12.8.09: Chilly yesterday in New York

Chilly yesterday in New York

Manhattan moons from 85th and Broadway. 8:30 PM. Photo: JH.

December 8, 2009. Chilly yesterday in New York. Someone told me that just outside the city up in places like Bedford and thereabouts the weekend snowfall stayed on the ground.

I went to lunch at Michael’s which was jumping. You can almost feel the holiday lunch thing coming on. Last lunch before the New Year. Let’s have a nice glass of wine.

Which reminds me. When I came to New York out of school in the early 60s, there was the martini lunch. Commonplace among the same ilk that lunches today at Michael’s – where there is some wine with lunch – a glass but rarely more, if that.

This week begins the holiday cocktail parties that run up to the week before Christmas. Then when schools are out, a lot of the New Yorkers you might find in the NYSD leave town.

Last night I started out at the Four Seasons Restaurant at a book launch party for Phil Geier, the former Chairman and CEO of Interpublic, a parent company of global agencies such as McCann Erickson, Draftfcb and Lowe Worldwide. Phil has written a businessman’s treatise on the times called “Survive to Thrive: Sustaining Your Brand and Your Business from Recession to Recovery.” Don’t let the word treatise throw you. Mr. Geier is a very practical man and talks in very practical plain talk. And no nonsense about it either. He’s what Mad Men were really about: creating a powerful system of branding and commerce.

Phil Geier with a copy of “Survive to Thrive: Sustaining Your Brand and Your Business from Recession to Recovery.” Click to order.

Faith Geier entertaining a guest.

Phil Geier and his wife Faith are neighbors of mine. The people who live nearby whom you can say hello to and have a passing conversation. Having grown up in a small town, I always look for that wherever I live. In a place like New York where you are one of many millions, it’s a grounding. I knew, of course, about Phil Geier’s business because it’s a well known business and he’s been one of the major movers and shakers in his profession. I knew also that not too many years ago he had a heart transplant, and that besides restoring his good health, it gave him a new lease on life. “Survive to Thrive” comes from there. Words from the wise.

The Four Seasons had a huge crowd, peers and contemporaries of the Geiers, including many from advertising, banking; lawyers, socialites, real estate mavens. Mr. Geier was kept busy signing his books – the proceeds from the sale of which are going to a charity.

In the crowd: Adam Weinberg, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Berlind, Kathleen Doyle and Richard Ravitch, Edwardo Canet, Larry Bossidy, Pat Patterson, John Dadakis, Margo Dorment, Leonard Lauder, Mimi Dorment, Thomas Dowling, Elizabeth Waywell, Jim Estill, Alison Fahey, Bill Grogan, Phil Guarascio, Susan Braddock, Jerry Judge, Nancy Pedot, Jeremy Biggs.

The tree at The Chinese Porcelain Company.

From the Four Seasons it was an eleven block walk up Park Avenue. At seven last night there were a lot of people still leaving their offices although foot traffic lessens noticeably past 60th Street and the office buildings. I stopped to take a picture of The Chinese Porcelain Company’s tree. Very festive and very chic as you would expect from the Chinese Porcelain. I was going up to Annabelle and Afred Mariaca’s holiday cocktail party at 63rd and Park.

The Mariacas’ party is now a tradition. The couple are very active in New York social life and I often see them at the various Lincoln Center galas so they have a intense interest in the arts. They are also South American and so they are part of that segment of the New York social world that reflect the Hispanic and Latin American cultures.

Annabelle and Alberto Mariaca, who were hosting a holiday cocktail party at 63rd and Park.

Wendy Vanderbilt Lehman is wearing two necklaces. I'm always telling her she could go into the jewelry design business because her combinations are bright and glamorous and intriguing.

This is not written about frequently, but the Latin presence and influence in New York is very important, and very much integrated; now more than ever. In the members like the Mariacas, they are often more sophisticated because there’s the international influence.

These cocktail parties seem to move in waves. I arrived at the Mariacas at close to 7. The large entrance gallery was still fairly roomy, so I got a shot of our host and hostess. Within moments, however, a mass of guests arrived. Many of these people will see each other at other cocktail parties before the season is out, and then they won’t see each other again – unless they are headed for the same holiday destination – until the New Year. So the enthusiasm decibel has been added to the mix. It livens up the spirit of the moment.

The table for sixty at Opia's private dining room last night, prepared for Harry Benson's birthday dinner.

A little after 7 and a glass of champagne, I left the Mariacas to go down to Opia, the wonderful Frederick Lesort and Antoine Bleck restaurant where Gigi Benson had planned a surprise birthday party for her famous photographer husband, Harry who celebrated his 80th birthday last Thursday.

