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 New Yorkers who never stay home
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| Looking across the Lake in Central Park. 12:00 PM. Photo: JH. |
Thursday, October 6, 2011. Sunny and mild; perfect weather, yesterday in New York, cooling down almost to a chill at night.
The Michael’s lunch. They were packing them in yesterday with a lot of the likely suspects and some newer faces too. Such as Chris March, the designer who was a finalist on Project Runway and now has a show of his own (Mad Fashion). At his table: Jennifer Geisser, senior veep of communications at Bravo TV, and publicist Alana McElroy.
Around the room: Peter Brown with Judith Miller; Joe Armstrong with Paul Beirne. Today, he is hosting a private lunch (by invitation only) over at Alliance Capital for Laura Ingraham, who has a new book. Moving on: Michael's very own Brenda Starr, Diane Clehane; Tracey Jackson; Harold Ford with Robert Zimmerman and Susie Essman of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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| The pen we sign the check with. |
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Zimmermand is a political analyst on TV and a public relations man; Ford is vice-chair of Merrill Lynch and Ms. Essman ... Is the former Congressman going to go the TV route?
Elsewhere, John Sykes with Michael Bloom. Suzanne Johnson with Muffie Potter Aston. This was Mrs. Aston’s second day in a row at Michael’s. My lunch guest, producer Mark Freden, an old friend in from Los Angeles, recognized her from NYSD as if she were one of the TV celebrities.
Barbara Walters was lunching with Marie Josee Kravis; Chris Meigher, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance; Joe Kernen of Squawkbox with Marc Lasry; Hanna Lee; Shelley Zalis and Shelley Palmer; Kate White of Cosmo with Pamela Fiori and John O’Keefe. Gerry Byrne with Scott Higgins, Walter Sabo; Judy Licht; David Sanford of the WSJ, and Lewis Stein; Martin Puris; hotelier Jason Pomeranc; Tammy Haddad in from Washington; Susie Arons, Steve Mosko; Martin Sandler and Jimmy Finkelstein; Paul Caine; and on and on. |
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| JH looks up: Looking north along Fifth Avene from 20th Street. |
| 79th Street between Fifth and Madison. The mayor’s town house is in center. |
Eight Church of Christ & Scientist, 77th between Lex and Park. |
| 863 Park Avenue at 77th Street. |
| 94th Street and Riverside Drive. |
Last night. All kinds of stuff. At six pm at the Animal Medical Center, Robert Liberman and Katherine Coyne, CEO of the AMC, hosted a ribbon cutting and dedication of the AMC’s new Katherine and William Rayner Interventional Radiology & Endoscopy Suite, known as a Hybrid Operating Suite. This was a big deal, and the first of its kind in a veterinary hospital. It is the creation of a husband and wife team, Drs. Chick Weisse and Allyson Berent.
Just up the block at 306 East 61st Street, John Rosselli hosted a book signing for interior designer Jeffrey Bilhuber and his new book, “The Way Home; Reflections on American Beauty” at the Rosselli shop at 306 East 61st Street. Big crowd. John wasn’t there because he was home with one of their dogs who is 18 and who had a seizure a couple of nights ago, so Bunny Williams stood in for him. Bunny and John have lots of dogs and they are all rescued, all sorts and great friends. |
| The entrance foyer to John Rosselli's gallery on East 61 Street, last night. |
Jeffrey Bilhuber holds a copy of The Way Home. Click to order. |
| From there I went up to Hilary and Joe Califano’s apartment on Park Avenue for another book signing for Hilary’s son Frick Byers, who has just published a limited edition of Tennis Courts. Frick traveled all over America to get these shots of well-trammeled tennis courts. Big crowd there too. I got a rare picture of Hilary and her (step)sister Joy Ingham as well as their brother (and step-brother) Jeff Paley, his wife Valerie and their daughter Arianna. |
| All in the family, Valerie, Eliane, Hilary, and Jeff Paley. |
| Hilary and Joy Ingham with Lareda Byers. |
Frick Byers, Tennis Courts. |
Downtown. Edwina Sandys and Richard Kaplan were hosting a book-signing and reception in celebration of Edwina’s new book Edwina Sandys ART, with text by Caroline Seebohm, foreward by Anthony Haden-Guest, and introduction by Sir Roland Penrose (published by Glitterati Incorporated).
You’ve seen some of Edwina’s work on these pages, especially when we visited the Sandys-Kaplan house in Palm Beach. Both Mr. and Mrs. like a jolly good time and are hosts for fun, although Edwina is a dedicated and serious artist and her husband is a serious supporter of his wife’s work. Big crowd there too. |
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And then, there were the biggies. The Whitney held their annual gala, this year so big that they had to take one of the great rooms down on the Chelsea Piers. This is a very important dinner for many reasons. The Whitney wears two hats: maverick and establishment. It’s a tight line to navigate but these are changing times and the Whitney has a good navigator and a huge support system that is articulated by the size of this gala and the individuals they attract.
Meanwhile, over at splendid Carnegie Hall, they held their opening night gala, with a continuing celebration of the house’s 120th anniversary. The concert, which began at 7, featured the great Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra performing an all Russian program. Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. Yo-Yo Ma, guest soloist.
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| Drs. Chick Weisse and Allyson Berent at the dinner party at the Rayners. |
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Afterwards, the glittering crowd moved over to the Waldorf for dinner in the Grand Ballroom. The evening co-chairs were Mercedes and Sid Bass, Hoko Nagae Ceschina, Frederick Iseman, Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis, Katherine Farley and Jerry I. Speyer / Tishman Speyer, Joan and Sanford I. Weill, and Ann Ziff.
Me, I finished the evening dining at the table of Billy and Kathy Rayner, who hosted a dinner at their house to mark the day and to celebrate the doctors who first demonstrated their creation at Penn. It was there that the idea was hatched to bring it to New York, and the Rayners sponsored it. The couple met at Penn.
Dr. Berent has wanted to be a vet since she was eight years old. Her husband “found” it serendipitously after beginning his studies at LSE and other financial institutes of learning. He went so far as to get into the business of money. However, he quickly developed an aversion to the pursuit, and happened to volunteer in a veterinary clinic and his future appeared before him. The two share this enthusiasm for what they do and what they believe they can do in the future. It’s contagious.
There will be a funeral service for our dear friend Roger Webster at 12 noon on Monday October 10, 2011 at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity at 319 East 74th Street. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall, hosted by his sister Lynn Koechel, R. Couri Hay and Jason Grant. |
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