$5.00 OCTOBER 2011
Arts
&
CULTURE Issue
alzheimer’s associAtion’s honoree somers farkas with her mother, caramine kellam
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S T R I B L I N G
Park Avenue Place Crown Jewel. 60 East 55th Street. Located on the 44/45th floors. 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath duplex penthouse. Double-height great room with 22.5 foot ceilings. Exceptional light and dramatic views. 53 foot landscaped terrace. Access to the exclusive Core Club. $11.95M. Web #1250178. M.Cashman 646-613-2616/S.Paris 646-613-2692
Reduced! Five Story Townhouse. East 60’s. 20 feet wide. Elevator. Bay windows, garden entry off a lovely street! Elegant living room/library & formal dining rm overlook a lush south garden. 6 bedrooms, maid’s room, 5.5 baths, 7 fireplaces & beautiful terrace. Chef’s kitchen. Co-Exclusive. NOW $11.95M. Web #1179151. Lisa Meyer 212-452-4417
Luxurious Skytop Full Floor Condo. East 65th. Glamorous 4000 sf 8 rm apt with floor-to-ceiling windows, sweeping views, 4 terraces, 3 entertaining rms, service + chef’s eat-in kitchen, grand MBR suite with spa-bath & sauna + 3BRs with bath & 2 powder rms. Full service building with gym + pool. Reduced to $9.5M. Web #1194949. B.Evans-Butler 212-452-4391
STRIBLING A Privately Held Brokerage Firm
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Design Perfection at 1105 Park Avenue. Super chic new renov appx 4200 square feet, 4-5 bedrooms, 13 into 10 rms. Living rm w/WBFP, formal dining rm, eat-in kitch, enormous media/family rm, wet bar, laundry & 3 full/2 half bths. Huge closets, amazing details. Gorgeous. Top full service Candela prewar bldg. $8.15M. Web #1221050. C.Taub 452-4387
Historic Henderson Place Townhouse. Steps from East End Ave, Carl Schurz Park & the Mayor’s mansion, an exquisitely renovated 4 story single-family on a private cul-de-sac with a private parking space. Charming & sunny red brick, Queen Anne style home. $3.995M. Web #1228303. K.Meem 917-318-6242/S.Meem 917-536-5220
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Sweeping Vistas. East 87th Street. Spectacular views of the city & more from every window—Central Park, Reservoir, bridges & world beyond. Spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bath with windowed eat-in kitchen + dining room, all in excellent condition. In a full service Carnegie Hill building. $1.995M. Web #1227124. C.Mann 212-452-4426/L.Maloney 212-585-4527
STRIBLING
Exceptional Park Ave Home. Elegant, light & spacious 8-into-7 room is in one of New York’s most distinguished prewar buildings between 63rd & 64th Streets. High ceilings, grand gallery, large LR with wood-burning fireplace, formal DR, library, 2 MBRs, 3 baths, office & large kitchen, in excellent condition. $4.85M. Web #1201862. C.Eland 212-452-4384
Elegant Condo Living on the UES. Lux 5 rm, 2BR, 1681 sf, beautifully proportioned apt on E 78th has 9' ceils & open city views from which you can see Central Park. Gracious foyer leads into LR & DRs, 2.5 marble baths & corner MBR with oversized windowed bath. 2nd BR with wall of built-ins, windowed top-of-the-line kit. $2.55M. Web #1224421. G.Fein 452-4386
The Right Broker Makes All the Difference
S T R I B L I N G
Townhouse Living At Its Best! East 50th Street. Chic & charming 2BR, 2 bath co-op. Living room has wood-burning fireplace, high ceilings, Juliet balcony & huge windows. Flooded with south light. Located on a charming Beekman tree-lined street. Pied-a-terres & pets okay. $1.249M. Web #1221648. A.Van Der Mije 212-585-4562/C.Taub 452-4387
Crown Jewel at The Plaza. High above Fifth Avenue & CPS. Spectac loft-style 6319 square foot triplex penthouse with private elevator. Grand park view LR + formal DR span 80'. Skylit kitchen, library with WBFP. Full floor MBR + 3 additional BRs, 5.5 baths & 30' terrace. File #CD05-0246. $37.5M. Web #1225369. E.Lorenzo 452-4411/A.Lambert 452-4408
Spectaular Central Park Views from this Stunning Sun-filled Apartment on Central Park West. Mint condition prewar 3 bedroom, 3 bath corner apartment with grand proportions, on a high floor, private landing in Emery Roth building. $6.25M. $3516 maintenance. Web #1262824. Kirk Henckels 452-4402/Jennifer Callahan 434-7063
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Pied-A-Terre Perfect. Unparalleled open St. Patrick’s Cathedral views from this Midtown 1 bedroom, 1.5 bath. Top European SS kitchen, marble ensuite bath & floor-to-ceiling 10 foot windows. Full service luxury condo with 24-hr doorman, concierge & health club in Rockefeller Center location off Fifth Avenue. $1.25M. Web #1226956. C.Van Doren 212-585-4521
Soho’s Best! Elegant corner 3BR/2 bath loft with 27 windows, 11.5 foot ceilings & stunning light. Grand scale living/dining room with 1500 bottle wine storage room. Open custom cook’s kitchen. MBR with custom walk-in closet, master bath with claw foot tub & glass shower. W/D, central AC & private storage. $3.2M. Web #1268774. Susan Wires 646-613-2653
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Welcome Home! Heart of Chelsea. West 22nd Street. Beautifully renovated single-family townhouse. 4-5 bedrooms. 3 fireplaces. Double-height living room. Chef’s kitchen with top stainless-steel appliances. Wet bar. Wine storage. Serene garden. Central air conditioning. This home has it all! $4.95M. Web #1061422. Tanner Garland 646-613-2626
STRIBLING
Private, Understated & Pristine, Parkwood Penthouse East is a sensational light-filled duplex with 2 outdoor spaces. Upstairs grand rm is wall of glass atrium windows lead to terrace with glorious Empire State Bldg views (2 bedrooms/3 bath). 24-hour concierge, 28th Street Madison Square Park. $4.195M. Web #118414. Brenda Vemich 646-436-3074
Rare Opportunity to Live in a Treasure of Contemporary Design History. East 4th Street. NoHo Prime. This full-floor 2 bedroom, 1 bath loft is the home of Roman and Williams, one of the most significant and era-defining design teams of the 21st Century. Includes furnishings. $3.5M. Web #1257339. Bruce L. Ehrmann 646-613-2602
Uptown: 924 Madison Avenue / 212-570-2440 Downtown: 340 West 23rd Street / 212-243-4000 Tribeca: 32 Avenue of the Americas / 212-941- 8420
Richard Ferrari
Lisa Lippman
Joanne Greene
GRAND SCALE PARK AVENuE
SHERRY NETHERLAND CO-OP
BEAuX ARTS BEAuTY OFF CPW
Park Ave. Co-Excl. Full floor residence in one of the city’s finest Co-ops. 65’ on Park Ave, 18 rms, 5BR, 6 bath, 26’ gallery, WEIK, 5 wbfp, 38 wndws w/4expos. $29M. WEB# 1214238. John Burger 212-906-9274 Nancy J. Elias 212-906-9275
Fifth Avenue. Excl. Renowned architect Richard Meier masterfully transformed this 5 room corner apartment with Central Park views. Hotel services included in maintenance. $11.5M. WEB# 1278224. Sally Hallows 212-906-9345
W 86th S. Excl. Classic 25’ wide, 6 story elev bldg built circa 1905. 14 units, high ceils, wbfp, original details. 9,200+ SF. Can be delivered vacant. Rarely avail. $8.495M. WEB# 1530340. Burt Savitsky 212-906-9337 Gerald Crown 212-906-9319
GRAND MuSEuM MILE 8 ON 5TH AVENuE
THE CARLYLE HOTEL
4BR FACING ZEN GARDENS
UES. Excl. 1929 Classic 8 treasure features grand living and formal dining facing Central Park, gourmet windowed eat-in kitchen, 3BR, 2 staff rooms in white-glove landmark Co-op. $3.85M. WEB# 1227757. Mike Lubin 212-317-3672
