Kickin’ the Clouds Away: Naeem and Ranjana Khan hosted the New York kickoff for this year’s Alzheimer’s Association Rita Hayworth Gala at their Soho home. Co-hosted with Princess Yasmin Aga Khan and Deborah Grubman, the kickoff was in anticipation of Reach Out, I’ll Be There, this year’s Alzheimer’s Association Rita Hayworth Gala, which will take place on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria. This year’s honoree, in recognition of her years of dedication to Alzheimer’s disease awreness and research is  Phyllis George, and Phyllis who now divides her time between here and Los Angeles, was the special guest at the Khans’. 

Allen Brill and Princess Yasmin Aga Khan

Among the guests were the charity’s founder Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, who created the organizaton in memory of her famous movie star mother, Rita Hayworth who suffered from the disease for many years before her death.  Also at the Khans’: Deborah Grubman, Margo and John Catsimatidis, Claudia Cohen, Andrea Stark, Somers Farkas, Bryant and Hilary Gumbel. 

Princess Yasmin Aga Khan is General Chair, Deborah Grubman is the Gala Chair, Donna Dixon Aykroyd is the Gala Vice Chair, Allen Brill is the Underwriting Chair, Muffie Potter Aston is the Sponsor Chair, Claudia Cohen and Susan Hess are the Auction Co-Chairs, Nurit Kahane Haase is the Journal Chair, Anne R. Hearst and Andrea Stark are the Gift Bag Co-Chairs, Mark Locks and Dennis Basso are the Corporate Committee Co-Chairs, Hilary Dick is the Associates Committee Chair.

All those chairs are one of the secrets to the great party they always produce for this annual gala.  These women and men have been putting this production on for more than twenty years.  It is very difficult to maintain a momentum for anything in New York, let alone a charity gala for more than two decades, but they do it.  Last year they raised more than $2 million and in the 22 years they’ve been at it, they’ve raised more than $44 million for research, services and programs. Their equally dedicated underwriters is Rolex Watch USA, Inc. Michael McDonald will give a special performance.

The Alzheimer’s Association, the world leader in Alzheimer research and support, is the first and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to finding prevention methods, treatments and an eventual cure for Alzheimer’s. For more than 25 years, the donor-supported, not-for-profit Alzheimer’s Association has provided reliable information and care consultation; created supportive services for families; increased funding for dementia research; and influenced public policy changes.

Next Monday night, October 23, is the night of the annual Whitney Gala honoring Emily Fisher Landau and celebrating the Whitney’s smashing new exhibition: Picasso and American Art.  Last Wednesday night Susan Hess, Stacey Mindich, Veronique Pittman, Gala co-chairs, Eli Wilner & Company Period Frames, Corporate Chair along with Adam Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown hosted a tour of the Fisher Landau Center for Art at 38-27 30th Street, Long Island City, with a reception afterwards at the Eli Wilner Frame Restoration Studio also in Long Island City.

On a very rainy night in Manhattan, Dennis Basso threw open the doors of his sumptuous furs boutique on Madison Avenue to salute the ladies spearheading The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s October 19th Preview Party for The Haughton International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show.  Co-chairs of the gala Joanne de Guardiola and Susan Bodnar Malloy and Junior Chair Eugenie Niven.

Mr. Basso staged a razzle dazzle party for this crew. “Being at Dennis’s makes me not dread winter,” said Michele Herbert. “I’m a summer girl, but seeing Dennis’ furs makes me almost wish this rain would turn to snow overnight.” She was not the only one with visions of snowflakes (and reindeer?) dancing in their heads as they slipped out of one sable and into another or a mink, chinchilla, or one of the sexy broadtails with ruffles and rhinestone or crystal beading.  Gillian Miniter, Hilary Ross, Dana Stubgen, Christine Schwarzman, Debbie Bancroft, and Somers Farkas were all in the a-glowing anticipation mode, while their significant others stood by smiling.

The evening brought out a big crowd including the Society’s President Vera Safai, Associates President Alexis Waller, Pepe Fanjul, Muffie Potter Aston, Alex Donner, Nina Griscom and Leonel Piraino, Francine LeFrak, Heather and Thom Leeds, Robyn Joseph, Roy Kean, Marjorie Raein, Tina Louise and her mother Betty Yeager, Courtney Moss, Daniel Benedict, Linda Tavlarios, Grace and Chris Meigher, Courtney Arnot, Joel Allen, Lavinia and Bryan Snyder, Mark Gilbertson, Leslie and Andrew Heaney, Mark Langrish.  More?  Wait a minute: Pat Carey, Denise Deluca, Martha and John Glass, Helena and Roman Martinez, Norbert Mehle, Alexandra Lind and Louis Rose, Nancy Coffey, Jennifer Demetriou, Jack Cohen, Kelly Levesque, Mia Matheson, Todd Romano, Nanette Ross, William Smith, Jennifer Starr, Leslie Stevens, Steven Stolman, Kim Tabet, Barbara Tollis, and Alexis Weber.

