Delivering the body of Anna Nicole Smith; there's somethin' rotten in Broward Co. Fla.

The lover/lawyer and the mother of Anna Nicole Smith both want the body of the deceased 39-year-old train wreck, we saw on CourtTV today, and while we only caught bits and pieces of the riveting courtroom drama, some interesting stuff came out that we'd like to relate right here, right now.

First off, the mama of Anna Nicole Smith (real name Vicky Lynn Marshall) shattered one of the enduring myths surrounding the blonde bombshell, whose body is said to be deteriorating rapidly and must be put on display by Saturday, if a "public viewing" of the corpse is to be held.

Vergie Arthur, Anna Nicole's mother, told a Florida court today that her wild daughter spent the first 17 years of her life in Houston.

She sent her off to Mexia (TX, up around Waco) to live with an aunt after Anna Nicole started runnin' with the wrong crowd in high school, Vergie said. (Unfortunately, she didn't name the high school.)

(This comports with an earlier TV interview we saw with Vergie last week, when she said Ann Nicole like to cultivate the idea that she really was a small-town Texas girl who worked in the local hamburger joint, which the media, of course, loved.)

Anyhow, the mother and daughter had problems, which the mom attributed to Ann Nicole's drug use. She especially liked Valium, Vergie said.

"She liked downers. She didn't like to be up. She liked to be down."

Since Vergie spent her working years as a Harris County deputy sheriff, the drug habit obviously didn't go down well (Vergie spent three years working in the jail and another 25 years as a gun-carrying street cop, she told the judge.)

Mom and daughter were particularly estranged since around '95, though Vergie said her daughter would sometimes call in the middle of the night in a drugged-out state, and once warned her not to go to work "cause I think you're gonna be killed."

Vergie had nice things to say about Howard Marshall, Anna Nicole's deceased rich octogenarian husband.

Anna Nicole, in fighting her husband's heirs over his estate (a battle that continues still), walked away from the marriage with half of her husband's cremains, which she displayed on a mantle during her E! Channel "reality" TV show, which Rusty Hardin, the Houston attorney who represented the Marshall family, said violated a court order that forbade any commercial exploitation of the old man's remains.

Even so, Hardin told CourtTV the Marshall family didn't want to pursue a contempt action over the matter and at this point are just layin' low, shaking their collective heads over the ongoing weirdness in Florida. The only thing the Marshall family wants at this stage is a "firm decision" as to who will be carrying the ball for Anna Nicole when the battle over the estate continues its journey through the appelate wonderland.

(If you haven't been keeping score, Anna Nicole's will left everything to her son, who died last fall, so the whole probate process has a long way to go)

Which brings us to the matter at hand. Who gets to bury Anna Nicole?

Her lover/lawyer, Howard K. Stern, who's beginning to look more and more like a rat every minute, wants to bury her in the Bahamas, next to her son, while Vergie, who lives up in Montgomery, wants to take her back to Texas.

Dr. Joshua Perper, the coroner with the bump on his head, told the court today that Anna Nicole's body is deteriorating more rapidly than expected, even though the corpse had been embalmed, so if there's gonna be a pubic viewing, times is of the essence.

By the way, it also came out today that one of Anna Nicole's brothers is a "federal agent," but Vergie was more than reluctant to give any more info about him during her testimony, and the judge didn't press her. (There also is another brother, who has been disabled since the age of 3, and a sister, who's a homemaker).

For his part, the lover/lawyer, Howard K. Stern, told the court that Anna Nicole always thought she was gonna die young, like Marilyn Monroe, and even thought she might die during the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn, who's just a wee thing and oblivious to all of this. (Wonder if anyone's keeping a scrapbook of all this for the poor thing.)

Of course, it's all about money, but you already knew that.

In that vein, the Playboy Store has opened a special "tribute section" for your shopping pleasure. All major credit cards are accepted, we're pretty sure.