East 76th Street. Excl. Extraordinary high floor apartment in the legendary Carlyle Hotel with exceptional double height LR and iconic park and city views. 2MBR, 2 bath, FDR, full kitchen. $3.5M. WEB# 1165664. Caroline E. Y. Guthrie 212 396-5858
Central Village. Excl. Just renovated 4BR, 2 bath loft in prime location. C/A/C, custom millwork throughout, 30’x26’ open kitchen/ living area. Pin drop quiet. $2.895M. WEB# 1280466. Jen Wening 212-906-0555
SPACIOuS, SuN-FILLED SIX
TRIPLE MINT ON FIFTH AVENuE
SPACIOuS MuRRAY HILL 2 BEDROOM
Fifth Avenue. Excl. A high floor, prewar classic six with open exposures to the north, south and east to call home. Amply proportioned rooms, wood burning fireplace, W/D, pets allowed. $1.9M. WEB# 1287766. S. Jean Meisel 212-906-9209
UES. Excl. Sunny, 4 rm Emery Roth prewar Co-op. 1.5 bath. LR & BR face N&E over 69th St. FDR can be a 2nd BR. Storage bin incl. Pieds-a-terres OK. $1.475M. WEB# 1262446. Edith F. Tuckerman 212-906-9228 Katharine Tuckerman 212-906-9222
Murray Hill. Excl. Spacious L-shaped 2BR, 2 bath with dining area that can convert to third bedroom. Renovated kitchen and custom closets. Building: roof deck, laundry room, garage, live-in super. $850K. WEB# 1187975. Scott Harris 212-317-3674
Gary Lacy
Miriam Sirota
Diane Abrams
William Roche
Ann Jeffery
Jacques Fousard
Bill Grant
New york CiTy • The hampToNs • palm beaCh
John Burger
Caroline E.Y. Guthrie
PREWAR ELEGANCE
SPECTACuLAR VIEWS
PLAZA SPLENDOR
Park Avenue. Excl. Bright prewar, high ceilings, new renovated large living room, wbfp, large DR, cozy library, eat-in kit, 3/4BR, powder room, maid’s room and W/D. Perfect Fifth Ave location. $6.55M. WEB# 1224795. Guida De Carvalhosa 212-906-9271
Midtown East. Co-Excl. Mint Trump Condo with breathtaking views of the East River and Chrysler Building. 3BR, 3.5 marble bath in this 2,854SF home perfect for entertaining with 29’ wide living room. $4.9M. WEB# 1117697. Margaret H. Bay 212-906-9308
Midtown East. Excl Mint condition 18th floor 2BR, 2.5 bath at the Plaza. Partial park views, sunny southern exposures, and full amenities. Adjacent apartment also available. $4.7M. WEB# 1264295. David Kornmeier 212-588-5642
Susan Greenfield
Curtis Jackson
Patricia Parker
CLASSIC BROWNSTONE
CALLING ALL INVESTORS
BEAuTIFuL BRIDGE TOWER CONDO
Park Slope. Excl. 4 story, 2 family house 20’ wide with owners triplex. Loaded with original details. 4BR, 2 bath plus laundry room. South garden with deck. Tree-lined block. $2.49M. WEB# 1228421. Peter Noonan 718-399-4136
Laight Street. Excl. Incredible opportunity to purchase a tenant-occupied triplex commercial condo with 3,600SF of interior space and a 900SF private patio on prime TriBeCa block. $2.45M. WEB# 1266219. Andrew J. Kramer 212-317-3634
East 60th Street. Excl. Investors-tenant until 5/31. Stunning views from high floor 2BR, 2.5 marble bath, 1,500SF apartment with north, west and east exposures. Floor-to-ceiling windows. W/D. $1.95M. WEB# 1209891. Marilyn Corradini 212-396-5843
Jill Roosevelt
Samuel Thomas Milbank
Edith Tuckerman
BEST DEAL ON MARKET
GRAMERCY GEM
SOHO PERFECTION
UES. Excl. Mint and sunny 1BR in full-service Co-op off Park Avenue. Treetop northern views. New kitchen with top appliances. New windows. Electric and cable included in maintenance. $675K. WEB# 1218095. Alina Pedroso 212-906-9338
Midtown East. Excl. Charming Gramercy 1BR, 1 bath TH apartment. 3 wndws face N with great light. Original detail, fireplace, 11’ ceilings, window seats. Recently renovated, great neighborhood. $649K. WEB# 1205766. Raye L. Dube 212-588-5652
SoHo. Excl. 2,700SF full floor mint condo loft, 2BR, 3 bath, 3 exposures, key-locked elevator, C/A/C, gas fireplace, sound system, W/D. $3.495M. WEB# 1267792. Siim Hanja 212-317-3670 Rosalie Weider 718-399-4115
New york CiTy • The hampToNs • palm beaCh
Cathy Franklin
Michael Reed
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110
CONTENTS Arts & C ulture I ssue 84
the science of giving David Koch’s philanthropic missions have always sustained the arts—and now might cure cancer. by Daniel Cappello
90
F. Scott Fitzgerald: a personal perspective
novelist from the view of a publisher.
by
A look at the American Charles Scribner III
96
hollywood glamour takes manhattan Leaders of this year’s Rita Hayworth Gala, benefitting the Alzheimer’s Association, are pictured at The Surrey Hotel. by Daniel Cappello; photographed by Mimi Ritzen Crawford
102 life in pictures The Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation preserves over 100,000 images including the work of Gordon Parks. by Georgina Schaeffer
110 skipping down the runway The daughters of New York’s bold-faced
fashion regulars take center stage at the first-ever Ralph Lauren Girls Fashion
Show.
118
124
by
Daniel Cappello;
ghost hunt
crannies. Boo!
photographed by
Joe Schildhorn
A festive tour of New York City’s most haunted nooks and by G eorgina S chaeffer
art for africa With its event on Nov. 17, the charity will raise money for children in southern and eastern Africa. by Frances Schultz 118
118
66
CONTENTS 00
C olumns 20
Social Diary
60 64
66
72 76 136 68
Chronicles of the social scene.
Social Calendar
by
68
D avid P atrick C olumbia
Our guide to the month’s best benefits, balls, and more.
HARRY BENSON
Artists meet, as photographer recalls painter Francis Bacon.
observations
Thoughts on the Jackie Kennedy tapes. by Taki Theodoracopulos
Fresh Finds
Seasonal sensations. by Daniel Cappello and Elizabeth Meigher
Quest Archives
To celebrate 25 years, we look back and present the best of Quest.
a trilogy of healing
Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave commemorates 9/11.
What the Chairs Wear Dressing today’s woman for all of life’s events and travels, this month for the Boys’ Club of New York’s “Rock the Cashbah.” by Karen Klopp
138 Appearances Back to school and back to New York City.
by
140
young & the guest list
E lizabeth Q uinn B rown
144
snapshot
Partying with the junior set.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow still haunts.
by
by
H ilary G eary
E lizabeth Quinn Brown
68
Editor-in-Chief
David Patrick Columbia c r e a t i v e d i r ec t o r
james stoffel e x ec u t i v e e d i t o r
georgina schaeffer FA S HION e d i t o r
daniel cappello se n i o r e d i t o r
lisa chung a ss o c i a t e a r t d i r ec t o r
valeria fox Ass o c i a t e e d i t o r
Elizabeth quinn Brown Societ y editor
Hilary Geary interns
mariya chekmarova ROBERT EVANS JIHAD HARKEEM AR
GRACE WHITNEY
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YE
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HE ATO R OF T
Contributing writers
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J O I N Chairman and C.E.O.
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P E T
P O R T R A I T S
Clark Halstead pamela liebman HOWARD LORBER Elizabeth Stribling Roger W. Tuckerman peter turino William Lie Zeckendorf © QUEST MEDIA, LLC 2011. All rights reserved. Vol. 25, No. 10. Quest—New York From The Inside is published monthly, 12 times a year. Yearly subscription rate: $48.00. Quest, 420 Madison Avenue, Penthouse, 16th floor, New York, NY 10017. 646.840.3404 fax 646.840.3408. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Quest—New York From The Inside, 420 Madison Avenue, Penthouse, 16th floor, New York, NY 10017.
