New York Social Diary - Social Diary

Under the blooming cherry blossoms in Central Park. 3:30 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Thursday, April 18, 2013. A beautiful sunny Spring day, yesterday in New York, with temperatures hovering in the low 70s and perfect.

Down at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library on 42nd and Fifth, they held the annual Library Lunch. Following the actual luncheon, there was a conversation of the Classics moderated by David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, with Rebecca Mead on George Eliot's“Middlemarch” and novelist Gary Shteyngart on Philip Roth's“Portnoy's Complaint.”

This annual luncheon is another one of those special bonuses of living in New York. This luncheon is a fund-raiser so the ticket is a high one, although they draw a few hundred in attendance. However, like so many of these public cultural activities – in this case literary – there is something to learn, someone (often a prominent author) to hear and learn from; and something to take away and think about.

Olga Votis, Lea Brokaw, Danielle Ganek, NYPL President Tony Marx, Elizabeth Rohatyn, Darcy Rigas, and Shala Monroque.

The co-chairs of the Library luncheon this year were Lea Brokaw, Danielle Ganek, Shala Monroque, David Remnick, Elizabeth Rohatyn and Olga Votis. The lunch was sponsored by Asprey.

Over at Cipriani 42nd Street The Food Allergy Initiative was hosting it’s 14th Annual Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) Spring Luncheon. Co-chairs were Abbey Braverman, Roxanne Palin and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. Lori Stokes of WABC-TV New York was emcee.

Coco Kopelman, Peter Lyden, and Gillian Miniter.

Lisa Blau, Lea Brokaw, Susan Burden, Katie Carpenter, and friend.

Steve Schwarzman and NYPL President Tony Marx.

Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn and Yvonne Force Villareal.

Eleanora Kennedy and Tory Burch.

Merilee Bostock and Susan Braddock.

Daisy Prince and Marina Rust Connor.

Peter Duchin and Joan Hardy Clark, who was celebrating her birthday.

Me, I was down at Michael’s once again to meet up with our No Holds Barred columnist Blair Sabol who drove up from Philadelphia for the day on business (and our lunch). The place was jumping and the light and the flowers and the great Michael’s art collection gave the day a lift.

In the crowd, Media and PR abounding: Catherine Saxton was hosting Jamie Figg, Yue Sai Kan, David Hryck; in town from Shanghai (her other home); Scott Currie with Lynn Tesoro; Hollywood.com’s Bonnie Fuller, Carlos Lamadrid and Gerry Byrne presided over the big Table One with several guests; Veranda’s Dara Caponigro; Bizbash.com’s David Adler; WSJ’s David Sanford and Lewis Stein; Alexander Chemia; Jimmy Finkelstein with Randy Falco; Andrew Stein with James Toback and Bill Siegel; Rob Wiesenthal with Sir Howard Stringer; Quest’s Chris Meigher; author/journalist (columnist for the Guardian) Michael Wolff with Dave Calloway of USA Today; Leslie Stahl; Patrick Murphy; Eva Lorenzotti; John McEnroe with tv producer Jim Bell; Boaty Boatright with Jay Kantor; Jack Kliger; Peter Brown; David Kohl; Sharon Bush with Judy Cox; Steven Stolman; Jill Zarin (New York Houeswives); the FT’s fashion reporter/ columnist Vanessa Friedman – the very best in the business in my opinion; Hollywood mogul Ron Meyer; Tom Goodman; Barry Frey; Howard Berk, Jason Bernstein; and scores more just like ‘em.

The Michael's lunch yesterday. It looks rather calm but that's only because the sound's been turned off.

A close-up of the bouquet above my table.

My own private daffodil, given to me by our doorman Luis, who is a serious horticulturist, raising, among other plants, a variety of orchids. They were tiny buds when I got them three weeks ago. I set this pot in my corner window where it got heat, sun, and water once a week. For awhile I didn't think anything would happen, but yesterday, it suddenly appeared so I took her outside for a photo-op..

Last night’s Social Calendar was jumping too. Starting the evening, over at Tiffany on Fifth and 57th Street they were hosting a cocktail reception celebrating their Jazz Age Salon with Tiffany’s The Gatsby Collection, inspired by the new film version of Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” starring Leo DiCaprio.

In the Grand Ballroom down at the Waldorf, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Leonard Lauder hosted their annual fundraiser, this year titled “Viva Fiesta! The Hot Pink Party” with Sir Elton John once again, Emcee Elizabeth Hurley.

Constance Jablonski, Michael Kors, Aerin Lauder, and Elizabeth Hurley at last night's Breast Cancer Research Foundation's “Viva Fiesta! The Hot Pink Party.”

At Gotham Hall, Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife Lisa hosted their Grassroots Garden Gala which they co-founded, and they honored Harold Hamm and Marlo Thomas.

Up at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, The Academy of American Poets were holding “Poetry and the Creative Mind” with a bevy of special (famous) guest readers, followed by a cocktail reception and dinner with the readers.

The flowers in front of the Plaza and the fountain, next to Fifth Avenue, last night.

I went over to the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza where the American Academy in Rome was hosting a Tribute Dinner honoring Elizabeth Diller, Charles Renfro, and Ricardo Scofidio who received the Centennial Medal , and Adele Chatfield-Taylor, the President and CEO of the American Academy who is retiring at the end of this year after twenty-five years of success and progress of the American Academy. She was awarded the Medal of Excellence.

Mercedes Bass was Dinner Chairman and the black tie affair was a great success. The ballroom was filled to capacity. Playwright John Guare (Chatfield-Taylor’s husband) was emcee, and the guest list was populated with distinguished Fellows of the American Academy (FAAR), trustees, artists, authors, architects, attorneys, philanthropists and cultural activists.

Prestige is the word that comes to mind. Its prestige offers and affords the pursuit of Excellence. That pursuit takes place in a kind of oasis, set in Rome, for those selected to join. It is the leading overseas center for independent study and advance research in the arts and humanities.

Guests finding their seats for last night American Academy in Rome's annual dinner.

This has been going on for 119 years. McKim, Mead and White designed its main villa. It offers support, time and a collaborative environment for its Fellows. These individuals are among some of America’s most gifted artists and scholars. It’s a haven and a heaven for those men and women. Who also have the somewhat unique experience of living in a community that is composed of people like themselves, in “pursuit” of that excellence.

The American Academy offers “up to 30 Rome Prize Fellowships in architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, literature, musical composition, visual arts, and in humanistic approaches to ancient studies, medieval studies, Renaissance and early-modern studies, and modern Italian studies.” A place to go away, to and give birth to dreams. It sounds like a vacation, and I don’t doubt that in some ways it is. It has to be – in that extraordinary physical environment in that ancient spot on the planet.

The ideal that the American Academy in Rome supports, underwrites, encourages, is, ultimately, a better world. It is significant that it sits on terra firmathat has seen three civilizations.

Mercedes Bass and Robert Stern.

It was an evening of speeches, albeit brief, of expressed thanks for support. And unlike many dinners where there are a number of serious speeches, the tables are quiet and attentive. That tells you something about those attending, for very often these large dinners are filled with people who can’t stop talking no matter what it is going on.

Diller, Renfro and Scofidio are partners in an “interdisciplinary design studio (Diller, Scofidio + Renfro) that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts.” They work collaboratively with a staff of 90 architects. They are very busy with projects like the High Line urban park in Chelsea, the redesign of Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the renovation and expansion of the Juilliard School, the Institute of Contemporary Art on Boston’s waterfront; and on and on. The sheer volume of their projects astounds. It reflects change not only in the architecture but in the culture and the society.

Elizabeth Diller (on video screen) speaks for her partners, Charles Renfro, and Ricardo Scofidio, in accepting last night's award.

Emcee John Guare speaks with enthusiasm and quiet wit about his wife Adele Chatfield-Taylor's experience of running the American Academy in Rome, as well as the pleasure of spending time in Rome regularly and being surrounded by the Academy's rarified environment.

John Guare and Adele Chatfield-Taylor as she is presented with the citation to accompany her Medal of Excellence.

Speaking to the guests, accepting her medal.

Chatfield-Taylor and Guare accepting the applause of the room.

Aerial view of the American Academy in Rome (lower right where you see the blue water of a fountain).

Adele Chatfield-Taylor has been the head of the Academy since December 1988. She came to it through a Rome Prize fellowship herself – in 1983-84. She had previously worked as a professional historical preservationist, working on the staff of the New York City Landmarks Commission and then as Executive Director of the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation. Listening to her acceptance speech last night, I heard a woman who is deliberate yet gentle, deeply committed and still curious, with the demeanor of an excellent executive and an ally of artists. If this were a religion she would be the cardinal, or maybe even the pope. There was that aura, along with the camaraderie, in the room last night.

It was a special evening. They raised more than $2 million for the Academy.

Several of the FAAR members applauding Adele Chatfield-Taylor after her acceptance speech.

Contact DPC here.

Sunday morning walk. 10:00 AM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Monday, April 22, 2013. Beautiful, sunny weekend in New York, temps in the 40s and 50s. Chipper, like April.

On the walk home Thursday afternoon on East 65th heading toward Park. I got a close up of these flowers which are just about ready to depart from the leaves.

Friday afternoon riding home in a taxi from a business meeting in Chinatown. Traveling through Chelsea to the West Side Highway: A school playground.

Barry Diller's IAC headquarters designed by Frank Gehry.

From a single to a trio ... in for the night.

Last night I went down to the Four Seasons restaurant on East 52nd for the annual Through the Kitchen dinner which benefits the Cancer Research Institute Irvington Fellowship Program. Lauren Veronis started this Sunday night affair thirty-one years ago this year, and they’ve raised $8 million for this one program. The Institute concentrates on research in the field of immunology.

Mrs. Veronis brings out a good crowd of many prominent New Yorkers. Mayor Bloomberg and Diana Taylor were among the guests. It is one of the few benefits that the mayor takes the time out to attend. And on Sunday night too. Police Commissioner Kelly was also there with his wife Veronica.

The menu for last night's "Through the Kitchen" benefit, placed at the entrance.

The devoted supporters.

A lot of the guests are friends, or no more than two degrees of separation from almost everyone in the room. It could be called the Lauren Veronis’ own private Linked-In. It also attracts friends of friends. The reason they can pull in several hundreds on a Sunday night is because of The Cause, of course, but also there’s a camaraderie in the room.

And the food. That is Lauren Veronis’ ace. And in this beautiful, now landmarked classic restaurant of New York. They give you a chef’s apron as you enter the kitchen, big plate in hand. And before you it's ... a cornucopia. It brings out the You-Know-What in the best of us. There’s just about everything imaginable (that you love to eat even if you know you shouldn’t) waiting in long buffets. And maybe because it is actually serve-yourself-in-the-kitchen-buffet, it’s kinda homey, like a Sunday night.

Cocktails over, time to move into the kitchen.

Still in the bar area. That's Diana Taylor on the far left, talking to Dr. Dick Levine and Jenny Conant; the Mayor is to the right of them with his back to the camera; Jeanne Siegel is talking to Lauren Veronis; Larry Leeds is the man with the red in his blue blazer; Patricia Ganzi to the right of him.

In the crowd: Susan and Tony Bennett, The Mayor and Diana Taylor, Joyce Brown and Carl McCall, Hilary and Joe Califano; Drs. Lew Cantley and Vicki Soto, Joe Cohen and Lally Weymouth, Virginia and Peter Duchin, Joanne and Roberto de Guardiola, Caroline and Thom Dean, Elizabeth Lindeman, Greg Kelly, Herb and Jeanne Siegel, Cathy Black, Irvin Levy and Joanie Schnitzer, Mr. and Mrs. Regis Philbin, Ce Ce Cord, Maurice Sonnenberg, Carol Mack, David and Lisa Schiff, Marlene Hess and Jim Zirin, Danielle Ganek, Larry and Dalia Leeds, Jeffrey and Elizabeth Leeds, Amelia Ogunlesi, Katherine Oliver, Andrew and Ann Tisch, LeAnn Waldron, Barbara and Peter Georgescu, Polly Espy, Sandy Golinkin, Linda Johnson, Joel Klein and Nicole Seligman, Jenny Conant and Steve Kroft, Charles Gargano and Marilyn Alfred, Barbara Walters, Ken and Elaine Langone, Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder, Margie and Michael Loeb, Susan and Tim Malloy, Linda Wells, Caryn Zucker, Nancy and Joe Missett, Deborah Norville and Karl Wellner, Governor George Pataki, Paula and Leon Root, Alex Lind and Louis Rose, Rosanna Scotto and Lou Ruggiero, Lois and Arthur Stainman, Perri Peltz and Eric Ruttenberg, Jane and Jim Stern, Kathy and Andrew Thomas, Alfred and Judy Taubman, Cyrus and Peggy Vance, and hundreds more just just like ‘em waiting to hit the buffet tables (and go back for more).

DeJuan Stroud did the table settings with the theme of famous women of accomplishment. Such as Marilyn Monroe, Sophie Tucker, Gypsy Rose Lee, Pocahantas, Mae West, Amelia Earhart, Tammy Faye Baker (... so?), Shirley Temple, Hetty Green, Dr. Renée Richards, Ma Barker, Betty Crocker, Jackie Kennedy, Lauren Veronis (this was a last minute secret from Mrs. V carried out by her daughter Perri Peltz). Stroud does the tables every year and they’re real party pleasers and interesting to look at (and take home if you feel like it).

Ellen and Dr. Dick Levine.

Charles Tolbert and Anna Ponder.

Diana Taylor and Marlene Hess.

Joanie Schnitzer and Lisa Schiff.

Jamie Niven, the Exec-VP of Sotheby’s held one of his Jamie auctions where he talks nitty-gritty to his audiences since he knows a lot of them and knows what they’re good for. Everyone has a good laugh while he’s at it (and while they’re giving). He raised another $200,000 in a ten-minute period and kept everyone’s attention (wondering what he’d say next). Mrs. Veronis told the guests that Michael Bloomberg has been a supporter of this project since its inception, and continues to provide support. She presented the Mayor with a framed apron (you get a chef’s apron every year – very useful in your kitchen).

After the brief presentation to the Mayor and Mr. Niven’s private auction, they open the doors to the dessert room on the next level. Everyone, all hundreds of them, immediately head for it. Sugah sugah. And by nine-thirty people begin heading out.

Out of the Grille Room and into the kitchen.

The camera greets the guests in the kitchen.

And here we are, plate in hand.

The meats. Notice the apron, smart length.

The salmon and the sauces ...

DeJuan Stroud did the table settings with the theme of famous women of accomplishment ...

View of the pool room last night as guests made their way to the dessert floor.

And this is what they came upon. And filled their plates with.

This past Friday night, BOMB, the magazine, held its 32nd Anniversary Gala and Silent Auction at Capitale. They honored Trish Brown, Beth Rudin DeWoody, and Kyle DeWoody, and Raymond Pettibon. Honorary Chairs were Jon Robin Baitz and Melva Bucksbaum and Ray Learsy. Co-chairs for the evening were Cary Brown-Epstein, Eric Diefenbach and JK Brown, Joanne Leonhardt Casullo, Marcia and Richard Mishaan, Shaun Caley Regen, and David Zwirner.

Suzanne Cochran, Janine Yoss, Christina Lurie, and Jennifer Danner.

Sabrina Leichter and Kyle DeWoody.

Klaus Kertess.

Scott Campbell and Lake Bell.

Liliana Cavendish and Hunt Slonem.

Lisa Phillips, Beth Rudin DeWoody, and Rachel Hovnanian.

Uzoamaka Maduka and Jonathan Marder.

Melva Bucksbaum.

Alan Alda.

Bridgette Finn and Ann Schaffer.

Rachel Hovnanian and Adam Weinberg.

Jordan Doner and Olesya Anisimovich.

Firooz Zahedi and Fiona Rudin.

Mary Whitten, Michele Oka Done, Frederick Doner, Betsy Sussler, and Jack Whitten.

Vincent Fremont and Caroline Newhouse.

Judy Auchincloss and Fredric Tuten.

Joe Sheftel and Joanne Cassullo.

Edgar Arceneaux and Alice Judelson.

Tom Cashin and Jay Johnson.

Last Thursday night over at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center they held the YAGP Gala, the final evening of the Youth America Grand Prix: “Stars of Tomorrow Meet the Stars of Today.” This is about the ballet. The Everything Is Beautiful part. And it is.

Each year the YAGP hold auditions for 5000 students worldwide, by video and through the United States and international semi-finals conducted by the Youth American Grand Prix. Auditions are conducted in 12 major U.S. metropolitan areas and in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, and France.

Of the five thousand entering the competition, 350 of the most promising soloists from 30 countries and five continents are chosen for the New York City finals. Those finals were held this past Wednesday. The final round was this past Thursday night when the public could see the best of the competition with the best of the top soloists in the junior (age 12-14) and senior (age 15- 19) divisions perform one last time before the winners are announced.

Soon Yi Previn Allen and Karen LeFrak.

Woody Allen.

Mason and Kim Granger.

Gary and Barbara Brandt.

Karen LeFrak, Hilary Geary Ross, Jamee Gregory, Janna Bullock, and Eleanora Kennedy.

Linda Morse.

Fiona Rudin.

B. Michael.

Jennifer Titman, Hilary Hirsch, Charles Chaitman, and Emilia Hirsch.

James Bort and Dorothee Gilbert.

Wilbur Ross and Hilary Geary Ross.

Irene Shen and Tyler Angle.

Andrew and Kamie Lightburn.

The performance began at 7. When I arrived at the theater at 6:30 there was a big crowd both outside and in the lobby, including a lot of children and young people with the enthusiasm you might see at a rock concert or an athletic play-off events.
That energy swept right into the auditorium and from the moment the curtain was raised, the packed house were presented two and a half hours (with intermission) of riveting, sometimes thrilling, often disarming entertainment provided by remarkably talented people from very young to mature. There were among the very young who were already champions in the eyes of the audience.

The evening opened with a video and violinist Elli Choi of the Juilliard School accompanied on the piano by Carlos Avila performing a “Carmen Fantasy” (Music by Pablo de Sarasate). Miss Choi who looks to be no more than ten or twelve (although quite possibly up close she’s a little older — but maybe younger) is an extraordinary violinist. Her performance set the tone for the evening.

The stars of the Ballet last Thursday night for the benefit of the YAGP at the David Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

This was followed by The Winners of the YAGP 2013 International Student Ballet Competition. This began with very young dancers (looking no more than 8 or 10 years old – although again possibly a little bit older – to late teenagers. All of the performances were sensational and the theater audience (especially the younger crowd) went wild with bravos, whistles and applause. That elevated the tone to one of excitement and color of a sporting event. I could see (and hear from the audience) that ballet is still new all over again, and the youngest generations need only be exposed to it.

There were separate performances by each age group winners, and then the Grand Defile -- a specially choreographed piece d’occasion for more than 250 YAGP participants from 28 countries and throughout the United States, choreographed by Carlos dos Santos, Jr. with music by Pietr Tchaikovsky. More sensational.

The Stars of Today taking their bows.

These were the “Stars of Tomorrow” and you could believe it when you saw them; they were so good, sometimes thrilling and always winning. My apparently boundless enthusiasm about it is the only way I can express the wonder of it all. This had been a bad week in our world, all around. But up there on the stage of the David Koch Theater was the future with nothing but hope and good news provided by the young.

This was followed by the “Stars of Today”—a series of pieces. Performers were: Clifton Brown, “Take 5” choreography by Fredrick Earl Mosley; Svetlana Lunkina of the Bolshoi, dancing La Bayadere – Nikiya Monologue, Choreography by Marius Petipa; Viengsay Valdes and Osiel Gouneo of the National Ballet of Cuba; Double Bounce, choreography by Peter Quanz, music by David Lang; Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle (of the NYC Ballet), Partita No. 2 in C Minor, world premiere; Choreography Emery LeCrone, Music by J.S. Bach; Chase Finlay of the NYC Ballet dancing Tous Les Jours (also US premiere) with choreography by Marcelo Gomes and music by Karen LeFrak (this had its world premiere at the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg last March); Dorothee Gilbert (of the Paris Opera) dancing with Marcelo Gomes (ABT), Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Balcony Pas de Deux, choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan; music by Sergei Prokofiev; Maria Kochetkova (San Francisco Ballet) and Lonnie Weeks (a YAGP alum now with the SF Ballet), dancing Borderlands Pas de Deux– New York Premiere; Choreography by Wayne McGregor and Music by Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney; Nina Ananiashvili (of the Tbilisi Z. Paliashvili Opera and Ballet State Theatre) and Lil Buck, dancing Swan (Piece d’occasion) with Choreography by Mikhail Fokine, Lil Buck, and music by Saint-Saens; and Misa Kuranaga of the Boston Ballet, and Herman Cornejo of the ABT and Alejandro Virelles (another YAGP alum, now with the Boston Ballet) dancing Le Corsaire – Pas de Trois with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Adolphe Adam. A brilliant evening at the ballet.

Dinner on the promenade.

Photographs by Patrick McMullan (Grand Prix, Bomb).

Contact DPC here.

11:00 AM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Another sunny bright beautiful Spring day in New York; still on the chilly side but beauty abounding in the trees, in the parks.

Early Springtime through the trees.

Waiting in traffic for the cab to turn on 61st Street and Park Avenue at 12:50. I couldn't resist the shot either, although the actual site is more spectacularly fresh, lush and delicate than my camera conveys.

Many kind and thoughtful readers have written in to inquire about the health of my friend and Shih-tzu, Missy a/k/a Madame who evidently had a bout of gastroenteritis a couple of Sundays ago. After our (costly) visit to the vet, and without giving her any of her prescriptions, her conditioned turned around within hours. I think she’s a little like me: a visit to the doc is sometimes the cure, at least for the head. By evening she was taking little bits of freshly roasted chicken and finally I just chopped some up with rice and she wolfed it down, then looking up at me as if to say: “Where’s the rest of it?” (with a wag of the tail). When she had her walks later that night, she pulled me down the avenue, as is her wont. When I told her of the NYSD interest in her, she wondered if it involved treats.

Today is the birthday of my friend Beth DeWoody. We have known each other longer than many people we know have been alive. That’s youthful endurance. I mention Beth on this day because she has, through her friendship, shed great and positive influence on my life, especially in the last two decades here in New York. Although she gave my professional career a kick-start long before.


