The last time I looked, I had 522 friends, and I would have to say I have kept famous people to an absolute minimum. In fact, I only have four famous friends. This will offend some of my truly close buddies, who firmly believe they are famous, but that's the way it is. We are talking Facebook here, and nobody ever lies on Facebook.
But it's an impressive list. Let's look at them now ... Mary Weiss, former lead singer of '60s melodrama queens, the Shangri Las; Peter King, designer of dazzling sets for the Fortune Theatre; Carolyn Hester, a '60s folk star of substance, and once a Bob Dylan girlfriend; and Suzanne Paul, of whom no further words need be spoken.
Mary Weiss, still performing, has 5227 friends. The eternal whining delinquent teenager whose boyfriends always wore black, died on motorbikes and were hated by her parents, Mary remains revered.
Michael Gladstone wrote on her Facebook page that on Long Island in 1965 she was the girl of his dreams. He added, with a slightly reddening face, that she was still that. This is a remarkably similar message to the one I sent her three years ago. She writes politely and cares about the environment.
Peter King, 234 friends, writes intermittently, but always with care and sensitivity. I am astonished a man so good with his hands converses with someone, me, whose DIY DNA precludes distinguishing between a centimetre and a centipede.
Carolyn Hester, 3841 friends, still performing, does not write. Never has.
But I enclose her here because she may write any day. God knows I write to HER every day. She is singing better than ever.
And finally, Suzanne Paul, the closest we have to a Pakeha Queen, even though she was born in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton.
Suzanne is a huge Coro fan, and that's why I hooked myself on to her friends list. In fact, I was her 5000th friend.
When wandering around her site after Google sent me there on Coro business, I noticed she was poised on 4999 friends. Naturally I burst in on her begging to be the 5000th and when she said Yes my heart soared like an American eagle.
Suzanne has been in good Coro form recently because things have been happening at a frighteningly fast clip.
Her ability to sum things up tersely is beyond compare.
"That Tracy is a nasty piece of knitting," she wrote last week.
And isn't that just exactly what she is?
I was thinking of Suzanne when I was listing my Favourite Five Coro Characters Right Now at the weekend, something I have done every weekend since the show began. I have been particularly impressed with the performance of Baby Jack, who has the most amazing face and fantastically compelling expressions.
Coro does children very badly, but Baby Jack is right on the money.
I have Baby Jack at 3, behind Graeme The Butcher, peerlessly funny, and Schmeichel The Tragically Under-used Big Dog (he could have been dragging bodies free all night during the train smash). Kirk, also criminally under-used, though the possibility remains he is a bit thick in real life as well, hence learning words would be a trial, comes in at 4, and then Eccles, yes, another dog, is at 5, just narrowing out a vastly-improved Rosie.
I contacted Suzanne, asking for her favourite five, knowing her list would be the benchmark. I wrote nervously coz she is famous and busy, but consistent with the wonderful woman and fine dancer she is, her reply came back within hours.
"Too hard," she wrote. And she sealed her message with a kiss.
A true Facebook Friend.
- Roy Colbert is a Dunedin writer.
