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 A community affair
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| Last night's glowing sunset over the Hudson. Photo: JH. 7:20 PM. |
September 11, 2009. I put that date down with distant vibes of trepidation. You can say it, but you can’t think about it and just leave it.
Yesterday in New York was overcast but beautiful with a touch of autumn wafting in the cooling breeze. There was the cloud implied threat of rain but nothing more than a shpritz. By late afternoon the weatherman was telling us we might get a “Nor’easter,” which any New England knows is a whipped up/pipped up rain storm full of wind and drama. Although at this writing right after the turn of the new day, it’s still just breezy.
Yesterday there were two very important memorials in New York. The first was for Dominick Dunne at 2:30 at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church on 66th and Lexington, and the second was for Charles Gwathmey, the American modern architect who was not only prominent in his field but also prominent in his community as a professional but also as a friend. The Gwathmey memorial was held at the Metropolitan Museum at 6:30. Both services involved several eulogies. Six for Dunne and eleven for Gwathmey.
Memorial services are a big attraction in the New York community. I won’t call them entertainment but many of them have the power that entertainment has. Think of it: the Walter Cronkite memorial was a community affair. But the community is New York.
Presidents appeared and spoke, stars, celebrities, etc. Not only are many of the participants and the guests (mourners) prominent but very often they are very interesting people. So those attending get a glimpse of insight, often a good dose of wit, and they get to be exposed to that side of all of us where everything is deemed equal: A Life.
Dominick’s memorial, which was also his funeral, was a High Mass in a beautiful church.
The first page inside the program had the following poem:
We believed we
Would see with our own eyes the new
World where man was no longer
Wolf to man, but men and women
Were all brothers and lovers
Together. We will not see it.
We will not see it, none of us.
It is farther off than we thought ...
It does not matter.
We were comrades together.
Life was good for us.
It is good to be brave – nothing is
Better. Food tastes better. Wine
Is more brilliant.
Girls are more Beautiful.
The sky is bluer ...
If the good days never come,
We will not know.
We will not care.
Our lives were the best. We were the
Happiest men alive in our day.
“For Eli Jacobson” by Kennth Rexroth
It was long getting started. It must have been three by the time everyone was seated and the honorary pallbearers were lined up on either side of the aisle awaiting the priest to march up to Dominick’s casket. They were Norman Carby, Graydon Carter, Mart Crowley, Freddy Eberstadt, Howard Erskine, Peter Harron, Reinaldo Herrera, Alex Hitz, Charles Hollerith, Tony Kiser, Tim Lovejoy, Chris Meigher, Stephen Sondheim, Charlie Wessler.
Looking at that list, and knowing some and not knowing others but knowing of them or having heard of them, I was thinking how some of these men go back more than six decades with Dominick. Others aren’t even six decades old. Those are real friendships. Some are professional, some are social and others are Just Time.
The service began when we heard a piano play and then in the distance (this is a stone, vaulted cathedral where the sound goes north first ... and maybe last), we heard a male voice singing a siren’s rendition of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes.” In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking but now God knows, Anything Goes ...
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| Dominick and Lennie Dunne in Beverly Hills, circa 1965. I was thinking how there's a little bit of Jimmy Cagney in his expression and Lennie resembles Jennifer Jones. |
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Then the processional. Then the readings beginning with Mr. Carby reading from the Book of Daniel 12: 1 – 3. Then music (the 23rd Psalm), then Freddie Eberstadt reading I John 3: 14 – 16. Then Alleluia; then the Gospel (John II: 32 – 45), then Father Morrissey delivering the Homily.
Father Morrissey had known Dominick for quite some time. They met after a funeral memorial Dominick attended. He was taken by some part of that service and he discussed it with the father. They became friends as was Dominick’s wont whenever he spent any time with people from whom he had something to learn.
Father Morrissey revealed to us that this entire service was planned by Dominick and the focus was on his Resurrection. Dominick believed he had been Resurrected. He had seen the Light and he was Resurrected. I daresay he saw the Light in a 12-Step Program, and, indeed, he had a New life. The same life but a new life.
