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Outside the 5th Annual Fete de Swifty tent on 73rd and Lexington. |
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| Last Thursday night they held the 5th Annual Fete de Swifty at their fancy tented block party on East 73rd Street between Lex and Third and right down the block from Swifty’s restaurant. The Fete has become one of the most popular cocktail party fundraisers opening the autumn social season in New York. Monies raised go to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. Mayor Bloomberg was among the 800 plus guests attending. The Fete, which is the brainchild of Liz Smith, has raised $2 million for the Mayor’s Fund. |
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| CANCER101, a New York City-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower people with breast cancer, hosted the Boathouse Gala at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park the Friday before last. This year a portion of the proceeds will go to New Yorkers for Charity, a newly formed nonprofit organization who provides support to local, New York City charities in need. Special guests included Kristen Haglund, Miss America 2008. Guests enjoyed cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres and dancing. |
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| Last Monday night there was a Cocktail reception and Green Auction at the Villency flagship store on 57th and Third Avenue to kick-off and raise awareness for the upcoming Bicycle for a Day (“BFAD”) event (which was held this past Saturday at South Street Seaport). Maurice Villency partnered with Matthew Modine and his green initiative, BICYCLE FOR A DAY (“BFAD”). While learning more about BFAD, there was a preview of Villency Pure Design, a unique line of eco-conscious furniture made from recycled material and manufactured with high worker welfare standards. Savory organic hors d’oeuvres from Pure Food and Wine were served while VeeV (“the world’s first açaí spirit”) cocktails and organic wines by Organic Vintages presented a healthier alternative. Guests took part in a treasure hunt for the Green Auction, which will feature items that promote healthier living such as a Segway, Puma Glow Rider bicycle, Abio bicycle, Trek Bicycle, Villency Pure Design leather sofa, NYHRC membership paired with MBT shoes, H. Gillerman Organics, TUMI Townhouse Nottingham Carry-On and more. The highlight of the evening was a live auction of a Fender Bass guitar, autographed by STING. Hosted by actor and BFAD founder Matthew Modine and Eric Villency, guests included Frederick Anderson, Veronica Bulgari, Alina Cho, Kelly Choi, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Holly Dunlap, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Kimberly Guilfoyle Villency, Douglas Hannant, Yaz Hernandez, Anisha Lakhani, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Lara Meiland, Dabney Mercer, Cari Modine, Bebe Neuwirth, Tatiana and Campion Platt, Nick Raynes, Daniella Rich, Maggie Rizer, Susan Shin, Donald and Vanessa Trump, Jr., Blaine Trump, Richard Turley, Aiden Turner, Simon van Kempen and Alex McCord. |
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| Late last month in Watermill, the Stella Adler School of Acting hosted a fundraiser for the Roy Scheider Scholarship Endowment Fund at the home of John Randolph Hearst Jr. Roy Scheider, besides being a respected member of the acting community, was also a former board member of the Stella Adler Studio. The Scholarship Endowment Fund established in his name will enable low income inner-city youth to study acting for four years on full scholarship at the studio. Ellen Adler, Brenda Scheider and Mr. Hearst hosted the event. Among those attending were Sidney Lumet, James Lipton, Tom Oppenheim, and Terrance McNally.
Between 1890 and 1940, there were as many as a dozen Yiddish theater companies in the metropolitan area, and another 200 which traveled to other cities and town. The theater helped working class Jews partake of “high culture” in this country as well as preserve traditional Jewish values. (Thomashevsky was also grandfather to conductor Michael Tilson Thomas). The Adler family emerged from the Yiddish theater into mainstream American theatre and films. Luther Adler, Stella’s brother, had a long career on stage and in film. Among his memorable parts was playing Adolf Hitler three different times. Stella, his slightly older sister, was a beauty and became the most famous and influential member of her family. She began her acting career at age four and worked until her 90th year. She also started teaching the Stanislavski method (now known as The Method) very successfully throughout her long life. Among her students were Warren Beatty and Marlon Brando (she was his first acting teacher). Brando (who was rumored to have had an affair with her also) once said of her: “To me, Stella Adler was much more than a teacher of acting. Through her work she imparts the most valuable kind of information – how to discover the nature of our own emotional mechanics and therefore those of others. She never lent herself to vulgar exploitations, as some other well-known so-called “methods” of acting have done. As a result, her contributions to the theatrical culture have remained largely unknown, unrecognized and under-appreciated.” |
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