	The birthday girl.

She is a catalyst by nature although she’s known, and expresses it, as an art collector in today’s world. We rarely see each other although her apartment is right around the corner from me. Mainly because she’s peripatetic.

If I were to imagine, without asking, where she was, I’d have her on a plane heading somewhere exotic. As a result she has friends all over the world.

She recently married the photographer/ portraitist Firooz Zahedi. Firooz’ home base has been in L.A. for a long time, so Beth’s putting down a footprint there, as she has in Palm Beach, Southampton and with artists all over the world. The other night down at Capitale, BOMB Magazine honored her along with her daughter Kyle DeWoody at their annual gala benefit. They knew what they were talking about. Happy Birthday Beth XX!

Last night in New York, the party was the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s annual Spring Ball. This year it was held at the Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing of the Metropolitan Museum. This is always a glamorous affair, black tie, because many of the women who belong to SMSKC, are some of the most fashionable women in New York today.

The women of the SMSKC work hard at their tasks. You can’t belong if you don’t. They not only raise a lot of funds for the Center and its programs but they volunteer a lot of their time to make things work. This is the 6th annual Spring Ball and since its inception, they’ve raised more than $8 million for leading patient care, education, and research programs.

The three co-chairs for the evening just before the photographers' portrait, in front of the Harry Winston staircase (for the occasion).

The dance floor ready for Astaire and Rogers. Although at first I thought it was water. Looking out on Central Park. The tallest building that you can see through the glass is 1040 Fifth Avenue where Jackie Onassis lived.

This year’s co-chairs were Shelley Carr, Julia Koch and Karen LeFrak. The evening was sponosored by Harry Winston, Inc – notice the inititals on the candlelit main staircase. After the dinner there was a special performance by Diana Krall.

There were more than 400 guests, including: Jeff and Caryn Zucker, Tory Burch, Zac Posen, David and Julia Koch, Richard and Karen LeFrak, Brad Comisar, Tara and Michael Rockefeller, Dayssi Kanavos, Muffie Potter Aston and Dr. Sherrell Aston, Baird and Alexia Hamm Ryan, Jay Diamond and Alexandra Lebenthal, Jean and Martin Shafiroff, Amanda Ross, Wilbur and Hilary Geary Ross, Michael and Eleanora Kennedy, Paula Zahn, Michel Witmer, Graziano and Valerie de Boni, Michael and Shelley Carr, Joanne and Roberto de Guardiola, Dr. Annette Rickel, Charlie and Sara Ayres, Annabel Tollman, Stephen and Kitty Sherrill, Jamie Niven, Jamie Tisch, Harriet and Ron Weintraub, Perri Peltzand Eric Ruttenberg, Shoshanna Gruss, Mark Gilbertson.

The co-chairs: Karen LeFrak, Julia Koch, and Shelley Carr.

Lisa McCarthy and Libby Fitzgerald.

Caroline Dean and Shelley Carr.

Muffie Potter Aston, Caryn Zucker, and Alex Lebenthal.

Dr. Sherrell Aston, Jamie Gregory and Michael Kennedy.

Eleanora Kennedy and Peter Gregory.

Heather Leeds and Michael Carr.

Michael Rockefeller and Mark Gilbertson.

A night of glamour for a June mom.

Ruffles and flourishes ...

Lottie Oakley and Amanda Brooks.

Chiu-Ti Jansen and Geoffrey Bradfield.

Gigi Mortimer and Allure editor Linda Wells.

Libby Fitzgerald talking to Sara Ayres.

Delphine Barguirdjian.

The backstory.

Backstory II.

And three.

And four.

And five and six.

And seven.

And eight.

And nine.

An even ten.

Janna Bullock.

The affianced.

Quest magazine's Lily Hoagland and Michel Witmer.

Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos.

Tory Burch and Zac Posen.

John Gunn and Jennifer Raab.

Mrs. Shafiroff en conversant.

The Met last night at 8:30.

Keeping up with keeping up. Two Sundays ago at Restaurant Daniel, Cheff Daniel Boulud continued his long-time support of Citymeals-on-Wheels with his now famous early Sunday dinner. This year they were also celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Restaurant DANIEL.

In celebration, DANIEL’s current culinary team was joined by Restaurant DANIEL alumni including Chefs Cyrille Allanic (JP Morgan Chase); Dominique Ansel (Dominique Ansel Bakery, NYC); Michael Anthony (Gramercy Tavern); Jonathan Benno (Lincoln Ristorante); Matteo Bergamini (SD26, NYC); Philippe Bertineau (Benoit); Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter, The Darby); Lee Hanson (Balthazar, Minetta Tavern); Johnny Iuzzini (Sugar Fueled INC); Alex Lee (Glen Oaks Country Club); Harold Moore (Commerce); Riad Nasr (Balthazar, Minetta Tavern); François Payard (FP Patisserie); Lior Lev Sercarz (La Boîte à Epice); Bradford Thompson (Bellyfull Consulting, Inc.); and Nicholas Wilber (The Fat Radish). Special guests from the world of wine and cocktails including Markus Draxler (Solex Fine Foods, Catsmo); Xavier Herit (Experimental Cocktail Club); Jean-Luc Le Dû (Le Dû’s Wines); Philippe Marchal (Kobrand Wine & Spirits); and David Newlin (Michael Skurnik Wines) will join Wine Chair Daniel Johnnes, serving the fine wine selections. Was this The New York Cuisine, or what?

Daniel and his staff and his visiting chefs.

150 privileged guests savored the opportunity to indulge at DANIEL, one of New York’s most elegant dining destinations, where they were served a sumptuous multi-course dinner, prepared by Daniel and his guest chefs.

The special guest hosts Al Roker of the Today Show and DANIEL alumna Gail Simmons (Food & Wine and Top Chef) were also the evening's live auctioneers. They raised enough to fund the preparation and delivery of more than 90,000 meals to New York City’s homebound elderly.

Daniel Boulud.

Dominique Ansel.

Philippe Bertineau.

Among this year’s guests: Aliyyah Baylor, Joel Buchman, Cesare Casella, Marjorie Doniger, Tiffany Dubin, Joan Helpern, Suri Kasirer, Margo Nederlander, John Raphael, Marcia snd Myron Stein, Bonnie and Tom Strauss, Donald and Barbara Tober, and Michael Troise.

Robert S. Grimes, a Citymeals board member, served as Co-Chair. Official sponsors were American Airlines and FIJI Water. One hundred percent of ticket and auction proceeds went to support Citymeals and its preparation and delivery of nutritious meals to homebound elderly New Yorkers.

Deborah Roberts, Al Roker, and Beth Shapiro.

Christina Steinbrenner, Mitch Gaynor, and Leslie Perkins.

Robert S. Grimes and Beth Shapiro.

Al Roker and Gail Simmons.

Anne Cohen and Aliyyah Baylor.

Beth Shapiro and Gael Greene.

More catching up. On Tuesday, April 2nd, there was a special screening at the Directors Guild of Decoding Annie Parker. The independent film was written and directed by Steven Bernstein and his inspiration, the real-life Annie Parker. The evening was for cancer survivors in the New York area, along with key representatives and guests from participating cancer organizations – The American Cancer Sociey, Cancer Support Community, CancerCare, FORCE and Sharsheret.

The advance screening was also raising funds for leading cancer fighting organizations and in honor of the film’s storyline – the Discovery of the BRCA1 Gene.

It is the story of Annie Parker – who is played by Samantha Morton, a young woman who watches her mother, then sister, fall victim to breast cancer. Then when she is diagnosed with it, she is determined to fight back. Helen Hunt plays Mary-Claire King PhD, the geneticist whose discovery of the gene is considered one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

Jade Duncan, Steven Bernstein, Olivia Rose Kegan, and Annie Parker.

After the screening guests attended a special reception hosted by Omni Hotels & Resorts at their Omni Berkshire Place Hotel in the Fireside Lounge.

Following the New York screening, Decoding Annie Parker will host additional benefit screenings in select cities nationwide to entertain, inform, educate and activate its audience, creating a campaign of goodwill and hope that will leave a lasting legacy. Contributions raised from benefit screenings will go directly to charitable partners to help fund more lifesaving cancer research, provide resources and support to people facing cancer today. To learn more visit www.DecodingAnnieParker.com.

Johnathan Brownlee, Anne Tramer, and Brandon Smulyan.

Karen Gerrard and Carolyn Rodney.

David Rosenzweig and Karen Dworkin.

Diane Rose, Karen Kramer, Sandy Cohen, and Annette Ramke.

Annie Parker, Steven Bernstein, and Jen Podoll.

Candace and Nolan McDonald.

Laurie Rix and Neil MacRae.

Contact DPC here.

5:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Very chilly, mostly overcast Tuesday in New York, clearing to sunshine in the late afternoon with a nearly full moon over Manhattan.

Busy day in New York, heavy traffic midtown. Michael’s was in a frenzy, media and otherwise. Heading home through the Park with its bowers of flowering trees, we passed by a woman biker running her Chihuahua on the along the lane. The tiny animal also wrapped in a knitted coat was running as far behind as his/her leash allowed.

The young woman obviously had no idea that this animal with a heart no bigger than a half dollar is not built for running.

The woman on the bicycle pulling her dog for a run totally unaware of the dangers she is forcing on the animal.

This is something that evades quite a few dog owners who think it’s cool to run their dogs they way they’d run themselves if they weren’t on a bike. Although if they were running with a bike like a dog on a leash, they couldn’t do what they expect their dogs can do for more than three minutes. It’s pure animal abuse. And it is not only cruel but dangerous. There have been many dogs who get back to their homes after a run like that, and lie down and die.

The stupidity of the dog owner and dilemma of the dog provoked me to get out of the cab right there on the roadway and chase after her to tell her what she was doing to her dog. Obviously she had good intentions. We’ll presume.

I caught up with her (huffing and puffing, myself) and loudly told her she was killing this four or five pound canine with a round the Park run that only serious joggers can do.

“Oh,” she said, as if she herself were in some kind of stupor. I’m not implying drugs. Maybe just dense, and definitely dumb.

She stopped for a moment and the poor dog immediately lay down on the pavement panting. But then she went off again, the poor dog trailing behind trying to keep up.

I ask myself why people like this have animals. That leads to thinking about what the dog has to deal with, and it becomes very depressing. Vets should advise all clients about exercise for their dogs. Many pet owners simply do not know (and have no common sense about it).

Yes, dogs like to run. But they don’t run the way we do – on and on and on. They’re not built for it except in extreme cases or emergency. They do not need to keep in shape like we do, and if they’re gaining weight it’s because we’re feeding them too much. They love their exercise but in spurts, and from tree to post to tree to corner.

I got home from that experience in a difficult frame of mind. Then I looked at the calendar for the night (and the day) and thought I’d like to take a nap.


	Clockwise from top left: Bill O’Shaughnessy; Tom and Diahn McGrath; Hunt Slonem.

Very busy day and night in New York. For starters, this was the calendar: At the Waldorf -- Women of Distinction Luncheon Fashion Show by Bergdorf’s and almost 900 women attending the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America’s benefit honoring Michelle Swarzman and Molly Roberts with ABC’s Cynthia McFadden mistress of ceremonies.

Right after sundown, over at Le Cirque, broadcasting, my friend, broadcasting executive Bill O’Shaughnessy was feted for the “75th Anniversary 0f WO’s Natal Day” a dinner dance hosted by Matthew, David, Kate O’Shaughnessy.

Same time, downtown at the Bowery Hotel on the Bowery, Artists for Africa were hosting their Spring Gala benefit and honoring my friend Tom McGrath for his work and support of African philanthropies.

At the same time up at the Altman Building on West 18th, The Horticultural Society of New York was honoring another friend, artist Hunt Slonem with the Award of Excellence at the New York Flower Show Dinner Dance. Black Tie.

Farther west on the same street, The Children’s Storefront hosted its Annual Spring Gala, “A Night For Changing Lives.” Farther up and east over at Riverpark on East 29th Street, There was a “Toast to the Children” benefiting Children of Bellevue, honorary chair, Tom Colicchio.

While at Gotham Hall on Broadway and 30th, The Directors of the British Memorial Garden Trust were hosting The Queen Elizabeth II Sept. 11th Garden Gala Dinner. Also Black Tie.

So where did I go? Over to the Café Carlyle for the opening night of Paul Williams’ cabaret evening. This is the place.

Williams who was really famous in the 70s and 80s as singer, songwriter and actor, went away from the scene for awhile, caught up in his own torpor of self and success that Show Business often provides along with the glory.

Last year, a new documentary about the man, by Stephen Kessler, called “Still Alive” debuted: Paulwilliamsstillalive.com.

And now, the man has returned to performing with a brilliance that only time and life can endow. Williams was prolific, writing a lot of what are now standards. When you hear them again, your whole demeanor transforms (mine did anyway) on the spot.

This is what a perfect cabaret act in New York should be. And it got the perfect audience response. Applause Applause. From the moment he takes the stage and introduces “the real Paul Williams” to his audience you’re back in the comfort zone of your own youthful moments of energetic reverie.

He’s upfront (and funny) about his life, trials and tribulations. You know what he’s referring to; you might have been there too. There's a bit more basso and wisdom in the voice (which is out of the Willie Nelson genre) and he has great backup from Chris Caswell on the keys and John Lee Sanders on the sax. You know almost all of the songs and find yourself smiling and singing along under your breath, in complete pleasure and delight.

The Cafe Carlyle at 8 p.m. By 8:45 when Paul Williams came out, the place was packed, and in for an hour and a half of pure showtime from a pro. They loved it. He gave them two encores at the end, each better than the last.

I loved this show. The Carlyle is a tough spot for a performer these days because the audience is basically sophisticated and older and has seen it all and heard it all, and often by the very very best. It still retains an air of the glamour years when the witty and chic renditions of the American songbook that Bobby Short performed drew crowds from all over the world six months a year for three decades. Bobby himself was the ultimate archivist and performer of songs of an age now legend. Since his demise very few have matched his magic -- Judy Collins, who was there last night -- comes to mind. Barbara Cook, Steve Tyrell too, and of course Stritch.

The Café Carlyle with its pastel Vertes murals and soft lighting still evokes that sense of being in a special place as soon as you enter. Paul Williams’ show is that moment now. What a great evening. The audience was in love with the show again. And, like one of his songs goes: “We’ve Only Just Begun” .... Last night at the Café Carlyle; a good idea for lifting any New York in Springtime.

He's a clever man, a humble man; forthright, funny, witty, self-revealing, amused and grateful to be there, and so is his audience.

Catching up down among the sheltering palms, There are big moving vans in front of houses all over Palm Beach ... to pick up the cars and send them north, evidence of the Season ending (although still going strong).

The restaurants are full and there are still lots of big parties – including David and Julia Koch’s dinner at the Everglades and the annual Garden Club event.

There was a very large fundraiser for Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and his wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Choa. The cocktail reception was at “La Guerida,” the home of Marianne and John Castle followed by a private dinner at “Windsong,” the home of Hilary and Wilbur Ross.

The scene at the Beth DeWoody's West Palm Beach estate for the Mounts Botanical Garden's spring benefit.

Some of the guests at the Castles’ cocktail were Ambassador Nancy Brinker and Howard Bernick, Katherine and Leo Vecillio, Ed Cox, the New York State Repubican chairman; Muffy and Donald Miller, Carolyn and John Yurtchuk, Barbara and Al Marulli, Richard Palumbo and Laurie Garadela, Sallie Phillips, Katherine and Hans Angermueller, Jamie Birge, Christine and Robert Brinkman, Melanie Cabot, Mary and Marvin Davidson, Robert Francis, Marc Goldman, Julie and Amin Khoury, Ann and Charles Johnson, William Matthews, Harold Smith, Bob Wright.

At the Ross’ dinner: Ed Cox, the Pepe Fanjuls, Sr. and Jr.; Dr. Jamie Birge of Franklin Pierce University, Carolyn and John Yutchuk of Calspan Corporation, Marianne and John Castle, Ambassador Mary Ourisman and Mandy Ourisman; Boca Raton insurance executive Paul Lawless, Ambassador Earl Mack and Carol Mack.

There was the big gaming night benefit at the Sailfish Club benefiting the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti two Saturdays ago. Louise Stephaich (she of the Mellon and Hitchcock families of the North Shore of Long Island) and Anna Mann (formerly Mrs. Rupert Murdoch) were the chairs of the evening. 185 guests said it was the best charity event of the season and they raised more than $300,000 for the hospital which was started by Mrs. Stephaich’s uncle, the late Larimer Mellon and his wife Gwen in Deschapelles, Haiti a half century ago.

Among the guests were Lesly Smith and Dr. James Walsh, Jo Shaw Kendall, Tom Quick, Beth Rudin DeWoody and Firooz Zahedi; June Rooney, Jenny Garigues, Fern Tailer De Naravez, Maureen Donnell, Barbara Cates, Princess Maria Pia di Savois and Prince Michel de Bourbon Parme; Audrey and Martin Gruss, Isabel and Dick Furland, and Howard Cox.

On a Friday night, Maureen Donnell had forty guests for dinner at the Friday Night Cook Out at the Bath and Tennis. Some of Maureen’s guests were: Mai Harrison, Jimmy Clarke, William Wister, Jay Page, Michael Sullivan, Barbara Cates, Fern Tailer, Jim Mitchell, Hope and Jack Annan, Frayda and George Lindeman, Liz and John Schuler, Pat Cook and Bob Nederlander, Candy and Bill Hamm, Julia and Mike Connors from Washington who just bought Barton Gubelmann’s old property on Banyan Road; Joyce and Bob Sterling, and Franny Scaife and Tom McArter.

Meanwhile Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson have left their whirlwind tour of Palm Beach and returned to their house in Saratoga for their season.

The Season will sort of officially end with Mai Harrison’s dinner at her house on South County Road this coming Saturday (April 27). Mai has sold the house and is moving into a magnificent penthouse apartment overlooking Lake Worth. Although the season does have a final shutdown, many Palm Beachers stay through April, May and now even June -- which are the most beautiful months in Palm Beach.

Florentine Fountain at the Breakers.

Contact DPC here.

Pear tree in front of church on Amsterdam Avenue. 4:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Thursday, April 25, 2013. A really beautiful, warm Spring day in New York yesterday. Bright sunshine, no humidity and temperatures in the low 70s.

I went down to Michael’s (Wednesday, natch). I was meeting our No Holds Barred diarist Blair Sabol who is in town for a few days, and she invited her friend Ali MacGraw to join us. Ali was in town to go to last night’s opening of “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers” starring the One the Only Divine Miss M, Bette Midler.

Bette Midler on opening night of "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers."

Michael’s was wall-to-wall. It turned out there were other California girls in the room (technically Ali MacGraw lives now in New Mexico but she still goes back and forth to Los Angeles as it’s only an hour and a half away by plane). Terry Allen Kramer, who is one of the producers of the Midler show, was lunching with Wendy Stark who came in from L.A. for the opening, and Alana Stewart aka Alana Hamilton, also in for the opening. At the table right next to them was another interesting group: Pat Kluge, Sharon Bush, Patty Raynes, Anne Hearst and Elizabeth de Kergolay. I don’t know if any of them were going to the opening last night.

DPC, Ali MacGraw, and Blair Sabol. Photo by Steve Millington.

Which, speaking of the show, the title of Charles Isherwood’s review in today’s New York Times is “A Schmoozy Cobra, About to Be Bitten.” (“... a delectable soufflé of a solo show by John Logan ... a heady sensation, thanks to the buoyant, witty writing of Mr. Logan, the focused direction of Joe Mantello and above all to Ms. Midler who gives the most lusciously entertaining performance of the Broadway season.”) Need there be anything more?

I never knew Ms. Mengers although I heard stories about her because she was a character who inspired tales and portraits; nor do I know Ms. Midler but you know and I know she’s droll, sharp-witted and always cracking that wry smile with her presence. I’m now anxious to see it. Although it sounds like there’ll be a wait for tickets, and probably a limited run with the star.

Film producer Beverly Camhe and Jennifer Lee (Mrs. Richard) Pryor at Michael's.

So, back to the tables down at Michael’s. Since they more than doubled their menu and cut their prices by 20%, it seems to be a mob scene almost every day. Media/movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was lunching with Len Blavatnik, the Russian-born, American reared and educated, international investor; Beverly Camhe who was with Jennifer Lee Pryor, the 5th and 7th wife, and widow of Richard Pryor. Mrs. Pryor is in town for the Tribeca Film Festival and for publicizing a documentary about The Man’s life.

Moving around the room: Stan Shuman, Scott Singer; political consultant and TV commentator Robert Zimmerman; producer Arthur Rankin; talent manager Wayne Kabak who represents among others Maria Bartiromo, Jane Pauley, Condoleeza Rice, etc.) Dr. Sarah Simms Rosenthal; Holly Peterson; Tom Bennet; Peter Price, Mark Rosenthal (CEO of Current (cable satellite station); PR exec Steven Rubenstein; Jesse Kornbluth with Marshall Cohen and Wendy Goldberg; entertainment mogul Allen Grubman (who coincidentally bought the late Sue Mengers house in Beverly Hills); Coppy Holzman, creator/founder of CharityBuzz.com, with Diane Clehane; PR guru Michael Kempner; James Murdoch, son of Rupert; Star Jones;Wendy Millard; Annette Tapert; David Margolick with Wednesday Martin; former Ambassador to Denmark John Loeb Jr.; John Bernbach with Martin Puris; Jason Binn; media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein; Andrew Heineman. And lots more just like ‘em.

Wendy Stark, Terry Allen Kramer, and Alana Stewart.

Our table was (more than) a tad more popular because of my movie star guest. New Yorkers love movie stars more than they’ll ever admit. Ms MacGraw has not made a movie in a long time but the “audience response” beamed star-power nevertheless.

And what’s she like to lunch with (never having met her)? Like meeting your friendly, very attractive, bright-eyed and forthright next door neighbor (we should all be so lucky). She lived in the New York in the 60s when I was here also. I didn’t meet her but I first heard of her back then when she was working as a stylist for photographer Melvin Sokolsky. My wife at the tine was working as a stylist for William Helburn, another major commercial and fashion photographer, and she often remarked about Ali MacGraw’s “great taste.” I was telling Ali that yesterday. She told me that it was William Helburn who took the test shots of her as a model for the Chanel No 5 campaign. The rest is (Hollywood) history.

