11.11.08: Holiday Highs | New York Social Diary

<a href='http://d1.openx.org/ck.php?n=a2b3e5b3&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE' target='_blank'><img src='http://d1.openx.org/avw.php?zoneid=1333&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE&n=a2b3e5b3' border='0' alt='' /></a>		<a href='http://d1.openx.org/ck.php?n=aea25ea0&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE' target='_blank'><img src='http://d1.openx.org/avw.php?zoneid=1379&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE&n=aea25ea0' border='0' alt='' /></a>

Holiday Highs

The 2008 Holiday House Designers.

The inaugural Holiday House Showhouse opened with a gala preview party last Monday night, November 3rd. Proceeds will benefit the Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Holiday House is a designer showhouse (comprising 25 leading interior designers) where each room not only features the work of a talented interior designer but is also dedicated to a specific holiday theme. For example, the Dining Room features Thanksgiving, the Living Room features Christmas, the Library ... New Year’s Eve, a Bedroom ... Valentine’s Day ... etc.


	Tony Manning, Dr. Dara Richardson-Heron, Iris Dankner, Blythe Masters, and Kay Gilman

Holiday House is being presented in a Manhattan townhouse that Emily and Len Blavatnik have graciously made available in support of the Greater New York City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Corcoran Group is this year’s Exclusive Real Estate Sponsor.

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures.

Thanks to events like the Komen Race for the Cure, Komen has invested over $1 billion to fulfill its promise, becoming the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. The Greater New York City Affiliate was founded in 1990 by friends of the late television journalist Benita Feurey. Since its inception, Komen Greater NYC has raised over $40 million to fulfill its vision of a world without breast cancer.

Holiday House is produced and presented by The Hampton Designer Showhouse Foundation, Inc., a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization which also produces The Hampton Designer Showhouse, The Designer Showhouse of New Jersey, and The Orchard Hill Designer Showhouse to benefit Old Westbury Gardens. Showhouse Management is provided by Tony Manning and Journal Management by Kay Gilman. Mario Buatta is the Honorary Showhouse Chair.

The showhouse will run until December 7, 2008, closed on Thanksgiving Day. It is located at 2 East 63rd Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. Showhouse hours will be as follows: Monday through Sunday, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM and until 8:00PM on Thursdays. Children under six, infants, strollers and pets are not allowed in the Showhouse. Admission to the Showhouse is $30 and includes a Showhouse Journal. For more information, please visit www.holidayhouseny.com or call 212-751-7186.

Lisa and Stephen Fanuka

Carol Cohen, Paul Albano, and Deborah Grubman

John and Margo Catsimatidis

Harry Heissmann, Charles Pavarini III, and J. Randall Tarasuk

Iris Dankner, Maurice DuBois, Dr. Dara Richardson-Heron, and Vern Calhoun

Robert Johnston and Susan Orsini

Mario Buatta

Margaret Cittadini and Greg Lanza

Michelle Prentice and Josh Gibson

Liliana Urem, Timothy G. Miller, Graciela Franchini, Tom King, and Tracey Miller

Melissa Curtis, Bill Peters, Susan DeAngelis, and Harry Heissmann

Jennifer Cohler Mason, Eric Cohler, and Jane Supino

Abby Modell and Donny Deutsch

Dave Lalin, Lisa Isaac, Diane Durocher, and Lee Durocher

Mary Miller, Jeff Shaw, Sherri Cohen Shaw, and Bill Miller

Nancy Stout, Ross Toombs, and Lara Toombs

We have a new advertiser joining us today, and that is the new DVD “Dominick Dunne After the Party” which you can click on and buy (or at least have a look around the site).

Peggy Siegal screened the film this week before a celebrated crowd of Dominick Dunne fans. Dominick was unable to be there because he is in the hospital for some surgery and tests. Dominick has bladder cancer and other problems that come along as one gets older and older.

I can say these things frankly because Dominick has been dealing with these problems for quite some time. He has not let it change his life, however. He’s out there and writing and reporting and traveling and dining and lunching. The only thing he hates (aside from all the aggravation of these present conditions) is sympathy. He doesn’t want ONE WORD of “how’re you feeling?” or “Are you okay?” It’s a bore and doesn’t serve.


