THERE IS A SISTERHOOD OF THE SEDUCTIVE SMILE. And these powerful women, aware or not, can make or break your mood, your dreams, your lover or your husband!

YEARS AGO WE ROOMED WITH A BEAUTIFUL NURSE, Diana, working at the old Edgewater Hospital, and her smile was so radiant, so seductive, men followed her home. If Diana got on a bus, her natural appeal, plus her gorgeous smile, captured all who encountered her. Even bus drivers tried to get her phone number in hopes of again lingering in the golden glow of her smile. Male passengers often got off at her stop and tried to enter her life. She smiled as she said “No” to their pleas.

YES, DIANA KNEW HER SMILE WAS SPECIAL. “WHY NOT SMILE?” she told me. “It makes people, especially men, happy.” Her stunning body, long and lean, her flowing brunette hair that poured over her shoulders like dark honey, made Diana movie-star glamorous. Her hospital patients showered her with gifts as she provided care and starshine that momentarily made them forget their ailments.

WHY ARE WE TELLING YOU about the Sisterhood of the Seductive Smile?

BECAUSE JUNE 15 IS POWER OF A SMILE DAY and you can join the Sisterhood, or the Manhood, and spread your own brand of healthy optimism by trying out your smile. You don’t smile as often as you should. Men prefer happy, smiling women to bitter, unhappy femmes. Who wouldn’t? Women, too, find friendships easier with outgoing, smiling “sisters.”

WE ARE ALL IN THIS MESS OF A WORLD TOGETHER, battling the oil spill, fighting economic woes, worrying about guns and terrorists, cancer, taxes, OBESITY, foreclosures, stupid politicians, selfish, toxic people. And the foul-mouthed, hate-spewing TV and radio commentators add to our laments that fair play is obsolete.

SO SMILE, DAMN YOU, SMILE. WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR OF FROWNING. (Botox, anyone?)

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO SMILING GODDESS DIANA? She was a beautiful, smiling bride of a doctor she met at Edgewater, and they lived happily ever after, smiling at their four little angels and accepting life’s fickle fate with smiles. God, she was a bore!

ANYWAY, GET WITH THE PROGRAM, even before June 15, and smile.

ILL-FATED PRINCESS DIANA was known for her seductive smiles, given freely to AIDS patients, heads of state, Michael Wilkie, John Travolta, Dodi al-Fayed, etc. If she had her seat belt fastened, she’d still be smiling and we’d all have one fewer tragedy to mourn. But we digress. Keep smiling. It can’t hurt.

WHO IS THE RICH WIDOW who offered her son and daughter $500,000 a year each to move back home when her husband died? They both said “No,” although they are forced to live modestly. Their mother’s cruelty to their father, her banning his beloved dogs when he was ill, her rumored affair with his medic, have soured their relationships.

ARLINGTON PARK RACE COURSE OWNER DICK DUCHOSSOIS stopped by to welcome members of the Service Club of Chicago to his track at their annual benefit and he commented on how many attractive women were lunching and betting. The sexiest outfits were worn by Monika Dixon, in a short lacy confection, and Sue Carey, of Hawthorne Race Course, in a big blue hat and matching dress.

LAURA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY, is smarter and more compassionate than she dared to be in the White House, married to the glob. Making the talk show circuit to hype her new book, Spoken from the Heart, Laura was brave enough to go against her husband’s views and state that she believes in and supports gay marriage. In the book she reports that Big Mama Barbara Bush is really a terror, as we suspected, and has a “ferociously tart tongue and has insulted nearly all her friends. When people tell her they’ve met her and know her, she snaps back, “No, you don’t. You don’t know me.” …We met Barbara Bush several times when she visited Chicago and she was the worst dressed first lady since Eve. One knit outfit, red and black horizontal stripes, was especially ill conceived, with gold buttons that barely contained her stomach. Back to Laura, her love of reading sustains her during her marriage to what’s-his-name. Thank God for books.

THE SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT has joined Chicago and Washington, D.C., in a study of cancer rates for firefighters. The data on 18,000 to 30,000 smoke eaters will be available in 2014.

JERRY SPRINGER KEEPS REINVENTING HIMSELF…The former mayor, who has given us the Jerry Springer TV freak show, his fine turn on Dancing with the Stars, his role in the musical Chicago, emcee on America’s Got Talent, as the subject of the opera Jerry Springer, will host a new dating show, Baggage. On the Game Show Network, it gives contestants seeking dates, the chance, and obligation, to reveal all their “baggage.” Telling all their faults is the main idea. It doesn’t strike us as a brilliant, must-see series. But who can tell what the daffy viewers love?

CONGRATS TO JILLY’S ON RUSH, which celebrated its 15th anniversary with a party for 200 revelers.