This Thursday night’s event is being co-sponsored by shoe designer Taryn Rose and Janna Bullock, who is flying in from Moscow for the week.  The opening night preview of the International Fine Art and Antiques Show is also one of the most fashionable evenings on the Manhattan autumn calendar.  Patrons and guests get the first peek at more than $1 billion worth of the best art and antiques in the world, including the Cartier diamond rose pendant that Princess Margaret wore to her sister’s coronation, a Fabergé 10th Anniversary frame given by Russia’s Grand Duke Michael to his wife Sophie von Merenberg (she was Pushkin’s granddaughter); a pair of English-cased flintlock pistols, that were a gift from the Duke of Wellington to the Prince Regent in 1811.

Among those expected on the glittering evening are Connoisseur Chairs Pat Buckley, Blaine Trump, and Jamie Niven, Marie and Henri Barguirdjian, Cynthia and Dan Lufkin, Tory Burch, Mario Buatta, Agnes Gund, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Julia and David Koch, Adolfo, Emily Frick, Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis, Jonathan Tisch, Andrea Stark, Daisy Soros, Richard P. Mellon, Jessie and Rand Araskog, Evelyn Lauder, Bettina Zilkha, Anne Bass, Albert Hadley, Veronica Hearst, Arriana and Dixon Boardman, Emilia Fanjul, Audrey and Martin Gruss, Wendy Carduner, Jamee and Peter Gregory, Ambassador John Loeb and Sharon Handler, Jan Calloway, Carol Mack, Ingeborg and Ira Rennert, Robert Couturier, Norma Dana, Clelia Zacharias, Joy Ruane, Mary and Marvin Davidson, Karen and Richard LeFrak, Donna and Benjamin Rosen, Kitty and Stephen  Sherrill, Pat Altschul, Gillian Attfield, Sheri and Larry Babbio, Bruce Bierman, Hilary Califano, Katie Colgate, Mary Darling, Barbara de Portago, Jackie Weld, Lisa and Christopher Errico, Ruth Fleischmann, Cynthia Frank, Stretch and Liz Gardiner, Sallie Giordano, Thomas Guinzburg and Victoria Anstead, Candy Hamm, Melanie Seymour Holland, Leslie and Peter Jones, Wendy Lehman, Nicole and Derek Limbocker, Melissa and Chappy Morris, Tinsley Mortimer, Georgette Mosbacher, Eliza Nordeman, Claudia Overstrom, Ann and John Pyne, Kathy and Bill Rayner, Pilar Crespi Robert, Alexia Hamm Ryan, Helen Schifter, Stephen Schwarzman, Betty Sherrill, Topsy Taylor, Barbara and Donald Tober, Adrienne and Gianluigi Vittadini, Patsy and Sandy Warner, Bunny Williams and on and on. You get the picture.

It is The Society’s biggest annual fundraiser, which helps them continue their good work promoting the well-being of patients, supporting cancer research, and providing public education on the prevention, early detection, and treatment of cancer. There are still tickets available starting at $300, call 212-639-7972.

They held the New York screening of “Kettle of Fish” at the AMC Loew’s Village 7 last week with actors

Christy Scott Cashman and Matthew Modine walking the red carpet to view the film which also stars Gina Gershon and Fisher Steven.  “Kettle of Fish” is the story of a womanizing musician and lifelong bachelor (played by Modine) who tries settling down with a "nice" girl, but runs into the ultimate predicament of our times: is he capable of long-term commitment? Cashman plays the role of Diana, a beautiful woman whom Modine falls head over heels in love with in the day of her wedding. Talk about commitment.

Also at the screening were PR meister Bobby Zarem (who makes a cameo in the pic), producers Michael Mailer and Marc Lazard,  fashion designer Anait Bian, who designed Cashman's baby blue dream dress. Director Claudia Myers told the audience how last summer was such a special because she gave birth to her first child and made her directing debut with “Kettle of Fish” all in one year.

Other guests included Erin Lazard and daughter Chloe, High Voltage, Alison Chace, Montgomery Frazier, Dr. Eric Berger, Nick Raynes and Cashman’s niece Savannah Iokimedes. After the screening the cast and their friends moved over to the West Village pub, appropriately named “Kettle of Fish” for the afterparty where the place was filled with fans.

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