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LOUISE MASANO
“Little Eddie”
PASTEL PORTRAITS FROM EXISTING OR ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS 205 E.78TH ST. NEW YORK, NY 10075 212 . 300 . 6486 lamasano@earthlink.net
editor’s letter
From left: F. Scott Fitzgerald photographed in 1937 by Carl van Vechten; the poster from the current production of Anything Goes, on Broadway; P.G. Wodehouse, who wrote the book on which Anything Goes was based. One of his comedies centers around a silver a cow creamer.
f. Scott fitzgerald once said, “Action is character.” This
quote goes to the heart of the opening piece for this issue, where we profile David Koch, a man whose legendary wealth is matched only by his unending energy to philanthropic missions: the arts, culture, and now, cancer research and treatment. Further into the issue, you will find our annual photo portfolio of the women whose tireless efforts are helping to change the future of Alzheimer’s Disease; among them, our cover girl, Somers Farkas, who will be honored later this month. There are two pieces that share the themes of photography and philanthropy. First, an introduction to the MerserveKunhardt Foundation—a multi-generational family endeavor committed to the preservation not only of their own extensive archives, but to the preservation of the groundbreaking work of civil rights photographer Gordon Parks. The photography speaks for itself; as John Szarkowski said, “It isn’t what a picture is of, it is what it is about.” The second piece, contributed by Frances Schultz, is about a new charity auction coming to New York, Art for Africa. The list of supporting artists includes Peter Beard, Alex Katz, Alexander Calder, and Andy Warhol. Elsewhere in the issue, Daniel Cappello produced a story on the first-ever Ralph Lauren Girls Fashion Show, while I wrote a guide to New York’s most haunted places. While neither of these pieces focuses on the arts, they certainly both represent two distinct New York subcultures. And I think you will find them equal parts “charming” and “charmed.” Finally, there is one of my favorite pieces in this issue, written by Charles Scribner. It’s unusual for Quest to publish such a text-heavy story, but when I sat down one evening to edit the piece, I was so moved by Scribner’s relationship to Fitzgerald that I decided we just couldn’t leave any of it out. It appears in this issue, virtually the same as it was submitted, with only a few minor tweaks and edits. The part of the story that was the most arresting for me is really an idea from it. Scribner writes that Fitzgerald “claimed more of me than any other author.” The statement jumped out at me and stayed with me all the way 18 QUEST
home and well into the evening. I had never thought about an author in quite that way, but it's true (and not just for books, but for all forms of art)—writers and artists do lay claim to their audience, and you're never really the same after. Often it is in the re-reading of a book or the revisiting of a piece of art when the “aha” moment happens, and something about the human condition seems so much more palpable and shared. I’m lucky to have been born on the same day as Fitzgerald (which is catnip to any F. Scott fan such as myself), and this year for “our” birthday I went to Anything Goes (it turns out I’m just like my father—a sucker for a big song-and-dance routine). While reading my Playbill, to my surprise, I saw another one of my favorite writers listed in the credits, P.G. Wodehouse (there's a silver cow creamer story I’ll tell one day). As anyone who has suffered me today would recognize, it’s Wodehouse’s spirit that laid claim to me while writing this letter. In his words: “I just sit at a typewriter and curse a bit.” u
Georgina Schaeffer
on the cover: Somers Farkas and her mother, Caramine Kellam, from our portrait story honoring the leadership of this year's Rita Hayworth Gala, benefitting the Alzheimer's Assocation. Both in evening wear by Paola Quadretti, jewelry by Van Cleef & Arpels, and watches by Rolex Watch USA.
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A
David Patrick Columbia
NEW YORK SO C IAL DIARY The town’s back: up, down, all around. Right after the pandemonium of MercedesBenz Fashion Week, we had U.N. Week where diplomats from all over the world descended on us, accompanied by massive “security” presumably to protect them from the madding crowds, as
well as make it very difficult for everybody to get around. And who protects the madding crowds? Don’t ask. Finally, after the President came to town and blocks and blocks of midtown and wherever else were shut down to “protect” him, we finally got some relief. With it
came a break in the weather, with autumn temperatures reminding us we’ll need our woolens soon. A nice feeling. It’s all about the books. One of the phenomenons of New York social life is the book signing party. Obviously this is nothing new but I’ve never seen it quite like this
where you can hit three book parties in a single night. I’m a book lover, even an obsessed book lover so I’d try my best to get there. I finished Molly Jong-Fast’s The Social Climbers Handbook. It’s not what you might think what the title implies. I’m not actually sure yet what the
o p e n i n g n i g h t o f t h e n e w yo r k p h i l h a r mo n i c
Adrienne and William Silver
Karen LeFrak and Paula Root
Oscar Schafer, Daisy Soros and Hilaire O’Malley 20 QUEST
Marcia French and Jacqueline Desmarais
Daria Foster and Alan Gilbert
Gary Parr with Vera and Donald Blinken
J u l i e S k a r r at t
Jamee Gregory
COUNT BERNARD de
EST. 1870
ART WALLY FINDLAY
CHARGER OF THE CAVALERY - 30 X 40 IN OIL ON CANVAS
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C O M M I S S ION S OF S E L E C T S U B J E C T S NO W C ON S I D E R E D
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Tanya Pushkine
John Bolando, Trisha Steele and Chuck Townsend
title implies, but I loved this book. It is also not a pretty looking book. It’s a paperback (even though it’s $15) but the art director was probably flummoxed by the title too. I started to read this book because Molly is a friend of mine. She’s also a very clever thinker. It’s in her genes, so it’s not such a surprise. She’s one of those New York girls, born and brought up and not the first generation; educated at private schools, quick-witted, a sophisticated family life, travel, wealth; celebrity always around, and down to earth when it gets to the bottom line. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I never would have bought 22 QUEST
Philip Shearer and Laetitia Zrihen
Erica Bearman, Kristin Darcy and Laura Kramer
this book for its cover (a bad sign in my eyes because it is so good). Getting closer to the end, I didn’t want it to stop, so it didn’t matter who the hell wrote it (although the writer is very good. And funny.) I thought of going out on a limb and saying this is the best book I’ve read about New York right now. That’s a stretch because New York is such a polyglot culturally, economically and socially, and my reading is severely limited by time (and interest). But it is brilliant. The cover implies chic-lit but the story is post-modern, digital-age Trolloppe. You stick around just to see what
will happen to the characters. It’s about the younger set —the 30-somethings and 40somethings—in the 10021 zip code, who’ve been yuppified and Botoxed to kingdom come and have had/still have money to burn. No, you don’t like them. But you’ve met them, or know them (if you live in New York), so they’re real. And all around. I think I even know who some of them are. (Probably wrong.) But the writer writes so knowingly about them that it seems personal. I often have a hard time reminding myself that Molly herself is not the main character (I certainly hope she isn’t
Lauren Bush Lauren
Kelly Ripa
because the main character is a murderess). Oh, and it’s funny, The Social Climbers Handbook. Some of it is priceless. The Molly Jong-Fast Upper East Side yuppie description. The author’s grasp of the current financial situation can match the posters over at zerohedge. com. The cover blurbs call it “entertaining” and “funny and smart.” True. I can think of things while writing this that still make me laugh. But there’s something else. Something dreadful is here. Buy it. Don’t worry, it will make you laugh. You can even think it’s unreal and leave it at that. However... There are a plethora of
B i lly fa r r e ll a g e n c y
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A coffee table books (in a price range between $45 and $250, and some quite a bit higher). One of the most popular is the glamorous tome put together by John Tiffany about his former employer and mentor, Eleanor Lambert, the first fashion guru who died eight years ago at age 100 and two months. It is a beautiful book. Massive, heavy (a few pounds), and unusually engaging. John Tiffany was a boy from Santa Ynez Valley (where the Reagans kept their country cabin and horses). He grew up in that outdoorsy California culture and always dreamed of coming to New York, the
big city of dreams. Through a series of coincidences, when he was in his late teens, he became familiar with Eleanor Lambert and the kind of work she did as a fashion public relations executive, then fortuitously came to New York, and serendipitously got a job working as her assistant during the last decade of her (working) life. This is all in the book— along with a wonderful archive of Eleanor’s life as well as the fashion leaders whose lives she touched so importantly —and so there is something very accessible about it. I am personally interested in fashion in the same way that
I am interested in economics and the financial world. I am in no way an expert but my interest is ongoing and richly rewarded. Both areas are portentous, if not always polite, for us poor humanoids. I met Eleanor early in my career chronicling social life in New York. The first time was to interview her about Babe Paley and her sisters. She was very helpful in explaining the motivations of these fashionable ladies. She emphasized the scope of their lament as they lost their looks, having been brought up to believe it was all they had. Gloria Guinness, for example, “killed herself,” she was so
depressed about aging. Later, as I got more actively involved in magazines and editing, I learned why Eleanor was so famous in her field (and the fashion industry), and why she was so powerful. She was one of those people who was always enterprising and innovative. She’d created her job for herself in the 1920s when she came to New York from Indiana where she grew up. Her initial intention was to become an artist although very early on she concluded she didn’t have the talent to meet her expectations. The interest remained, however, and her first job was working
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A as an artist for a public relations company designing book covers. It was there that she got the idea that artists needed publicity too (this was innovative in her day). She went around to the different art galleries and for ten bucks a week, each, she’d get them write-ups in the papers. This was a first, now of course, it’s ordinary. This exemplifies the woman’s career and her subsequent success. She came up with ideas that were common sense. By the 1930s, her focus had turned to fashion. It’s too long to go into here but Eleanor Lambert “created” the American fashion industry as it is known today from
a local industry of garment manufacturing. She made it a significant artistic profession and highly profitable industry wielding influence and power in the culture of the world. Now all that is ordinary, but it came out of Eleanor’s innovation. That is not to say Eleanor was the only one. But she was the first and she kept that role professionally well into her 70s. She worked until up three months before her death also. John Tiffany’s book turned out to be a quintessential example of why young, creative, industrious people come to New York, and why New York remains the city that it is in the world. Tiffany
quotes the lady about it, in a video interview conducted by her young grandson, Moses Berkson: “New York is a goal of many people, because it is a city where every idea gets a hearing. Anything you want to do, you can find someone who will listen to you. If no one agrees with you, then you better get another idea.” No one could have said it better. The book is also an art book, designed by the distinguished Sam Shahid, and filled with beautiful, mainly black and white photographs of the designers whose lives Eleanor touched (and vice versa), and their work—an archive of more than half a century of American fashion and
American life. A young person reading it and looking at it will learn many things and get many inspiring ideas. An older person will find affirmation, which is very comforting in a world where there is now an excess of authority and a paucity of leadership. Eleanor Lambert had no paucity in that department, and her former assistant Mr. Tiffany provides the evidence elegantly and plainly. Just as his boss did. “Authors and actors and writers and such; never know nothing and never know much,” to quote Dorothy Parker, who would have agreed there were lots of exceptions of course.
