4.22.10: Some April showers for the flowers

Some April showers for the flowers

Flowers perk up in between a hedge along Fifth Avenue. 4:20 PM. Photo: JH.

April 22, 2010. A sunny day, yesterday in New York with some April showers for the flowers.

Nobody knows when Katla will erupt. One thing we know - once Goldman starts selling Collateralized Volcano Obligations in which assorted earth strata play the role of structural subordination, with hedge funds shorting the lithosphere and going long the upper mantle, and mutual funds lining to bid up guaranteed "pro forma" cash flow positive molten magma, we will not be taking any transatlantic flights for a long time.

— Comment from a reader of zerohedge.com

Yesterday was the New York Public Library’s annual Spring Luncheon, held in the Celeste Bartos Forum. The theme for this particular luncheon is always literary, obviously, and yesterday’s program featured William Shawcross, the author of the biography of The Queen Mother, The Official Biography (Knopf), interviewed by Amanda Foreman, author of Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire.


	One of the two Elizabethan dolls stationed at the entrance of the Celeste Bartos Forum of The New York Public Library provided by Kathy Rayner for yesterday's luncheon.

This is a very popular luncheon and the co-chairs go all out to sell a lot of tickets, and it looks like it wasn’t difficult as the Bartos Forum was full up, mainly with women, but also quite a few men. Also, the subject: British Royals and aristocrats are ever popular with a certain part of the American book reading audience, not to mention the movie-goers.

This is also a very pleasant venue for a luncheon as the Bartos Forum is tall and spacious and has a Belle Epoque-style skylight ceiling that gives a soft pearly natural light to the room.

At my table the conversation on one side was about books and on the other about politics and Wall Street – because of the testimony in Washington and the latest news on Goldman Sachs and John Paulson, etc.

What is interesting to me was that such conversation is coming to the fore. The financials, the politicians, and Wall Street have been on the minds of many, including many prominent and socially active New Yorkers for more than a year, for obvious reasons, but rarely talked about at luncheon or dinner tables such as this. That is changing. The opinions seem to run the gamut of political points of view mainly about Mr. Obama’s choices and leadership which get low marks and not-so-low marks depending on the way people voted.

I tend to keep my political/partisan opinions to myself for the most part because I am not one of those Left/Right-Repub/Democrat believers. The terms “liberal” and “conservative” have been turned inside out, dumbed down and blasphemed into excuses for the know-nothings among us, and there are a lot of those. I still believe in the essence of the term used succinctly by our Founders: We, the People.

The luncheon table.

My allegiances, like most people have usually depended on what makes sense, or what seems practical and right according to the laws of the land. I am always skeptical, if not suspicious of anyone possessing political power -- whether it is acquired by election or money -- because I agree with the oft-quoted remark of Lord Acton the British historian, made in 1887: “Power corrupts and Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There was one more sentence in Lord Acton’s statement, usually left out in the quoting that sums it up: “Great men are almost always bad men.” That especially goes for the boys (and some girls) with the big money, be they political or financial, not to mention (not so infrequent) family members.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. The interview with William Shawcross was supposed to be person to person but because of the volcanic activity in Iceland, Mr. Shawcross was unable to cross the Atlantic, and so it was done by video-feed from a studio in London.

Co-chairs of yesterday's Luncheon, Liz Peek, Caroline Dean, Lea Brokaw, and Elizabeth Rohatyn with NYPL President and CEO, Paul LeClerc.

Amanda Foreman was present, however. She and Shawcross evidently know each other and the interview opened with amusing compliments exchanged between them. Then she got right into the book.

The biography Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (a term she evidently hated in the beginning) is 1100 pages. The length obviously has turned off a lot of critics, including the man writing in the Sunday New York Times Book Review, who panned the work mainly because he was overwhelmed by the length and the detail it served. A good friend of mine, however, a man who is a student of history and an avid reader, loved the book for all it offered the curious reader about the woman, the Royal Family, the history and the exposure provided by the details. It’s length was irrelevant in view of its achievement.

Shawcross was chosen to write it with the approval of the late Queen. Because of that her archives including all of her private correspondence, never seen before except by its recipients (mainly her family, her children, grandchildren, and her husband), was opened to the author. She wrote a lot of letters, as was the habit of her generation (and those which preceded her).

William Shawcross on the video feed from a London studio being interviewed by author/biographer Amanda Foreman (lower left hand corner) yesterday afternoon.

Not having read the book, I don’t know if it’s included but I know first-hand that she had a very close and caring relationship with her staff, especially her footmen, who adored and frequently enjoyed cocktails with her at the end of a long day or on relaxing weekends. The stories from members of the Royal Household were of mirth and hilarity in the company of the Queen who always enjoyed her gin along with the jocularity of the men who served her, and memories of her are full of affection in the recounting.

Mr. Shawcross explained to us the background of Elizabeth (born Bowes-Lyon), an aristocrat (not a “Commoner”) who married “Bertie,” the Duke of York, the second son of George V and Queen Mary, (known in her widowhood as the Dowager Queen Mary – also a term Elizabeth hated for herself). Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was not at first interested in the young duke. But he pursued her endlessly. She had been a very popular debutante who received so many proposals of marriage from so many men that she reduced her responses eventually to “no, thank you.” Bertie, who never expected to become King, nor was expected to become King, won her over finally because he was steadfast and asked her over and over until she finally gave in.

