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Walking along Riverside Park. 5:00 PM. Photo: JH. |
August 13, 2009. Yesterday was a very hot day in New York. But not sweltering, and mainly overcast. At the early morning hour of this writing, thunderstorms are said to be on the way. I went out onto my terrace to spritz the flora and there was a strong cool breeze coming off the river. The city was quiet – only an occasional car passed by -- and street-light dark. It was a beautiful summer moment in New York.
Lions roaring. Today is the birthday of Dan Fogelberg, Philippe Petit, Don Ho, Pat Harrington Jr, Fidel Castro, George Shearing, Alfred Hitchcock, Bert Lahr and Annie Oakley (on different years). For those of you who know about all those brilliant careers.
Fogelberg is the youngest on that list although he's no longer with us. Annie Oakley is the oldest. She’d be a hundred and forty-nine if she were still with us. And can you imagine what it would be like to actually live to such an age? Brooke Astor was only a hundred and five, even had the means, and look what it was like for her. |
| Edison: Annie Oakley (1894). |
Julia Child died on this day four years ago at age 92. Her birthday is Friday.
Transition. These are the Dog Days of Summer. The heat hasn’t been so oppressive as to exhaust you, but the mood is decidedly tempered, like the calm before the storm. I was one of those children who got all excited at the idea of a storm. Storms always meant emergencies in the summertime when I was a kid. Getting the boats out of the water and onto dry land. Putting away all the outdoor furniture, battening down the hatches. Having enough candles if there were a blackout. And a supply of water when you needed it. Usually none of it was ever needed, thankfully, but got everyone to the point where when it was over, people calmed down and got to work.
Now, of course, no longer a kid, I cannot allow myself the immense pleasure of anticipating nature’s fury (or any other kind of fury) because I know damned well that it could affect me personally in horrible, even disastrous ways.
Yesterday Michael’s was busy at lunch and last night at Swifty’s the place was jammed. Last night down at Cinema 2, there was a special screening of “The Baader Meinhof Complex” based on Stefan Aust’s book. The screening was organized by Peggy Siegal with Charlie Rose, Boykin Curry, Richard Cohen and John Darnton, along with the Atlantic, hosting.
After the screening, there was a Q & A between Boykin Curry and author Aust. Serious business. The turnout was a combination of the New York intelligento-glitterati including Julie Taymor, Elie Wiesel, Bennett Miller, Albert Maysles, Joel Klein and Nicole Seligman, Mort and Linda Janklow, Comm. Ray Kelly, Susan Brownmiller, Armand Assante, Candice Bergen and Marshall Rose, Marshall Brickman, Harry Evans and Tina Brown.
Society in flux. In the Gilded Age, the Mrs. Astor wouldn’t even acknowledge the existence of Mr. Stewart who lived across 34th Street from her in the grandest mansion in New York -- dwarfing her large brownstone. Mr. Stewart wasn’t acknowledged because he was “in trade” (and owned the largest most successful department store in New York). Ahh but that was then. A century later, Mrs. Astor would be holding her parties in Mr. Stewart’s department store. And gladly, -- if he’d have her -- with him footing the bills for the champagne, of course, and her hoping to get a discount when she shops. |
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