Patty Raynes, Pat Kluge, Elizabeth de Kergolay, Anne Hearst, and Sharon Bush.

She grew up in Bedford Village, and loved living in New York as a young woman working as a photographer’s stylist. But after her big career change to the West Coast and her subsequent marriages and settling there in Beverly Hills and then Malibu, she’s now a Western girl.

She and Blair met at a yoga class in Los Angeles way back in the '70s and have been good friends ever since. She just celebrated a birthday April 1st (same day as Debbie Reynolds and Jane Powell). This is her first trip back in awhile, so she’s having a wonderful time seeing the city. Last night in the theater must have been interesting for her because she was a longtime friend, client and frequent guest of Sue Mengers for many years, and I was told she is a strong character portrait in the Mengers/Midler monologue.

In the meantime, JH took a mid-afternoon walk around his hood (Upper West Side) ...

Last night the Versailles Foundation Inc., headed by Barbara de Portago hosted its annual black tie benefit dinner in the Cotilliion Room of the Pierre. They honored the Her Royal Highness Princess Margareta of Romania, also the Crown Princess of Romania, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, former Princess of Hohenzollern. The princess is a great great great granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, and of Czar Alexander II of Russia.

This annual dinner raises funds for the Versailles Foundation and the Gardens of Claude Monet at Giverny. It is run by Mrs. Portago who always invites a royal personage to speak about their experience as a royal.

Our table. I was seated beside two fascinating women -- The Crown Princess on my left and Tatiana Copeland on my right.

The guests stand for the entrance of the Crown Princess and her husband Prince Radu.

Many of the honored guests at this annual dinner have been members of deposed royal families. However, because so many are related to each other across the borders -- brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins of cousins -- their influence remains strong however benign in their native lands. This is not true of every royal but there are many who are actively involved in their country’s culture and civic philanthropies, much like the British Royal family (whom they’re all related to).

They lack the political power of their ancestors but nevertheless they are often deeply committed to assisting and working for their country’s welfare and well-being. The First and Second World Wars not only deposed a lot of monarchies, it also tore apart the families, the communities and capital structures of their countries.


	Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Romania.

Princess Margareta’s “return” to Romania was in fact her first time living there. Her father the former King Michael I and his wife Anne of Bourbon-Parma were living in Switzerland when Margareta was born after the War and Romania had fallen to the Communists. She grew up in England and graduated from the University of Edinburgh, so she speaks with a definite British accent. She loves England, not surprisingly, and has a special feeling of kinship with the Scottish from her University Days.

The Princess came to New York with her husband Radu Duda whom she met in 1994 when he was working as an art therapist in orphanages. They met when the Princess was visiting a program on behalf of her Princess Margarita Foundation. They married in 1998.

She told me that after the War, many women were raped because the regimes wanted them to produce more children to grow the destroyed populations. Many of those children were abandoned by their mothers and tragedy set in which is still present in the lives of many now older adults. She said Romania is loaded with abandoned dogs also. She and her husband have two rescued dogs.

The recovery from the War and the subsequent political dictatorships made it very difficult for the people to live stable, comfortable lives. The Crown Princess sees her role in her family’s country as working to improve the lives of the Romanian people.

This attitude is family legacy prominent in many of the royals who’ve appeared at these Versailles Foundation benefits. Their work is often unnoticed and unheralded, but nevertheless their strong international connections can be constructive. Having been stripped of their political power yet at the same time members of an extended international family of cultural and political traditions dating back centuries, they represent a refined, and often a far more positive sense of leadership for a republic struggling to maintain, or restore itself.

The Crown Princess was a very interesting dinner partner and a very lively conversationalist. More on this when we run the pictures of the party.

Contact DPC here.

Park Avenue tulips. 1:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Friday, April 26, 2013. I got into the habit of opening the Diary with yesterday’s weather almost from the launch of NYSD. I had to write something (on schedule), and I often didn’t know what. So, because I had little time to think about it – as I usually sit down at the keyboard very late in the day; 10, 11, midnight and beyond – the weather would give me opportunity to put something down and rev up the memory and imagination.

I was surprised to learn that many faithful readers like reading about the weather in New York. But they told me about it enough that I learned from them. I rather like it too, and during the day when I’m thinking about ideas for tomorrow’s Diary, I consider the weather and how it affects the way I feel. The past few days have been exceptionally beautiful and regenerative in nature.

However. The world is not in a good place, as we all know, and for those of us who will give it some thought, it’s in a terrible and very very dangerous place. We are not united as human beings on this planet and we are still attached to the thought that Might is Right. That may be but we are far enough along on the planet’s life to know that the only real Might is Mother Nature aka, the Planet Earth, herself. If you are a religious person you could call it God’s Divine Plan, or God’s Grace. If you aren’t, you can still concede that it is a Divine Plan, God or no God.

As far as that Plan is concerned, far be it for me to know, but I look for its clues in the daily weather. I watch how people are behaving on the street, acting when alone (on the cell) or with others; all expressing themselves, and I consider how I’m feeling too. Mainly I consider how I’m feeling.

These last few weeks have been alarming in the world, in this country (Boston especially) and very troublesome for all of us. However, when I look at those patches of beauty that are gracing us in the city right now, and which you can also see in JH’s sometimes astonishing photographs of the city neighborhoods in bloom, I am optimistic. You can be optimistic. Maybe not about Man’s behavior to Man, but definitely in terms of Mother Nature’s plan for us all. For she could care less about Man’s behavior toward Man. To her it’s irrelevant. And for that we can be grateful.

All that to tell you that it was a beautiful day, yesterday in New York. Temperatures were hovering in the high 60s, which is an excellent temperature for the city.

I didn’t look at the Calendar because I didn’t want to know. It’s been so jammed with activities under the purview of NYSD, I needed a break.

A bouquet of Tulips.

2 nights earlier.

In the late morning I took the dogs over to Groomingdale’s for their semi-annual bath and cut. By that moment it’s imperative; otherwise I look like an animal abuser, and they do look pretty grungy (although they are still beautiful to me). I don’t think they mind, and frankly I don’t really mind, but when the white turns to dark grey ... Missy hates the process. We get about a block away from the place on 82nd and First, and she stops in her tracks, sits on the sidewalk, and digs in. Uh-uh, she says, with the wagging of her tail to emphasize. I have to pick her up. Yesterday, however, we got a quick ride from Bruce, a guy who has a limousine service in the neighborhood.

After dropping them off (now they look clean and trim and adorable), I went down to the Metropolitan Club on Fifth and 60th where the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club was holding its annual Purses & Pursenalities Luncheon. Those Purses – old and new, auctioned and sold -- are a pathway to charity and helping young boys and girls along their pathways.

Guests gathering in the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Club for Madison Square Boys & Girls Club's Purse and Pursenalities Luncheon yesterday noontime.

The podium.

The table.

All of these luncheons are fund-raisers, as you probably grasped ages ago. But they are designed by their chairs and the public relations consultants and party planners to entertain in a pleasant way. The table, for example, is meant to impress you with its setting, and it dose. The great room of the Metropolitan Club, built at the beginning of the second decade of the last century by J. Pierpont Morgan, is crusty Edwardian, ornate, red damask and gold leaf. Undaunted and unbowed by time. The table has to look good under the circumstances. And it does. That’s what I mean by entertainment.

Mark Gilbertson, the social impresario of the once Junior and now not-so Set, has something to do with this annual luncheon. Many of that set have emerged or are emerging as the leaders of the city’s civic and philanthropic life.

Prince Dimitri and Monique Richards-Lipman.

Libby Fitzgerald, Mark Gilbertson, and Susan Meyer.

Debbie Bancroft talking to Gillian Miniter.

Amy Hoadley and her daughter Nathalie Dirnfeld.

When I walked into the grand gallery of the building where the pre-luncheon reception was going on, it was packed with well-dressed, very attractive, very goodlooking women, ready to sit down to lunch, I knew Mark delivered that. This is New York in the big time.

There were also, I should add, a number of be-suited men of suitable age for the ladies – who still look like girls to me. Thom Felicia was Master of Ceremonies. Eric Javitswas also one of the honorees. Eric has been contributing to the life of this event for years now.

I took some pictures and chatted with some friends I hadn’t seen lately. I didn’t stay for lunch.

Prince Dimitri, Bettina Zilkha, Muffie Potter Aston, and Eric Javits.

Claudia Overstrom and Betsy Pitts.

Cynthia Lufkin.

As I was saying ...

DeAnnie Redder, Karen Klopp, and Amy Hoadley.

Internior Designer Lee Robinson, who sponsored the luncheon with Amanda Taylor.

Alexis Clark.

Jill Fairchild and Jim Fallon of WWD

Gillian Miniter.

Mark Gilbertson, Jamee Gregory, and Thom Felicia.

Liz Peek and Nina Griscom.

Leaving the Metropolitan Club about 12:30 – when they were going in to be seated – I crossed over the avenue to look at the art installation on the edge of the Park.

The Fifth Avenue facade of the Metropolitan Club.

Thomas Schutte's "United Enemies" (March 5 - August 25, 2013) were conceived during the artist's residency in Italy at a time when several politicians had been arrested for corruption. These figures, however, are mythical characters rather than specific individuals. Their paired forms are highly abstracted, with heads emerging from swaddling robes that conceal their limbs. Faces are aged and anguished, rendered in soft focus to suggest the waning power of would-be patriarchs. In contrast, the tightly knotted rope that binds them is sharply detailed, drawing the figures and our eyes into focus. The artist's colossal figures do not stand heroically atop a classical pedestal but seem to stagger, earthbound, on tripods of bundled poles. Struggling to be rid of its mate, each figure is nevertheless incapable of standing alone. They have become potent contemporary metaphors: sculpted giants that simultaneously resonate with the mythological, the political and the personal. — Nicholas Baume, Director and Chief Curator, Public Art Fund.

From there I walked down the avenue to the Museum of Modern Art where there was a luncheon being given for author David Margolick. He is just publishing a new book. It will be published early next month. It’s called “Dreadful, the Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns.” It’s a biography of the novelist who published in the middle of the last century and to no distinction. He also was a teacher at the prep school David attended – Loomis, in Windsor, Connecticut – before David’s term there. David had heard of him in his schooldays because Burns, no longer at the school, had written a novel trashing the school which was always banned from the school library. All good writers want to know why, and reading that novel was something David wanted to do.


	David Margolick with a copy of “Dreadful, the Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns.” Click to order.

I too was fascinated on hearing about it. Mysteries presented in youth never lose their richness or their luster. I haven’t read it yet (don’t have a copy) but I look forward to it. Windsor, Connecticut is only 30 or so miles from where I grew up. David, I learned yesterday, grew up equidistant from the school, to the East. It’s all New England, and the weather plays, as it does here – and everywhere – a big part in our psyches and psych-dwellings.

I got there as people were still arriving for the lunch. I went to take the picture.

From MoMA I walked two blocks up to Michael’s where I didn’t have a rez or a lunch date. I hadn’t planned on it but it was lunchtime and I was down there, and I’d begun to think of the things I like to eat there. Like the amazing Iceberg Lettuce salad. Superior for that concoction. And the grilled halved Brussels Sprouts; and the Margarita pizza for one. And the Barbara Bush (orange juice and iced tea). I hadn’t had breakfast, and all of it sounded good to me. (And it was.)

The place was predictably busy. Two women I know – Linda Janklow and Ellin Delsener– were lunching at my regular table. I wasn’t expected and I wanted to sit at the bar anyway. A lot of people like it. You can watch everyone coming and going and have a leisurely lunch.

Michael was there and soon his artist wife Kim came in, and sat at the bar to get a little lunch too. I ordered the above. Michael and Kim had gone the night before to the opening of Bette Midler’s new one woman show by John Logan, “I’ll Eat You Last.”

It’s a monologue based on the life of Sue Mengers a talent agent who began her life here in New York and went on to become one of the most powerful women in Hollywood (until she wasn’t).

Mengers handled her retirement in a manner that reflected her perceived power, like the pro she was: she enjoyed it. She played hostess and confidante to scores of stars and talent she’d helped and/or met and liked along the way. A lot of them are still very famous and a lot of those famous ones were in the audience on opening night.

They loved it. The McCarthys who are longtime close friends of Midler and her husband Martin von Haselburg loved the show. They also knew Mengers – besides Midler – because she was a patron of Michael’s in Santa Monica.

Sue Mengers was obviously made to be the subject of a grand monologue. She was a character, her own woman, a lifelong doper, a mother confessor to her children (clients); an autocrat in the world of talent, and nobody’s fool or patsy. In her years of retirement (when this monologue takes place), she did something almost no one ever accomplished in the society that is Hollywood: she elevated herself to a senior position of opinion. It didn’t harm anybody; it sometimes helped and it kept the lady well-placed above the fray in a world she was born to live in.

Yesterday afternoon I got an email from my friend Joy Ingham who said: Run to see the Midler show! She saw it opening night too. Knew nothing about Mengers, loves Midler anyway, and loved every minute of it. Midler’s run is through mid-June only.
Early evening, I went to dinner with Joy at Sette Mezzo. Perfect end to a beautiful day in New York.

Contact DPC here.

Late afternoon run in the park. 5:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Monday, April 29, 2013. Beautiful weekend in the City. Sunny, almost warm days, cool but not cold, pleasant evenings. In my neighborhood, everyone was out for a stroll, a jog, a bicycling; strolling with their babies, their best buds, wives, their partners, their dogs, just taking it in. As I wrote last week, I find the Springtime this year reassuring, as if I'd discovered nature's secret.

Several friends who've passed through over the past week have commented on the affront of the city's noises, the pedestrians in masses, many of whom don't seem to know anyone else is also on the pavement (or that there are cars in the road)
I had lunch on Saturday with Blair Sabol who was here for a few days and busy just looking around. She mentioned that she was here at this time last year and that the city wasn't as beautiful as it is this year. It's the winter's reward. It gets a lot of my focus anyway but this year I am obsessed.

This flowering tree and the tulips are only part of the horticulture of this apartment building that occupies the west side block of York Avenue between 73rd and 74th Street. Every year at this time, it's in bloom and spectacular. This year it seems to have blossomed and decided to stay a little longer.

My apartment gets very little direct sunlight – maybe a half hour a day – because I'm facing west and a tall apartment house across the avenue blocks it after noontime. There is a narrow time span about four-thirty to five in the afternoon when a shaft of the setting sun slices a path to my terrace. The tree on the left has just burst its buds so they are almost transparent to the sun's rays, giving them a day-glo color. The pears across the avenue on the corner have kept their flowers longer this year. These were taken on Friday afternoon about 5:30.

The same block on business-y Lexington Avenue.

And on the southwest corner of 72nd Street and Third Avenue.

Pansies always remind me of happy puppies, glad to see you. This in a flower box next to an apartment building entrance on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and 76th Street. I was walking Third on my way home after lunch with Blair.

Saturday night, Peter Rogers, who is in town this week, invited me to see "Kinky Boots" with him at the Al Hirschfeld Theater on Eighth Avenue and 45th Street (was originally the Martin Beck).

I took these shots of Broadway and 45th Street looking north and then looking south, at about twenty to eight. I don't get down to Broadway very much. It is always a traffic jam thanks to all the re-directions and part-closing of Times Square Broadway. Forty-fifth Street, which is right in the heart of the Theater District, seems to get the brunt of it, and barely moves. So I got out of my cab on Fifth Avenue and walked the next three city-wide blocks so I wouldn't be late for the show. Broadway was teeming with people, many sight-seers, no doubt – as it's a sight to see. These photos don't convey the excitement of all the lights and displays, as you probably know. But then there are the thousands of us descending on the theaters at that very moment. You soon find you're in the moment; it's exciting, it's The Theatre, and you're going there.

Looking across Broadway/Seventh from 45th Street up towards 47th Street.

45th Street west of Broadway. Bette Midler's show is at the Booth, the theatre on the left which sits on Shubert Alley (connecting to 44th Street). Beyond that is Schoenfeld and then the Jacobs. In the distance you can see the red sign for "Kinky Boots" at the Hirschfeld.

Ahh, at last. I got there about five minutes to eight. How was this show? Well, several friends had already seen it and raved about it. The Times raved about it and so my expectations were at the crossroads of "really?" and "I hope so." Forget it. It's beyond fabulous. The audience was taken on a trip and it didn't even seem to stop for intermission (there was one) because the energy level was so high. It is fun, and hilarious, and singing and dancing, and with some better parts of wisdom in its inception. The cast is wonderful. It never drops a beat from the opening to the end. At that point the audience is CHEERING! All kinds of people, young, old, families, couples, theatre buffs, musical fans. The quintessential example of how Theatre is life itself for all of us. Don't miss this show if you can help it. You'll leave feeling better about the world outside and you'll even feel that way the next day too.

Sunday morning. The neighborhood on a Sunday morning in Spring in any neighborhood: by ten-thirty, people are in the street heading somewhere – the market, the park, across town.

I love this tree which is on the corner of 82nd and East End, in front of 60 East End Avenue. It is majestic but at this early moment it is in its gossamer/Impressionist state. When I was a kid learning to play the piano, one of the pieces I was given to learn was called “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer with music by Oscar Rasbach– “... a tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray .... Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”

Watching this tree come into its own easy season always reminds me of that poem. Kilmer was very well known because of his poem and it was said that he was inspired by a tree in Central Park. Whatever tree that was is not known but there is a tree in Central Park that is known as the Joyce Kilmer tree. This tree on East End Avenue serves the same purpose for me.

It was set to music years sixteen years after it was written, in 1929. I was about ten or eleven when I learned to play it on the piano. The music was like a church hymn to this boy’s ears, and it made a deep impression. As a child it was easy to connect to its description of wonder. It’s 12 lines of 8 syllables in strict iambic pentameter. There is a deeply sentimental air about it and yet nevertheless it connects to the truth that we’re seeing all around us right now (along with everything else we’re seeing).

Mr. Kilmer graduated from Columbia University in 1908. He published “Trees” when he was 25. He had a life and career as an editor and a poet but “Trees” was his “big hit.” They were still publishing it and playing the song a half century after, and even today.

The light brown you see is in the tree just a few paces north of it.

That's Bruce polishing his car. Bruce drove a cab for quite a few years. A couple of years ago he decided to have his own business. He bought this car and started a private limousine service. He has a lot of business from people in the neighborhood during the weekday – taking kids to school, people to their offices, others to run errands or keep a doctor's appointment. If he's around when I come out of my building in the morning to go to Michael's, he'll take me to West 55th Street. He's a very agreeable, pleasant guy and his prices are often better than a cab. He gave me and the dogs a ride to Groomingdale's last week.

The tulips are everywhere right now. Lucky to have them. There’s a song about them too, and it had a great popularity although it never attained the poetic stature of Mr. Kilmer’s poem.

It was written in 1929 about the time of the stock market crash by a couple of popular American songwriters Al Dubin and Joe Burke for one of the first talking pictures, “Gold Diggers of Broadway.” The song had a big revival in the late 1960s on Laugh In, the Rowan and Martin television comedy review, sung by an actor/singer named Herbert Khaury who billed himself as “Tiny Tim.” He played the ukulele and sang in a falsetto. The novelty made a whole career for him. He became famous. He married his wife, known as Miss Vicki on the Johnny Carson Show in December 1969. 22 million people were watching. That was the high point of the man’s career although he lived off of it for years after.

Actually, I never really associated Tiny Tim with the beauty of the tulips around us today until I sat down to write these words.

Back to reality. Great minds and all, when I was contemplating and (occasionally) photographing some of the beauty of the weekend, JH was doing the same over on the West Side. And here is what he saw:

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West Highland White Terrier looking out his master's window. 3:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013. Mother Nature provided some precipitation, along with grey skies and chillier temperatures yesterday in New York. The bright green of the newly blooming trees and rainbow of tulips remained in place.

The big benefit luncheon yesterday was the Fountain House 10th annual Symposium and Luncheon at the Pierre and it drew a huge crowd. More than 700 attended.

This event which was launched by Lorna Graev and some friends with a plan to assist Fountain House in its work —. It is now up there with the most sought after charitable tickets of the seasons.

This year’s speaker was author Andrew Solomon on the subject of “Mental Illness and the Family.” Solomon as you may know recently published a new book “Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity.” He is a compelling speaker and a brilliant man in his field.

There is a growing interest among people in the matter of Depression. This is not new. What is new is the “coming out” of depressed people. When they held the first luncheon, Lorna Graev had a difficult time getting anyone to come. Now they're filling the room to capacity. There's a message there about the shape we're in. The good news is people are dealing with it.

Bi-polar is a popular word evoked in reference to the subject. We all know about Depression. I knew a woman once who said she never got depressed. I found that hard to believe although she was someone whom I knew who speak the truth. Many of us, however, get depressed and don’t even know we are depressed. Instead we display its variety of symptoms, unaware of the root of them. Others are aware but crushed by it. Lorna Graev’s Fountain House campaigns have opened a whole new book of information, insights and life-learning for many New Yorkers. I have no doubt that it is a trend that will remain emerging across this country.

Last night they were celebrating the 30th birthday of the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. They honored songwriters Frank Loesser and Jule Styne, and if you don’t think you know their work, you’ve heard it so many times you probably even know a lot of the words and the music.

Among the performers on the program were Nick Adams, Laura Benanti, Stephanie J. Block, Liz Callaway, Will Chase, Megan Hilty, Marilyn Maye, Rob McClure, Donna Murphy, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Leslie Uggams, Max von Essen, Anthony Warlow and Betsy Wolfe. After the concert there was a black tie dinner dance at the Plaza. We’ll have a full report later this week.

At the same hour, over at the Dance Times Square Ballroom on West 44th Street, they were celebrating the 114th anniversary of the great Duke Ellington.

I’m not a shopper, although I do go to Bergdorf’s cosmetic and skincare department on the subterranean floor about every six or seven months to buy a jar of moisturizer that someone turned me onto several years ago. But Bergdorf’s is the department store for the very uppah-uppah ladies and gents and those who would be.

I am, as regular NYSD readers know, a big fan of the Bergdorf windows. They are without peer in the great big world of retail in New York: always intriguing, beautiful, highly imaginative, glamorous, wild, crazy, gorgeous sights.