	Click to order.

“Tell me something interesting; what’ve you heard?” That’s what he likes to hear.

I don’t know Dominick very well, in that I know many people who’ve been friends with him for the last thirty, forty, fifty years. Dominick has lots of friends, met masses of people and has kept up with so many of them throughout the decades. He’s been in Show Business in one way or another since he got out of Williams (and the Army). He’s a kid from a well-to-do Irish Roman Catholic family in West Hartford. He’s been crazy about show business all this life, and ultimately it’s been crazy about him.

He’s had a lot of success as we all know, as an author and journalist and television personality. What fascinates me is how he processes it. People come up to him on the street all the time and comment on his work or how much they love him, or whatever. And Dominick is endlessly amazed. Because he’s also like those people on the street: he’s a “fan” too.

It’s been a fascinating, sometimes rocky, sometimes terrible, sometimes fanastic, sometimes fabulous life. He loves it, of that I am certain; but I think it still takes him by surprise.

If you want to send a message of cheer or tell him something interesting, you can address care of me: dpc@newyorksocialdiary.com and I’ll pass it on to him immediately.

In the meantime check out the DVD, it’s an amazing story, and a wonderful one. It’s that guy who’s going to go right on living his life, no matter what.

Kathryn Altman

Nora Ephron and Joan Didion

David Mortimer

Dan Abrams and Eric Villency

Harry Evans and Joan Didion

Patricia Duffy and Tony Peck

Tina Brown and Harry Evans ...

Kirsty de Garis and Tim Jolley

Pattie Boyd and Peter Brown

Nora Ephron and Nick Pileggi

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER BY ENTERING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. IT'S FREE ...

This past Thursday, November 6, 2008 colorful and original signed works of art, or ‘doodles,’ created by actors, artists, and sports icons were auctioned off at “Doodle For Hunger IX,” the ninth annual charity auction hosted by the Capuchin Food Pantries, which feed and shelter over three thousand underprivileged families in New York each week.

This special event, hosted by Fox 5’s Ernie Anastos, included a cocktail party, Doodle preview, silent and live auctions led by dynamic duo Tony Lo Bianco and Ron Kuby, and took place in the Crystal Room at Tavern on the Green.

Ernie Anastos, Joe Sano, Margo Catsimatidis, Rosanna Scotto, John Catsimatidis, and Fr. Francis Gasparik

Fr. Francis Gasparik and Rita Cosby

Shana Penczak and Katie Natoli

This year’s Doodle For Hunger honored Rosanna Scotto, co-host of Good Day New York, and Wendy Williams, 107.5 WBLS radio host and star of “The Wendy Williams Show.”

Doodles by Billy Joel, Donald Trump, Amanda Bynes, Ashley Judd, Candace Bergen, Geraldo Rivera, Howard Stern, Howie Mandell, Jason Lee, Jenna Fischer, John Travolta, LeRoy Neiman, Misty May-Treanor, Phil Collins, and others were available at the auction.

Based in midtown Manhattan, the Capuchin Food Pantries have additional locations in Chelsea, Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island. The Pantries also distribute free clothing, diapers and toiletries; host a breakfast program and a number of holiday meals and parties throughout the year; and work with social workers to help serve clients’ needs which range from employment training to interventions for addictions and/or abuse.

Kevin Hunter and Wendy Williams

Rosanna Scotto, Ernie Anastos, and Cheryl Benton

Louis Ruggiero and friend

Cheryl Benton and Rhea Albert

Brother Salvator

Joe Sano, Ernie Anastos, and Wendy Williams

Mickey Heller, Carlin Langley, Jay Polite, John Barnwell, and Father John Claremont

Bill Gallo of the Daily News and Wendy WIlliams

Ann Kandel and Ernie Anastos

Leroy Neiman, Tomaczek Bednarek, and Bill Gallo

Mickey Heller Esq and Wendy Williams

Tony LoBianco and Kathleen Guzman

Louis Ruggiero and Rosanna Scotto

Janet and LeRoy Neiman with Bill and Dolores Gallo

Julie Tupler

Margo and John Catsimatidis

Bill Gallo and Rosanna Scotto

Tom Cushwa

Nick Gregory and Ms Sweeney

Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO) paid tribute to two outstanding individuals and the Canadian company, RBC Dexia Investor Services, for their extraordinary contributions toward improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children at its Fourth Annual Benefit Gala at Cipriani Wall Street. WWO is dedicated to transforming the lives of orphaned children around the world.