Harry is famous but his photographs are more famous. Iconic ones. Ones that are etched in your mind’s eye and you don’t even know who took it. The Beatles having a pillow fight in a hotel room. Ethel Kennedy holding up her hand to the lens telling it not to look at her dying husband on the bloody hotel kitchen floor in Los Angeles.

The Beatles visiting Mohammad Ali.

The birthday boy with Nancy Reagan.

Harry photographing the Robert F. Jr. and Mary Richardson Kennedy family.

Not to belabor the point, but I’ve known Harry was older than I if only because I was a kid when I first was looking at his work. But I was surprised that he’d already hit 80 because for one thing he’s always out there moving his product and promoting his business. He’s published 16 books of his works so far and last night’s gift bag to all us lucky guests was his latest, “Harry Benson: Photographs.” It’s a good idea for anyone – literally anyone – as a holiday/Christmas gift. Harry’s a charmer. He has an elfin quality to his wit, and a bit a the blarney even though he’s Glaswegian. So he’s fun to be with. And in the end you can see the most wonderful, even sometimes joyful, although often deeply revealing aspects of his subjects’ personality and character.

When Gigi emailed invitations, she emphasized that it was going to be a complete surprise and that guests were to say nothing because she wasn’t kidding. It was, it turned out a complete surprise. He had no idea. Evidently Harry is a bit of an eavesdropper around the house, and even inclined to listen in on other family member’s conversations. So Gigi didn’t want anyone calling and referring to it. Do not call. Email. Harry is computer illiterate and doesn’t know how to access emails to read, or even how to move the screen.

Wendy, Gigi, Harry, and Tessa Benson last night at the birthday dinner table.

There were 60 of us at this massively long table, which was very comfortable despite its size. Gigi sat at one end and Harry at the other. Then they exchanged seats. On one wall was a rotating slide show of pictures of Harry taking pictures and with his subjects in various locations. There was also the photo of Harry relaxing on his living room couch in his penthouse apartment, taken by JH for NYSD HOUSE. Among the guests: Liz Smith, Elaine, Iris Love, Hilary and Wilbur Ross, Grace and Chris Meigher, Topsy Taylor, Diana Feldman, Stuart Woods, Ann Jones, John Loring (who wrote the introduction to Harry’s new book), Geoffrey Thomas and Sharon Sondes, Ann Dexter Jones, Kathy and Billy Rayner.

Christopher Mason performed a special song called “I’m Just Wild About Harry.” Christopher, author/journalist is also a clever musician and writes this special material on commission for private parties (and often prominent individuals) which are not roasts, per se, more like soufflés, but full of wit and reverie. I got a copy (click here to view) of Christopher’s lyrics for Harry last night (including the tunes to which he adapted the words). There were several toasts, including by his two daughters, Tessa and Wendy, and big cake and champagne and bevy of his friends who are also his admirers.

Iris Love, Elaine Kaufman, and Liz Smith

Diana Feldman and Topsy Taylor

Christopher Mason and Mario Buatta

Kathy Rayner and Wilbur Ross

Billy Rayner and Sharon Hoge

Charles Whittingham, Kathy Rayner, John Loring, and Hilary Geary Ross

Harry Benson

Liz Smith

Christopher Mason performing “I’m Just Wild About Harry.”

Harry with Hilary Geary Ross

The birthday cake

Also last night in New York, The MacDowell Colony hosted its annual National Benefit at TheTimesCenter. Founded in 1907, and located on 450 wooded acres in Peterborough, New Hampshire, the Colony "embraces the dynamic nature of creativity by providing our finest and most promising artists with uninterrupted time and a place to work at no cost."

Each year, about 250 artists arrive at the Colony, where they receive room, board, and the exclusive use of a studio during their stay. More than 6,000 artists, including Thornton Wilder, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Barbara Tuchman, Milton Avery, Virgil Thomson, Michael Chabon, Alice Sebold, Jeffrey Eugenides, Wendy Wasserstein, and Jonathan Franzen have been awarded Fellowships since the Colony's inception.

MacDowell Colony Chairman Robert MacNeil, MacDowell Colony Fellows Doug Wright and Scott Frankel with actresses Sherie Rene Scott and Amanda Green

In 1997, President Bill Clinton awarded the Colony the National Medal of the Arts. Last night's benefit contributes to a significant portion of the Colony's annual budget, making it possible for fellows to travel to the Colony and create new works.

The Honorary Chairs of last night's event were: Laurie Anderson, Richard Mayhew, Mark Morris, James Stewart Polshek, Roxana Robinson, and Stephen Shore. Between cocktails and dinner, the crowd was treated to a program on TheTimesCenter Stage that consisted of: "conversations" between James Lapine and WIlliam Finn, Ruth Reichl and Dianne Wiest, and So Yong Kim and Michael Almereyda, followed by performances by Sherie Rene Scott, Vadim Feichtner, Mary Louise Wilson, and BD Wong. -- SD for NYSD