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 Art and foliage
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| A kitty overseeing her domain on 26th/27th Street and Sixth Avenue. 11:45 AM. Photo: JH. |
October 15, 2009. It was much cooler although not quite cold in New York yesterday. A friend told me she went up to the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville last weekend to see the art and the foliage, and that it was magnificent and almost finished. We still have green leaves on the trees in New York. And then they usually turn brown and roll up. Maybe the Park, although it’s still not changed in Carl Schurz Park.
Last night. Riding across 57th Street going towards Fifth, my cab narrowly missed hitting a woman who was crossing against oncoming traffic, and never bothering to look to see if anything was coming. She remained oblivious until we were no more than five or six yards from her, until a second car in the double lane came along and laid on his horn. That was when she noticed. I opened my window and yelled: “Look and live!” to her. I couldn’t help it. He said. She looked at me like I was crazy.
If I didn’t have more to think about perhaps it would drive me crazy. I see it all day everyday all over New York: people walking into oncoming traffic. No waiting for lights, no waiting for space. Lots and lots of people, and not just cell-phoniacs. Ho-hum.
Many do get hit by cars and end up in the Emergency Rooms and occasionally dead; and of course the drivers get blamed. The taxi drivers just expect it and drive accordingly. Some say that the Mayor gave them permission by telling the people (I never heard him) that they always had the right-of-way on the road. Sounds lovely if it’s a dirt path through a meadow maybe, although in a city of 17 million people moving around and in and out daily, it’s at least hazardous to our health.
The mindlessness overwhelms. You could call it, more accurately, lack of being conscious. I think it’s a cultural phenomenon with an implied, if unconscious message: Not Responsible.
That’s what I think.
I can still see the expression on the woman’s face when I yelled out “Look and live!” (I’m laughing now.) I’m sure she thought I was just a nut, and you know there are a lot of us potential nut around this town.
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| Liu Dan's monumental painting of a Chinese dictionary, in watercolor and ink over pencil, now at the Chinese Porcelain Company. |
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Meanwhile. I was on my way to the Chinese Porcelain Company on 58th and Park where Pierre Durand and Conor Mahony were holding a reception for a preview of their Recent Acquisitions.
The Chinese Porcelain receptions have their own flavor. They draw an older, social crowd, and often Europeans. The shop is elegant and spacious. Among its Recent Acquisitions is a pair of Louis XVI fauteuil with the stamp: “G Jacob.” Everything looks like a museum piece and no doubt, many items are.
Also on view are paintings by the Chinese artist Liu Dan from Beijing. On exhibition is his monumental painting of a Chinese dictionary executed in watercolor and ink over pencil, in three parts. It’s 79 ½ inches by 103 ½ inches in muted tones of pink, blue, and yellow. It’s commanding and beautiful as well as the added mystery of its calligraphy to the Western eye.
Drinks are served – white wine, champagne and sparkling water. Ann Nitze introduced me to His Excellency the Ambassador from Cambodia, Roland Eng. Ann also told me that the ambassador’s sister Princess Marie Norodom of the Cambodian royal family has the best silk and artifacts store in Cambodia. The princess uses the proceeds from her store to support women and girls through the country. Ann said both brother and sister have had fascinating lives.
I didn’t have a chance to talk to the ambassador. He had a quiet, serene-like presence although wearing a business suit, and no doubt a worldly man. Anything, anyone Cambodian, however, always reminds me of What Happened and continues to confound.
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| Beth DeWoody and Peter Rogers. |
| Roberta Sandiman and Robert Couturier. |
Jeanne Lawrence, Mary McFadden, and Deeda Blair. |
| Michael Witmer, Edith Dicconson, and Dr. Dino Rivero. |
Fernanda Kellogg and Marcia Schaeffer. |
| The Brown sisters with Kathleen Giordano. |
Pierre Durand, Ann Nitze, and the Ambassdor to Washington from Cambodia, Roland Eng. |
| Alberto Mariaica,
Kathleen Hearst, and Annabelle Mariaca. |
Alex Hitz and Sandy Golinkin. |
From the serene and beautiful Chinese Porcelain Company, I then hiked the two blocks across Park and Madison to Fifth and the Trump Tower where Quest magazine was hosting a book signing for Ivanka Trump and her “The Trump Card.”
A chip off the old block is Ms. Trump, if you hadn’t already noticed.
I love going to the Trump Tower. I always associate it with the man. The lobby has the Trump personality: big and grand and all marble and gold and brass and crystal and glitz. It’s mammoth. There’s even a waterfall.
At the end of the lobby talking to a blonde was the man himself. Donald Trump has put on a bit of weight around the middle. It’s either the age or the good life.
He was talking to Barbara Bancroft. He’s so comfortable with himself that I have to remind myself of what a celebrity he is in the world. Soon after the beautiful Melania appeared with the youngest of the Trumps: Barron. Barron looked like it wasn’t all that interesting but he was going along as if he understood that’s what a Trump does.
I moved down the long escalator to the lower level where the crowd had begun to gather.
Soon we could see Ivanka coming down the escalator, tall and blonde and looking very glamorous. Lights, camera!