WWO raised more than $1.3 million at the gala, according to Dr. Jane Aronson, founder and CEO. In a surprise announcement that evening, an anonymous donor pledged to match all donations made at the benefit gala – raising the pre-gala donations by approximately $240,000 that evening.

WWO saluted the leadership and work of The Honorable Dr. Samuel Assefa, Ethiopian Ambassador to the U.S., for Ethiopia’s support of WWO programs and services. It also honored Lois Whitman for her work as Executive Director, Human Rights Watch, Children’s Rights Division, in advocating for the rights of vulnerable children. The Canadian-based financial company, RBC Dexia Investor Services, was recognized as WWO’s first Corporate Honoree for its generous financial support that helped to launch WWO Canada, the organization’s first chapter outside the United States.

Standing: Diana Leo, WWO Communications Director, Mary Louise Parker, WWO CEO Dr. Jane Aronson, Jose Placido, Ethiopian Ambassador Dr. Samuel Assefa, Brooke Smith, and gala guest. Seated: Naomi Watts, Aster Hidaru, and Makkeda Assefa.

In an impassioned address to a crowd of more than 600 patrons and guests, Dr. Aronson described a bold vision for steering the foundation to new heights by expanding WWO’s life-saving programs and reaching out to serve more orphaned children with a broader array of programs designed to serve the whole child. Her aspirations for the organization include expanding access to medical treatment, including the provision of antiretroviral medications for orphans impacted by HIV/AIDS, as well as “going deeper” into children’s lives by providing orphans with educational opportunities, arts programs, sports and camp. Dr. Aronson vowed that programs will follow children through their school years into vocations and college. “They will be their countries’ leaders,” she predicted.

The WWO founder invited supporters to become more deeply engaged with WWO by volunteering their time, energy and skills as “Service Rangers” to help children living in orphanages worldwide. “We are responsible for these children and must keep our promises,” proclaimed Aronson, who emphasized that WWO is committed to ensuring that no child is forgotten.

WWO gala co-chairs Janet Kagan and WWO Board Chair Brittany Levinson

Mary Louise Parker

Brooke Smith

The 2008 Gala theme was “Every Child Ought to Know: What Love Is, What Health Is, What Childhood Is,” and the event was co-chaired by Janet Kagan, WWO’s Board Chair, and Brittany Levinson.

Special Guests Mary-Louise Parker, Tony-award winning actress and star of TV’s Weeds, presented the award to RBC Dexia Investor Services; and Brooke Smith, star of Grey's Anatomy presented the award to Ethiopian Ambassador Dr. Samuel Assefa. Actress Naomi Watts was also in attendance at the benefit gala. Actor Liev Schrieber narrated the WWO film highlighting programs and the children served.

Children from the National Dance Institute presented an electrifying African dance performance. Vocal selections by performance artist Sasha Lazard and the musical duo John Pizzarelli and Jessical Molaskey entertained gala guests. Tony-award winning director Kathleen Marshall served as Entertainment Chair.

Standing: Suzana Peric and Glenn Martin. Seated: Mary Gatchell, Cai Hall, Christine Hall, Patrick Hall, Scott Landis, and Kathleen Marshall.

The mission of Worldwide Orphans Foundation is to transform the lives of orphaned children around the world by addressing their unique needs through medical, developmental, psychosocial and educational programs. WWO programs are designed to take children out of anonymity and help them to become healthy, productive members of their communities and the world. Founded in 1997 by renowned adoption medicine specialist, Dr. Jane Aronson, WWO has established humanitarian programs in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam. Two of its major programs are HIV/AIDS treatment programs for orphans in Vietnam and Ethiopia. For more information, please visit www.wwo.org.