When I arrived at Florence Gould Hall at the Alliance Francaise on 55 East 59th Street for the Cinema Society Screening of “Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf’s premiere, the theater auditorium was practically empty. However, on the stage the inevitable “Step and Repeat” was going on. Watching it from my seat in the sixth row gave it a play-like quality, and the stage was actually lit for it too.

Notice the guy in the brown shirt and jeans entering stage right carrying a camera. That’s Steve Eichner who often shoots for EYE in WWD. He and his compatriots are the reason everyone is on the stage, although it seems like no one is paying attention to him. They are and they aren’t. Everyone is there for the picture – like the ones you see on the Party Pictures page of the NYSD.

Eichner is adjusting his camera getting ready for a shot. The blonde in the pink dress behind him is doing the same thing with a smaller camera. The tanned bald guy in glasses and grey suit is Andrew Malloy, the grandson of the legendary Andrew Goodman– the man who inherited the store from his father Edwin, and presided over Bergdorf Goodman for several decades. It was he who built the actual store on Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th Street on the site of the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion.

Eichner’s getting a shot of someone in the audience. There is a lot of activity going on behind the velvet rope and in front of the scrim. This is the “red carpet” and many people who arrived for this screening, instead of looking for their seats, went up on the stage to be photographed (or hoping to be photographed).

I’ve also met Linda Fargo who was the director of window display for several years. I’m not sure what Linda’s official title is now although after seeing the film, it’s my impression that she is the eye and style of this great store. If you’ve seen her once, you’ll recognize her because she has a signature look that is chic, attractive, friendly and bright. In person, she is also all of those things. She’s one of those American girls from the hinterlands who came to the Big Town to make her way, and serendipitously ended up at Bergdorf’s where over time she became the face of Bergdorf’s style.

Aside from her obvious talent in her business, she is also the kind of person you’d think came from Out There to make her way in the Big Town, i.e., she’s nice and down-to-earth, and gracious. My personal take on her is that she loves her business and is heavenly grateful to have found her place in it. Everyone else who knows her or knows the store is, too.

I don’t know whom she shoots for but she’s got the figure and the dress for a shot, no?

This couple sauntered away from the red carpet, and Steve Eichner got a shot of them before they left the stage. I don’t know who they are but the young woman was clearly interested in getting a good shot. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had a specific interest in the event.

Eichner turns his lens to the crowd entering the auditorium. I don’t know who she is; maybe you’ll recognize her. Eichner chose her for a reason.

Someone told me the Times referred to the film as basically an infomercial. It is that in the best sense. It demonstrates why this store is the place of professional arrival for fashion designers and marketers of quality, luxury and style.

There are several segments about the making of their windows which are always masterpieces of visual content and fashion -- but as a canvas to entice, amuse, and entertain. I always make a point of passing by every couple of weeks to see what they’ve done that is new. I know I’m going to be awed and even astounded at the artisanship, the craftsmanship and the creative explosions they offer up to the millions of us who pass by (and the thousands and thousands who shop there).

I figured the film would be about the business. It is. The secret of its long success is the legacy of the Goodmans (Mr. Bergdorf sold out to Mr Goodman in the 19-teens and retired to Europe). Mr. Edwin Goodman set the terms and his son Andrew completed them.

Red carpet almost over, Eichner’s concentrating on people filling the auditorium. There were a lot of boldfacers including many who were in the film and many who are big Bergdorf fans. I saw Blaine Trump and Steve Simon; Debbie Bancroft was there with Patricia Duff. Writer Jill Kargman (who has a funny bit in the film) was with her two little daughters; Kathy and Rick Hilton were there with daughter Nicky.Ann Dexter Jones was there; Fern Malllis, Dawn Mello, Amy Fine Collins (also in the film); Robert Verdi, Dennis Bassoand Michael Cominotto, Pat Cleveland, Ally Hilfiger; the great Linda Fargo, the Bergdorf’s executive who is now famous (and a famous persona in New York as well) as Bergdorf’s style guru.

The pensive man in the red jacket taking it all in from his seat in the fifth row center is Patrick McDonald who is also in the film. Patrick is the self-styled “Dandy” in New York. He works in the fashion business but personal style is his mantra and his ticket to ride. As outrageous as he can look, he’s a practical man, and focused and courteous. He must have an amazing closet because I’ve never seen him in the same thing twice.

That’s Tommy Hilfiger quickly exiting stage left and being pursued by a woman with a recorder.

She got him, and he’s talking. The seats are now filling up. The screening was scheduled for 7:30 and at this point it was almost 8 o’clock.

They just can’t tear themselves away from the lights and the mikes and the lenses. That’s Marina Rust in the black print dress and black stockings, with her back to the audience, talking to what looks like a reporter.

That’s style expert and TV personality Robert Verdi, on the left talking to a member of the Cinema Society staff. Verdi is in the film also.	Legendary model Pat Cleveland who seems to be looking for someone on the red carpet. The show is about to begin.
The screen comes down, the stage clears, the lights dim, Andrew Saffir, the Cinema Society founder welcomes the audience – thanks his sponsors Grey Goose and Swarovski – and introduces the director. 8:10. Thankfully lights out and the film comes on screen.

It is the store that all designers want to be a part of. It’s not an easy task being recognized as a worthy designer by the management although they are open to all. Michael Kors got his first recognition at Bergdorf’s. Same with Akris, and Jason Wu, and Oscar and many many others.

The film covers every aspect of the history and life of the store. The lesson therein is: it is all about focus, creative imagination, marketing with an eye toward The Client (which is how Andrew Goodman referred to his customers). The Client is rich, or at least very wealthy, or aspiring. The shoe department is considered the best in the world. There’s a great Yoko Ono anecdote about her Christmas shopping one year that I’m not going to tell you because I don’t’ want to ruin it for you.

Bobbi Brown, Catherine Malandrino, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs, and Vera Wang.

The Cinema Society audience is generally 20- and 30-somethings (with a dusting of us older ones) and they are devoted movie-goers, seeing everything. This was a two-hour film, and the only time there was a rustle of sound, it was from laughter at something said by one of the players (staff or designers). The audience was very attentive I think because of the “instructive” nature of the film. It was about something so many people come to New York to learn: HOW it’s done. And what it takes.

Like the song says, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere ... New York, New York. That’s the essence of “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s” and it’s fun and fascinating and kinda eye-opening too. Linda Fargo is its star and we couldn’t be luckier as an audience, as store clients and as designers aspiring to have her presiding over the “showing how.” The art director who presides over the window is designer David Hoey. He is her Picasso. Genius.

David Hoey and Linda Fargo in one of the Bergdorf windows (Ruth Fremson for the New York Times).

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Late afternoon sunbathing in Riverside Park. 5:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Wednesday, the Merry Month of May, 2013. It was a beautiful day in New York. The weatherman had said 63 and it was more like 70. The Sun was out and so were New Yorkers. Riding home from lunch traveling through the Park: there were bicycles, joggers, horse and carriage, the road was almost crowded.

I’d gone to Michael’s to lunch with Chris Meigher, the owner/publisher of Quest and two editors, Lily Hoagland and Daniel Capello. It was an editorial lunch meeting. Ralph Lauren happened by the table and stopped to greet Chris. I pointed out to him that the green tie Chris was wearing was similar to the first Ralph Lauren tie I ever bought, back in the 60s. Five dollars, a price rise compared to Brooks Brothers but worth it.

The entrance/exit of Central Park at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue and the statue of Samuel F. B. Morse.

The Ralph Lauren Collection flagship store in the old Rhinelander Waldo mansion on 72nd Street and Madison Avenue, 2:50 p.m.

That was Ralph Lauren’s initial foray into fashion. His price was a little above Brooks, which was a statement in itself. His quality was too, aided and abetted by his style. On my way home, passing the Ralph Lauren store in the old Rhinelander Waldo mansion on 72nd and Madison, I took a picture of the symbol of one man’s personal achievement in business in New York (and the the world).

Back at my apartment, on the terrace, the Sun was lighting up two of the trees in their day-glo green.

Twin late afternoon day-glo.

East End Avenue looking north of Gracie Square now almost in full flourish, 4:30 p.m.

There were many events going on in the City. At lunchtime, Public Prep held its Namesake luncheon at the Metropolitan Club where they honored Whoopi Goldberg. Down at La Grenouille, Francie Whittenburg hosted a birthday lunch for her friend Amy Fine Collins.

Last night The New York School of Interior Design honored Geoffrey Bradfield and Laurie Olin at its annual Spring Benefit dinner at the Asia Society. The Boys Club of New York honored Elaine Langone at its annual Awards Dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street. Over at the Plaza, John Legend performed at the Turnaround Impact Awards Dinner honoring Goldman Sachs Gives (accepted by Lise and Michael Evans). Over at Carnegie Hall the Collegiate Chorale Spring Benefit “Song of Norway” with concert and seated dinner afterwards. A couple of blocks East, at the University Club, the Pratt Institute was hosting its Art of Packaging Award Gala to benefit Marc Rosen Scholarship and Education Fund.

And those were only the invitations I received. NO doubt there were dozens more.

Taniyah Chisolm, Mianelle Noel, Whoopi Goldberg, Jurnee Hernandez, Suleni Savil at the Third Annual Public Prep Namesake Luncheon.

It was a nice night to be out in New York. I went over to the American Museum of Natural History for the 2013 PEN Literary Gala. If you’re a regular reader, you’ve been there with me many times before. It is one of those “special” evenings in New York despite all the earmarks of a uniform “gala” fundraiser. It’s because it is a writer’s organization. In there, one can imagine, lies a kernel of truth; maybe more than one.
This year was their biggest fundraising. A little more than $1 million. Also Philip Roth was honored and awarded with the 2013 PEN /Allen Foundation Literary Service Award. This award was created by Annette Tapert Allen and Joe Allen. Annette was also co-chair of this year’s gala along with Joanna Coles, Elizabeth Leeds, Carol Mack, Anne Hearst McInerney, Jay McInerney, and John Troubh.

Honorary Chairs were Toni Goodale and Tina Brown. They filled the room. Willie Geist co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and of NBC’s Today.

The American Museum of Natural History at last night's cocktail reception before the PEN Literary Gala honoring Philip Roth.

There were authors hosting many tables including David Henry Hwang, Ron Chernow, Billy Collins, James Goodale, Adam Gopnik, Molly Haskell, Rick Hertzberg, Walter Mosley, Susan Orlean, Francine Prose, David Remnick, Martin Amis, Ken Auletta, K. Anthony Appiah, Colm Toibin, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Judith Thurman, Jeffrey Toobin, Edmund White, and many others, as well as a large group of “Trustee Hosts.”

The mission of PEN is to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. It is a professional organization of poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, novelists, screenwriters, and translators, who have pledged themselves to “do their utmost to dispel race, class, and national hatred and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in the world.” That is an excerpt from its charter.

Guests making their way to the Milstein Hall for the dinner.

Louise Grunwald and Annette Tapert.

Entering Milstein Hall for the dinner.

This year the Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award was presented to Ayse Berktay of Turkey. Ms. Berktay could not be there because she is in jail. She is a translator and writer by profession but a year and a half ago her home was raided at 5 am and personal papers were seized. She was later charged under Turkey’s anti-terror legislation of “membership in an illegal organization,” accusing her of “planning to stage demonstrations aimed at destabilizing the state, plotting to encourage women to throw themselves under police vehicles so as to create a furor..” To create a furor? That’s what it says. Isn’t there an element of comedy in that prose? Or the sublime to ridiculous irony? Sure seems that way.

Comedy only if you’re a million miles away from that process. Ms. Berktay is in jail, charged with creating a furor. She faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted. Of creating a furor.

The honoree in a video interview.

Philip Roth speaking to the guests from the podium.

Barbara Goldsmith making the presentation of the 2013 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.

Accepting the aware in the stead of Ayse Berktay who is imprisoned awaiting trial in Turkey.

Freedom to write. It’s all very ironic when you consider that the late Edward Bernays, the daddy of the Art of Public Relations (and manipulating public opinion), considered a genius of a kind, and definitely a profoundly influential man with words, wrote the books the Goebbels admired and considered his bible in running Nazi Germany and all its vile aberrant distortions of human behavior. Nobody ever arrested Bernays and threw him into jail, nor should they have; and his work actually had a profound influence on a monster. Mr. Bernays also promoted the electrifying of the nation from the age of the kerosene lamp. General Electric was his client. His promotion was profoundly and happily effective, as we all know.

Mr. Roth who is said to have retired from writing, gave a short speech about the Freedom to Write and helping one’s fellow man. Suzanne Nassel, the Executive Director of PEN spoke of her intention to make PEN more active in helping its cause.
I was a guest of the Goodales. Their groups are always fun. Conversation is everywhere and so is laughter nearby. I was seated next to the beautiful Patricia Duff and my hostess, Mrs. Goodale and one over from her was the vivacious Felicia Taylor. It was a beautiful evening in New York.

Jackie Weld Drake and Wendy Gimbel.

Billy Rayner and Paul Wilmot.

Priscilla Whittle on greeting ...

Gayfryd Steinberg takes her seat next to Joe Allen.

Barbara Goldsmith and Susan Calhoun Moss.

Lisa Fine and Liz Peek.

Michael Hainey, author of the new bestselling novel, "After Visiting Friends."

Alina Cho with Laura and Harry Slatkin.

Carol Mack and Liz Peek.

Felicia Taylor.

David Henry Hwang and Kathy Rayner.

Philip Roth.

Amy Fine Collins

Patricia Duff with our hostess Toni Goodale.

Patricia Duff and Warren Hoge.

This was an amazing evening in New York this past Monday night. The New York Pops 30th Birthday Gala at Carnegie Hall “In Concert: Celebrating Collaborations of the Past, Present and Future.” They honored Frank Loesser, Jule Styne and Danny Kaye. Paula Zahn, host of NYC Arts on PBS hosted the evening.

Guest artists were Nick Adams, Laura Benanti, Stephanie J. Block, Liz Callaway, Will Chase, Megan Hilty, Marilyn Maye, Rob McClure, Donna Murphy Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Leslie Uggams, Max von Essen, Anthony Warlow and Betsy Wolfe. They were joined by the Ronald McDonald House’s Rockin’ House Band and Chorus, Camp Broadway Kids, and the New York Pops Salute to Music Students.

Jacob Slater, Djorkaeff Zentoa, Steven Reineke, Eric Heck, Teresa Lynch, and Mina Gurkan.

Paula Zahn.

Megan Hilty.

Laura Benanti.

Laura Osnes.

Kelli O'Hara with Ronald McDonald House children.

Donna Murphy.

Leslie Uggams.

Marilyn Maye.

Rob McClure.

Stephanie J.Block.

Liz Callaway.

Nick Adams, Max von Essen, and Will Chase.

Camp Broadway Kids.

Steven Reineke.

Curtain Call.

Nick Adams, Steven Reineke, and Max von Essen.

Steven Reineke and Leslie Uggams.

Jim Read, Patty Read, Dena Kaye, and Richard Fallon.

Anthony Warlow and Will Chase.

Elizabeth Stanley and Debra Messing

Laura Osnes, Stephanie J.Block, Andrew Samonsky, and Natalie Hill.

Dita Zdasorokfs, Bill Schermerhorn, and Liz Calloway.

Katie Anderson, AnneRead, Marjorie Mayrock, and Melissa Watson.

Donna Murphy and Ted Chapin.

Barbara Taylor Bradford and Bob Bradford.

Ruth Henderson and June Freemanson.

Photographs by Rob Rich (NY Pops)

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Literacy Partners Evening of Readings and Gala Dinner Dance at Cipriani 42nd Street. 9:30 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Thursday, May 2, 2013. Another beautiful day in New York. A special day in Central Park as it was the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy’s annual Frederick Law Olmsted Awards Luncheon. The thirty-first.

It’s popularly known as the Hat Luncheon, for obvious reasons, Somehow wearing a hat to this event became a tradition, and now, as you can see ...

“Does anyone still wear a hat? ...” begs the question made famous by Elaine Stritch with her rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s song “Here’s To The Ladies Who Lunch ...” They still do at the Hat Lunch.

I’m not a statistician but I’ve been covering this lunch for many years, and it seems it was hattier this year than ever before. A lot of them were very stylish, some very funny, others amusing, and some occasionally a question mark. I liked all of it. It’s funny and gentle. I could see the influence of Kate Middleton,the Duchess of Cambridge in the crowd too. There were a couple of girls (young women) who kinda looked like her. Not a bad look. Maybe she’s gonna bring the hat back. Some of those girls yesterday were sincerely into it.

This luncheon is very prestigious in the New York scheme of things. The Women’s Committee was started more than three decades ago by a small group of concerned women citizens who wanted to do something to clean up the sorry state of Central Park.

It’s hard to believe today that it was ever in a sorry state because it’s so beautifully kept and maintained. But by the mid- to late '70s, a lot of it was derelict and broken down and rundown. JH grew up on the Park and recalls a time when it was dangerous for kids to play in there.

Jenny Paulson addresses the luncheon guests, thanking the the Women's Committee for their award, and recounting how much the Park means to them as individuals and as a family. Her husband John Paulson stands to the right of her.

The Paulsons holding their award.

The Women's Committee president Anne Harrison.

These enterprising women, one of whom I know was there yesterday – Norma Dana– were an example of what real Power is in a community. They were already well connected and prominent women in the community, and some had strong financial connections behind them. But that wasn’t what made their objective a success. Those assets were advantages well used. They helped raise over the years tens of millions, all of which has gone for maintaining the Park, and promoting more fund-raising ways to keep up the good work.

The Good Work. That is what they made happen. The Park right now is stunning and pastoral up by the Botanical. A jewel in the great big gritty, towering city.

There were 1300 guests under the vast white tent, and the mood was festive, in the real sense. Think of it: it was a beautiful day in the Park’s festooning and flowering Botanical Garden, behind the Vanderbilt Gates on Fifth Avenue and 104th Street. The trees are in full fresh bloom in that shiny lime green shade, and so were the tulips in masses.

The trees surrounding the tent.

Everyone looked festive and they were up for it. The tent is massive but the crowd was too so it seemed intimate. There were a lot of familiar faces because many of these women and men come every year and bring new friends. For me, it’s about the hats. It’s a good way to make people remember something that is good for everybody in many ways. It’s public theatre.

They honored Jenny and John Paulson. Last October the Paulsons (officially John Paulson and the Paul Family Foundation donated $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy. This is by far the most enormous sum given to the Conservancy (the lunch raised $3.3 million this year – a record). Mr. Paulson also didn’t request that his name be placed anywhere in or around the Park, although the nature of his donation is significant and civic-worthy. It too was a fresh outlook.

Under the tent.

Abigail Kirsch provided the lunch. The tablecloths were provided by Scalamandre. Tiffany donated the goodie bag which was the bag itself and it contained a big box of skincare items from Estee Lauder. The goodie bag, which is a white and Tiffany blue heavy canvas, also came with a free monogramming. It will be a pleasant surprise for a woman I know.

Although it was a very sunny day, as they do every year, there were staffmembers distributing umbrellas as guests were leaving. This year in the Tiffany blue that matches the bag. For a good look at almost 200 of the Hat Luncheoners, click here.

The tulip beds of an apartment house on Fifth Avenue in the 90s. On the exterior wall by the building's entrance is this plaque.

Last night was another busy one in New York. Down at Pier 60 of the Chelsea Piers, the International Center of Photography hosted its ICP Infinity Awards and featured a presentation of actor Jeff Bridges who is also a serious photographer.

And down at the Joyce, They were holding the Petronio Spring Gala, featuring the world premiere of Like Lazarus Did (LLD 4/30). While up at the Academy Mansion at 2 East 63rd Street, the Financial Times was hosting its 125th anniversary party. I didn’t make it but I’m sure it was fun because the FT staff has an entirely different vibe from American newspapers.

Also last night there was the annual Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala benefit. This featured a concert with the Jazz @ Lincoln Center orchestra and Crosby, Stills and Nash. My friend Ashley Schiff Ramos produced the concert. She thoughtfully invited me months ago. It was a privilege. I love CSN and I love Jazz@Lincoln Center.

Steven Stills, Graham Nash and David Crosby taking their bows after their concert with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last night at Jazz at Lincoln Center,

The CSN concert was called for 7:00. It was 7:30 before it got underway. Bette Midler appeared on stage to introduce the evening’s honoree, Mica Ertegun. Mica and her late husband Ahmet Ertegun have been major benefactors of Jazz@LC. The Turkish born Mr. Ertegun and his brother were sons of the Turkish ambassador in the 1930s. They were avid fans of American jazz and pursued it by starting Atlantic Records.

Bette Midler told us last night that she first met them when she was a kid and signed with Atlantic – which was a major career coup for her. The Erteguns took her under wing and they became friends. She said their philanthropy all over the world is legion. The fellowships for study of the humanities at Oxford is the largest endowment for a fellowship ever given to Oxford in its 900 history.

The table set for the dinner.

Columbus Circle looking east along Central Park South, from the dining room.

The combination of Mica Ertegun and Crosby Stills and Nash brought out a big black tie crowd. More than 800. They raised $3.7 million.

This was fresh CSN too, with their songs arranged for them with the Jazz LC orchestra under Wynton Marsalis. A lot of rehearsal went into it for both orchestra and trio with the new jazz arrangements.

The program was the CSN Songbook: beginning with Cathedral (by Graham Nash), Critical Mass/Wind on the Water (by Crosby&Nash); Déjà vu (Crosby); Guinevere (Crosby); Helplessly Hoping (Stills); Long Time Gone (Crosby); Love the One Youre With (Stills); Marrakesh Express (Nash); Military Madness (Nash); Southern Cross (Stills, Richard Curtis, Michael Curtis).

Ashley and Mike Ramos at the dinner following the musicians throughout the dining rooms. Ashley conceived and produced the concert. I've known Ashley for quite a few years. After college she worked in public relations which she eventually became disenchanted with. She is also an excellent polo player. She's volunteered her time doing fundraising events for Jazz LC for several years, chairing successful dinners and concerts. Several years ago she married Mike Ramos, who works for Jimmy Buffett. The couple who have two children, and live in Palm Beach. In the last few years, however, Ashley's been producing bigger and bigger concerts for Jazz@ LC. She's becoming a jazz impresario.

Then Graham Nash announced: “Today is Judy Collins birthday, so we’re playing this song for her. Happy birthday Judy wherever you are!” The song: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. (Stills). And they closed with Teach Your Children (Nash).

