by Jan Pottker and Bob Speziale
“Twin lovelorn advisers torn asunder by success,” by Paul O’Neil for Life Magazine
The book, “The Best of Ann Landers: Her Favorite Letters of All Time,” by Ann Landers
The book, “The Best of Dear Abby,” by Abigail Van Buren
“Pauline Phillips, better known as ‘Dear Abby,’ dies at 94,” Washington Post
“Ann Landers, advice giver to the millions, is dead at 83,” by Margalit Fox for the New York Times
“The rivalry of Dear Abby and Ann Landers,” by Melissa Baron for BookRiot.com
“Landers’ death renews family feud,” South Florida Sun Sentinel
“Pauline Phillips, longtime Dear Abby advice dies at 94,” by Michael Martinez for CNN
“Columnists/ daughters carry on the feud,” by Beverly Beyette for the Los Angeles Times
“Competition between Iowa sisters who penned Dear Abby, Ann Landers fueled advice columns,” Des Moines Register

Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!

Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso.

0:07.9

And I'm Norman Caruso. And on this episode, the feud between Anne Landers and Dear Abby goes public.

0:15.9

Oh, shit. You thought it was a secret. It's not anymore. The year is 1958.

0:22.7

DTee.

0:23.3

Wow.

0:24.2

You could have said the year is 1964.

0:27.5

But it didn't know.

0:28.4

They could have rhymed.

0:29.5

Oh.

0:30.2

Oh, wow.

0:30.8

Norm, on this podcast, we stick to the facts.

0:35.3

Okay, the facts.

0:36.4

Okay.

0:37.0

And we can't be messing up on a story this important.

0:41.5

It's Anne Landers and Dear Abby.

0:44.2

I wonder if I...

0:45.8

It's not some stupid thing like World War II.

0:48.4

Hmm.

0:49.1

Uh-oh, I'm getting in trouble for that.

0:50.7

Yeah.

0:51.6

I wonder if I will understand the columns this week. I really struggled last week.

0:58.6

Yeah, but sadly a lot of history hoes were right there with you.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from An Old Timey Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of An Old Timey Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.