POOR PAM ANDERSON. Now that the sexy model-actress is off Dancing with the Stars, she admits she can no longer gorge herself on Mamma’s pierogies. Pam cannot burn the calories off as she did with all those sexy moves.

SEX AND THE CITY returns this week and so Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are back in our lives. We were wrong … yes, we goofed when we reported earlier that Sarah Jessica Parker had her nose slimmed. Great pix of her convinced us that this fashion icon, with 41 costume changes in the new movie, had her bulbous tip reshaped. She had cosmetic surgery in the past, and the result wasn’t great, but there is no recent “beautification.” Perfect picture angles deluded moi.

FINE ACTRESS LAURIE METCALF, memorable in the TV Roseanne series, will be back in her hometown at Steppenwolf from Sept. 9 to Nov. 7 in Lisa D’Amour’s Detroit.

SEXY, SAVVY FEMMES inspire fashion designer Quintin de’Alexander so he honored them at a dinner party. Because they “give freely of their time and services to enrich the lives of others,” he saluted Rev. Helen Carry, Evie Glieberman, Cookie Cohen, Constance Howard, Deborah Crable, Emilie McKendall, Merry Green, Antoinette Wright, Jessica Pearson-Cain, Tatisa Joiner, Bobbie Steele.

GOOD NEWS ABOUT LAWYER Herb Glieberman. He’s recovering from successful head and facial surgery.

SINGER NAN MASON AND TERRY HIGGINS STAR MAY 29 at the Drake Hotel’s Palm Court.

THE LATE CHICAGO ARTIST LEON GOLUB, OF THE RUDE OIL-STICK DRAWINGS, gets a long-deserved accolade from Peter Schjeldahl in the May 17 issue of the New Yorker.

SWEET FIX ATTRACTING CHOCOLATE LOVERS is the Leonidas Chocolate Cafe at 59 E. Chicago. The addicted fans rave about the treats.

WE ALL OWE VICTOR SKREBNESKI, legendary photographer, a vote of thanks for the pristine, exquisite grounds around the old Water Tower on Boul Mich. His vision brings spring here, in all her majesty.

DID OUR DAILIES PASS ON PRINTING less-than-flattering news about a high-profile business exec? New York dailies nailed him.

“A MAN NEEDS A MISTRESS JUST TO BREAK THE MONOGAMY,” muses Peter Rogers.

COMIC MEL NOVIT is auditioning for a chance to appear on David Letterman.

ARTIST LEROY NEIMAN, Chicagoan who is said to have had his drawings in every issue of Playboy since 1953, had his right leg amputated in New York City, where he now lives. A vascular problem was to blame but the patient, 89, is penning his memoirs and painting. Neiman’s oils are in many local collections and the late Arnie Morton, a pal of his with Playboy connections, had many of the colorful canvasses. HORSE RACES AND SPORTING EVENTS were fave subjects.

JERRY PRITIKIN PHOTOS of San Fran in the ’70s open at Roosevelt U’s Gage gallery June 3 and run through Aug. 13 … COOKIE WHERRY’S WEDGIE planting tool was named a top buy by Better Homes & Gardens … VOICEOVER ARTISTS and writers of commercials, Penny Lane and Wayne Juhlin, wed 30 years, will finally go to Niagara Falls for a belated honeymoon … LEE BALTERMAN, photojournalist, will have an exhibit opening June 11 at Daiter Gallery. His niece, Ellen Miller, is author/producer of The Hidden Heiress … 85,000 AT-RISK YOUTH have been guided by BUILD, a community-based group that recently held a benefit with 300 guests to give youngsters an alternative to violence. Roslind Blasingame-Buford is executive director.

BILLY MAROVITZ, JERRY REINSDORF and Herb Wander hosted a brunch and a screening of the documentary Jews and Baseball, directed and produced by Peter Miller.

SURE TO BE A GLAM SMASH is the Ascot Ball for the English-Speaking Union on June 18 at the Casino. Co-chairs are Janet Owen and Peggy Snorf with A. Marek Jewelry sponsoring and Kehoe designing decor. Tickets are $350 … MAYOR DALEY AND SEN. TOM HARKIN will be honored at the Access Living 30th gala at Navy Pier. Exelon CEO John Rowe is chair with Linda Mastandrea.

NENA IVON will give a history of the costume council at the June 3 meet at the Chicago History Museum.

WHO IS THE WEALTHY DIVORCED EXEC who is taking cooking, ski, French lessons to win the heart of a demanding but stunning blonde?

“THE COCKTAIL PARTY IS A DEVICE for paying off obligations to people you don’t want to invite to dinner.”

—Charles Merrill Smith