There was a great deal of “service” after Freddie Eberstadt spoke. I am not a Roman Catholic so the ritual is always unfamiliar, even sometimes confounding. I knew Dominick was born into a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent. We share similar cultural and religious backgrounds although I was sent to the Congregational Church from the beginning.
Sitting in this beautiful cathedral with the beautiful music, the Mass was important in elevating the man. Dominick’s presence was nevertheless almost undetectable, the way a good director’s eye is not apparent when the finished piece is perfect.
After two songs – “Song of Bernadette” by Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen and B. Elliot, and “Danny Boy” sung by Jack Donahue, accompanied by Alex Rybeck – came the moment we were all waiting for: the eulogies.
Dominick’s son Griffin recalled how his father was fascinated by funerals such as these. When Dominick and Griffin’s mother Lennie were first married and living in New York, it was only a block from Frank E. Campbell funeral home where many socially prominent and celebrities had their funerals.
Dominick used to love to check out “the client list” on his way to work in the morning. And he wasn’t above stopping in to a stranger’s memorial if he thought it might be interesting. Dominick’s funeral, we were reminded, was Dominick’s kind of funeral – the kind he wouldn’t have minded crashing.
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| Dominique and Dominick Dunne. The child's fate determined his. |
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After Griffin Dunne came Tina Brown who first hired Dominick to write for Vanity Fair in the early 1980s when he was first back in New York trying to put his life back together again. Tina recalled the pleasure of working with the man, and the excitement they shared in creating the articles.
Tina Brown has a very efficient personality and it is not one which publicly would be associated with any kind of emotion, but yesterday afternoon her voice cracked, broke and rumbled when she finished up her memory and bid her friend Goodbye.
Then came his sister-in-law Joan Didion, the distinguished author. Unfortunately Miss Didion’s voice was lost to me, thanks to the acoustics of the cathedral. This was a great disappointment because I love to hear and read anything she thinks and since it was more personal and biographic, it could only be more interesting. I hope it will be published somewhere for her insights are unique.
She was followed by Alex Dunne, Dominick’s other son. Mr. Dunne did his eulogy as a letter to his father about the funeral. Everything Dominick would have wanted to know, all of which would have fascinated him. He too loss some of his smooth resonance as he got to the end of his tribute to his father. The sons’ eulogies described clearly a side of Dominick most of us were not privy to – that of a parent.
Both men had their father’s self-possession in speaking of him. Their affection was full of respect and you got the image of a reasonable and caring man who advised his sons from his own experience about which he had no illusions.
Alex Dunne was followed by Liz Smith. Liz Smith, it should be remembered, is the Toastmaster Grise of New York at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. I’m not being hyperbolic. These are things that can be taken for granted, but there are, in the history of this city, individuals who leave their imprint on the community almost unassumingly. |
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When I think of Liz I think of Grover Whalen, a name that probably means zilch to almost every reader. Grover Whalen, however, was a famous New Yorker in the first half of the 20th century. During the 1940s, he was Mayor LaGuardia’s “greeter.” Liz is something like that to this city although a lot more than a greeter. When she gives a eulogy or sums up a guest of honor or pays tribute to a distinguished persona, she has the most amazing way of painting a portrait of a real person, barbs and all, full of affection and the Human Comedy.
She had known Dominick since the very early 1950s when she was working on television production and he was the stage manager for the “Howdy Doody Show.” They grew up together. She knew all sides of him and had seen them all at work. She pointed out that he was a social historian and a gadfly, that he loved gossip and he had fun reporting. She told us that at the very end, in the last few months, when she ran into him, if she were to ask him about his health, he’d reply, “oh, I’m dying, but hey listen, sit down because you won’t believe this story I’m going to tell you….”
