Brenda Cronin
Special Writer at The Wall Street Journal
scribbler, The Wall Street Journal; novelist, Gracious Living Without Servants
Articles
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3 weeks ago |
wsj.com | Brenda Cronin
The path-breaking personal shopper who died this last week dispensed far more than clothing advice. Betty Halbreich, the high-end personal shopper who dressed powerful women for decades, died Aug. 24 in Manhattan. Obituaries noted that she had cancer, because even at 96, this silver-haired firecracker seemed inextinguishable. Betty was the original imperious arbiter of the wardrobe, candid in her assessments, confident in her eye and taste.
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1 month ago |
wsj.com | Brenda Cronin
Scenes from our evolving—and devolving—language. Language evolves, but sometimes it devolves. I long ago threw in the towel on “closure.” The pandemic saw school closings, not closures. “Closure” is even worse to describe solace or resolution of sorrow or mourning. Distorting nouns into frankenverbs—think “prioritize” and “impact”—has been going on for years but still grates. A recent addition is “gift”: He gifted me a new tennis racket. That should be “gave.”Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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2 months ago |
wsj.com | Brenda Cronin
Paul VI was bishop of Rome when I was born. The next pontiff will be my sixth. Queen Elizabeth II reigned while 15 British prime ministers came and went. I count my life by popes, and I’m about to see my sixth. My first was Paul VI (1963-78), who seemed the forever pontiff as he reigned throughout my childhood. I knew very little of him beyond hearing his name at Mass and at home. He might as well have been a figure from the Crusades, as remote and enduring as a statue.
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2 months ago |
wsj.com | Brenda Cronin
Salvador Dalí’s wife played many roles: muse, model, defender, business manager and artistic collaborator. “Gala is the only person I listen to,” Salvador Dalí once wrote of his wife, in a letter to a friend. “She alone can say what my future will be.”Gala Dalí moves onto center stage in Michèle Gerber Klein’s biography “Surreal.” The diminutive Russian was far more than a muse and manager, Ms. Klein writes.
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Mar 24, 2025 |
wsj.com | Brenda Cronin
“Our Dumb Century” is a compendium of front pages from the Onion, a satirical newspaper. The faux archive of state-the-obvious “articles” (from “Man With Limbs Employed by Rail-Road” and “Man Ventures Outside Hatless” to “Drugs Win Drug War”) was published in 1999. Ever since, we’ve only become dumber. The dumbification accelerated, like many other bad things, on the wings of social media.
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Hello, @EBernsteinWSJ, Your marvelous column inspired an introduction to this magnificent banyan-- https://t.co/VSher2qdZD https://t.co/W6Lc725okY
In J.D. Salinger's centennial year, a new show displays never-before-exhibited manuscripts and memorabilia https://t.co/PHdbMZNFgS via @WSJ https://t.co/GSRaETmLOV
The inimitable Jay Maisel packs--and unpacks--his extraordinary collection of industrial objects https://t.co/6ezvnJISN5 via @WSJ https://t.co/S9pJBYOkq6