Molly Ivins returns from the dead

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Molly Ivins was a barbed-tongue, foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, muck-raking journalist and columnist with a strong social conscience, a dedication to public service, an empathy with the powerless and an optimism unsupported by every bit of her vast experience in this world. And she was not alone.

During the past few decades, women as dissimilar as the demure Lady Bird Johnson, the ground-breaking Texas Gov. Ann Richards, the courageous member of Congress Barbara Jordan and the feisty author and political activist Liz Carpenter were bound together in a deep and determined friendship. And they routinely moved malevolent male mountains out of their way with apparent ease. Now they are gone.

"You know, what was in the water at that time?" asked Austin actress Barbara Chisholm, who is playing Ivins in a play based on the journalist's career. "There was this convergence of these women and it was hardly a time when strong political women were encouraged in Texas. That's incredible, incredible and I feel personally privileged. Boy, I got to walk when they were walking."

Chisholm stars in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins on Zach Theatre 's Kleberg stage through March 13. Her performance suggests a deep familiarity with the woman. The truth is, though, that while the two were South Austin neighbors and often passed each other in bakeries and parks, they only actually met once.

During her days working for the liberal Texas Observer newspaper in Austin, Ivins would host "Final Friday" parties after each issue of the paper was put to bed. Chisholm repeatedly pleaded with friends who attended those affairs to take her along.

"I remember them being called, like, 'salons,'" said Chisholm. "So I had this image of them being this very refined thing, very esoteric, very literary, you know, and I was thinking red velvet poofs, you know, and paisley throws.

"So somebody finally one time said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can come.'

"And so I was all psyched, you know, and I really felt a lot of pressure; I wanted to have something witty and clever to do. So I was really nervous about it. We got to her house. It was a beer bust; I mean, it was a kegger! I was so flummoxed! I said, 'Hey, I can do this.'"

Chisholm enjoyed the party but never did utter a witty remark or deliver a clever line.

A friend of mine said to me, 'Ah, I'll never forget the last thing Molly said to me: 'How do you do?'" Chisholm recalled. "You know, I was like, 'Yes! She said that to me, too. 'Welcome to my house.' 'Thank you, thank you.' So that's as well as I knew Molly."

But if the actress and the journalist were strangers in life, Chisholm learned plenty about Ivins after her death.

"One, incredible intellect and so funny!" she said.

"The ACLU got mad at Annie once about a Christmas manger scene set up at the Capitol," Chisholm has Ivins saying in the play. "But she said, 'Oh, why don't we just let it be. That's probably as close as three wise men will ever get to the Texas Legislature.'"

Of course, some of this is or is not appreciated, depending on the eye and ear of the beholder.

"I think if you're predisposed to have similar political leanings, you know, there's a real preaching to the choir element to it," Chisholm said. "But I got a postcard today from somebody who said, 'I saw the show last week. I only sort of knew who Molly Ivins was and I am no liberal and I'm not a Democrat and I loved it!'

"I think even the people who were the subject of her barbs, you know, you had to appreciate the way that, you know, the way that she tossed them," said the actress.

There comes a time during the performance, though, where the laughing drops dead at the feet of passion.

"There is not one thing wrong with the liberties set forth in the Declaration and the Constitution," Chisholm's Molly proclaims. "The only trouble is our founding fathers left out poor people and black people and gay people and female people."

Female people like Lady Bird Johnson, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan and Liz Carpenter. They are gone now. Who is rising up to take their places?

"If you believed her; if you admired that, then you have a job," Chisholm said. "The challenge that this play issues is to say, 'Hey! That's your job; that's my job.' You know, it wasn't Molly's job. We didn't just get to say, 'Great, good, she's minding the farm; we don't have to worry about it.'

"Her challenge to us -- and if I can just get that across with this play -- that's our job. If you believed her; if you admired that, then you have a job; I have a job; we all do. Be a citizen; take part!"