From the concert hall we moved to the Rose Room for dinner. Robert Wagner was at the same table as I. He and Jill St. John were sitting two rows ahead of me and I noticed them because she has spectacular red hair and she’s one of the most beautiful women in the world.

I decided when I saw them in the theater that I’d like to get a picture and particularly one of Jill St. John. We had Rock people, we had jazz, we had Wall Street (Board of Directors have lots of financial guys); we had Society and philanthropists, and with Wagner and St. John, we had real Hollywood glamour.

Robert Wagner and Jill St. John.

Heather Watts and Jennifer Raab.

So eventually I introduced myself to him I told him a little known fact: that I’d attended his 53rd birthday party in Los Angeles where he and St. John had a house in Mandeville Canyon. I’d also been seated next to his mother, a very charming, quietly elegant, sophisticated lady, who talked about her son whom she adored. She said that everybody always adored him. This sounds more bubbly than substantial, and she was a proud mother, but I did learn in time that he is one of the best liked individuals anywhere. I know what it is after our conversation last night: He’s one of those people who is perfectly comfortable with himself and likes people. What his mother was telling me was that her son was graced. By her upbringing.

So is his wife. Eventually I got around to asking if I could take a picture. Why of course. They live in Aspen now, which is where St. John has lived for a lot of her life. And they keep a condo in Los Angeles so they get out there. I think it was 30 years ago when I went to that birthday party (Fred Astaire was there too — “Oh F.A.!” Wagner smiled at the thought of his great friend.)

Right after I took that picture of Wagner and St. John, the sound of the Jazz band emerged in the distance and quickly came marching into the room led by Marsalis, playing When the Saints Go Marching In, moving around the tables and throughout the room, gathering followers as they wove in and out and finally into the next dining room. It was an amazing day and an amazing night in New York to witness.

The orchestra marching into the dining room single file, led by Wynton Marsalis.

It was also the Literacy Partners 29th Annual Evening of Readings and Gala Dinner Dance. They honored bestselling author Patricia Cornwell, and writer/director Tatiana von Furstenberg“for their devoted work in education and philanthropy.” Liz Smith, one of the founders of Literacy Partners, and Alina Cho, the CNN National Correspondent were hosts of the evening. Jackie Weld was awarded the Lizzie Award– named for You- Know Who and connoting dedication, intelligence, know-how, get-go, and never-give-up. If the shoe fits ... and it does with Jackie Weld.

There were the readings: Bill O’Reilly, Jonathan Meacham and Elizabeth Strout, reading from their latest works. Always interesting, thought provoking, entertaining.

Mark Jackson, Bill O'Reilly, Anthony Tassi, and John Meacham.

Liz Smith, Billie Jean King, and Nina Rennert Davidson.

Louise Hirschfeld Cullman, Lewis Cullman, and Stephanie and BIll Joseph.

Peter Rogers and Duane Hampton.

Ira Rennert, Liz Smith, and Nina Rennert Davidson.

BIlly Norwich and Elizabeth Peabody.

Anthony Tassi and Joni Evans.

Sheila Nevins and iris Love.

Sam Peabody, Jackie Glover, and Bob Perkins.

And last but not least (and kicking of May's whirlwind round of art fairs), was last night's opening of the 3rd edition of the Spring Show NYC, sponsored by 1stdibs, and the Manhattan Art & Antiques Center, to benefit the ASPCA. Organized by the Art and Antique Dealers League of America, 60 international dealers have set up shop at the Park Avenue Armory through May 5 with a dazzling array of furniture, paintings, drawings, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, silver, and decorative arts. This year's Honorary co-chairs are: Amy Fine Collins, Somers and Jonathan Farkas, and Carolyne Roehm. Co-chairs of the Connoisseurs Committee are: Brett Beldock, Michael Bruno, Mario Buatta, Dara Caponigro, , Robert Couturier, Ellie Cullman, Edward Lobrano, Celerie Kemble Brian McCarthy, Miles Redd, Ellen and Chuck Scarborough, Michael Smith, Bunny Williams, and Vicente Wolf.

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Jack Lenor Larsen.

Jamie Sasso and Thomas Jayne.

As they have been in the past, the guests of honor are always the irresistible ASPCA rescue dogs who greeted the guests as they made their way into the exhibition hall. This year, there's a special Spring Show Collection for the ASPCA, designed by Brett Beldock. Many of the dealers were asked to place an object in the booth and if you purchase anything, a contribution will be made to the organization.  Among those stopping to shake paws were Amy Fine Collins, Mario Buatta, Ellie Cullman, Jean Shafiroff, Donald and Barbara Tober, Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels, Alexandra Bishop, Susan Slater, Brian McCarthy and Danny Sager, Alex Papachristidis, Stacey Bewkes, Andrea Stark, Ilene Wetson, Sharon King Hoge, Ray Kean, Georgina Schaeffer, Brett Beldock, CeCe Black, Edward Lobrano, George Subkoff, Ron Wagner and Timothy Van Dam, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Mark Gilbertson, Barbara Regna, DiMondo, Barbara and Donald Tober, Tony Freund, Walter Robinson, Sheila Camera Kotur, Joan and Jayne Michaels, David Ling, Lynn and Noel Jeffrey, Leigh Keno, Geoffrey Bradfield, Roric Tobin, Thomas Jayne, Hermes Mallea, Henry Neville, Erik and Cornelia Thomsen, Ronald Mayne and DeBare Saunders, John Roselli, Stefano Tonchi, Ronald Brick, Michael Hill, Zita Davisson, Bruce Budd, Arie Kopelman, Michel Witmer, Gail and Dennis Karr, Mark Lyman, Michael Franks, Bruce Bierman, Christopher Boshears, Peter Trippi, Brook Mason, Harry Heissmann, Adam Karp, Lindsay Sklar, Jaimee Bloom, Ralph and Clifford Harvard, Ian Irving, Carol Prisant, and Wendy Moonan.

60 international dealers have set up shop at the Park Avenue Armory for the Spring Show NYC.

Nicholas Grindley Works of Art.

Patrick Bavasi Gallery.

Clinton Howell Antiques.

New this year is interior designer Brett Beldock's installation for the Spring Show NYC Collection for the ASPCA. Brett asked many of the dealers to lend her animal-themed works of art, which if sold a portion of proceeds will go the organization.

For the young set, Arts' Night Out takes place Friday evening and tickets are still available! Co-chairs are Emily Collins, Abigail Starliper, Maggie Moore, and Lydia Melamed Johnson.www.springshownyc.com.

Carol Prisant with Ralph and Cliffford Harvard.

Beth Werwaissi and Philip Hewat-Jaboor.

Michael McConkey and Vyna St Phard.

Cece Black and Mark Gilbertson.

Zita Davisson and Gary Lawrance.

Arlie Sulka and Lillian Nassau.

Sheila Kotur, Michael Henry Adams, and Caroline Sollis.

Tony Freund and Michel Witmer.

Paul Vandekar, Earle Vandekar of Knightsbridge.

Lawrence Steigrad and Sarah Gordon.

DeBare Saunders and Ronald Mayne.

Ronald Bricke, Diana Jacoby, and Michael Hill.

Suzanne Slesin, Pointed Leaf Press.

Lindsay Saccullo and Ellie Cullman.

Andrea Stark and Sherry Miller.

David Ling, Jayne Michaels, Joan Michaels, and Todd Pickard.

Lydia Melamed Johnson and Robert Simon, Robert Simon Fine Art.

Andres Clasc, Leonardo Piacenti, and Emanuele Piacenti.

Fernanda Kellogg, Georgina Schaeffer, and Kirk Henckels.

Helen Fioratti, L Antiquaire and the Connoisseur.

Jeffrey Tillou.

Donald and Barbara Tober.

Michael Franks and Marilyn White.

Jean Shafiroff, Geoffrey Bradfield, Roric Tobin, Gail Karr, and Dennis Karr.

Clive Kandel.

Alex Papachristidis, Stacey Bewkes, Sharon Hoge, Wendy Moonan, and Mario Buatta.

Noel Jeffrey and Lynn Jeffrey.

Barbara Regna, Diane Weisheit, Di Mondo, and Sue Chalom.

Ron Wagner and Timothy Van Dam.

Juan Montoya and Urban Karlsson.

Amy Fine Collins and Francie Whittenburg.

Vivienne Stevens , Marjorie McGraw, and Leigh Keno.

Jamie Sasso and Dr. Lewis Feder.

Photographs by Annie Watt (Spring Show).

Contact DPC here.

Leaning tulips. 11:30 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Monday, May 6, 2013. A beautiful (not warm) Sunny weekend in New York, capping off a week of lovely Spring weather.

On Sunday more than 32,000 bicycle riders participated in a Five Boro Bike Tour to raise money for the Boston Marathon Bombing victims. It was a 40 mile car-free ride through the five boroughs. I didn’t see any sign of it from this perch on East End Avenue.


	Linda Johnson and Leonard Lauder

On Thursday night I went over to Sotheby’s where the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation was hosting its Seventh Annual Connoisseur’s Dinner. The foundation (ADDF) was founded fifteen years ago (in 1998) by Leonard Lauder and Ronald Lauder. The mission: to accelerate the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias and cognitive aging.

In that time, the ADDF has granted more than $60 million to fund more than 400 drug research programs at academic centers and biotechnology companies in 18 countries.

I’ve been attending this dinner for several years. Compared to many fundraisers, this one is low key and basically a dinner, with a couple of brief speeches about their progress, and an awards ceremony. It has been held in the galleries at Sotheby’s where they are currently holding Impressionist and Modern Art Sales this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) and Jean-Michel Basquiat“Selling Exhibition” running through June 9th.

It’s a black tie evening. Leonard Lauder spoke briefly about the progress they are making in research, as did Dr. Howard Fillit who is the founding Executive Director and Chief Science Officer of the ADDF. The dinner co-chairs were Nancy Corzine, Sir Evelyn and Lady de Rothschild, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Goodes, Leonard Lauder, the Honorable and Mrs. Ronald Lauder and Mr and Mrs. Randal Sandler. Honorary Chairs were Jamie Niven and Mr and Mrs. William Ruprecht.

George Pataki, Leonard Lauder, Earle Mack, and John Demsey.

There was a special film clip, a rough cut scene from the still untitled Glenn Campbell documentary, presented by Director/Producer James Keach. In the film, Campbell who is in early stages of Alzheimer’s, recorded a song about his experience.

Alzheimer’s affects one in three Americans over 80 and there are more than 5 million currently suffering from the disease. Paula Zahn was given the Chairman’s Award. Paula’s mother is currently deeply afflicted. She told the guests that her mother doesn’t recognize any of her children anymore. They were a close family and the mother’s presence was the better part of their bond.

Nancy Sanford, Linda Johnson, Leonard Lauder, Paula Zahn, and Nancy Lynn.

Alzheimer’s is one of those diseases that people would rather not even think about because of its mystery and the current inevitability of the affliction. However, there is something about the Lauders’ approach to those situations on which they share their philanthropy that is encouraging.

We hear sentences like: "we’re getting close to finding a path to a solution," and it is easy to believe them. First of all we want to believe them, and secondly, they have had great successes with their philanthropy elsewhere. The sons of the lady who built an empire out of a single fragrance product have taken her legacy to greater heights for the good of all of us, of mankind. When Leonard Lauder assured the guests on Thursday night that they were making great progress, I’d bet everyone in the room believed him for the same reason I did.

Phebe Farrow-Port, Bill Jackey, and Rose Marie Bravo.

William Mayer and Lita Rosenberg.

Liz Sandler, Randal Sandler, Amanda Lewitton, and Jasper Lewitton.

Alexa Lefkowitz, Matthew Lefkowitz, Carlene Moeller, and Pete Born.

Jennifer and Claude Amadeo.

Rochelle Bloom, Richard Marzullo, Karen Marzullo, Deborah Krulewitch, and Rachel Leeds.

Nancy Corzine, Nancy Goodes, and Katherine Adler.

Lois Robbins and Carole Feuerman.

Ronald and Harriet Weintraub with Eleanora and Michael Kennedy.

Rochelle Bloom and James Keith.

Catharine Beckett, Dennis Somar, and Lisa Somar.

Diana Shineman, Penny Dacks, Dr. Howard Fillit, Susan Kind, and Aaron Carman.

Paula Zahn, Alan Weinstein, and Linda Weinstein.

Giosetta Capriati and Maurice Sonnenberg.

Nile Ferguson, Elizabeth Ferguson, Amanda Lewitton, and Jasper Lewitton.

Larry and Dalia Leeds.

Mary Ann Freda, Fabrizio Freda, Paula Zahn, John Demsey, Sarah McNitt, and Peter Krulewitch.

Marcia Levine and Pierre Levai.

Katy and Harry Kamen.

Heidi and Tom McWilliams.

Judith and Michael Thoyer.

Alice Shure, Alan Levy, Mary Rose Taylor, and Bonnie Pfeifer Evans.

Bobbi Brown.

Leslie Smith and Dr. James Walsh.

Bonnie Lautenberg, Robert Belfer, and Renee Belfer.

Betsey Ruprecht, Edward Ney, and Judy McLaren.

Bill Mack, Phyllis Mack, and Jamie Niven.

Lois Robbins and Brad Krevoy.

Gana and Samia Farouki.

Aileen Schruth, Carol Launer, and Mary Farrell.

Tracey and Richard Travis.

Nancy Corzine and Dr. Howard Fillit.

Dustin Magoulas, Heidi Kloster, and Ashley Picciallo.

David Wassong and Cynthia Clift.

Roz Jacobs and Michael Gould.

On a lighter note, a much lighter note, but still not without its sad subtexts, the stuff that novels are made of, the Greek island of Skorpios where Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis married the widow of our assassinated President John Kennedy, has been sold.

The seller was Onassis’ granddaughter – whom he never lived to know – and only surviving heir to the fortune, Athina Onassis Roussel, to Ekaterina Rybolovlev, age 24 (Athina is 28) for a rumored $150 million.

Grampa Onassis bought the rock of 74 acres in the Ionian Sea off Greece fifty years ago for twenty thousand bucks ($20,000). Or 1/7500th of the rumored current selling price.

The island of Skorpios, 74 acres in the Ionian Sea off Greece, recently sold by Athina Onassis Roussel to a foundation in the name of Ekaterina Rybolovlev for more than $100 million.

A residence on the island of Skorpios, built by Roussel's grandfather Aristotle Onassis when he bought the island in 1963 for $20,000.

It was a barren island when he picked it up for a song. He brought in utilities, he planted forests, he built beaches and several buildings and residences. Plus a helicopter pad. He could also park his famous yacht the Christina (named for his daughter, Athina’s late mother) right at the water’s edge.

A second island, Sparti, was included in the sale. Skorpios is also the burial place for Onassis’ son Alexander who died in a plane crash when in his 20s, and his daughter Christina (Athina’s mother) who died at age 37 when Athina was 3 years old.


	Dmitry Rybolovlev.

What will the young Russian woman do with all that resort property? The Greek press reported that she intended to build a resort for the world’s rich and powerful. Although there are other purported explanations for the purchase.

The island was bought by a trust in Ms. Rybolovlev’s name. Her father is a rich Russian named Dmitry Rybolovlev. Mr. R. used to be the fertilizer king of Russia. He sold out his interest in Urakali, the country’s largest producer of potassium fertilizer for $6.5 billion. According to Forbes 400, he is the 119th richest person in the world.

Ms. Rybolovlev also owns the $88 million penthouse that her father purchased for her from Joan and Sandy Weill at 15 Central Park West. At the time it was said to be purchased so she’d have someplace to put up her feet while attending college classes in Manhattan. Sounds sensible.

Daddy — Mr. Rybolovlev — is himself the proud owner of a house that Donald Trump bought, fixed up and flipped for $95 million — the highest price ever at the time for a U.S. single family home. In cash: 60,000-square feet, beachfront, Maison de L’Amitie.

The house in Fla.

But if that weren’t enough shelter for the former Russky fertilizer king, five years ago in 2008, he also bought a penthouse in Monte Carlo. For $300 million. It’s only money.

That’s mainly where he lives. A tax haven, Somerset Maugham long ago referred to Monaco as a sunny place for shady people. But that was decades before Perestroika.

Oh, the same year he bought in Monaco, Rybolovlev acquired a villa owned by Will Smith on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for a mere $20 million.

Aside from the realtors’ boon, his ex-wife Elena Rybolovlev, mother of Ekaterina, is suing the old man for divorce. She was married to Dmitry for almost 25 years and had two children with him, when he decided to take a powder.

Ekaterina Rybolovlev, the new owner of the island of Skorpios.

She claims Dmitry bought the Weills’ apartment for 88 mill not for Ekaterina, but for “the specific intent of hiding and diverting his personal interest in the property” from her, Elena. She’s now out to freeze Dmitry’s assets in other courtrooms everywhere, so they say.

It came as a great shock to Americans back in 1968 when Jackie Kennedy’s mother Mrs. Auchincloss announced to the press that her daughter was marrying Mr Onassis the next day. The first thing the ordinary American thought – if they even knew who he was, was: “why that dog?”

Jackie was the most famous, most admired woman in the world. Her husband’s death was still deeply etched in the conscious thoughts of many Americans, and their empathy and sympathy for her and her children was almost religious in its reverence.

The former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy, now regarded as the world's most famous trophy wife with her husband Aristotle Onassis.

Aristotle Onassis was a kind of mythical character, one of the leaders of the Greek Shipping Tycoon crowd. But he also had a reputation for being a shady kind of character. He had been married once, to a daughter of the shipping tycoon Livanos. They had two children, Alexander and Christina. It was not a happy life. For Tina, that is. Eventually they divorced and she married the present Duke of Marlborough (wife number 2 for him). Later she married her husband's rival, Niarchos. All the while Ari had a long much publicized affair with Maria Callas.

Jackie Kennedy and her sister Lee Radziwill came into Onassis’ social orbit in the late 1950s. Peter Evans book “Nemesis” is a must read for the background of the sisters’ relationships with Onassis.

Skorpios became famous because of the Kennedy imprint. Jackie, her children, her sister, her children, all kinds of Kennedys visited.

Christina Onassis with her daughter Athina, who was three years old when Christina died.

Within very few years there were rumors about the marriage being on the rocks. Jackie Onassis was in New York (for the children’s school year) most of the time and when Ari came, he often stayed elsewhere. He wanted it; he got it.

They hadn’t been divorced, however, when he died in 1975. Whatever the pre-nup was, Jackie evidently walked away with $20 million or so, according to all the reports (which doesn’t mean it is true). Christina by then was already a troubled poor little rich girl. It was said that she hated Jackie.


	Athina Onassis Roussel and her husband Alvaro (Doda) de Miranda.

Her public image was that of a sad girl. She married several times. Her third or fourth husband was a goodlooking heir for a French pharmaceutical fortune, Thierry Roussel. With him she had her only child, Athina, named from Christina’s mother Athina (Tina) Livanos.

Athina was three years old when her mother’s heart gave out, attributed to excessive medications/drugs and mental exhaustion. The child inherited her mother’s fortune. She was brought up by her father and his wife (who had been his girlfriend when he was married to Christina, with whom he had two more children). When she was eighteen, Athina came into the first part of her fortune. When she married at 20, her father and stepmother were not invited to the wedding, according to press reports. More happy family.

The young woman is now an accomplished equestrienne and married to Alvaro de Miranda– known as Doda to friends – an Olympic show-jumper. Just last month, the Onassis Mirandas took part in the FTI Winter Equestrian festival in Wellington, Florida where they keep a house. Miranda placed first in his category and won $150,000. Athina came in third in her category.

Perhaps the granddaughter will have detached herself from some of that by eliminating the island of Skorpios. Perhaps.

Athina and Doda.

Contact DPC here.

Fifth Avenue and 81st Street. 10:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013. Sunny and mild with temps in the 60s.

I went down to the Metropolitan Club before noon for City Harvest’s annual On Your Plate luncheon.

City Harvest, if you don’t know already, is in the business of collecting food that is left at the end of the day from restaurants, markets, and distributors, and re-distributing it among the citizens of New York.

There are more than 1.7 million New Yorkers now living in poverty. Basics, like food, rent and medical are often financially out of reach.

City Harvest feeds more than a million people a year. They rescue more than 115,000 pounds of food daily, and they re-distribute it to almost 600 community programs all over the city. They are fighting hunger a/k/a in modern techno-speak, “Food Insecurity.” That means not enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members, no matter what you call it.

I became aware of City Harvest’s work almost 20 years ago through my friend Joy Ingham who has been working on fundraising for them for more than two decades. It was a rather small operation back then. I think they had two trucks working. Today there are a fleet of trucks as well as smaller vehicles and tractor trailers, all working on collecting, delivering and re-distributing the food. In the past year and a half they’ve even acquired a “Food Rescue” facility (on lease) in Long Island City where they can store up to 45,500 pounds of food.

Their success has been tremendous. The drivers of the trucks play an important part in the process because they too are involved in the process of “helping” their fellow man. You get the feeling when you talk to them about it, that the experience has almost been an uplifting of consciousness. This year those men will rescue more than 42 million pounds of food for hungry New Yorkers.

This is not a sexy charity, however. Hunger is not on the top priority for most people who are philanthropists, self-styled or otherwise. Most of us who have the resources (i.e., the money to pay) don’t even know what hunger is. Or what it does to the individual, to one’s health, and to the health – both mental and physical, and to the society that we all live in.

Joy Ingham, Gillian Miniter, Edwin Ayala, Martha Stewart, Jilly Stephens, and Topsy Taylor.

The most popular charities in New York are those which involve, in one way or another, the personal issues and interests of the givers. Medical research, hospital support, the Parks, the libraries, the colleges, religious, educational, mental health. The social and humane philanthropies lag behind like stepchildren – cared for but without empathy. This is just the way we are. Most of us, that is. It is the ultimate dilemma for all life.

Men and women who can pay $250, $500, $1000 for a ticket to lunch are not that hungry. What they are is empathic – a sense of responsibility to one’s fellows. Nor do they personally relate to the issue unless they are on a diet, and even then the feeling that intrudes is often guilt, not the pangs of food deprivation. Also, a great many of us are on diets if we know what’s good for us.

