10.8.09: The wind at our backs yesterday in New York

The wind at our backs yesterday in New York

The fallout from the wind on Riverside Drive. 4:30 PM. Photo: JH.

October 8, 2009. A sunny, very windy day in New York.

Down at 583 Park Avenue, the beautiful Delano & Aldrich designed church, the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club held its 4th annual Purses & Pursenalities Luncheon. The event, which ran from 11:30 to 2 honored fashion designer Mary McFadden and Michelle Smith of Milly, a comparatively the new kid on the block in the fashion world. Emcee was Eric Javits.

Javits, the designer of handbags, hats and footwear, is the unlikeliest of milliners on appearance. Always well turned out, often by day in a double-breasted navy blazer, shirt and tie and charcoal grey pants, he looks very much like the upper class New York City prep school boy that he once was. Also he’s a soft-spoken gent with a ready smile and an ear for laughter. In his chosen profession, however, like his personality, his creations are very popular with the fashionable women of the social set in New York. He’s also a committed supporter of several charities and especially the annual Purses and Pursenalities.

583 Park Avenue, bathed in pink yesterday noontime for the Purse and Pursenalities luncheon.

The centerpiece.

The main course.

The all white church sanctuary was bathed in pink for the occasion. It was a ladies lunch A to Zed, although there were a few fellows here and there. The table centerpieces were faux handbags made by some clever potter/sculptor, accessorized by a branch of orchids.

I saw Debbie Bancroft seated nearby pinch a blossom slightly to see if it were real. So I did. Indeed it was. The luncheon was good too, broiled chicken (perfectly cooked) with a couple of strips of cheddar laid out like a cross on top, accompanied by two stems of romaine sprinkled with a garlic sauce and planted in what looked like an onion ring. Was it the chef’s version of a chapeau? An homage to the building (a church) we were in Whatever, it was surprisingly good. I mean, really good.

Mary McFadden is one of the most unusual women in New York, and maybe anywhere. She’s a completely creative personality, brought up in New York (in the apartment which now belongs to Susan and John Gutfreund) and a traveler of the world.

Mary McFadden accepting her award.

Born in 1938 (her bio states) she’s like Chanel in presence, timeless besides being eternally youthful, not only in looks but in point of view. She’s also a warm and friendly person, like the aforementioned Mr. Javits. Not one to tarry, as soon as she finished her acceptance speech, she picked up her coat at table and left the room. Going directly to JFK and a plane for Paris.

Michelle Smith told us how she’d been blessed with a childhood with a nurturing, hands-on mother and father. She reminded us that many children are not as fortunate to be so blessed and they are the ones the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club can help. Nurturing and encouraging is now often regarded as a tool to develop the competitive spirit in some households. In others, it is non-existent. For the children, to be successful it is always about caring.

This is a new and popular charity that makes a difference. It has a great committee list – the men and women who really get behind supporting the club. Such as: CeCe Black, Mark Badgley, Micky Ateyeh, Clo Cohen, CeCe Cord, Margo Langenberg, Stephanie Krieger, Allison Rockefeller, Tara Rockefeller, Mary Snow, Alison Minton, Jocelyn Javits (Eric’s sister), Amy Hoadley, Hilary Block, Courtney Arno, Harley DuPont, Mark Gilbertson, Martha Glass, Michael Bruno (of 1st Dibs which sponsored the luncheon), Cynthia Lufkin, Wendy Carduner, Anne Ames Somers Farkas, James Mischka, Rob Caldwell, Mary Van Pelt, Christine Schott, Monique Merrill, Christine Aharonian, Dr. Sharon Giese and Margo Takian, to name only a few.

Sharon Handler and Jeanne Lawrence.

Debbie Bancroft.

Gillian Fuller.

Grace Meigher and Monique Merrill.

Clo Cohen and Mary Snow.

Mary McFadden.

Nazee Moinian.

Alison Minton, Kathleen Giordano, and Gail Karr.

Cynthia Lufkin and Wendy Carduner.

Margo Langenberg, Anne Ames, and Stephanie Krieger.

Eric Javits, Michelle Smith, and Mark Gilbertson.

Courtney Arnot and Mark Gilbertson.