The luncheon guests.

The Abdication of his elder brother David, Prince of Wales and then Edward VIII, so that he could marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson, changed everything for the couple and the country. The Second World War changed everything even more drastically.

From it the couple emerged as heroes to their subjects, and rightfully so, brave and courageous and devoted to their “duty” and the English people. Then the King died suddenly in 1952 when Queen Elizabeth was only 51 and her 25-year-old daughter Elizabeth II ascended to the throne.

The exchange between Amanda Foreman and William Shawcross was on subject but charming in its ease. The audience was informed and so intrigued by the subject that the interview flew by and we were left with the desire to read the book.

Beth DeWoody and Paul LeClerc.

Marina Rust Connor and Eliza Bolen.

Liz Peek and Gayfryd Steinberg.

Louise Grunwald and Lyn Nesbit.

There were more than 400 guests. The list of those attending included: Cetie Ames, Bob Colacello, Sue Ann Weinberg, Maureen White, Paul LeClerc, Jackie Williams, Ann Colley, Barbara de Kwiatkowski, Maria Cooper Janis, Mark Gilberton, Annette de la Renta, Caroline Dean, Enid Nemy, Lynn Nesbit, Ellen Niven, Beth DeWoody, Peter Duchin, Eliza Bolen, Lisa Errico, Shirley Hazzard, Rachel Hovnanian, Jim and Ann Sitrick, Gayfryd Steinberg, Jean Strouse, Lisa Jackson, Sue New House, Elyse Newhouse, Gillian Miniter Stephanie LaCava, Coco Kopelman, Beth Amorosi, Mary Ellin Barrett, Aimee Bell, Lisa Belzberg, CeCe Black, Serena Boardman, Randy Bourscheidt, Susan Braddock, Lea Brokaw, Tory Burch, Jay Cantor, Courtney Arnot, Fernanda Niven, Lisa Lori, Ivana Lowell, Seval Oz, Nancy Paduano, Hannah Pakula, Joan Hardy Clark, Caroline Weber, Sue Zeckendorf, David Beer, Lionel Larner, Carol Mack, Catie Marron, Hannah McFarland, Lorry Newhouse, Gigi Mortimer, Jeff and Liz Peek, Shirley Lord Rosenthal, Mitzi Perdue, Lauren Veronis, Kathy and Bily Rayner, Ingeborg Rennert, Marian Rust Connor, Cristina Cuomo, Rene Rockefeller, Dorit Morley, Linda Robinson, Elizabeth Rohatyn, Zibby Right, Joanna Rose, Samantha Boardman Rosen, Helen Schifter, Susan Fales-Hill, Liz Fondaras, Dr. Judith Ginsberg, Sandy Golinkin, Louise Grunwald, Susie Hayes, Alexandra Schlesinger, Frances Schultz, Fiona Rudin, Betsy Gotbaum, Anne Grauso, Niana Griscom, Amanda Taylor, Alexandra Theodoracopulous, Evelyn Tompkins, Electra Toub, Nathalie Von Bismarck, Dini von Mueffling, Sheila Stephenson, Tina Sloan-McPherson, Peggy Siegel, Sydney Shuman, Claudia Wasserstein, Shelley Wanger, Virginia Coleman.

Elizabeth Rohatyn.

Frances Schultz.

Ellen Niven-Deery.

Shirley Lord Rosenthal.

Lauren Veronis.

Joan Hardy Clark, Peter Duchin, Ivana Lowell, and Lionel Larner.

Caroline Weber and Susan Fales-Hill.

Amanda Foreman and Lionel Larner.

Christopher Mason and Nina Griscom.

Mark Gilbertson, Jackie Williams, and Nathalie Gerschel.

Tina Sloan-McPherson.

Sydney Shuman.

Caroline Weber and Lea Brokaw.

Tory Burch.

Susan Braddock.

Cece Black.

Last night at Doubles, Dan and Cynthia Lufkin hosted a “Bingo” dinner for about a hundred guests. There were cocktails called for 6:30, dinner at 7:30 and then Bingo. I can’t recall the last time someone gave a Bingo party but everyone was up for it. Wendy Carduner, the directrice of the private club in the Sherry-Netherland and an old close friend of the couple (she actually introduced them), called out the numbers.

There were several prizes – as you can see – and the atmosphere was nothing short of rousing with the crowd that included, among others, Robert DeNiro and Grace Hightower and Bette Midler (who said she liked it because it was the first party she’d been to invited to where she wasn’t asked to bring a check or sing).

Before the games began, Dan Lufkin thanked everyone for coming and added that it was also Cynthia’s birthday – her “thirty-fifth.” It was very down-home and non-dressy. There was no cake or singing of Happy Birthday but Wendy Carduner provided an immense dessert table of cakes, ice creams, sundaes, fruits and more cakes, making it a perfect birthday for our lovely and adored hostess.