The millions going to bed without food or enough food every night is growing in this country -- to previously unimagined percentages. More than 47 million Americans use food stamps. These people are hurting, and for their children it is even worse, much worse. This is ironic, considering that the United States is potentially the breadbasket of the world, as it was forty years ago.

All of this is bad news, and not the stuff people want to read. There’s enough bad news available everywhere else in our world. What we are being forced to do now, however, by the state of our finances, both international and individual, is to look at how we are going to sustain a society that can live healthily and in peace with each other. Without food, we won’t.

Memrie Lewis, DPC, and Martha Stewart.

The luncheon opened with Executive Director Jilly Stephens welcoming the guests and providing a progress report of the last year. This year's luncheon raised $200,000. They honored Pat Barrick, the Vice President External Relations of City Harvest. Pat has been a very effective and very well liked member of the team that has transformed this organization to grow with the times.

Yesterday’s guest speaker was Martha Stewart. I don’t know her well but I have observed her for two decades, and was well aware of her as far back as the early '70s when she was first getting started.

She is a remarkable woman, in my book. She started out in business baking and selling cakes and cookies and desserts, and catering in Westport, Connecticut back then. She went public with a little space selling her baked goods in an up market clothing boutique for men and women. The quality of her product was so good that her business naturally flourished, and she became a “name” locally. In the early '80s she published her first cookbook, and the rest is history.

But what is remarkable about her to me is not only her enormous business success but her capacity for work and for actualizing her ideas, be they for her personal life or for her businesses – which may be all part of A Life.


Click to orderLiving The Good Life.

I’ve only seen her on television once – during one of her own shows where she was making something. It was easy to see why she was a great success on camera: she is an excellent teacher – involved, impassioned, and able to coax the viewer into thinking they can do it too. (And they believe her even if they would never try.)

Yesterday was about her new book: “Living the Good Long Life; a Practical Guide to Caring For Yourself and Others.” Martha will be 72 in August. I am her contemporary, older by two weeks. The business of Aging is an odd conundrum for us human beings, should we live so long. For my generation, the early Baby Boomers, it is almost peculiar and not believable despite the glaring evidence (or lack thereof).

Martha Stewart’s approach to it is classic Martha – What Can I do to make the best and the most of the experience. There are recipes that emerge, just like her cakes and cookies (and green juice). The glass is never half empty for Martha; always, at least, half full.

She told us that (I think) this year more than 78 million of us will be 65 or older. This is a significantly larger percentage of the population than those who follow. Furthermore, the birth rate in this country as well as other “developed” countries – Japan especially – is declining and has been for decades.

There are many who have studied and written about this matter who are more than pessimistic. Martha, on the other hand, is inclined to look for ways to make her garden grow. This to me, is remarkable. This is humanity in flourish. I’m not saying Martha is anything but a human being, a woman with an enormous capacity for work, but her approach is far more alluring than the approach of the aforementioned.

DPC introducing Martha Stewart.

Martha takes the stage (and the audience).

I could go on about the matter of Martha’s success. She is the American Horatio Alger story, the modern version – the woman’s version. She is the classic late bloomer. She didn’t get started until she was in her 30s, and then she was in her forties before she began her first business. From there she attained great fame and great fortune, not to mention great personal satisfaction – those things which we men are admire and are admired and fawned over for. I don’t think admiration has come that easily to her door, although respect certainly did. And for a woman like Martha, that’s enough, and very adequate because she’s already moved on.


	Martha and her mother, who passed away at 92 in 2007.

It began with her mother and her father, growing up in New Jersey. They lived on a small plot of land and a good portion of it that wasn’t occupied by the house was garden. Vegetables. They never went hungry although like many of our generation, they rarely had access to extras, like candies, ice cream, sodas, etc. Nor did they eat much that came out of cans. Because they had their garden.

You can see that the woman had very fortunate parenting. Whatever the domestic problems that afflicted (as some always do), they were united on living and eating in a healthful and enjoyable way. Their daughter is simply a perfect exponent of that union. That’s Martha’s good fortune. And ours too, if we wish to consider.

She began her talk, after pointing out the aforementioned statistics of our generation, by telling us that “all” of us in the room either knew, or had met, or knew of someone who is alive today who will live to be 150. She pointed out that the creature (my word, not hers) has developed to a point where sustainable good health is an approaching reality. This is all notwithstanding the danger of our bombing or gassing ourselves out of existence beforehand.

I don’t know how other people in the room felt about that proposed fact of living so long. That would mean the age 100 would be the new 30. Seriously.

This was yesterday lunchtime in the great dining room of the great Metropolitan Club, built more than a century ago by the auspices of J. Pierpont Morgan who wanted a club where his friends would be acceptable no matter what other clubs defined. It is one of the grandest surviving pieces of architecture from the Gilded Age, and it is always a treat to be in its great halls and reception rooms, for that reason alone. It is Yesterday, but Yesterday Forever. Or we should hope so.

Jennifer McLean introducing Pat Barrick.

Pat Barrick.

Edwin Ayala.

There was palpable irony in the room of Martha Stewart talking about the good life, well lived, sensibly, practically, and well nourished, versus the reality of City Harvest’s philanthropy. For many of us are, to the contrary, overfed yet under-nurtured.

Her talk was preceded by Edwin Ayala, a City Harvest Driver. Mr. Ayala came in his work uniform and hat, and gave a personal speech about his experience moving food into the hands of his fellow New Yorkers. A City Harvest Driver makes this speech of personal experience each year. Their talks always reflect an almost Zen-like experience, especially considering it’s the streets of Noo Yawk, and not the serene lakes and mountains of far off Asia. Mr. Ayala’s speech was so good, and he delivered it so professionally and so humbly at the same time, that I later joked and asked him who his speechwriter was.

The City Harvest staff.

Honoree Pat Barrick with Danielle Barrick, Dan Barrick, Tom Barrick, and Adam Barrick.

I don’t know how the guests felt about this event with Martha and the City Harvest donors. The world she envisions is highly ideal considering the day-to-day tribulations of us humanoids. I came home full of glaring regret that I didn’t have the woman’s discipline and clarity of purpose and managerial skills to execute everything with aplomb and authority. I don’t know if she ever entertains those feelings. Maybe so.
I felt compelled to look at her book when I got back to my desk. I turned first to her chapter on green juices in the morning. Yes, it is a primer remember. She made it sound so good and so good for you – especially if you have to get out there and work everyday. Then I looked on through. It’s another good idea that is an ideal – something to strive for. And maybe achieve. From time to time. Or like Martha, for good.

Alice Judelson, Kathy Steinberg, Karen LeFrak, and Muffie Potter Aston.

Topsy Taylor, Kitty McKnight, and Marion Selig.

Charlotte Ford and Diana Feldman.

Eleanora Kennedy and Martha Stewart.

Janet Robinson, Sharon Jacquet, and Louise Miligan.

Suzanne Cochran, Laura Zeckendorf, and Cece Black.

Lynn Fisher and Anita Hoffman.

Elizabeth Weinberg, Pat Barrick, and Margaret Holman.

Rebecca Fontes and Cathy Gu.

Amanda Morcos and Jennifer Brown.

Anna Saffir, Nico Landrigan, and Eleanora Kennedy.

Tobie Roosevelt.

Noreen Buckfire and Nancy Paduano.

Memrie Lewis, Marina Galesi, and Margo Langenberg.

Karen Lefrak, Gillian Miniter, and Muffie Potter Aston.

Barbara Huffman, Ann Hohenhaus, and Deena Wolfson.

Jocelyn Markowitz and Melanie Friedman.

Tara Palmeri.

Wendy Moonan, Michel Witmer, and Margo Langenberg.

Elese Reid and Dixie De Kooning.

Rosemary Weaver, Hillary Califano, Edwin Ayala, Nancy Whaley, and Jackie Weld Drake.

Marion Selig, Diana Feldman, and Kitty McKnight.

Kamie Lightburn and Anna Casperson.

Jennifer Brown, Saira Lal, Kate Chechek, Felicity Daftuar, and Cathy Becker.

Natalie Banes, Nicole Weyman, Amanda Morcos, Jennifer Vaughn Miller, and Stacy Hock.

Marianne Strong and Jean Shafiroff.

Contact DPC here.

Flowers after the rain. 5:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Thursday, May 9, 2013. Rain yesterday. First in awhile. From the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes in torrents. By late afternoon the clouds passed over and the Sun came out. We have had excellent Spring weather in New York, and the frequent almost chilly days and nights have kept the flowers in force and the new tree leaves a luscious, gossamer green.

Borders on East End Avenue ...

I went to lunch at Michael’s with Liz Peek who heads the Couture Council at FIT. Their annual luncheon that opens Fashion Week every September will honor Michael Kors this year.

This was the only time I was there this week.Very busy. Bill vanden Heuvel was lunching with his daughter Katrina, publisher of The Nation; Tory Burch was lunching with Cathy Horyn of the Times; Dr. Gerald Imber was with Da Restuvem: Kramer, Greenfeld, Bergman and della Femina. Judy Price was with LindaBuckley head of public relations at Tiffany & Co.


	Tiffany's Ziegfeld Collection Pearl Tassel Necklace.

Linda was wearing a pearl necklace that you’ve seen in the Tiffany ads here on NYSD. When I told her I recognized it, she told me she was going to be wearing it to the Cannes Film Festival which begins next week. The occasion: Tiffany’s relationship to the Baz Luhrman“The Great Gatsby” for which Tiffany created a special collection of jewelry. Peggy Siegal, who was one table over with Peter Greenberg the Travel Editor of CBS News, will no doubt be making the trip.

Moving on around the room: Roger Friedman of Showbiz411 with Jill Brooke; Andrew Stein with Christine Taylor; Desiree Gruber with Peter Castro of People; Star Jones and Dr. Holly Phillips, Peter Brown with Pat Kluge; Lisa Linden with Tiffany Moller; Sanford & Stein; Jean Doumanian; David Kohl; David Landau; Alexandra Trower; Catherine Saxton with The Countess de Lesseps; Beverly Camhe; Bernard Gershon; Joannie Danielides; Jack Kliger; Diane Clehane with Dave Zinczenko and Patrick Connors and Stephen Perrine. Dave, who wrote the blockbuster “Eat This, Not That” series (7 million copies in North America) for Rodale Press, is movin’ on up to his own imprint at Random House, Zinc Ink. He will also write three health/fitness books for the imprint, among other projects. Good news for everybody.

Meanwhile at table one: Cindy Lewis and Jason Binn hosting Fern Mallis, Mickey Ateyeh, Jean Hoehn Zimmerman Deborah Cavanaugh. The table had fashion marketing business written all over it. Next door: Prince Dimitri and Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney.

Peggy Siegal and Peter Greenberg yesterday at Michael's.

Last night at the Pierre, CASAColumbia, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University hosted it’s 21st Anniversary Dinner. CASA was founded in 1992 by Joe Califano.

They honored Leslie Moonvesand Julie Chen, Tom Coughlin, Head Coach of the New York Giants, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Master of Ceremonies was Norah O’Donnell, co-host of CBS This Morning.

Judy and Tom Coughlin with Jamie Lee Curtis.

Jeffrey Lane, Chairman of CASA, with Norah O'Donnell.

Hilary Califano, Jamie Lee Curtis, Annie Guest, and Joe Califano.

Joe’s objective was to create a science based organization focused on transforming society’s understanding of and response to the disease of addiction in all its forms. Jamie Lee Curtis told us right off last night that she was an alcoholic and addicted to prescription drugs. She’s recovered, but the statement stands. Curtis is a dynamic speaker. She’s got gumption and not to mention, despite her humility, the tricks of the trade: she’s an actress. She can use that to make her point all the more effectively. And she did. You like her. You listen.

Tom Coughlin talked about family, his family, and how families can help heal in matters of health. Leslie Moonves, who has been a longtime supporter of CASA, and a friend of Joe Califano, accepted for himself and his wife who was in Los Angeles for her television show The Talk.

Leslie Moonves, Hilary and Joe Califano. Hilary's father, William Paley was the founder and longtime chairman of CBS.

Moonves, Curtis, and Califano tripartite at CASAColumbia.

Jamie Lee, a member of the board of CASA, with founder Joe.

They raised $1.5 million last night. CASA is a unique organization because of Joe Califano. A longtime Washington lawyer, former aide to Lyndon Johnson, cabinet member (under Jimmy Carter), he built CASA with that foundation. He recognized the problems that needed to be tackled, he understood its effect on our society, and he had the connections to rally the funds to begin. That was more than 20 years ago. He’s engaged many of the businessmen and corporations with philanthropic programs to keep it moving and growing. It now has its own life aside from Califano, and the active support of many individuals with the means to support its work. Thanks to Joe Califano.

BFF.

Photographs by Eric Weiss (Casa).

Contact DPC here.

4:00 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Friday, May 10, 2013. Rain at the beginning of the day which tapered off just after noontime, followed by a bright, sunny day.

Today is the birthday of Fred Astaire who was born 1899 as Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha to Johanna (always known as Ann) Geilus and Frederic Austerlitz born Friedrich Emanuel Austerlitz in Linz, Austria to Jewish parents who converted to Catholicism.


	Fred Astaire on the RKO Studios lot during the filming of "Top Hat" in 1935. Hollywood, California.

Fred was the greatest dancer of the 20th century. That is arguable to some but not to the hundreds of millions who over his lifetime and ours have been thrilled and inspired by the terpsichorean attitude toward life that he created.

Tomorrow, May 11, one of Fred’s great friends and supporters, Irving Berlin was born – eleven years before him, in 1888 in Mogilev in the Tsarist Russian Empire. Berlin outlived Fred by two years, dying at 101 in 1989.

The talents and collaboration of Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin – one the son of an immigrant and the other, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants – defined, even symbolized the American sentiment of life in the 20th century. They were hardworking geniuses.

Among others who share their birthday are Bono, Judith Jamison, Donovan, DaveMason, Nancy Walker (“Rhoda’s” ma), Linda Evangelista, David O. Selznick (producer of “Gone With the Wind,”Thomas Lipton (tea), Leon Bakst, Maybelle Carter, Barbara Taylor Bradford,Bel Kaufman, (celebrating her 102nd), Arthur Kopit, Sid Vicious, Mark David Chapman, the man who assassinated John Lennon, and John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Lincoln.

Yesterday was the Women & Science Lecture and Luncheon at the Rockefeller University on York Avenue and 67th Street. I’ve attended one other luncheon of theirs a couple of years ago. It’s a Springtime luncheon, in a large white, airy tent on the rather cramped yet astoundingly beautiful campus overlooking the East River. Wherever there aren’t buildings or public spaces in use, there are flowers and fauna.

The gardens on the campus of Rockefeller University yesterday noontime just as the rains were abating and the sun was about to shine.

This is a very prestigious luncheon in the New York scheme of things. Its roster of supporters are some of the most active philanthropists in New York and the world. Rockefeller University, a/k/a Rockefeller Institute, and at the time of its founding more than a century ago, Rockefeller Hospital, once upon a time ministered to patients. During the Depression of the 1930s, children of financially stressed working people, a/k/a the poor found excellent free treatment there.

It is one of those great Rockefeller-founded philanthropies that makes tangible differences in the lives of individuals and the health and welfare of society. Today it is the first institution in our country that is devoted solely to biomedical research.
The Women & Science luncheon is a fund-raiser, organized by large group of women and men. They contribute more than $1 million annually to support research and education at the university.

This luncheon always begins with a lecture. I am one who has never been drawn by personal interest to scientific matters per se, and medical science in particular. Nevertheless, as it is with anything outside one’s scope of interest, when presented well, one is naturally drawn into it. The Women & Science luncheon lecture is one of those matters. It is always sold out and requiring extra space via video transmission. This is not in anyway a fashion event or a social event, however. The audience is there to listen and to learn (and to be amazed). Period.

Dr. Cori Bargmann beginning her lecture on "molecules" in the brain and demonstrating visually, the differences that levels of oxytocin makes in bonding in worms. The illustration of the different levels of success or difficulty in the worms applies to us boys and girls too.

This year’s lecture was “Ancient Molecules and the Modern Brain: Understanding Our Social Nature.” I am ill-equipped to report on it without any real comprehension of the subject. The lecturer, Cori Bargmann PhD, the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at Rockefeller U., is an excellent teacher. A tall attractive woman, with a gentle, matter-of-fact style of lecturing, her grasp of her subject is awesome and perhaps because of that, she can ply your imagination so you’re compelled to listen.

She talked about the similarities of all living creatures, using worms as a base example. Like us, they can taste, smell, seek physical comfort, and bond – among other similarities. Oxytocin, a mammalian hormone that plays a role in sexual reproduction during and after childbirth, as well as in facilitating birth, and maternal bonding is found in all living creatures. From the worm to the human. Its presence plays a key role also in various behaviors such as social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety and orgasm. This is You that I’m talking about. Me. Us. And all. We.

Hundreds of guests rapt with attention.

The lecture ran about fifty minutes. Dr. Bargmann is such a relaxed yet efficient instructor on her subject that the amphitheater with hundreds of guests was rapt with attention. No doubt they too were impressed by Dr. Bargmann’s knowledge and her highly accessible way of providing understanding for the layperson. What is demonstrated also is our basic nature to explore and learn. That’s in the molecule mix too.

After the lecture there is an excellent lunch in a vast tent that comfortably held the several hundred guests – mainly women obviously. At many tables there is a higher level of lunch conversation perhaps because of the atmosphere. At our table the conversation was about international politics and the state of the world in general, including out in the streets of New York. Surrounded as we were by these hallowed halls of scientific research and learning, there was a natural dose of optimism granted us for the moment by its achievements – and the achievements of the Women & Science Committee.

Nancy Kissinger.

Shirin von Wulffen.

Marilyn Simons.

Constance Marks, Nancy Marks, and Corinne Lapook.

Judy Berkowitz and Bryn Roberts Cohen.

Henry Kissinger.

Maria Villalba and Lisa McCarthy.

Deeda Blair.

Judy Berkowitz, Mary Hynes, and Susan Paine.

Fe Fendi.

Agnes Gund.

Olivia Flatto.

Diana Picasso and Vanessa von Bismarck.

Lea Brokaw and Sydney Shuman.

Faye Wattleton.

Mica Ertegun.

Alexia Hamm Ryan and Mary Snow.

The photogs at work in the luncheon tent ...

Dr. Cori Bargmann and Shelby White.

Justine Koons and Samantha Boardman Rosen.

Marc-Tessier Lavigne and Samantha Boardman Rosen.

Jeanne Donovan Fisher and Marlene Hess.

Lady waiting for her car, accompanied by favored lizard. Photo: DPC.

The RKO film "Top Hat" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was released in 1935 with a score of Irving Berlin tunes, many of which became classics in the American songbook, and many associated with Fred Astaire. Berlin said that Astaire was the best man to introduce a song (and make it a hit).

Photographs by David X Prutting/BFAnyc.com

Contact DPC here.

25th Street between 10th and 11th. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Monday, May 13, 2013. Beautiful weekend in New York with occasional brief rains. Cool weather at night but sunny and bright (and breezy) during the day.

Sunday morning, Mother's Day on the block, 10:20 AM.

View of the Four Freedoms Park, the FDR Memorial on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, from a friend's terrace on Friday night at 8 PM.

Mother’s Day. Many observed. Many did not. That’s okay; it’s basically a marketing promotion anyway, designed to sell product in the name of love and respect. Mr. Joyce C. Hall and his associates got it off the ground purveying aspects of the American Dream decades ago with his mass marketing of greeting cards. It made him and many others rich.

Yesterday, I called a couple of friends who are mothers to congratulate them on their achievement. Because from this stage in the game I can see it is a real achievement.

Vanitas on the Upper West Side via JH ...

Among our doorman is a young man who joined the staff a couple of years ago. I imagine he’s in his late 20s. He’s a Dominican by birthright but is entirely American also. He also has a gently courteous manner with the tenants, speaking with a confident, yet gentle, inbred manner that seems almost naïve in its kindliness -- except it’s easy to see he’s his own man.


	Another doorman thinking of his mother on Mother's Day.

He grew up in this city, in the Bronx, where he still lives. He and his wife have a young child. Yesterday morning when I was leaving the building, I asked him how he was going to celebrate Mother’s Day. He told me his mother would be over to visit when he got home from his shift.

It occurred to me that his resolute yet agreeable personality reflected a good childhood. Thinking about it as I returned from my errand, I asked him: “Did you have a good mother?”

“Yes I did,” he said, as if confirming a basic truth.

“Well, wish her a Happy Mother’s Day from me,” I said, “and don’t forget to tell her someone you know thinks it shows on her son.”

“I will,” he laughed with natural humility. And I know he will.

The Name Above the Title. A European friend sent me an email correcting my reference to LuAnn de Lesseps as The Countess de Lesseps in my Thursday Diary. According to Debretts, that is not the proper way to address the divorced wife of a titled count. I knew that, but as an American, it makes no difference to me what’s proper in that department since it’s a national (and political) salutation that is distinctly foreign.

The de Lesseps family title is French. It's 19th century fame harkens back to a forebear, Ferdinand de Lesseps who, in the late 19th century, built the Suez Canal, and got a Thank You Very Much from the Powers That Were, via a title, although Ferdinand's father was made a count by Napoleon when he was Emperor of dear old France. Its use in the 21st century is really anachronism with a Capital A but still happily employed whenever necessary. People rank and rag-on the business of titles but like the sound of them anyway, for it separates the riff from the raff, as well as other human endeavors in the making and getting.

Count and Countess de Lesseps and their 11 children, circa 1890 (when he was 85).

Honorary titles are all over the place in Europe, and many are now centuries old, along with the “notable” and ancestral ones. It’s a brand of score-keeping for some observers and players. You can even buy one if you know the right people. No, you can’t buy Prince or Duke maybe, and definitely not Your Majesty, but there are others still precious enough to accommodate the ego of the holder, and to impress the neighbors sufficiently. You can also marry one.

It’s all a description of elitist tendencies that existed in all “civilized” old or ancient societies, and are acquired early in life by anyone who has access to a lot of money or born to the right parents.

Count & Countess de Lesseps and nine of their children.

In the case of LuAnn de Lesseps, now divorced from the grandson or great-grandson of the “honorary” viscount canal builder, it is all a moot point. She can call herself anything she likes because: 1. she’s in Show Business, and 2. Americans don’t know the difference, and don’t really care.

