Liz Smith (journalist) Smith later moved to New York City, where she worked as a typist, proofreader, and reporter before she broke into the media world as a news producer for Mike Wallace at CBS Radio. She spent five years as a news producer for NBC-TV. She also worked for Allen Funt on "Candid Camera". In the late 1950s, Smith worked as a ghostwriter for the popular "Cholly Knickerbocker" gossip column that appeared in the Hearst newspapers. After leaving that column in the early 1960s she went to work for Helen Gurley Brown as the entertainment editor for the American version of "Cosmopolitan",
Helen Gurley Brown and Jaffe talent agencies, Gurley worked for Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency as a secretary. Her employer recognized her writing skills and moved her to the copywriting department, where she advanced rapidly to become one of the nation's highest-paid ad copywriters in the early 1960s. In 1959, she married David Brown, who would go on to become a noted film producer. In 1962, Brown's book "Sex and the Single Girl" was published in 28 countries, and stayed on the bestseller lists for over a year. In 1964 the book inspired the film of the same name starring Natalie Wood.