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A b oyk i n c u r ry a n d c e l e r i e k e m b l e ’ s pa r t y fo r st e v e n b r i l l ’ s c l a s s w a r fa r e
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One day last month, I went down to Michael’s to lunch with Bill Stubbs, the interior designer from Houston who also has a nationally syndicated TV show on PBS called “A Moment of Luxury,” now in its third year. I met Bill three years ago in Palm Beach when he was taping his first shows. Since then I see him from time to time in New York because he’s a good friend of Liz Smith. He grew up in the same town that she did: Gonzalez, Texas. He too wrote a book about himself in his business seven years ago called I Hate Red, You’re Fired! True story. A client said that and did it. 28 QUEST
Phoebe Eaton and Bartle Bull
Sarah Rosenthal and Jay Snyder
Lauren Maddox and Peter Cunningham
Although it turned out, Bill continued working for the client for years after that. About 20 years ago he met a Russian through another client in Houston, and was invited to do some work over there. This was right after Perestroika and the changeover, and Bill was the first American designer to work in Russia. For several years thereafter he remained the only American designer working in Russia. The rich Russians, he told me, love Texas. The way many people love New York or Hollywood. He thinks it’s because there is a strong connection to oil with a lot of Russian wealth, and Houston
is the oil center of the world to this day. The Russians’ admiration for Texas, however, includes— he said—just about everything. A Russian client will ask for a Persian rug but he wants one from Houston. Bill will remind him that “Persian” rugs come from “Persia,” or Iran. “I know,” the man will say, “but I want one from Houston.” The Russian affection for all things Texans extends right down to the accent and manner of speaking. He said you might see one of these men in his office, surrounded by circles of associates, lieutenants, security (they’re
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big on security), looking very stern and fearsome, and then suddenly they see their Texas friend Bill and the freeze is melted instantly with a “Howdy, Bill.” If you’re in the interior design business or have a healthy interest, you probably know all this. But several years after he published his book, someone suggested Bill turn it into a TV show. He thought it was a good idea and discussed it with a friend of his who was a local Houston TV producer. She thought it was a good idea, too. The next step— getting someone at a network to listen to you—proved to be more complicated. Most
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A people couldn’t see it. Finally someone suggested that he take it to PBS, adding that the only problem was that “they take forever to make a decision over there.” So he went to PBS on a Tuesday, and on the following Thursday, much to his shock, he got a call from PBS ordering 26 episodes! Now he travels all over the world filming. Does he still have his design business? Oh, yes—and a great staff in Houston that takes care of all the details and underpinnings of every job while Bill makes all the creative choices and plans (with the help of his excellent staff). That night of the same day I had lunch with Bill
Stubbs, I was invited by our mutual friend Liz Smith to the opening of a new production at the Marquis Theatre of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies with Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, and Elaine Page as Carlotta. This is the ninth national production of the show which debuted on April 4, 1971 (and the actors—cast as former performers—refer to their present day as 1971). It’s the fifth time it’s been presented in New York. I am very familiar with the score and saw the television concert at Lincoln Center in 1985. It’s always interesting to see a show for the first when the score is already very
familiar. I knew a lot of the lyrics and yet had no real idea of the characters they were written for. The crowd on this night was full of Broadway patrons, producers and stars. Polly Bergen, who played in the revival ten years ago (with Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Treat Williams, Gregory Harrison, Marge Champion and Joan Roberts) was at the opening last night with Phyllis Newman (Mrs. Adolph Green). Seeing a full production is an eye-opener. Sondheim has become a legend in his own time. I don’t mean that glibly. But many people go to his shows over and over with
an almost religious zeal, as if in a cult. I’ve noticed this for a long time because although I love Sondheim’s songs, especially his lyrics, and I have never had the passion for him that many have. Seeing Follies live, on stage, I understood. This will sound hyperbolic although I am poorly informed on the topic: Sondheim is like Shakespeare—people approach his work with a seriousness that borders on scholarly. The show is so complex not only in terms of the characters’ personalities and meshugas, but in terms of the characters’ relationship to the times (historical) they represent, as well as to the Zeitgeist. They
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entertain on one level and analyze on another. I grew up on the classic American composers and lyricists of the first half of the 20th century—Rodgers and Hart, Hammerstein, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Dorothy Fields. I responded naturally to Sondheim’s West Side Story and Gypsy which came out of that era of book and lyrics. And to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum although that was all his and the first step into what is now an oeuvre. In the end, all that razzmatazz takes in another element of human behavior, the darker 32 QUEST
Roann Costin and Elizabeth Miller
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side that we all know in our personal lives; the unending and unfinished. The actors and Mr. Sondheim leave you with a lot to think about. If you want to. If you don’t, that’s okay too because it’s also pure entertainment and pure Broadway, 21st century. Go, you’ll be glad you did. The Last of the Irrepressibles. I started out one night at the Verdura salon at 745 Fifth Avenue where Ward and Judith Landrigan, Kimberly and Nico Landrigan (son of Ward and Judith and his wife), and fashion stylist Amanda Ross were hosting a book party for Cherie Burns who has just published
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a biography of Millicent Rogers: Searching for Beauty: the Life of Millicent Rogers (St. Martin’s Press). It’s a name unfamiliar to almost anybody except the fashion historians and diehard fashion mavens and people over 60 (maybe). Rogers was famous for her fashion style and tabloidally for her status as an American heiress. For those who hadn’t heard of her, they will have the pleasure of discovery. The money came from grandpa and Standard Oil. What followed was lives of poor little rich girls, lavish lifestyles, scintillating relationships (centered
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around sex and art, or art and sex), corridors of power, cathedrals of high finance— all in one person. Society with a capital “S” was her native milieu and Style with a capital “S” was her mojo. It was the most welcoming place for her passions, and the passions ran deep. Hers was a generation drawn to the moderns, including the artists. Their women had emerged, getting a first peek at the light. She lived in a world inconceivable at this point. Not even the very richest today can match it—for the make believe in Rogers’ day and environment could actually be captured in
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snatches, and be real at the same time—especially if you had imagination, wit, beauty, money, and the innocence to ignore the bonds of mediocrity. No doubt Millicent Rogers passed through the portals Verdura many times, as did many of her celebrated contemporaries. Celebrating the publication of her biography that night’s guests weren’t just stealing glances at the display cases glittering with Fulco’s creations. There was a big crowd to celebrate Millicent Rogers’ biography, including Kelly Rutherford, Annette Tapert Allen, Louise Grunwald, 34 QUEST
Adrienne Arsht and Charles Hamlen
Brian Stewart and Stephanie Krieger
Geoffrey Bradfield, Milly de Cabrol, Tatiana Sorokko, Michele Oka Doner, Ann Dexter Jones, Peggy Siegel, Valerie Paley, Mimi Saltzman with Ann Caruso, Harriett Mays Powell, Lily Koppel, and Tom Folson. Meanwhile, after a lunch one day at Michael’s, I took a walk up Fifth Avenue to check out the Bergdorf Goodman windows—always so creative and clever—where I spotted a young woman on the sidewalk, leaning against the building, book in hand, her sweet little dogs secure and comfortable under their little blankets, and the sign… “7 MOS. PREGNANT
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BOYFRIEND LEFT ME HERE 3,000 MILES FROM HOME. NEED TO GET A TICKET BACK!! GOD BLESS!!” Something so familiar, I was reminded of a similar situation last January 11th, also on Fifth Avenue, but then a few blocks down near the Olympic Tower. Same sort of situation, young woman, well-dressed, with cute little Pekes, well cared for and groomed, and reading a book in her lap. When I saw her last January, I was immediately concerned with her “plight”—seven months pregnant with the little dogs. I passed her by that day but all I could think
of was the “unborn child” she was “carrying,” and those cute little dogs (who were, as you can see, protected by their quilted coats) because it was an especially cold winter’s day and the weatherman had forecast a snowstorm. And so I went back to talk to her and to give her some money. I ran a picture of her and ran it the following day on newyorksocialdiary.com. From that I got quite a bit of mail about her. Others had seen her, and seen her in other parts of midtown, at other times. One reader who does a lot of volunteer work with people who are homeless told me that there was a “fashion”