All of the eulogies were filled with references to Dominick’s life, many of which are known to all of us who knew of him, who read him, who’d seen him or met him. His subjects were pointed out again and again: von Bulow, OJ, Phil Spector, the Woodwards, etc. Celebrity, wealth, love and murder. This was his palette. |
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After Liz came Hannah Dunne, Dominick’s granddaughter. Hannah looks to be about sixteen. She told us how when she was little girl she used to get a card every Valentine’s Day that was signed “a Secret Admirer.” She said she always knew Who the secret admirer was but she didn’t let on.
Then she suddenly broke into an a capella rendition of Rodgers and Hart’s “My Funny Valentine” with a touch of Billie Holliday and a touch of Carly Simon (Your looks are laughable, unphotograph-able; Yet you’re my favorite work of art.).
Well that was it for the house. She brought it down, as her grandfather might have said. Grandpa would have been beaming proud.
I was left thinking about that life called Dominick Dunne. Not only were his books his life, his books were His Life, variations on the same theme. They’re the memoir. The favorite work of Art. A masterpiece. |
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It was a big crowd. I’m guessing but there must have been upwards of 900 guests for the service. I don’t have the guest list but I can remember seeing the following:
Joe and Annette Tapert Allen, Jesse Kornbluth, Brooke Hayward, Arnold Scaasi and Parker Ladd, Kitty Hawks, Fernanda Niven, Peter Duchin, Virginia Coleman, Gill Fuller, Edgar Battista, John Coleman, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Biron, Jamie Niven, Angus Wilkie and Len Morgan, Colette and Peter Harron, Alice Mason, Judy Price, Jeanette Watson Sanger and Alexander Sanger, Joan Schnitzer Levy, Asa Maynor, Kathy Crosby, Lionel Larner, Uma Thurman, Arky Busson, Richard Gere and Carrie Elwes, Caroline Whitman, Yanna Avis, Roy Kean, Ann Rapp, Jeff Toobin, Michael Shnayerson, Pamela Keogh, Felicia Taylor, Pat Patterson, Wendy Vanderbilt, Duane Hampton, Mort and Linda Janklow, Nancy Biddle, Casey Ribicoff, Joe Armstrong, Ernie Pomerantz and Marie Brenner, Liz Smith, Dan Abrams, Dotson Rader, Peter Rogers, Anne Ford, Charlotte Ford, TonyHoyt, Grace Meigher, Andre Balazs, Robert Caravaggi, Armine Milliken, Bob Fellner, Nicole Hanley, Reinaldo Herrera, Steven Aronson, Christopher Mason, Gail Hilson, Melinda Blinken, Tina Brown and Harry Evans, Jackie Drake, Doug Steinbrecht and Jeff Sharp, Sam Peabody, Elizabeth Peabody, Jim Mitchell, Geoerge Hamilton, Mimi Strong, Iris Love, Anne Slater and John Cahill, Marcia Shaeffer, David Margolick, Richard Turley, Stephen Attoe, Helen O’Hagen, Pat Patterson, Jean Harvey Vanderbilt, Boatie Boatright, Michael Gross, Joel Schumacher, Audrey Gruss, Mica Ertegun, Sirio Maccioni, Jackie Rogers, Rita Cosby and Tomaczek Bednarek, Jill Krementz, Elisa Wagner, Fran Nelson, Christian Bretchneff, John Jay Mortimer, Diane Von Furstenberg, Judy Ney, Cynthia McFadden, Karen Lerner, Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley, Enid Nemy, Bob Balaban, Julie Baumgold and Ed Kosner, Jane Stanton Hitchcock. |
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| From bottom left, up: Liz Smith, Peter Rogers, Ann Slater, John Cahill, and Audrey Gruss. Top Right: Harry Evans and Tina Brown. |
| Griffin Dunne |
Audrey Gruss |
Ann Slater and John Cahill |
| Elizabeth Peabody, Jackie Rogers, and Sam Peabody |
Diane von Furstenberg |
| Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley |
Joe Allen and Annette Tapert |
Julianna Margulies and Keith Lieberthal |
| Joel Schumacher |
Rita Cosby and Tomaczek Bednarek |
John Jay Mortimer |
| Kitty Hawks |
Sirio Maccioni and Michael Gross (bottom left) |
| Barbara Goldsmith and Steven Aronson |
George Hamilton with Iris Love and Mimi Strong behind |
The Museum of Arts and Design presented the Abraaj Capital Art Prize – an award that seeks to raise international awareness of artists from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA).