I understand the tradition the proper address, but as a born-and-bred Amurrican, it seems awkward to relate to. A couple of weeks ago I was seated next to the Crown Princess of Romania, Princess Margareta who was the honored guest and speaker at the Versailles Foundation dinner.


Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Romania.

She’s a very nice woman, very comme il faut as they say, and easy to engage in conversation about the world and how she experiences it. I liked her, although I couldn't bring myself to call someone “princess” unless that is one’s name. Or “Your Royal Highness” which also seems absurd to the American ear, and a hindrance to having an honest communication. What's the point? But that’s my American-ness. So just keep an air of intimacy to avoid it.

The Princess and I had a fairly intense conversation about what New York was like to her after having been away from more than ten years. We also talked about her family’s return to Rumania sixty years after her father King Michael I abdicated his throne in 1947 when the Communists took over.

She is now, appointed by her father, the representative of the family back in their land, working to assist in reviving the country to what it was in the days of yore (but without a monarchy), or what it might have been had it not had to endure the savage insanity of Hitler, Stalin et al.

What did impress me about her was her awareness and apparent dedication to a native, natural purpose. As far as her being a “Crown Princess,” it had no bearing on the pleasure of our conversation.

Coincidentally a couple of nights later I was in a taxi, heading out to an event. Chatting with the cabbie, I learned he was Romanian. A gruff sort of guy at first, polysyllabic in his replies to my questions, I aroused his curiosity when I told him that the night before I had been at a dinner with a member of the royal family of Romania (pointing out also that I knew they were NO longer THE family of power).


	King Michael of Romania in 2007.

He asked which member. When I told him it was Princess Margareta, he became very excited and animated. He loves her father, King Michael who is now in his early 90s. He recounted how Michael had given a speech at some occasion in the UK a few years ago, at his great age, and how he wore a half century later “the same suit” he wore when he abdicated his throne in 1947.

“He showed he is a man of great humility!,” the cabbie stated, adding with certain pride of person; “And he was seated next to the Queen of England, his cousin!” The cabbie referred to “His Royal Highness” as representing the best spirit of “his people.”

Which, speaking of titles, this past Friday night I took in the 10:45 show at the Café Carlyle of La Chantouze, which is what I call my friend Yanna Avis who opened her cabaret act last Thursday. Coincidentally, Yanna is Rumanian by birthright, but born and brought up in Paris. To the American sensibility, she is French and distinctly Parisienne.

Yanna performs in the European tradition of the chanteuse. Neither Marlene Dietrich (although along those lines) nor Piaf, Yanna nevertheless brings their sentiments and emotional intimacy, with her style, to her songs. Her show is for You.

The many faces of Yanna ...

I’ve seen her perform several times. Her repertoire mingles American Songbook with European songs, some of which we know and all of which we get the gist of even if we don’t understand a word. (Sometimes it’s better if you have a good imagination.) Her theme -- which is recurring -- is unabashedly sentimental to the American ear, yet sophisticated and effecting. And kind.

This new show which she calls “In Love With Love,” runs for about an hour, and is her best yet. She takes us easily from Vernon Duke’s classic “Taking a Chance on Love” (introduced by Ethel Waters) into Bizet’s “Carmen” and on to Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’“Whatever Lola Wants (Lola gets)…” backed a great group of musicians and musical director David Shenton at the piano. It features Cole Porter, Larry Hart, Georges Bizet, Adler and Ross, Vernon Duke, Charles Aznavour, Michel LeGrand, Mintinguett and more.

There’s very little patter. Yanna tells her stories with her songs, so it’s an entirely musical evening to take you away from the care and tear of the metropolis, and soothes you with the spirit of all that “C’est Magnifique” that we need a lot more of in life.

Yanna will appear at the Café Carlyle this coming Thursday and Friday nights at 10:45. Pure pleasure to prepare you for a pleasant, restful weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the city and onto those magical clouds of “C’est Si Bon.” Take your wife, your date, your partner, your husband, and go.

Contact DPC here.

Looking north from West Broadway and Franklin. 7:30 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Sunny and somewhat chilly for May in New York. Chillier in the evening.

Last night at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, the American Ballet Theatre held its Opening Night Spring Gala. This is one of those big beautiful social events on the Spring calendar. Black tie, and the ladies dress for it.

Honorary Chairs were Michele Obama, Caroline Kennedy and Blaine Trump. President Obama happened to be in town but I don’t know if the First Lady made it up to Lincoln Center. I don’t know if any of honorary chairs were there; I didn’t see them (which means nothing).

Co-chairs for the evening were Sloan Lindemann Barnett, Nina Rennert Davidson, Karin Luter, Kalliope Karella Rena, Christine Schwarzman, Tracy Snyder and Monica Wambold. These are the girls who sell the tickets (tables) and raise the money to pay for everything including the ballet. At least five of them have multi-billionaire husbands or fathers and the rest of them have access to big funds. This is how the opera and ballet survive in New York.

The program was a reflection of that. They opened with the Act III Excerpt of “Onegin,” based on a poem by Pushkin with music by Tchaikovsky. A scene at the ball with members of St. Petersburg nobility. Very grand, and beautiful and Tchaikovsky’s music of haunting nostalgia. Diana Vishneva and James Whiteside were the principals.

This was followed by “Cortege” (world premiere) with choreography by Ratmond Lukens and music by Rimsky-Korsakov and the company was made up of the ABT Studio company and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet at ABT students (Level 7). Then came “Le Corsaire (Act II Pas de Deux and Coda) danced by Xiomara Reyes and Ivan Vasiliev. Powerful and impassioned.

During intermission I happened to be having a glass of champagne by the bar, when I noticed I was also standing alongside Roman Abramovich who was with a very attractive young brunette woman. Soon after, another Russian tycoon who is a also a New Yorker, Len Blavatnik, came by to say hello to the man who spent more than a half billion dollars on one of his (three) yachts.

Both men were dressed very casually -- open collar shirt, jacket and pants and fairly innocuous looking, all things (and site) considered. Not the sort of costume you’d expect from men of great wealth attending the ballet on a gala opening. But then, they are Russians and their relationship to the ballet is potentially much greater and more intimate than that of us Americans.

Mr. Abramovich went mainly unnoticed but he was enjoying himself looking around at the company he was keeping. At one point a young man came up with a camera and asked if he could take a picture. Abramovich and his lady friend pleasantly agreed. Then the young man asked if the lady friend would take a picture of him with Abramovich, who found the whole thing amusing and went along.

Someone told me that Uma Thurman was there as well as Sigourney Weaver, Nigel Barker, Ashlee Simpson, etc. The list was light on celebrity otherwise, but heavy on the social movers and shakers who are really the ones who support the ABT and make it possible.

Also on the program: Sir Frederick Ashton’s“Sylvia” (The Hunt Scene) with music by Leo Delibes, danced by Gillian Murphy and the corps of ABT ballerinas. Also “Apotheose” (another world premiere) with choreography by Marcelo Gomes and danced by Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle. Then “Sleeping Beauty (At III Pas de Deux and Coda), danced by Hee Seo and David Hallberg; and finally George Balachine’s“Symphony in C” with music by Georges Bizet, in 4 movements – danced by Paloma Herrera, James Whiteside; Veronika Part, Cory Stearns; Xiomara Reyes, Danil Simkin; Sarah Lane and Jared Matthews.

The program got underway about 6:50 and ended about 9:20, with one brief intermission. Then the gala guests moved on to the big tent set up in Damrosch Park for the dinner dance. This too had a big crowd. The theme was black and white (this always reminds me of Cole Porter’s “That Black and White Baby of Mine ...” (“She thinks black and white, she even drinks Black and White, That black and white baby of mine ....”) It was a beautiful evening in New York.

Catching up around town. Last Thursday while I was at the Rockefeller University Women&Science Lecture and luncheon, Ann Nitze– the art gallerist who divides her time between New York and our nation’s capital – held her annual terrace lunch The purple and white wisteria were in full bloom and the champagne flowed.

Among the guests were a number of museum directors and art collectors in town for the auctions and fairs this week. There were guests from Mumbai, London, Tokyo, Vienna, San Francisco, Miami, and Santa Fe to catch up with old friends in New York. Mrs. Nitze, a fan of the Royal Academy of Art in London was particularly happy to greet the director Christopher LeBrun. The RA had recently exhibited the work of Mariko Mori who was also another guest at the Nitze lunch.

Christopher Le Brun, Mariko Mori, Ann Nitze, Richard Miller, and Kathleen Hearst.

Ann Nitze and Emily Frick.

David Beer.

Richard Gaddes, Karen Loud, and Joe Goldfrank.

Rashmi Poddar with Dr. William Haseltine and Maria Eugenia Maury Haseltine.

Toni Bloomburg, Zibby Tozer, and Farran Tozer Brown.

Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Patricia Kluge, and Bill Moses.

Mariko Mori, Evelyn Tompkins, and Keiko Nishida.

Ian Wardropper, Ann Nitze, and Richard Gaddes.

April Gow and CeCe Black.

Margo Langenberg, Jaime Figg, and Elbrun Kimmelman.

Bonnie Burnham and Elizabeth Belfer.

Inmaculada Habsburg and Marife Hernandez.

Brad Livingstone Black and Evelyn Tompkins.

Mariko Mori, Billy Rayner, and Ann McNulty.

Princess Mimi Romanoff and Christopher Walling.

Christopher Mason, Tiffany Dubin, and Tony Bechara.

Judy Taubman and Christopher Forbes.

Jill Sackler, Sana Sabbagh, and Shelby White.

Ann Nitze, Fred Koch, and Princess Mimi Romanoff.

Richard Oldenburg.

George Herrick, Sandy Whitman, and Nannette Herrick.

Edward Gallagher, Mel Oldenberg, and John Herring.

Mimi Stafford and Bill Bernhard.

Annabelle Mariaca, Raul Suarez, and Judy Taubman.

Bonnie Burnham, Stephanie Stokes, and Rashmi Poddar.

Pauline Metcalf and Louis Bofferding.

Also late last week: Marie Eugenia and Bill Haseltine gave a book launch party for their pall Stephanie Stokes and her “Elegant Rooms That Work, Fantasy & Function in Interior Design” (Rizzoli). Xavier Guerrand-Hermès wrote what Stephanie thought was an adorable foreward. Stephanie has classic good taste and is a Master (no other word for it) at space economy (finding space where you thought none existed) and organization.

From the 86th floor of the Haseltine apartment, the sunset over Manhattan was memorably stunning; and if you’re terrified of heights, memorably terrifying. Nevertheless friends of the guest of honor and her hosts came in from all over the world including Edouard Guerrand-Hermès from Paris, Muna Rihani Al-Nasser from Quatar, Malu Edwards form Chile, Keiko Nishida, wife of the Japanese Ambassador to the UN, Patricia Arias, wife of the Spanish Ambassador to the UN, and others. Among others attending were Carolyne Roehm and Katherine Mezzacappa, Boulie and Jim Marlas, Konrad Keessee, Ann Nitze, and Margo Langenberg, the Kopelmans, Patty Tang and Jeanne Lawrence, and Sachiko Goodman and Nina Richter, whose Walnut library in Bronxville is featured in the book. Sandy Gilbert and David Morton from Rizzoli were also in attendance.

Stephanie Stokes, Dr. William Haseltine, and Maria Eugenia Maury Haseltine.

Nina Richter and Stephanie Stokes.

John Jakobson.

Guy Robinson, Elizabeth Stribling, Dr. William Haseltine, Arie Kopelman, and Coco Kopelman.

Micky Hurley, Malu Custer Edwards, and Maria Eugenia Maury Haseltine.

Mai Hallingby and Donald Smith.

Margo Langenberg, Konrad Keesee, and Ann Nitze.

Sandy Gilbert and David Morton.

Marie Nugent-Head and James Marlas.

Edouard Guerrand-Hermes, Alex Gregory, and Mrs. and Dr. Haseltine.

Jaki Sitterle and Ed Lobrano.

Katherine Mezzacappa, Carolyne Roehm, Sandy Gilbert, and David Morton.

Photographs by DPC/NYSD (ABT); Annie Watt (Stokes, Nitze)

Contact DPC here.

At the foot of Federal Hall on Wall Street. 2:30 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Another bright, sunny, yet slightly chilly day in mid-May in New York.

The Wintour of Our Disconnect.There was a funny piece in yesterday’s Daily Mail Online about how Anna Wintour allegedly wouldn’t allow the Kardashians’ mother, Kris Jenner, to attend the Met Costume Ball. Because – as reported in the Mail– Wintour is alleged to have said:“One Kardashian is enough!” (And one more than was allowed entry in 2012.)


	“One Kardashian is enough!”

It cracked me up because it’s a common sentiment about the family despite their highly profitable “notoriety.” Although Mrs. Jenner is a very attractive and very nice woman who also has a close relationship with her family – which is also very nice. She is, however, like a lot of women who live in her community, very business-minded. And so are, by connection, her children. And the business out there, in case you forgot, is Show, whence riches and statures are derived.

The Kardashians merely took a page out of the Hiltons’ textbook and hit the bigtime. Someone out there is laughing all the way to the bank, Anna Wintour or no Anna Wintour.

The article reminded me: I went to a dinner party last Friday night where I ran into the designer/retailer Lisa Perry and her husband Richard Perry. She was telling a couple of friends about going to the Met Costume Ball and what she designed for her daughter who also attended.

Everyone loved hearing about the evening. When asked why it wasn’t in the press, she said the photogs were after the celebrities and weren’t interested (although a lot of the celebrities wanted to know where her daughter got the dress).

Mother and daughter Perry, and their creations ... ready for the Ball.

I asked her if she had any pictures of the dress, and she got her iPhone out of her bag and showed us these photos.

Wanting to make something original and artful she got the idea of painting some fabric and making a skirt out of it. She got the fabric and laid it out on the floor of the gallery of her apartment on Sutton Place South (big gallery), and painted it and cut out the pattern. And voila! She achieved her goal. I think it’s beautiful.

Last night I went over to Roosevelt House to hear a lecture by David Stockman who wrote the current bestseller “The Great Deformation; The Corruption of Capitalism in America.”

Roosevelt House is part of Hunter College. Its official name is Roosevelt House/Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. It is located in twin townhouses built by Sara Delano Roosevelt for herself and her son and only child Franklin, and his wife Eleanor and their children.


	Roosevelt House on East 65th Street.

The house was built in 1908 and the Roosevelts (including Mama Sara/the mother-in-law) lived there until Franklin and Eleanor and family moved to the White House in 1933.

Hunter’s president Jennifer Raab, in introducing David Stockman last night, remarked about the amusing irony that much of the early economic policies of FDR in the first days of his Presidency, some of which Stockman takes issue with in his book, were very probably hatched in the very room we were sitting in.

I am familiar with the Stockman book, and you may be too. Although I haven’t read it yet, I will because its subject is, in my opinion, as pertinent to the health of our society as ecology is to our planet.

The book and Mr. Stockman have had a lot of media exposure including many of the financial blogs including the non-mainstream financial media. So I was curious to see what he would talk about.

He’s a very good speech-giver. I hadn’t known that he had been a Congressman (from Michigan) before he joined the Reagan Administration at its beginning. He learned well. He began his adult life in Divinity School. His path that led to politics and finances seems entirely coincidental in the telling. Although in retrospect he must have had a proactive attitude about what interested him. His story on how he became involved with Ronald Reagan and Reagan’s first Director of the OMB is a fascinating political anecdote, and an accidentally rewarding story (and a story of political reward).


David Stockman holding a copy of The Great Deformation. Click to order.

His lecture, which constantly refers to different chapters in the book, explain the How, What, When, Where and makes a stab at the Why of the financial mess that we and the rest of the world are now in.

His is not the first of this line. What is different, or most effective about his knowledge and opinion is that he remains a man who understands what it means to You and Me -- what used to be called The Man On the Street. He understands the financial mechanisms. He understands the political process, the Wall Street process, and the ramifications that hit You and Me.

It was an engaging and enlightening talk. He communicates on a learned but nevertheless understandable level. He would have been a very good teacher. Because that is basically what his book is. When pressed for a thought on what he thinks this is all leading to, like a consummate politician, he avoided a direct answer but provided other substantive thoughts to consider.

You can tell I was impressed? As I said, it’s a tome, “The Great Deformation.” But I’m not so afraid of tomes anymore, if I think I’m going to learn something. I have a strong feeling this is one of those books.

I also came away from the evening with a much altered personal opinion of this man whose public image and political/economic history was familiar to me. He’s very reliable in telling us about ourselves, which is ultimately what politics and finance are: us and how we respond to the mechanism of corruption in the human condition.

Part of the current installation of the Alexandre Arrechea "no Limits" series of sculptures, made in Broooklyn at the Gowanus Ballroom by Josh Young of Serett Metal. They were inspired by some of the most famous buildings in Manhattan, such as the Chrysler Building, Citicorp Center, Empire State Building, Flatiron bulding, Helmsley Building, MetLife Building, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, Seagram Building, the Sherry-Netherland and the US Courthouse. This building on the northern island of 65th Street on Park Avenue is the Helmsley Sculpture.

As the season rolls along there is even more catching up: Late last month, the Auxiliary at Lenox Hill Hospital hosted its annual A Healthy Give & Take Luncheon on a Monday at The Metropolitan Club.

The program addressed real issues facing women today with the theme of “Taking Care of Yourself,” focusing on financial, mental and physical well-being.

Jane Hanson, the Emmy Award winning television journalist and media/presentation coach moderated a panel of Lenox Hill physicians and guests including: Bryan Bruno, MD, acting chairman of the Department of Psychiatry; Susan Scott, MD, attending surgeon, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery; and Karen Drancik, vice president, Neuberger Berman Advisor Institute.

Susan Scott, MD, Attending Surgeon, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery; Elaine Rosenblum, Senior Associate Executive Director, Clinical Ancillary Services, Lenox Hill Hospital; Bryan Bruno, MD, Acting Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, Louise Gunderson, Chair of The Healthy Give and Take Luncheon; Dennis Connors, Executive Director, Lenox Hill Hospital; Karen Drancik, Senior Consultant , Neuberger Berman Advisor Institute; Jane Hanson, Moderator, Michele Jeffery, Chair of The Auxiliary.

Stefania Garson, Kathy Grano, Kelly Langberg, Lisa Simonsen, and Sara Stone.

Ellen Marcus and Nina Weiner.

Ellen Metzendorf, Katherine McEnroe, and Peggy Rosenblatt.

Bryan Bruno, MD, Susan Scott, MD, and Jane Hanson.

Michelle Larsen, Louise Gunderson, and Michele Jeffery, Auxiliary Chair.

Ellen Starr, Robin Taubin, and Alice Hoffman.

Carol Nickell, Cathy Boak, and Dushica Protic.

Robin Waxenberg, Elaine Rosenblum, Angela Wu, and Michelle Larsen.

Meghan Harrison and Suzanne Johnson.

Also, a few days later down at the Bowery Hotel (355 Bowery) The African Rainforest Conservancy and Lauren Hutton hosted the 22nd Annual Artists for Africa. The benefit celebrated the discovery of a new species of frog in Tanzania’s rainforest which was named in honor of Norway.

The evening honored Norway with the New Species Award, celebrating the discovery of a new species of frog in Tanzania’s rainforest, and also Thomas J. McGrath with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Tom McGrath who has had a long career as a prominent estate lawyer here in New York, has also had a long dedication to the cause of Tanzania and its rainforest.

Lauren Hutton and Nicole Miller presenting Hans Brattskar with award.

The program featured a live art auction by CK Swett, a special African musical dance performance, as well as dinner, and after-party with a sponsored open bar to follow. The evening's attire was "Out of Africa” chic.

The African Rainforest Conservancy works to preserve and restore African rainforests, which are among the oldest and most biodiverse in the world.

Lauren Hutton, Carter Coleman, and Whitney Larkin.

Nicole Miller.

Kenneth Blom.

Diahn and Thomas McGrath.

Gary Carrion and Joyce Sitterly.

Maria Bello.

Dustin Yellin, Gerald Forster, and Peter Augustin.

DJ Leslie Kirchhoff.

Cassandra Seidenfeld and Renee Adrienne Smith.

Spencer Tunick.

And last Thursday at Pier 60 at the Chelsea Piers, the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance (TBDA) celebrated its 2013 Annual Benefit and raised nearly $750,000 to support its mission in building awareness, supporting initiatives and promoting advocacy to find a cure for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Candice Accola of the hit television show The Vampire Diaries was Emcee, and Grammy award winner, the great Roberta Flack performed. TBDA Co-Chairs David Roth, a managing director at the Blackstone Real Estate Group, and Charles Balducci, a senior vice president a Merrill Lynch, also joined the festivities.

Staci Grodin, TBDA President, Norma Russo, 2013 TBDA Humanitarian Award recipient, Candice Accola, and Alyssa Sokoloff, TBDA Benefit Co-chair.

David Roth and Charles Balducci.

Roberta Flack.

Contact DPC here.

Photo shoot in front of The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Monument on Riverside Drive. 4:40 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

May 17, 2013.A beautiful, warm (high 70s), sunny day in New York.

The social calendar is still in high gear. This past Wednesday night even the Clintons – mother and daughter – were being honored at different benefits. Helen Keller International was honoring among others, our former Secretary of State over at Christie’s in Rockefeller Center, with the 2013 Helen Keller Humanitarian Award at the Spirit of Helen Keller Gala. While over at 583 Park Avenue GenerationON was honoring Chelsea Clinton with their Humanitarian Award. I did get to the latter but I missed out on seeing Hillary Clinton. But more about that on Monday’s.

Chelsea Clinton at GenerationON gala.

A week ago Wednesday, New York lost one of the last of its great characters of the Beat Generation and Warhol Factory stars, Taylor Mead, who died in Denver at 88. Mead was a member of the Warhol Underground – which is the way it seemed in its earliest days. What seemed far out and even weird back then is so mainstream nowadays that it hardly seems relevant to mention. There was no SoHo, no East Village, no Tribeca, no Chelsea and the artists-then-sleek-downtown culture.


Mead in Andy Warhol's Factory Gang in '68.

However, at the time, this group, these people – the poets, the actors, the painters, the characters – were at the center of the bursting art and media scene in the early 1960s in New York. They were pre-hippie yet certainly reflected in the hippie movement. Mead turned out to be one of the very last of them.

