| Patrick
McMullan; Bunny
Mellon; Armene
Milliken; Connie
Milstein; Jim
Mitchell; Sonja and John Morgan; Chappy Morris; Sarah Murdoch. |
Patrick
McMullan. The
photographic chronicler of
the age of New York that extends from the Andy Warhol days
of Interview Magazine (where his party pictures first
ran) to today where he is ubiquitous, media, magazine and book-wise
and peripatetic on the party scene, uptown, downtown, South Beach,
LA, and the Hamptons.
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He is now also a small industry with several Patrick McMullan photographers covering
the enormously active New York At Night party scene.
It was Warhol who first befriended him and set him on the road
which today must surely be paved with gold. When he has his famous
St. Patrick’s Day party
(this year it was at Avalon), hundreds, if not thousands, are invited and also
show up. Nobody wants to miss Patrick’s parties because everybody, all
kinds of people from all kinds of places (uptown, downtown, Malibu, Mars) will
be there. And, like Patrick, they will all be in a celebratory but GOOD mood.
For Patrick exudes the upbeat. He loves introducing people to each other (and
then he takes a picture – I’m not exaggerating).
A boy from Long Island, he’s been married and there’s
a son – Liam – who’s
now in his teens, who often can be seen taking everything in with his father.
You can always spot him at an event, suited up, long hair brushed back down to
his collar, always camera ready. He's met and known everybody on the passing
cavalcade of the metropolis for the past almost thirty years (really!). His manner
and bearing are so warm and friendly, some often mistake him for the host rather
than the photog. And, in a way, it’s true.
However, the key to Patrick is that he’s a workhorse. He sees more of the
city, after noontime, on any given day that most of us see in a lifetime. When
he’s not working a party, or traveling from one to another, or on a plane
traveling from one to another, or on his way to the dentist, he’s taking
pictures. Of everything and everybody. You may even be in one of them. After
the black-tie events in the big hotel ballrooms or museums or private parties,
Patrick heads downtown to check out the scene until the wee hours. Always
with his camera.
The result is a fantastic body of work, a historical record, as it were, of New
York nightlife in the last quarter of the 20th Century and now into the new century,
of New York nightlife, that is without peer.
What else does he do with his life? When would he have any time?
His work is now finding its way into books, collections, archives
of his nightly labors.
Someone told me he bought himself a house out on the island to get away to.
But the question is when would have time to get away to anything?
He’s got
a schedule that would wear you out just looking at it. Relevant
Link: Party
Pictures 10.23.03.
Bunny
Mellon. Rarely seen and never photographed, the Listerine heiress,
widow of billionaire art collector Paul Mellon, Mrs. Mellon, who is now in her
90s, is famously reclusive and famous for her love of the decorative arts, maintaining
homes in Virginia, New York, and Osterville that are fully staffed at all times
so that she may arrive (via her private yet) on a moment’s notice with
everything prepared for her. A stickler for getting things the way she wants,
she once built a large swimming pool on her Osterville estate only to decide
when it was finished that the deep end was on the wrong side. The pool was dug
up and completely reconstructed to her specifications. A great and loyal friend
to Jackie Onassis she was (privately) famous for her extravagant gifts to the
former First Lady. When Jackie took up watercolor painting, Mrs. Mellon gifted
her with a metal paintbox which held, in place of the brush, two gold earring
loops and in the place of each color there were two precious stones with hooks
for the earring loops — sapphires (for blue), rubies (for red), emeralds
(for green), diamonds (for yellow), etc. A number of years ago Mrs. Mellon built
a beautiful mansion with courtyard in the East 70s and is actively involved in
maintaining its perfect interior design with a full-time personal interior decorator
to assist her.
Armene Milliken. New York socialite,
married to three prominent individuals; widow of textile heir Minot Milliken,
one of
the most
popular ladies in New York.
Connie Milstein. Attorney, developer, high profile member
of the prominent New York real estate family, major supporter of several philanthropic
organizations and major Democratic fundraiser (contributed more than $400,000
to the 2004 campaign). Jim
Mitchell. Bigtime New York public relations
man with international clientele and major social connections
in Beverly Hills, Palm Beach, New York, London and Monte
Carlo.
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Sonja
and John Morgan. John Morgan is one of five sons
of Henry Sturgis Morgan, a great-grandson of J.
Pierpont Morgan, the greatest American financier of the
Gilded Age, and Catherine Adams, a great-great-granddaughter
of John Adams, the second President of the United
States. JP Morgan personally saved the American banking system during
the Panic of 1907, and created the first billion-dollar corporation,
U.S. Steel. His greatest legacy to the world was his vast collection
of paintings, sculpture, objets and manuscripts, many of which are
in his own Morgan Library.
I first met Sonya Morgan about twelve years ago when, as the
still single Sonya Tremont, she was the hostess at (the Italian
restaurant across from Bice) on Madison Avenue and 54th Street. Sonya was very
well known among the New York money men and power brokers for being good looking,
savvy and with a go-get-em charm. She was so good at her job (bringing in big
name businessmen clientele that I wrote a profile on her for Quest).
It was a story about a girl who came to the big town from Albany and made her
way into the international set who made the circuit from Europe to New York,
the Bahamas, Aspen and Malibu, and used her connections to make her way in business.
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Chappy
Morris and Melissa Stanley
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Several
years ago, she ran into John Morgan whom she knew through the restaurant
at a cocktail party. Today they are married, parents of a daughter
and divide their time between their house in New York, their house
on an island off Connecticut and their yacht which at this time of
the year is usually in the Bahamas.
Chappy
Morris. Very popular New York man about town, frequent
contributor to charitable causes, ubiquitous member of the charity
ball circuit from a very old New York and Philadelphia families;
writer and poet; perennial bachelor who has been dating the same
young, attractive woman,
Melissa
Stanley, for several years now.
Sarah
Murdoch. Australian born young mother and pretty
young wife
of
former New York Post publisher Lachlan Murdoch, son of media tycoon
Rupert Murdoch. When young Murdoch resigned from his position on his father’s
New York newspaper, having made the decision to move with his family back to
Australia, he was said to have been greatly influenced by his wife’s desire
to return to their homeland. |
Albemarle,
Rufus
Aston, Muffie Potter
Basso, Dennis
Benedict, Daniel
Capehart, Jonathan
Cominotto, Michael
Curry, Boykin
Dahl, Tessa
DeWoody, Beth Rudin
Duchin, Peter and Brooke
Duff, Patricia
Eaton, Phoebe
Fales-HIll, Susan
Fekkai, Frederic
THE FULL LIST
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