The three winners, whose works were unveiled at Art Dubai, the Middle East's largest contemporary art fair and who each received $200,000, are Iran's Nazgol Ansarinia, Algeria's Zoulikha Bouabdellah and Turkey's Kutlug Ataman. Respectively, they worked with Leyla Fakhr, Assistant Curator at Tate Britain; Carol Solomon, Visiting Associate Professor of Art History at Pennsylvania's Haverford College; and Cristiana Perrella, curator of the Contemporary Arts Program at the British School in Rome. |
| Holly Hotchner addresses the crowd. |
The work of the three winners are on view at the Museum's Design and Innovation Gallery, which explores emerging trends in art and design through a series of short-term exhibitions guest-curated by leading voices in the field.
The Abraaj Capital Art Prize was established by the Dubai-based private equity company Abraaj Capital, to provide exposure for artists from the MENASA region.
Nazgol Ansarinia, who partnered with curator Leyla Fakhr, offers what seems at first glance to be a classic Persian carpet, rich in color and swirling recurring patterns and shapes. A closer look reveals scenes from local Iranian life woven into and reflecting her interest in pattern and language. Ansarinia, born and raised in Iran, has studied and worked in London and New York and now lives in Tehran. |
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| Nazgol Ansarinia, who partnered with curator Leyla Fakhr, offers what seems at first glance to be a classic Persian carpet, rich in color and swirling recurring patterns and shapes. A closer look reveals scenes from local Iranian life woven into and reflecting her interest in pattern and language. |
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Zoulikha Bouabdellah collaborated with Carol Solomon from the United States to create a meditative installation entitled Walk on the Sky. Pisces references ancient Persian astrology and Arab legend. Bouabdellah, born in Moscow and raised in Algeria, is much attuned to the nuances of cultural identity, but picks and chooses influences and inspirations from wherever is suited to her projects.
Artist Kutlug Ataman with curator Cristiana Perrella made a recorded performance piece, Strange Space, which was filmed in Erzincan, a small city set high in a north-eastern mountain plateau of his native Turkey. This region is extreme, not only in its physical environment (scorching hot summers, icy winters) and its war-torn history, but more recently in adapting to modernity. His video, based on a Turkish fable of tragic love, looks to illustrate the tension between Turkey's eastern heritage and its western outlook.
The Abraaj Capital Art Prize is made possible through the support of Abraaj Capital. |
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| Lowery Stokes Sims and Carole Solomon |
Juan Claude Samuel and Cheryl Hill |
Holly Hotchner and Hunter Palmer |
| Frederic Sicre, Barbara Tober, and Holly Hotchner |
James Cordahi, Laurie Ann Farrell, Ken Farrell, and Defne Ayas |
| Nazy Nachand and Till Fellrath |
Rosie Goldberg and Laurie Ann Farrell |
Dorothy Beskind and Gloria Prival |
| Felicia Shapiro |
Louise Chen |
Michele Perr |
Katja Zigerlig and Natalie Domensoro |
| David and Judi Rappoport Blitzer |
Katarina Posch |
Luzme and Abu Arif |
| The National September 11 Memorial and Museum Second Annual Benefit Dinner honored Kenneth Chenault. It was hosted by Mayor Bloomberg with emcee Jimmy Fallon and chaired by Christy Ferer, John T. Livingston and John Rosenwald. |
| Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Jimmy Fallon |
| Dinner Honorees Daniel Tishman, Tishman Construction Corporation Chairman & CEO and Kenneth Chenault, American Express Chairman & CEO with former New York Governor George Pataki |
Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s Chief Foreign Correspondent, with husband James Rubin |
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| Photographs by ANN WATT |
Comments? Contact DPC here. |
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