He lived his last days as an indigent downtown resident, a habitué of the local bars where they’d fill his glass(es) on the house and appreciate or at least respect his then ancient poet’s point of view.

He was born into a well-do-family in Grosse Pointe, and came to New York as a very young man to pursue a career as an actor, and to pursue life as he felt like it as have so many millions of Americans who made the city what it is. Leaving Grosse Pointe, he shed himself of all touchstones of bourgeois respectability, and apparently enjoyed every minute of it. He was never famous in the American media sense but he was certainly famous to generations of students and fans of the Beats and the Warhol Factory, as well as the poets and artists of the city.

The Telegraph of London published an excellent obituary on him. He died in Denver, having given up New York only weeks before when his landlord made a financial settlement with him to vacate the apartment where he lived for many many years. He left the city but considering the little time away, he never really left it at all.

Gerard Malanga, Viva, Paul Morrissey, Taylor Mead, Brigid Berlin (NYSD 10.24.08), Joe Dallesandro, and Andy Warhol, photographed by Richard Avedon, 1969.

One more thing: He was well known for feeding the stray cats in the East Village at one particular vacant lot. The feral felines were well aware of him and would be there waiting for his arrival. I hope someone out there in the neighborhood will take up the cause for them now that Taylor has departed.

From The Telegraph:


	Andy Warhol, Taylor Mead's Ass, 1964 (film still).

Taylor Mead, who has died aged 88, was an actor, beat poet and performance artist who became a key member of Andy Warhol’s“factory”, the collection of oddballs and exhibitionists who clustered around the pop artist in the 1960s and 1970s; most notably, Mead’s bare buttocks starred, for 76 minutes, in Warhol’s 1964 film Taylor Mead’s Ass.

The previous year Warhol had arrived in Hollywood with Mead, staying for two weeks at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Warhol used his new silent 16mm Bolex movie camera to shoot his first partially scripted feature, Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of (1963).

This featured the ridiculously puny-looking Mead as the jungle hero in a series of loosely connected episodes, including a scene in which he bathes with a naked Jane (Naomi Levine) in a bathtub and later has to rescue her. Mead edited the film, and provided his own narration and musical arrangements.

The film earned a scathing notice in The Village Voice, the reviewer observing: “People don’t want to see an hour and a half of Taylor Mead’s ass.” Mead replied in a letter that no such film was found in the archives, but “we are rectifying this undersight.” Two days later, Warhol shot the opus which consisted solely of one long shot of Taylor Mead’s posterior.

Warhol and Mead.

The film inspired a frenzy of deconstruction by avant garde critics, much of which tipped over into self-parody: “Staring at his cleft moon for 76 minutes,” wrote Wayne Koestenbaum, “I begin to understand its abstractions: high-contrast lighting conscripts the ass into being a figure for whiteness itself... The buttocks, seen in isolation, seem explicitly double: two cheeks, divided in the centre by a dark line. The bottom’s double structure recalls Andy’s two-panelled paintings...”

Mead went on to appear in several more of Warhol’s films, including Lonesome Cowboys (1968), but later receded from view. Some thought this was a pity, observing that, with his comic timing and gift for bravura improvisation, he could have been a great actor.

With actress Sally Kirkland in Wynn Chamberlain's film "Brand X."

Marcel Duchamp, Ultra Violet, and Taylor Mead.

In one interview, Mead claimed that in order to escape Warhol’s power he had fled to Italy, where Federico Fellini, under the impression that Mead was a huge star in his own country, had staged a dazzling reception for him at Cinecitta.

Taylor Mead was born at Grosse Pointe, Michigan, on New Year’s Eve 1924 to wealthy parents. After leaving Grosse Pointe Academy he held a variety of jobs, then studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse in California and the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York.

Taylor at Home, circa 1968.

Taylor at home in the '90s.

And In the 2000s.

His first screen appearance was in a 1950's B-movie as a deaf mute who gets murdered. He then took a starring role in Ron Rice’s seminal Beat movie The Flower Thief (1960), in which he played an elfin mystic wandering the North Beach neighbourhood of San Francisco clutching a stolen gardenia, an American flag and a teddy bear. Three years later he was the Atom Man in Rice’s Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man.

After moving to New York, Mead became part of the Beat poetry scene before gravitating to Warhol’s “factory” on East 47th Street.

In the Pink.

Mead starred in several other independent films, including Wynn Chamberlain’sThe Secret Life of Hernando Cortez (1968) — a film which boasted “gymnastic sexual liaisons in a variety of places, including trees,” and in which he appeared with fellow Warhol acolyte Ultra Violet (NYSD 12.10.01)

Mead somehow managed to survive the twin scourges of drugs and Aids which took such a heavy toll on his contemporaries, but his later years were spent in near destitution.

In 2005 he featured in a documentary, Excavating Taylor Mead, coming across as a lonely old barfly fighting eviction from a squalid Lower East Side apartment and feeding stray cats.

Taylor Mead, born December 31 1924, died May 8 2013

The octogenarian Taylor in New York.

Contact DPC here.

The green above the city sidestreets after the rain. 11:30 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Monday, May 20, 2013. A pleasantly cool, somewhat overcast mid-Spring weekend in New York with occasional showers on Saturday night through Sunday.

Last week in New York. Women in the news. Looking over the myriad events and activities, I noticed there were many women prominent on the calendar.
Wednesday night over at 583 Park Avenue, generationOn whose mission is to “inspire, equip, and mobilize youth to take action that changes the world and themselves through service,” honored Bank of America, Chelsea Clinton and Julie Fisher Cummings for their commitment to youth service.

Lauren Bush Lauren, Al Roker, Deborah Roberts, and Silda Wall Spitzer.

Julie Fisher Cummings and Silda Wall Spitzer.

Lauren Bush Lauren and Chelsea Clinton.

generationOn's amazing honorees.

They also honored six young leaders, ages 8 through 17 with the 4th annual Hasbro Community Action Hero Awards “for creating positive change in their communities and around the world through exceptional service. It was especially interesting to see the young people individually collecting their awards with grace and poise reflecting their self-confidence in their contributions.

Silda Wall Spitzer introduced me to this organization several years ago when she founded Children For Children – an organization that has since merged into what is now generationOn. Their objective is two-fold: empowering children and young people to make decisions, take responsibility and become leaders through service to their community and to their contemporaries in the communities. Aside from inspiring the children who participate, their works potentially inspires all of us.

In her acceptance speech, Chelsea Clinton pointed out that “GenerationOn helps to empower young people by providing the tools they need to become compassionate leaders, community activists and change agents, a mission that is crucial to the future of our country.”

Chelsea Clinton.

Concetta Anne Bencivenga, Executive Director of generationOn.

There were 350 attending the evening which helped raise more than $797,000. The evening was hosted and co-chaired by longtime generationOn advocates Kevin Arquit, Brian and Barbara Goldner and Silda. Among those attending were Deborah Roberts and Al Roker, Andrea and Maurice DuBois, Amy Carlson, and Lauren Bush Lauren. The special presenters included Silda; Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light; actress America Ferrera, and Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner.

“Connecting a new generation to service can help address today’s challenges while inspiring us all to grow as citizens,” said Andrew Plepler, Consumer Policy and Global Corporate Social Responsibility Executive at Bank of America. “We’re honored to partner with Points of Light and support generationOn’s commitment to engaging young people to help improve our communities.” For more information, www.generationon.org.

Brian and Barbara Goldner.

Emily Friend, Elena Kiam, and Dana Buchman.

Andrew Plepler and Michelle Nunn.

Over at Michael’s last Thursday lunchtime a group of New York women at Table One were being taped for a show that Felicia Taylor produces and hosts on CNN, on women who make a difference in the community (and the world).

I’m not sure which of the ladies at this table -- which is in the bay but just around the corner from mine -- was the woman in the news for that particular segment, but I could tell from the chatter and laughter coming from the table that they were having a good time.

That motivated me to get a photo of the luncheon revel. There were nine at table. You can see Terry Allen Kramer, (center blonde between Taylor and Turner), the Broadway producer presiding, along with Kathleen Turner, Brooke Shields, and Felicia. I didn’t inquire about those who had their back to the camera because I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. I know Margo McNabb Nederlander joined them after I took the picture.

The ladies at table for Felica Taylor's CNN show -- Terry Allen Kramer, Kathleen Turner, Brooke Shields ...

Then, that nightGinnie Mancini invited me to join her at a dinner for more than 100 guests at Jazz at Lincoln Center hosted by Sheikha Mozah of Qatar, the wife of the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa A Thani. The Sheikha is the second of the emir’s three wives (mothers of his 24 children).


Our hostess, Sheikha Mozah of Qatar.

The Sheikha, a beautiful woman who is also famous in the world for her fashion sense, is a social and political activist whose foundation offers hundreds of scholarships to Israeli Arabs. Her greater objective with her foundations is to assist all poor and underprivileged children across the world in getting an education.

After the dinner, guests moved to the Rose Theater for a concert with Chick Corea and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis.

This visit of Corea’s was a reprise of JLCO’s collaboration with him two years ago, performing original arrangements from his songbook. Participating in the festivities were Riza Printup on hapr and Max Siegel on bass trombone.

Chick Corea at Jazz At Lincoln Center, and with the maestro, the driving force behind JLC, Wynton Marsalis.

Living History. Last Friday, over at Sistina, the great Italian restaurant on Second Avenue and 81st Street, there was a birthday luncheon for Aileen Chiang Pei, celebrating her 101st!


	Madame Aileen Chiang Pei, with her granddaughter Penelope Tang August, and her daughter Patty Tang, at her 101st birthday celebration this past Friday at Sistina.

Madame Chiang Pei was born in Beijing in 1912. When she was sixteen, her father, V. N. Chiang was made charge d’affaire for the Chinese Embassy in Rome, and then in Paris. His daughter accompanied her parents to Europe and attended a convent school in Paris.

When she was 18, in 1930, on a visit to her friend Juliana Young (later Mrs. Wellington Koo ) in London, she met her future husband Tsuyee Pei, a governor of the Bank of China. A widower more than twice her age, he soon after asked her father for her hand in marriage. It was not at first an interesting idea to the girl, but with her father’s strong encouragement, she married Mr. Pei the following year – 1930 -- in Paris. The couple settled in Shanghai.

In 1942, during the Second World War, Aileen came to the United States to study at Centenary College, returning to China in 1947. However, as the world knows, Mao and the Communist Revolution changed everything for China and the Chinese people, and two years later in 1949, the Peis returned to settle in New York. Tsuyee Pei died in 1982. The Peis had one daughter, Patricia Tang. Mrs. Pei also has one granddaughter, Penelope Tang, who is an architect with Annabelle Selldorf’s firm here in New York; and five stepchildren, one of whom is I. M. Pei, who was present at Friday’s birthday lunch. Mrs. Pei’s friend Juliana Young Koo also lives here in New York and is 106.


Samuel and Ethel LeFrak in front of their Andy Warhol portrait.

New York also lost a great lady last week when Ethel Stone LeFrak died on Tuesday at age 92. Mrs. LeFrak, wife of the late real estate builder and developer Samuel LeFrak, was, with her husband, one of the great philanthropists of the city, a benefactor of many worthy causes as well as her devotion to the Jewish community. Hospitals, museums, schools and colleges all benefited immeasurably from the LeFraks’ generosity.

I never knew Mrs. LeFrak except to say hello. She was always gracious, but most remarkable to me because of her children: Richard, who heads the family firm that was founded by his great-grandfather Maurice LeFrak in France in 1883; Denise LeFrak Calicchio, Francine LeFrak Friedberg and Jacqueline LeFrak Kosinski -- all of whom are active members of the community, following the path begun by their parents. The funeral service at Temple Emanu-El on Wednesday was attended by hundreds of prominent New Yorkers and family friends, including the Mayor – in a fitting tribute to a great lady who will be greatly missed.

Brooke Cohen, Harrison LeFrak, Karen LeFrak, Richard LeFrak, Francine LeFrak Friedberg, Rick Friedberg, Denise LeFrak Calicchio, Jennifer Bandier, James LeFrak, Peter Cohen; Foreground: Ethel LeFrak

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Jennifer Hudson performing at last night's 92nd Street Y Spring Gala. 8:45 PM. Photo: Jeffrey Hirsch.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Very warm, beautiful, sunny day, yesterday in New York, right into mid-evening with temperatures in the mid-70s. The warmest day I can recall so far this Spring.

The social calendar has been jam-packed this season often with a half dozen major events for a wide variety of charities and institutions on any one night. The most spectacular fundraiser (beyond compare) is the annual Robin Hood benefit which was held last week at the Javits Center, the only venue in town that can handle the number of guests (this year 4200 attended).

Press is not invited, boo-hoo. I’m sure there is a good reason although I am not privy to it. The point is, they raise hundreds of millions for charity. NYSD’s superb fashion commentator Ellin Saltzman attends every year because her son David Saltzman is the longtime Executive Director of the Robin Hood Foundation. Although like a good mom, her lips are sealed when it comes to the press too.

Well, I don’t care, and it doesn’t matter as much as the fact that the guests part with a vast sum every year which is eventually parceled out to a number of deserving charities and philanthropies.

Sir Elton John entertained, and Bono, and Seinfeld, and at the end of the day the tally of contributions exceeded $80 million! to fill the coffers for good purposes and good works.

This week, the week before Memorial Day, is seeing a little bit of a let-up (with a lot more to follow). In a couple of weeks a lot of the social ones and philanthropists, aspiring and established, will be heading out of town for their long weekend, or even for the entire summer.

Last night for example the 92nd Street Y held its annual Spring Gala with cocktails, dinner and a performance by the great Jennifer Hudson.

If you didn’t know, the 92nd Street Y is synonymous with cultural events in New York. It is both neighborhood and international in terms of cultural interests, and attracts both in terms of audience. Artists, authors, actors, musicians, historians sociologists, psychologists – all appear there regularly, almost nightly. It’s what makes New York the town it is, like no other.

Co-chair John Paulson (with his wife Jenny) speaks on behalf of his fellow Spring Gala co-chairs: Jacqueline and Mortimer Sackler, Libbie and David Mugrabi, and Amanda and Jonathan Eilian.

Last night’s co-chairs were Amanda and Jonathan Ellian, Libbie and David Mugrabi, Jenny and John Paulson, and Jacqueline and Mortimer Sackler. Vice-chairs were Debbie and Glenn August, Jill and Darius Bikoff, Emily and Len Blavatnik, Stacey and Matthew Bronfman, Harriet and Steven Croman, Jean Doumanian and Jacqui Safra, Nina and Mitch Davidson, Susan and Stuart Ellman, Susan and Jeffrey Goldenberg, Jane H. Goldman and Dr. Benjamin H. Lewis, Daphne Recanati Kaplan and Thomas S. Kaplan, Lori and Marc Kasowitz, Jennifer and Marc Lipschultz, Christine and Richard Mack, Tami and Fredric Mack, Julie and Billy Macklowe, Cheryl and Philip Milstein, Nancy and Frederic M. Poses, Erica and Joseph Samuels, Carolyn and Curtis Schenker, Selina and Sihan Shu, Brett and Daniel Sundheim, and Buddy Teich; and they were sold out.

Leviev/Extraordinary Diamonds was the sponsor, and NYSD’s JH was there with his beautiful wife Danielle and his amazing digital. I’m just guessing, but I’ll bet quite a few of the aforementioned were also at the Robin Hood evening, which can give you an idea of distinction and prestige of the 92nd Street Y.

Jennifer Hudson performs at the 92nd Street Y Spring Gala.

Hudson invites guests on stage to dance alongside her while singing "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" ...

The finale ...

Lisa and David Klein of Leviev — 92nd Street Y's Spring Gala presenting sponsor — still giddy from Jennifer Hudson's performance.

Meanwhile, also last night the Frick Collection held its annual (its 41st) Spring Party at Mr. Frick’s house on Fifth Avenue and 70th Street. Black tie of course (remember the erstwhile residents of yore dined there every night in black tie), and Bob Hardwick and his Bob Hardwick Sound kept everyone on the dance floor no matter the age or the time.

That party began at 8:30, cocktails and dessert table and passed desserts. There’s nothing like the Frick to give you an authentic taste of Old New York and the Gilded Age, not to mention its stupendous collection of masterpieces.

Multi-millions, mega-backers and black tie, there are also throughout the city a broad variety of charitable organizations fund-raising for their causes every year. They all deserve attention if only to keep us all informed of what is out there to serve and service our community.

Catching up with them: last Tuesday, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, Muffie Potter Aston and Somers Farkas hosted the cocktail party for jewelry designer Judith Murat, creator of House of Murat, to celebrate the release of her gold-leafed hardcover book, “Judy’s Journey into the Land of Murat,” with a private book-signing event and trunk show to benefit Alzheimer’s Association at the home of Andrea and John Stark.

The reception brought out friends and supporters of the Alzheimer’s Association including Jean Shafiroff, Nicole Noonan, Sharon Bush, Michele Gerber Klein, Geoffrey Bradfield, Cassandra Seidenfeld, Cole Rumbough, Elaine Sargent,Joanna Mastroianni and Maggie Norris, Stephania Conrad, Christine Schott and Liliana Cavendish,Susan JacobAllison Lang, Alison Minton. Murat signed books with co-author Charles (Sunny) Castor for friends including with a first look of Judith Murat’s latest collections.

Somers Farkas, Muffie Potter Aston, Andrea Stark, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, and Judith Murat.

Judith Murat with copies of “Judy’s Journey into the Land of Murat."

Cole Rumbough and Melissa Berkelhammer.

Murat’s colorful fable follows "Judy" on her magical journey across the stars, sea, and shore. The Starks’ guests were also the first to see the new “House of Murat” charm bracelet, with miniature charms of many of the accessories featured in the tale, including the gold and diamond Seahorses, bejeweled Mermaids, pearl eating Alligators and coconut wielding Monkeys.

“Judy’s Journey into the Land of Murat” is available for $65.00 at independent retailors including The Classic Bookstore, Main Street News, Barzina and The Palm Beach Bookstore in addition to Amazon.com.

Jean Shafiroff.

Steven Knobel and Nicole Noonan.

Andrea Stark.

Princess Yasmin Aga Khan and John Stark.

Cassandra Seidenfeld and Michele Gerber Klein.

Also: Last Wednesday Boys & Girls Harbor welcomed a prominent guest list of social and corporate leaders to its annual fundraiser Salute to Achievement at The Heckscher Building on Fift Avenue between 104th and 105th streets. This year they honored its Founder, Anthony “Tony” Drexel Duke, a man who has dedicated the last 76 years (he is now in his late 90s) to serving young people in Harlem.

Tony is a humanitarian, veteran and visionary. He has spent a lifetime educating children, growing the Harbor from a small summer camp to an education and performing arts nonprofit serving more than 1,000 students annually. His son, Washington Duke, accepted the honor on his father’s behalf.

The event was hosted by Emmy Award-winning anchor and reporter David Ushery from NBC 4 New York, and featured a theatrical production conceived by the renowned faculty of the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts.

David Ushery and Boys & Girls Harbor students.

Titled Estampas on 6: Postcards from El Barrio, this year’s performance was a tribute to Harlem. The students showcased the sights and sounds of the New York City blocks they call home. They took a ride on the 6 train, from the historic Duke Ellington statue to the 103rd Street station, weaving their way through a patchwork of street vendors, passing by the Apollo Theater, and encountering musicians and domino players. The performance showcased Harlem’s rich cultural history through a mosaic of motion as the performance ended at the Harbor and encountered a world of possibilities. Thank you thank you Tony for showing us the way!

Among the guests were its Board of Directors Lyor Cohen, Stephen Dannhauser, (Chairman of the Board, Boys & Girls Harbor), Barry Friedberg,Sylvester Miniter, and Craig Overlander), Washington Duke, Kevin Liles, Gilian Miniter.

Lyor Cohen, Harbor Board Member Ernie Lyles, Kevin Liles, and Harbor Executive Director Thomas Howard.

Gillian and Sylvester Miniter.

Tony Duke Jr. and Washington Duke.

More from last Wednesday ... the Young Professionals Committee of The Children's Storefront held an evening of cocktails at the trendy Simyone Lounge on 14th Street. The benefit was hosted by Jon Palmer, Brad Anzman, Chris Swinney, Kristin Welton, Will Platt, Shannon Friedrichs, Paul Godinez, Marcelia Freeman, and Amy Wu. The event was sponsored by Wodka Vodka, Bulldog Gin and Yonkers Brewing Company.

The Children's Storefront is an independent, tuition-free school in Harlem committed to providing a comprehensive education to children with varied academic strengths from preschool through eighth grade.

Co-host Chris Swinney and Head of School Wendy Reynoso.

Co-host Jonathan Palmer with Wendy Reynoso.

Tristan Andrews and YPC President Brad Anzman.

Finally, last Wednesday over at the Metropolitan Club, actress Emma Stone hosted Gilda’s Club of New York City’s 6th Annual benefit luncheon celebrating women working and living with cancer. They honored Jacqualyn A. Fouse, PhD, EVP, Chief Financial Officer of the Celgene Corporation Development, and Sharyn N. Lewin, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Columbia University Medical Center New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The Guest Speaker was Mary Lou Quinlan.

The reception before lunch.

The event was sold out and they raised more than $240,000. Emma Stone shared her own personal story and connection to cancer - her mother is a breast cancer survivor and attended the luncheon with her daughter.

Emma is the official ambassador to Gilda’s Club NYC and spends her spare time with the children who attend the clubhouse’s support groups and Camp Sparkle. Mary Lou Quinlan, CEO of Just Ask a Woman, gave a humorous as well as moving speech on the topic of working and living with cancer.

Guests listening to Mary Lou Quinlan.

Gilda’s Club New York City creates welcoming communities of free support for everyone living with cancer - men, women, teens and children - along with their families and friends, an essential complement to medical care, providing networking and support groups, workshops, educational lectures and social activities -- all free of charge.

They provide their program at their downtown clubhouse and at six satellite locations throughout the City. For more information visit www.GildasClubNYC.org.

The annual Gilda’s Club luncheon also evokes the memory of that wonderful, hilarious, heart-warming, zany and beautiful comedienne Gilda Radner whose genius was taken from us far too early in her life, at age 42 in 1989. She could always make you laugh and the memory of that joy can make you cry too.