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A (wrong word but right idea) among some young people —including college students well-housed in dorms and apartments here in downtown Manhattan—who did this panhandling and begging as a kind of lark. And no doubt for the extra dough. So on this day last month, with my digital handy, I wondered, could it be the same “pregnant” woman? I took a picture. When I got home, I called Jeff Hirsch about the picture we’d published of the girl last January 11th. Seven months pregnant. He found it in our archive. Indeed, it’s the same girl. Or her twin. If she were seven months pregnant now (after
being “7 months pregnant” nine months ago) it is feasible that she had the child and then within two months became pregnant again, making her the seven months pregnant on her sign. New Yorkers are familiar with people asking for cash. I don’t doubt for moment that many people are desperate and in great need. I almost always stop to share for that reason. And more and more I see entire families—man, woman, and child—sitting on the pavement, holding a sign asking for money. This is especially painful to witness because of the children. On a far different approach to a similar story, one night
I stopped by the penthouse apartment of Hilary and Wilbur Ross where Diana Taylor, Michael Schlein, and Gina Harman were hosting a cocktail reception to launch Accion’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, with Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup as guest of honor. Big crowd, including Liz and Jeff Peek, Mary McFadden, Edgar Batista, Yaz and Valentine Hernandez, Ann Rapp, Cece Cord, Sharon Handler, Ann Dexter Jones, Richard Turley, Glenn Horowitz and Tracey Jackson, Ellery and Marjorie Reed Gordon, and Estie and Dan Brodsky. Accion International
is a private, non-profit organization founded 50 years ago to address the desperate real-life poverty in Latin America’s cities by giving people the financial tools to work their way out of it. At first it was a student-run, volunteer effort in shantytowns like those of Caracas. Today it is one of the premier microfinance organizations covering the world including Africa, Asia, the US, and, of course ,Latin America. It has built over these decades innovative solutions to poverty—actual “job creation,” to borrow from our political lingo coming out of Washington these days. Despite all the political talk,
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Accion’s work is needed more than ever, with solutions that are good for all. Tuesday, October 4, 2011. Cool and rainy, yesterday in New York. Roger Webster died Monday morning, October 4th. He had been ill with cancer for several months although he’d kept it from most of us and just lived his life, did his work, saw his friends. His illness which for quite a while seemed to be in remission got to the point where he had to be hospitalized. That was several weeks ago. At first we thought he would be home soon. Then the news changed. He was not a big man but he was almost six-feet, broad shouldered, saltand-pepper gray hair, with a tendency to hold his head up, chin up, when he was silent in the room, or walking or standing still. Roger had a lot of friends. He wasn’t famous in New York but
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there were a lot of people who knew him and liked him. He liked them too. He was unimpressed by celebrity but anyone whose work he admired was impressive to him. He had a large and eclectic group of friends, and the natural ability to accept people on their terms. He could easily find their foibles fascinating, and could brush aside their shortcomings. He was generous that way, although I think he thought it was the better way to look at things. In his earlier years he’d been an actor (when he left his birth name behind and became Roger Webster), and artist, and landscape gardener. He worked at all kinds of odd jobs, waiting tables, whatever needed to be done to pay the rent. He’d live in L.A. as well as New York, and probably elsewhere. In the early 1970s
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A he met Couri Hay who was already writing a column for the National Enquirer. That began a 41-year relationship that took them all over the world as well as into the public relations business. Everywhere he went he met interesting people, and they’d meet a man who liked them for who they were. That was part of what was interesting about Roger. That’s quite a talent in breakneck city life, and rarely achieved honestly. Roger was honest. He also loved religions. This may have had something to do with his almost divine patience, but that’s just a hunch. I know he was searching for The Answers, and that the
process was always enough for him—like a mountainclimber scaling a new and challenging peak. His funeral was held at the Greek Orthodox Church on East 74th Street where he was once an altar boy (grown up), but he loved the Roman Catholics too, and the Jewish religion. Every Tuesday night he went to Kabalah classes. He had none of the bias or prejudice that often go with these organized religions. He loved what they stood for and ignored the rest. He was kind of like an angel, and I say that seriously. After he left Couri a couple of years ago, he struck out on his own, with his friend Jason
Grant as his partner. They handled a lot of active accounts including Doubles, the Central Park Conservancy, and the American Cancer Society, still working with Couri on some accounts. He was a friend of mine, and also worked for us handling public relations and advertising matters at New York Social Diary. When you hired Roger you hired a committed supporter. But all of that seems incidental whenever I think of Roger. I first met him about 18 years ago when he was working for Couri. He was a cut above most because he was always gentleman in his behavior toward everybody. It wasn’t a businesslike act; that’s who
he was. And he knew what he was doing. I intended to write about him but my problem had been what to say. Because as well as I knew him — and he was easy to feel close to, or confide in—I knew very little about his childhood, and his early family life. These matters, to me, are always key elements in knowing somebody. I knew that he grew up in Minnesota and that he had a brother and a sister (who was at his bedside during his final hours). I suspected just from the nature of his personality that his family life was difficult, although I was told he loved his mother and his father and always communicated with
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A them. He never talked about it, and I never asked. I’m sure he would have answered any question, yet there was a sense that he’d separated himself from that. Such is often a natural road to survival. Difficult family lives are nothing new, and even commonplace for many of us. It’s often a matter of degree. I learned only a few days ago, for example, that Roger’s father had been a P.O.W. in the World War II and that he had been marked emotionally because of it. Also, most importantly, there was a sadness about Roger in repose, when spotted by himself on the street, or in the madding
crowd. Despite the relaxed and well-turned-out presence he assumed so comfortably, there was a sadness. It wasn’t pronounced, or woe-is-me, but more a surrender to whatever he perceived as his reality. His immense tolerance and kindness toward others were his best defenses against that sadness. I think he knew that. As if he had learned to turn it into love. The act of giving assuages a lot of pain on both sides. As hard a lesson as it is for us to learn, Roger had mastered it. He also, it should be said, enjoyed his life. He loved traveling. He and Jason had been to Europe two or three times in the last year. His last
trip early in summer was to Paris, to show his sister around. Then he took the Orient Express to Istanbul. There’s not a doubt in my mind that he was in his own kind of heaven tasting the wines, testing the waters, wherever he went. Roger had a zest for life. That’s probably what drew him out of Minnesota into the big world. He loved all of it, right up to the last few weeks. He was 65 last June, looking good, especially for a man his age. Many of us knew about his prostate condition but it didn’t seem to affect him in any way. He worked a full schedule on a busy calendar. He wrote. He dined and went to parties and
the theater and exhibitions. If there was a birthday he always brought a thoughtful present. Because of all that everyone was surprised that he should suddenly be in hospital. Even more surprising that he lost ground so fast. I was wondering what he was thinking, how his mind was processing this last few moments of his active life. I knew from his ability to tolerate that he was working at it. He told a friend at the end that he wasn’t afraid to die but he felt he wasn’t ready. And then he suddenly slipped away from us. Roger was a great man, a good man, and his death is a great loss to all of us. All of us. u
d o n n a k a r a n h o st e d a pa r t y fo r d r . pau l fa r m e r ’ s h a i t i a f t e r t h e e a r t h q ua k e at u r b a n z e n
Barbara Schultz and Romain Hatchuel
President of Haiti Michel Martelly with his wife Sophia and Grace Nelson 42 QUEST
Frank Andelino and Candice Wexler
Paul Farmer
Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal
pat r i c k m c m u ll a n
Donna Karan and Wyclef Jean
LouIsE BEIt
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825 FIFTH AVENUE: Rare Penthouse with extraordinary Central Park views in tower of JER Carpenter’s prestigious 1927 architectural masterpiece. Grand salon with fireplace and French doors opening to terrace over Fifth Avenue, master bedroom with fireplace and terrace, second bedroom, two baths, kitchen with views of Central Park. Elegant building with private dining room and garden. Pied-a-terres permitted. Offered at $12,000,000 WEB: Q0017587
Louise Beit, 212.606.7703 Senior Vice President, Associate Broker East sidE Manhattan BrokEragE I sothebyshomes.com/nyc 38 East 61st strEEt, NEw York, NY 10065 operated by sotheby’s International realty, Inc. sotheby’s International realty® is a registered trademark.