It was a busy last night on the New York Social Calendar. The American Ballet Theatre opened their Autumn season. The American Cancer Society (New York Chapter) hosted a dinner and theatre evening at Sardi’s and then over at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre where Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman are playing two city cops from the Midwest in “A Steady Rain.”

Great dinner at Sardi’s, where I once had a part time job as a kid -- when I was an aspiring actor -- working with the maitre d’ on the dinner hour.

In those days Sardi’s was at the very center of the Broadway theatre world, patronized all the time by the stars, the directors, the producers, the authors, the legends, the politicians and a lot of the journalists (since the New York Times was next door) and everybody in between professionally and not.

They all came through the doors daily. The place was still run by the founder’s son, Vincent Sardi Jr., who had a brilliant restaurateur/ greeter’s personality.


	“A Steady Rain,” starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman.

Opening nights on Broadway always had their after-party at Sardis where when the cast finally showed up the entire restaurant applauded; and when the reviews came out in the early morning editions, they were delivered immediately to the eagerly anticipating clientele.

When I worked there, “Hello Dolly” was down the street at the St. James (by then starring Pearl Bailey, “Fiddler On the Roof” was across the street at the Majestic, and “Cabaret” with Joel Grey was next door. To this would-be (bad idea) actor, it was all magic.

The new Sardi’s occupies four floors of dining rooms and they were all packed last night. It’s a different world, Broadway today, but it was still exciting to see the crowds in the restaurant, all or almost all there because of the theatre. The Thea-tuh.

The committee members of this event, which I know included my hostess, Diana Feldman, a truly indefatigable supporter of the American Cancer Society, got a good group together including Gigi and Harry Benson, Joy and Jon Ingham, Topsy Taylor, Sue Bloomberg, Anne Ford, Charlotte Ford, Elke and Ben Gazzara, Tom Gold, Patti Harris, Sally Ann Howes, Brenda and Howard Johnson, Mariana and George Kaufman, Sheila LaBrecque, Mary Sharp Cronson, Caroline Cronson, Mark Lebow, Isabelle Leeds, Barbara Missett, Suzanne Mados, Ted Bowdon, Felicia Taylor, Mary Beth and Mark Stevenson, Susan Lloyd, Cricket Burns, Elaine Sargent, Lynn Paulsin, Marc Rosen and Arlene Dahl, Carl Adams, Cornelia Bregman, Tom Shiah, Stephen Stempler, Paola and Michael Schulhof, Jane Powell and Dick Moore, Richard Feldman, and scores more of that ilk.

The Show. The two famous actors is sure good for box office. The AMC’s benefit raised about $300,000. They do one of these every year but this year was a sell-out because of those two guys. The reviews were so-so for the play (which runs without an intermission for 90 minutes) but not for the actors’ performances.

It is a dark play on a simple set with intriguing backdrops that never belie the darkness but add to the nether world of the developing monologue/dialogue. The characters, two cops, friends since childhood and partners professionally recount what is now a memory. It is about their relationship as well as their conduct as individuals both professionally and personally.

West 44th Street and Shubert Alley. 6:45 pm.

They are two working class American boys. And completely believable even though Craig is an Englishman and Jackman is an Aussie. They managed their American accents believably although Jackson sounded more like a Noo Yawker at times, than a Midwesterner. But that is not important.

The audience was riveted, and halfway into the story, the audience was reminded of the gruesome crime that occurred a number of years ago in Wisconsin that is the force behind the play. It is harsh realism and a reminder of many things in contemporary American life -- full of violence although almost none of which is acted out in the play. And full of human corruptibility which seems to have inflicted all levels of our society today.

“A Steady Rain” is harsh and hard-nosed. And when it is over, it stays with you. Craig and Jackman were those characters. By the end I was thinking of Sardi’s and how two actors like that would be going to supper to unwind after the intense performances, after work, so to speak. I was wondering how they shed those characters in order to enjoy their evening. Some actors can do that easily. The audience last night couldn’t. They took that play home with them.

This past Tuesday night at the Atlantic Gallery on 135 West 29th Street, there was a reception for a new exhibition of paintings by Pamela Talese "Rust Never Sleeps: Corrosion and Renewal in Maritime/Industrial New York." It runs through October 30th (Photo: John Bartelstone).

NYSD Around The Town Last Night. The New-York Historical Society hosted its annual History Makers Gala at its Upper West Side quarters last night. A man dressed as Abraham Lincoln, whose legacy was honored at the party, greeted guests at the front door.