The book is “a resource for women starting their career or looking to rejuvenate themselves in today’s challenging economic environment.” There were lots of books waiting for her to sign. The proceeds from the sale of “The Trump Card” will go to her brother Eric’s foundation. The Eric Trump Foundation was “founded by a group of eight young professionals with a charitable platform of improving the lives of children.” |
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| Ivanka Trump and her littlest brother, Barron. |
| Donald and Melania with Barron. |
Nikki Haskell. |
| Alina Cho. |
The Donald with Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. |
| Bill Rollnick and Nancy Ellison. |
Nancy Ellison and Elizabeth Meigher. |
| The view from the ground floor lobby of the lower level and the book party at the Trump Tower. |
| The Atrium (filled with Jean Dubuffet sculptures) inside the IBM building which is connected to the Trump Tower through the back of its lobby. |
As the crowd was getting larger, it was a good time for me to move on to dinner up at Swifty’s. Swifty’s was very busy and noisy with chatter last night. I was a guest of Adolfo, along with Peter Rogers. Around the room: Herb and Jeanne Siegel and Herb’s grandson; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Mortimer, John Loring, the Tiffany director/archivist biographer; Gale Hayman and Dr. Richard Bockman, Dr. Mitch Rosenthal and Sarah Sims Rosenthal; Shirley Lord Rosenthal (no relation) and two Englishmen (twins) friends of hers Peter and Don Heywood; moving on, Betsy Bartlett and Jones Yorke, Lee and Jane Gammill in from San Francisco; and in another corner, Bob and Barbara Taylor Bradford, Arlene Dahl and Marc Rosen and friends; also Jim Kaufman and Karen Shanker, Danny Marentette and Retta Tayor and guest; and Alex Hitz and Katherine Bryan.
Hitz, as he’s known to a lot of his friends has gone QVC. A Cordon Bleu alum and a one time restaurant owner (Atlanta), Alex, who lives here and in Los Angeles, is known by friends for his cooking. In California they come away from his dinner parties raving about the food.
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So now he’s taken the show on the road (that’s what living in Hollywood will do to you, believe me), and started www.thebeverlyhillskitchen.com and packaged one of his culinary specialties: Beef Bourguignon which has already won five stars (or is it ten?) from even his harshest critics (the friends-behind-your-back types).
He made his QVC debut with his creation last Thursday and will appear again on November 5th. It comes frozen and all you do put it in the pot of boiling water for few minutes and voila! as they say at Cordon Bleu, you’re a master chef too.
Also, around town last night: In Soho at the Peter Tunney Gallery, animals took center stage. Friends of Animal Rescue hosted a fundraiser amid the appropriate backdrop of Roberto Dutesco's beautiful photography exhibition, "The Wild Horses of Sable Island." |
| Joe Panz, Betsy Goldman of Friends of Animal Rescue, Big Ant of Rescue Ink, and Blaine Caravaggi of Friends of Animal Rescue. |
The cocktail reception honored Today Show correspondent Jill Rappaport, who, after serving as the show's entertainment reporter for 17 years, switched gears to become the animal welfare reporter.
Instead of celebrities, her stories now focus on animal issues. "My heart, my passion, has always been my animals," she says. "To do stories, animal welfare stories, about medical advancements in animal cancer, adoption, rescue, is an opportunity to do what I love."
Rappaport is also an author, and two of her books, Jack & Jill: The Miracle Dog with a Happy Tail to Tell and 500 Cats, were available at the party. |
| Clockwise from above: Caryn Zucker and Jill Rappaport; Betsy Goldman, president of Friends of Animal Rescue, addresses the crowd; The crowd at the Peter Tunney Gallery at 13 Crosby Street. |
| Francis Batitsta, founder of Best Friends, and Tazz Latifi, co-founder of Friends of Animal Rescue. |
Jill Rappaport's animal books. |
Francis Battista, who co-founded Best Friends Animal Society, was also in attendance. His organization runs the nation's largest sanctuary for displaced, homeless, or unwanted domestic animals. His was the group that took in the 22 pit bulls seized from ex-NFL star Michael Vick.
Also an unlikely sight at a Soho art gallery party, Joe Panz and Big Ant of Rescue Ink, a gang of macho motorcycle-riding tough guys who have bonded together to fight animal cruelty, stopped by to support the cause. They've also got a new show on the National Geographic Channel that airs Fridays at 10 p.m.
For more information about Friends of Animal Rescue, which helps find homes for pets in New York City shelters, visit friendsofanimalrescue.com. |
| Deborah Norville. |
Mark Gilbertson, Hilary Geary Ross, and Dr. Douglas Steinbrech. |
Joanne de Guardiola. |
“It kept occurring to me that so many of the stories that made headlines seemed to have an element of where someone didn’t do the right thing," said Norville, who since 1995 has been the anchor of Inside Edition. Citing specific scientific studies, she shows that the simple act of treating people better can dramatically improve relationships in business and at home. You can say that again.
At the party, Michael's waiters, wearing their signature pink button-downs, passed the excellent hors d'oeuvres. In the crowd: Chris and Grace Meigher, Roberto and Joanne de Guardiola, Mark Gilbertson, Hilary Geary Ross, and Dr. Douglas Steinbrech, and many others.
-- SD |
| Jonathan Schwartz, Renee Spear, and Jason and Tricia Pantzer. |
The musical entertainment for the evening. |
Also last night at the home of Lynn and Sy Syms, the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra held its Young Forum season kick-off.
Guest included Inon Barnatan, Jason Hirsch, Amanda Bollag, Ben Dattner, Marc Eisenberg, Jason Feldman, Andy Frankenberger, Alicia Heckler, Jonathan Hoffman, Dalia and Larry Leeds, Jillian Merns, Brooke Milstein, Tricia and Jason Pantzer, Rachel Posner and Lionel Warshauer, Courtney and Raph Posner, Stephen Rutenberg, Abbe and Michael Serphos, Alex Silverman, Sarah Sperling, Nick Thacker, and Rochelle and David Hirsch. |
| Brooke Milstein, Jason Hirsch, and Leah Estreicher. |
Rochelle Hirsch and Suzanne Ponsot. |
| Jillian Merns and Lynn Syms. |
Raquel Lauredo, Matthew Schmelzer, and Rosalia Arteche. |
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