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A t h e q u e st 4 0 0 at d o u b l e s
Elizabeth Brown and Tripp Potter
Betsy Perry with John and Joan Jakobson
Jack Fennebresque and Christie Schiff
Annabel Vartanian, Alixe Laughlin and Elizabeth Meigher
Robin and Joel Kassimir with Caroline Roehm and Katherine Bryan
Lisa Crosby and Chuck Pfeifer with Jane and George Bunn 44 QUEST
Tantivy Gubelmann and Marjorie Gubelmann
Misha Nonoo and Kirsta Krieger
Wilbur and Hilary Ross
Leonard Lauder and Anka Palitz
Lisa McCarthy, Mary Snow and Alexia Ryan
James Retz and Bonnie Devendorf
Lindsey Pryor and Toni Pryor
Amanda Meigher, Elizabeth Pyne, Wendy Carduner and Tatiana Smith
pat r i c k m c m u ll a n / Co u rt n e y p e t e r s
Gillian Fuller and Marcia French
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A t h e q u e st 4 0 0 at d o u b l e s
Mark Gilbertson and Whitney Fairchild
Ellen and Roger Christman
Evan Geoffroy and Tori Mellott
Brad and M.J. Hvolbeck
Cornelia Guest and Amy Fine Collins
Jeff Pfeifle and Kirk Basnight
Grace Meigher and David Patrick Columbia
Joy Ingham and Joe Pugliesi with Gillian and Sylvester Miniter
Frederick Adler, John Castle and Muriel Seibert
Cynthis Goodman and James Borynack
Cynthia and Dan Lufkin
Sharon Bush, Kate Donner and William Eubanks
Ann Jackson and Ken Wilson
Redington and Robin Jahncke
Chappy and Melissa Morris
Tatiana Perkin and Alexandra Papanicolaou
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A n e w yo r k e r s fo r c h i ld r e n — d u r i n g m e r c e d e s - b e nz fa s h i o n w e e k a n d at c i p r i a n i 4 2 n d st r e e t
Julie Macklowe
Susan Burden 46 QUEST
Sophie Theallet
Shannon Cave and Belle Davis
Steven DeLuca and Amy McFarland
Kate and Alex Lundkvist
Alison Brod
Elodie Gora
b i lly fa r r e ll a g e n c y / pat r i c k m c m u ll a n
Susan Magazine, Nicholas Scoppetta and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A n e w yo r k c i t y b a l l e t p r e m i e r e s pau l mc c a r t n e y ’ s o c e a n k i n g d om at t h e d av i d h . ko c h t h e at e r
Dylan Lauren with Ralph and Ricky Lauren and David Lauren
James McCartney and Lorne Michaels 48 QUEST
Princess Kristina Kovalenko
Paul McCartney
Kyle MacLachlan and Desiree Gruber
Alizee Guinochet and David Blaine
Alec Baldwin and Stella McCartney
Steven and Maureen Van Zandt
pat r i c k m c m u ll a n
Jo Andres, Steve Buscemi and Nanette Lepore
D I S t I N C t I v E P r o P E r t I E S
16 WEST 12TH STREET: Impeccably renovated 25’
s E r E n a B oa r d M a n
wide townhouse featuring an impressive Double Parlor Living room and a beautiful South facing Garden. 8,100± sq ft. $21,000,000. WEB: Q0017766
781 FIFTH AVE: Superlative Sherry Netherland resi-
dence on the 16th floor. A rare opportunity to recreate 5,000± sq ft of space with stunning views of Park and the city skyline $22,500,000. WEB: Q0017622.
22 EAST 71ST ST.: Spectacular 45’ wide limestone
485 PARK AVENUE: 11 room, full floor corner residence. features a versatile layout and exceptionally large and gracious sun-filled rooms. ready for your Architect or Designer. $10,000,000. WEB: Q0017028
26 EAST 73RD STREET: Luxurious 21’ wide lime-
stone townhouse offered in triple mint condition. Ideally located, this house includes five stories and a fabulous roof deck. $23,000,000. WEB: Q0017663.
765 PARK AVE: Grandly scaled five bedroom corner apartment with open, sunny exposures over Park Avenue and 72nd St from a high floor. offered in truly excellent condition. $30,000,000. WEB: Q0017669
1 EAST 94TH STREET: Impressive 25’ wide
limestone mansion with full car garage offered in triple mint condition. flooded with sunlight throughout from four exposures. $26,000,000. WEB: Q0017040.
998 FIFTH AVENUE: Magnificent 14 room apartment in esteemed prewar coop. offered in triple mint condition. features soaring 12’ high ceilings and sun flooded interiors. $34,000,000. WEB: Q0017525.
812 PARK AVE: Beautifully and elegantly proportioned 10 room duplex in an esteemed prewar co-op designed by JEr Carpenter. features four large bedrooms with ensuite baths. $10,900,000.WEB: Q0017721
781 FIFTH AVENUE: this spectacular 4-room, high
1120 FIFTH AVE: Elegant and sun-filled 9 room pre-
740 PARK AVE: Immense 15-room duplex with high
floor aerie is perched atop the prestigious Sherry Netherland and boasts expansive views of Central Park and the city skyline. $5,500,000. WEB: Q0017689.
war co-op with breathtaking views of Central Park and the reservoir from the three principle rooms. ready to be reimagined. $7,750,000. WEB: Q0017727
mansion designed by renowned architect C.P.H. Gilbert. 21,000± sq. ft. over 6 floors. Zoned for residential or commercial use. $50,000,000. WEB: Q0015884
ceilings, a vast marble Gallery, baronial Living room, four spacious Bedrooms with ensuite baths and sunny southern exposures. $23,000,000. WEB: Q0016023
East sidE Manhattan BrokEragE I sothebyshomes.com/nyc 38 EASt 61St StrEEt, NEW York, NY 10065 t 212.606.7660 f 212.606.7661
sErEna BoardMan
t 212.606.7611
serena.boardman@sothebyshomes.com
operated by Sotheby’s International realty, Inc. Sotheby’s International realty® is a registered trademark.
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A The meera gandhi “giving back” award was presented at t h e w o o d sto c k f i l m f e st i va l
Susan Seidelman
Nancy Savoca and Thelma Adams
Meera Gandhi
Vincent Donofrio
Meira Blaustein
Ramesh Menon
Cara Marcous
Ellen Barkin and Sam Levinson
t h e m u s e u m o f t h e c i t y o f n e w yo r k ’ s l u n c h eo n at va l e n t i n o
Claudia Overstrom and Natalie Leeds Leventhal
Shafi Roepers, Tara Rockefeller and Hilary Dick 50 QUEST
Katie Tozer and Maria Villalba
Gigi Mortimer and Courtney Moss
Kathy Thomas and Karen Glover
Ferebee Taube and Marisa Noel Brown
dav i d J lu f t i g ( a b ov e ) / pat r i c k m c m u ll a n ( b e lo w )
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A t h e l au n c h o f m a r c r o s e n ’ s g l a mo u r i c o n s at t h e p l a z a h ot e l
Marc Rosen
Elizabeth Gilette and Kathy Bleznak 52 QUEST
Arlene Dahl and Liza Minnelli
Shirley Lord Rosenthal and Peter Heywood
Barbara Tober, Carmen Dell’Orefice and Mai Hallingby Harrison
Barbara Bradford and Carol McCarthy
Yanna Avis and Peter Bacanovic
Bruce Bent, Francis Scaife, Isabelle Leeds and Tom McCarter
Randy Jones
pat r i c k m c m u ll a n
Barbara de Portago and Maria Janis
“Representing Palm Beach's Finest Residences from PiedsàTerre to Oceanfront Estates” Established SO
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Custom renovated 5br/4.5ba with lots of glass and light. Open floor plan and outstanding pool area on prestigious Eden Road. $3,495,000
One of a kind. In-Town 3br/2.5ba with fireplace, Juliet balconies, pecky ceilings, guest house, pool, and magical gardens. $2,098,000
Highly desirable exclusive building, 2,962 total sf. renovated 3br/3ba with expansive views of the Intracoastal. $3,400,000
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D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A the san francisco opera’s opening night gala
Britta Campbell and Charlot Malin
Natasha Kulick and Susan Tamagni
Boaz Mazor and Dede Wilsey
New York’s most talked about spa oN the upper east side.