The event also paid tribute to Bill Clinton, who delivered the keynote address before dinner.


	Felix Rohatyn and Bernard L. Schwartz.

	Art Fleischer, Eric Dobkin, and Robert Katz.

His topic: Abraham Lincoln and New York. Clinton mentioned Lincoln's two most famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address and his second Inaugural address, but chose to focus on his favorite oration from the Great Emancipator, Lincoln's 1860 speech at the Cooper Union.

The captivated crowd, in black tie, listened intently as Clinton described the speech.

"It was the only time in history where the speech was the campaign," Clinton said of the talk. One hundred thousand copies of the speech were printed, and at 7,700 words, it was certainly no light read. Still, the speech, in which Lincoln demonstrated that the Founding Fathers had intended for Congress to regulate slavery, won him the Presidency.

The former President concluded by referencing today's political problems, saying that, like Lincoln, "we do not have the option to fail. The first and fundamental objective of every American is to honor the framers of the Constitution and to form a more perfect union."

Among the crowd, which explored the new "Lincoln and New York" exhibition before and after dinner, were Historical Society President and CEO Louise Mirrer, Joan and Sandy Weill, Robert Caro, Laurie Tisch, Diana DiMenna, Historical Society Chairman Roger Hertog, Trustee Bernard L. Schwartz (who helped secure Clinton's appearance), Lois Chiles and Dick Gilder.

President Lincoln greets guests as soldiers stand guard at The New-York Historical Society.

Bill Clinton delivering the keynote address before dinner.

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Meanwhile, downtown: Vanity Fair and Porsche hosted a party to celebrate Porsche's new model, the four-door Panamera.

The car, the German automaker's first four-door effort, was on display inside Skylight, a huge gallery space in the western part of Soho. The car itself is cool (it's a Porsche, how could it be anything but that), although this reporter couldn't help but scoff slightly when the hatchback at the rear was opened. It reminded me of a Saab from the 1990s, the kind that every other kid in high school in Connecticut seemed to drive.

Anyway, the party had a few notable guests: Graydon Carter stopped by with his wife Anna, Lisa Anastos, actors Gretchen Mol and Bill Bellamy, photographer David Eustace, designer Francesca Mills, and George Wayne, the magazine's intrepid celebrity interviewer.

-- SD for NYSD

Jason Wagenheim, associate publisher of Vanity Fair; Benjamin Peryer, Toni Cavaliere, Tracey Hovelin, and Melanie Jafar, all of the events team at Vanity Fair.

Porsche Design staff from the New York store.

Terrence Charles of Vanity Fair.

The new four-door Porsche Panamera.

And on the Upper East Side last night: David Lauren, Tobias Meyer and Jim Nelson hosted the New York Academy of Art’s annual “Take Home A Nude” Auction and Party at Sotheby’s, this year honoring artist John Currin. Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a Live Auction and then dinner.

This year’s participating artists include Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, Kehinde Wiley, Jeff Koons, James Nares, Jenny Saville, Kenny Scharf, Donald Sultan, and many others. Sponsored by Ralph Lauren and GQ.

Alvin Booth, Untitled #0410747 from the "Ora" series, 2004.

Marco Sanges, The Letter, 2001.

Greg Lauren's piece.

Eric Fischl, Study for Zoullas Family, 2009.

The crowd at Sotheby's.

The bar.

Liev Shreiber studies a piece.

Among the guests: Honoree John Currin and wife Rachel Feinstein, Event Co-Chairs Ralph Lauren’s Sr. Vice President of Advertising, Marketing and Corporate Communications, David Lauren; Sotheby’s Executive Vice President and Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art Tobias Meyer; GQ Editor in Chief Jim Nelson; plus a host of NYAA supporters and art enthusiasts including NYAA Board Chair Eileen Guggenheim, committee members Liev Schreiber, Padma Laksmi, Dylan Lauren, Lauren Bush, Sean Landers, Gerard Butler, Amy Sacco, Lucy Sykes and Euan Rellie, Arden Wohl, Lisa Anastos, Tom Cashin, Jay Johnson, Bob Colacello, Larry Gagosian, Kate and Andy Spade, and participating artists Eric Fischl, Will Cotton and more.

-- Photos by EM for NYSD