We ran some of these pictures on last Thursday morning, the night after the party. Hospitals in New York are very much into the charity gala game also because it is a major source of fund-raising and a major source of potential donors. The New York Hospital which includes the Cornell-Weill Medical Center, the Payne Whitney Clinic, the Columbia-New York Presbyterian Hospital is one of the highest ranking hospitals in New York with a long prestigious list of wealthy supporters. Their gala dinner is so big that they need the biggest halls to hold it.

This year’s was at the Marriott-Marquis on Broadway which has one of the biggest ballrooms in Manhattan. The Marriott plays host to some of the most important dinner events in New York mainly because they have the capacity and the services. And the more they can accommodate, the more an organization can potentially raise.

Cocktails were at 6:30 with dinner at 7:15. That rarely ever works. You can usually tack another half hour onto that number to get the time people sit down. New York is hard to move around in. Although doctors are, by profession, often more punctual than most of of us. Or is that a misconception on my part?

The dinner invitation said black tie optional, or festive. One of those. So I optioned out of black tie. I don’t have an aversion to black tie but somehow a suit feels more convenient. And usually “the festive” or the “option” means not a lot of black tie. Not so Wednesday night. I was one of the few without.

This is an event that attracts a large contingent of the medical community (that part associated wth this particular hospital). A lot of doctors, a society onto themselves, disparate yet cohesive; a cacophony of intellect and personality. People love to talk about their doctors (when it’s a pertinent subject). I still like to talk about my doctor, now deceased, George McCormack who was associated with Columbia Pres. I loved George McCormack.

Doctors’ wives, husbands, partners are a subject onto themselves. Doctors’ children. Another subject onto itself. The non-medical community is fascinated with and by doctors. It is very basic; even tribal. There is a large faction of the wealthier side of the community that has a special affinity for doctors. That is the nature of life, at least in this civilization.

The New York Hospital Gala attracts some of the biggest names in philanthropy in New York. Ford, Tisch, Cantor, Weill. They were all there or represented. This year’s Gala was co-chaired by Charlotte Ford along with Lisa Perry. Ford and Perry are neighbors on Sutton Place. Between the two of them they could mobilize the whole town. They both do a big job for the hospital, and evidently have fun doing it.

Mrs. Perry was the one who came up with the idea of doing an in-house “American Idol” contest for the entertainment. Like, hey kids, let’s put on a show. It was very effective. Three final contestants, two women and a man, all members of the hospital staff, and all quite good. And the audience voted.

They first showed a film clip introducing each contestant. In her clip, the winner told how she grew up in a house in upstate New York where her mother was always singing and where her father had a pretty good collection of Sinatra that was always on. And a pretty good voice too. If her mother heard her singing in the next room and she went flat….she’d hear her mother’s voice: You’re Flaa-ahtt!  She sang “Teach Me Tonight” and it was right out of the fashion of the great songstresses of the nightclub era. Her delivery, her posture, her movements a-one perfect. She had great presence and stage beauty. You began to wonder if this kid didn’t have a real career as a singer in mind. Evidently not.

Cute. Folksy. But real. And fun. Practically Park Avenue hillbillies. This turned a page in the annals of gala entertainment. I’ve never seen”American Idol.” I know I’m one of the few. I know I can also live without it although I have very intelligent friends who can’t. Really. This year’s winner, Mr. Hicks was the top-billed act for the night. Evidently he got 63 million votes. Now that’s fame, fleeting or not. 63 million people knew his name and I can’t for-the-life-of-me remember it as I sit here writing. (It’ll come to me; one hopes). He had a rock and roll band. You know all that. He’s got prematurely grey hair but he’s only about 27. The performance had moments reminiscent of Elvis. The shunt, the scowl and the upcurled lip. Fifty years later; amazing when you think of it, and Elvis lives. His best stuff was Joe Cocker and Ray Charles both of which, like Elvis, came before he even showed up on the planet. In case you don’t think there isn’t a show-biz tradition anymore.

He got the crowd onto the dance floor like nobody’s business. It still strikes me funny watching the 50- and 60- and then some-somethings boogeying to Joe or Ray or Hicks. I always have to remind myself that I’m old enough to have seen Elvis for the first time on the Milton Berle Show and boogeying is still simply a way of life around my house.

The Hon. Desmond Guinness and his late wife Mariga founded the Irish Georgian Society in 1958 to protect what was left of Georgian architecture in Ireland, and to stimulate an interest in Irish art, silver and furniture of the Georgian period.

In recent years, that scope has expanded to include distinguished examples of architecture and the allied arts of all periods in Ireland. Numerous private houses, gardens, and gateways, columns, obelisks and mausoleums throughout the Irish countryside have been preserved.

The President of the Irish Georgian Society  is now Desmond Fitzgerald, Knight of Glin from Glin Castle in County Limerick. One time when we were lunching there with him and his charming wife Olda, who is known as Madam Fitzgerald,  they were digging up graves to find out if he was the 29th Knight!

Desmond was previously married to Lulu de la Falaise. Desmond Guinness's mother was Diana Mitford of the famous Mitford Sisters. Before her marriage to the British Fascist Oswald Moseley (in Germany and in the presence of Hitler) she was first married to Mr. Guinness whom she left with much scandal for Mr. Moseley.

--- Heather Cohane

Hugh Jackman

Last Tuesday, more than 2,000 children and parents participated at the American Museum of Natural History's 13th Annual Family Party.  

The Family Party is one of the Museum's best-loved annual traditions.

Guests get to meet with live animals, dig for dinosaur fossils, conduct fascinating experiments, simulate space travel, interact with scientists, and much more.  

This year the party showed two special exhibitions: Lizards & Snakes: Alive! and The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter.

Parents reveled in the educational aspects and overall value of the Family Party, while their kids just had plain fun.

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