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Bob and Chandra Friese
Charlotte and George Shultz
Anne Marie Massocca and David Gockley
Manetti Farrow
Mary and Bill Poland
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emerge rested and wholly re-energized. delight in the exclusivity of our private suites, all appointed with a private bath, changing armoire and thoughtful amenities. specializing in customized treatments, our spa experts use darphin and li’tya products that are hand-selected to meet guests’ individual needs. with an intimate air and personalized service, allow us to create an experience considered only for you.
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A s u r p r i s e b i r t h d ay fo r g a i l h i l s o n at z e z e f l o w e r s
Mariana Kaufman and Jessie Araskog
Jane Gammill and Norman Dana
Gail Hilson and Susan Burke
Pat Shea
Monaise MacDonald
Clelia Zacharias
Judith Giuliani and Betty Sherrill
Scott Nathan, David Rockefeller and Ted Roosevelt
Barbara and Bert Cohn 56 QUEST
Alexis Henderson and Adam Growald
Susan Cohn Rockefeller
Connie Roosevelt, Barbara Roosevelt and Karen Lawrence
Todd and Victoria Green
Paula Yabar with Michael and Ann Loeb
pat r i c k m c m u ll a n ( a b ov e ) / k at h y a r a s ko g t h o m a s ( b e lo w )
S u s a n a n d d a v i d r o c k e f e l l e r a n d t h e w i l d e r n e ss s o c i e t y honored bert and barbara cohn
Local Experts Worldwide
Featured ProPerties
Island ParadIse: Breathtaking private island on long Island Sound with a luxurious 14,000 ± sq. ft. main residence, guest and carriage houses. Stone seawalls encircle 3.5 spectacular acres with pier and deep water dock. easy access to new York city. a very rare offering. $18,900,000. weB: 0065587. Stephen Archino
lakefront Idyll: Idyllic beauty holds sway amid the private 10-acre setting of this conyers Farm residence on glistening converse lake.This 8-bedroom stone manor is an expression of traditional architecture. Infinity-edge pool by a pergolacovered lounge area. Tennis court. Dock. $11,900,000. weB: 0065764. Fran Ehrlich
ashton Manor: Magnificent estate on 2.5 acres with pool on a private culde-sac in Mid-country. high-quality construction with 7 bedrooms, 3 finished levels and all modern amenities. Billiard room, gym, home theater, 2000+ bottle wine cellar and massage room. $10,900,000. weB: 0065789. Barbara Daly & Leslie McElwreath
elegance In MId-country: Superbly appointed home on 2 exquisitely landscaped acres close to town. live luxuriously in this spectacular 6-bedroom, 8½ bath home. Gourmet kitchen and breakfast room. large terrace overlooks pool/ spa and gardens. advanced security. $7,750,000. weB: 0065773. BK Bates
enchantIng estate: Stunning 6-bedroom manor on 5 spectacular acres. Gated and serene with pool, tennis court, pond, and a separate 2-bedroom cottage. listing includes a dock on long Island Sound. also avaliable for rent. $3,800,000. weB: 0065476. Barbara Stephens
the knolls, rIversIde: This charming colonial is located on a street lined with majestic trees. The spacious entry leads to beautifully proportioned formal rooms, and the family room adjoins a serious cook’s kitchen. all rooms open to beautiful, private gardens. $2,195,000. weB: 0065787. Marion Nolan
Greenwich BrokeraGe I sothebyshomes.com/greenwich One PIckwIck Plaza, GreenwIch, cT 06830 | 203.869.4343
Operated by Sotheby’s International realty, Inc. Sotheby’s International realty® is a registered trademark. *Downs Farm used with permission.
D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A t h e n e w yo r k b ota n i c a l g a r d e n ’ s r o s e g a r d e n d i n n e r da n c e
Marvin and Mary Davidson
Jean Burn with John and Joan Goodwin
Charles and Deborah Royce 58 QUEST
Richard and Maureen Chilton
Anne and Charles Johnson
Friederike and Jeremy Biggs
Rory Nolen and Gregory Long
Dotty and Lionel Goldfrank
Ann and Bill Kneisel
co u rt e s y o f t h e n e w y o r k b ota n i c a l g a r d e n
Kathie Moore, Coleman Burke and Ellie Naess
excluSively offered By JoSePh BarBieri
Lakefront european Country estate: newly transformed with designer appointments, this 10±-acre gated estate resides on picturesque converse lake in guard-gated conyers farm. 6 bedrooms, indoor pool/spa. Tiered terraces capitalize on glorious vistas. $13,995,000. weB: 0065618
Landmark georgIan Country estate: Twachtman-designed 1927 gem in english park setting with meandering pond. a trove of exquisite details, 6 bedrooms. Greenhouse. idyllic 5.78-acre landscape has fountained garden courtyard, pool, tennis court. $11,900,000. weB: 0065727
“the anChorage” on Long IsLand sound: fronting 200± feet on long island Sound, a timelessly elegant 1929 residence on prestigious private Binney lane. Picturesque vistas over the water, coastline and Stamford harbor lighthouse. $10,500,000. weB: 0065639
dIstInguIshed georgIan estate: Surrounded by 4 park-like acres, this 7-bedroom residence has gracious formal rooms with exceptional detailing. wine cellar, theater, gym, pool, tennis court, 2-bedroom guest house and a lighted tennis court. This is a timeless home for the ages. $8,995,000. weB: 0065622
round hILL Country retreat: a rarity on 5.85± acres, this exquisitely renovated 7-bedroom home offers wonderful details including 6 fireplaces, a cathedral-ceilinged living room with Palladian window, a skylit gourmet kitchen and an elegant master suite. Separate guest/staff quarters. $5,995,000. weB: 0065692
a Country estate of dIstInCtIon: Beautiful 5+ acres surround this meticulously crafted country manor on a cul-de-sac. The 2-story entrance hall introduces bright, airy rooms. Master suite with his/hers baths. 3rd floor guest suite. Multi-level terraces with splendid westerly views. $5,495,000. weB: 0065710
Joseph BarBieri I josephbarbieri.com I 203.618.3112 Greenwich BrokeraGe I sothebyshomes.com/greenwich one Pickwick Plaza, Greenwich, cT 06830 | 203.869.4343
operated by Sotheby’s international realty, inc. Sotheby’s international realty® is a registered trademark.
CALENDAR
Cecil Beaton: The New York Years brings together extraordinary photographs, drawings, and costumes by Beaton to chronicle his impact on the city’s cultural life. On view at the Museum of the City of New York from Oct. 25 through Feb. 20. For more information, call 212.534.1672.
2
MUSICAL CHAIRS
Rosanne Cash performs at the 13th annual Bydale event in Greenwich at noon. Proceeds benefit Family ReEntry. For more information, call 203.838.0496.
6
SAIL AWAY
The first Harbor School Regatta sets sail from Governors Island at 1:30 p.m. Proceeds will benefit New York’s inner-city students 60 QUEST
of the only public maritime school, Urban Assembly Harbor School. For more information, call 212.379.0230.
11
Savoring History
The New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation presents “Lunch at a Landmark” at noon with Dominique Perrault and Thom Mayne at the Museum of Modern Art. For more information, call 212.725.2192.
13
ROCKING OUT
A Leg to Stand On’s annual “Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest” is at 7 p.m. in New York. Industry leaders perform rock ‘n’ roll music to raise awareness for children with limb disabilities in developing countries. For more information, call 212.683.8805.
16
Rooster for “Dreaming on Lenox,” Copland House’s annual culinary and musical gala. For more information, call 914.788.4659.
17
Fall Benefit
The Frick Collection Autumn Dinner honors retiring director Anne L. Poulet at 7 p.m. For more information, call 212.547.6866.
DREAM ON
Marcus Samuelsson prepares a gastronomic dinner at 5:30 p.m. at Red
art for art’s sake
Americans for the Arts hosts the
S E L F P O RT R A I T W I T H B RO O K LY N B R I D G E / C E C I L B E ATO N : T H E N E W Y O R K Y E A R S / M U S E U M O F T H E C I T Y O F N E W Y O R K
OCTOBER
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CALENDAR
OCTOBER the 23rd Annual Antique Show Preview Party for the International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show at Park Avenue Armory. For more information, call 212.639.7389. Loving Life
The New York Center for Living presents its inaugural gala at 7 p.m. at 583 Park Ave. Honorees include Thomas P. Melcher of PNC Wealth. For more information, call 212.997.0100.
25
Starry Night
“Hollywood Glamour,” the 28th annual Alzheimer’s Association’s Rita Hayworth Gala will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Waldorf-Astoria. For more information, call 203.228.5090.
31
Spooky Fun
Rolex presents “A Halloween Thriller: A Dance Celebration of Ghosts, Ghouls, Vampires, and Wilis” at 7 p.m. at the New York City Center. For more information, call 212.228.7446.
NOVEMBER 1 pretty princess
The Princess Grace Awards Gala will be at 6:30 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street with guests Prince and Princess of Monaco and honoree Julie Andrews. For more information, call 212.245.6570. TOAST THE BEST
VIVE LA FRANCE
The French-American Foundation hosts a gala dinner at 6 p.m. at Capitale with honorees Phillippe Dauman of Viacom and David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. For more information, call 212.463.0684. Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, which has funded scientists in grants of more than $16 million, presents the Angel Ball on Oct. 17, with honorees Dr. Khalid Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Romero Britto, Vladislav Doronin, and Naomi Campbell. National Arts Awards at 6:30 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street to honor artists and corporations that have demonstrated leadership. For more information, call 212.223.2787.
Herring at Bulgari. Proceeds will aid the Marshall Plan Charities’ new school construction in Afghanistan. For more information, call 212.644.8109.
just wing it
20
Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation hosts the Angel Ball at 6:30 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street with honorees Dr. Khalid Bin Jabor Al-Thani, Romero Britto, Vladislav Doronin, and Naomi Campbell. For more information, call 212.254.6677.
high society
The Society of Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center hosts
27
THe Award GOes To...
The World Monuments Fund hosts the Hardian Award Gala at 7 p.m. at the Plaza, honoring Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder. For more information, call 646.424.9594. Faith & Community
3
The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies’ annual gala is from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in New York. Phoebe R. Stanton and Ellsworth George Stanton III will be honored. For more information, call 212.801.1353.
Speaking out
The second Silver Hill Hospital Gala, at 7 p.m. at Cipriani 42nd Street, honors author Carrie Fisher for her advocacy work on behalf of mental illness. The first gala was inspired by Michael Cominotto and Dennis Basso, this year’s honorary cochairs. For more information, call 212.843.1741.
4
Celebrate Culture
Casita Maria hosts “Fiesta!” with honorees Roberto Cavalli and Luis Ubiñas of the Ford Foundation at 7:30 p.m. at Mandarin Oriental. For more information, call 212.206.7447.
Hands-On Experience
The American Museum of Natural History hosts its 18th annual family party featuring educational activities from 5 to 7 p.m. Proceeds will support the museum. For more information, call 212.313.7161.
6
BUILDING BLOCKS
62 QUEST
2
The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 2011 “Living Landmarks” gala will be at the Plaza. Civic leaders will be honored with the Lew Rudin Award for Outstanding Public Service. For more information, call 212.995.5260.
worldwide
18
The Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation hosts dinner at 7 p.m. at La Grenouille. There is a predinner book signing for Diplomacy & Diamonds by Joanne King
The 55th anniversary of the American-Scottish Foundation’s annual Wallace Award gala dinner honors Lord Smith of Kelvin and author Duncan Bruce. For more information, call 212.605 0388.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Frick Collection Autumn Dinner will honor its longtime director Anne L. Poulet who will retire this year. The black-tie event will be on Oct. 17, beginning with cocktails at 7 p.m. and dinner at 8 p.m.
The Hebrew Home at Riverdale Foundation, a nonprofit, hosts its 94th annual dinner at the WaldorfAstoria in New York. For more information, call 212.614.0400.
ROBERTA.McCAFFREYREALTY ROBERTA.McCAFFREYREALTY Garrison • Cold Spring, NY • 60 Mins NYC Westchester,Putnam,DutchessMLS Garrison • Cold Spring, NY • 60 Mins NYC Westchester,Putnam,DutchessMLS
GARRISON, NY - Enjoy the ultimate in condo living in THE CASTLE, a well-known landmark high above the Hudson River. This luxurious 2 floor, 2 bedroom unit offers breathGARRISON, NY - Enjoy the ultimate in condo living in THE CASTLE, a well-known taking views from Bear Mountain Bridge to Newburgh Bay. It has huge open rooms, 12 to 15 landmark high above the Hudson River. This luxurious 2 floor, 2 bedroom unit offers breathfoot ceilings, 4 fireplaces, gourmet kitchen, and sumptuous baths. It also offers outdoor spaces, taking views from Bear Mountain Bridge to Newburgh Bay. It has huge open rooms, 12 to 15 central air conditioning, and garaging for 2 cars. Offered at $2,999,999 foot ceilings, 4 fireplaces, gourmet kitchen, and sumptuous baths. It also offers outdoor spaces, central air conditioning, and garaging for 2 cars. Offered at $2,999,999
GARRISON, NY - Spacious and open country home with fabulous HUDSON RIVER VIEWS to the west and north to Storm King Mt and Newburgh Bay. The living room features GARRISON, NY - Spacious and open country home with fabulous HUDSON RIVER cathedral ceiling and stone fireplace, and all living areas enjoy the views and access to stone terVIEWS to the west and north to Storm King Mt and Newburgh Bay. The living room features races. 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths, includes huge master suite privately located on its own level. cathedral ceiling and stone fireplace, and all living areas enjoy the views and access to stone terThe in-ground pool and cabana further enhance the 5.6 acre property. Offered at $1,995,000 races. 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths, includes huge master suite privately located on its own level. The in-ground pool and cabana further enhance the 5.6 acre property. Offered at $1,995,000
GARRISON, NY - Courtside. This rustic stone barn, whose distinctive architecture sets it apart from the ordinary, has been converted into 10,000 square feet of luxurious GARRISON, NY - Courtside. This rustic stone barn, whose distinctive architecture living space. The home features large public rooms, country kitchen, 7-8 bedrooms and sets it apart from the ordinary, has been converted into 10,000 square feet of luxurious a separate 2 bedroom apartment. The beautifully landscaped 4 acre property also offers living space. The home features large public rooms, country kitchen, 7-8 bedrooms and a tennis court and gunite pool. Offered at $1,650,000 a separate 2 bedroom apartment. The beautifully landscaped 4 acre property also offers a tennis court and gunite pool. Offered at $1,650,000
143MainStreet,ColdSpring,NY10516 143MainStreet,ColdSpring,NY10516 Tel:845.265.4113•www.mccaffreyrealty.com Tel:845.265.4113•www.mccaffreyrealty.com info@mccaffreyrealty.com info@mccaffreyrealty.com
EAST FISHKILL, Dutchess County, NY - Wiccopee House. Circa 1894, this beautiful estate on 17.6 acres, includes the 7000 square foot Georgian style main house featuring EAST FISHKILL, Dutchess County, NY - Wiccopee House. Circa 1894, this beau6 bedrooms, gleaming wood floors, multiple fireplaces, period details and a gourmet tiful estate on 17.6 acres, includes the 7000 square foot Georgian style main house featuring kitchen. Additional features include a 100’ x 30’ barn with a 2 bedroom apartment, pad6 bedrooms, gleaming wood floors, multiple fireplaces, period details and a gourmet dock, pool, and tennis court. Offered at $2,495,000 NY apartment, padkitchen. Additional features include a 100’ x 30’ GARRISON, barn with a 2 bedroom dock, pool, and tennis court. Offered at $2,495,000 American Gothic home, de-
signed by the foremost 19th century American architect, Alexander Jackson Davis, offers 7800 square feet that has been restored to reflect the gilded age of country homes. The home features an impressive keyhole staircase, large public rooms, and the architect’s signature split level design on the upper floors. The 19 acre estate also offers offers an in-ground COLD SPRING, NY - Masterfully designed contemporary massive twopool story entry, living room and dining room sharing a grand floorpool to ceiling stone fireplace, large with house, three car COLD SPRING, NY - Masterfully designed contemporary offers massive two story chef’s kitchen and 4 bedrooms. Walls of French doors lead to deck cantilevered over rushentry, living room and dining room sharing a grand floor to ceiling stone A fireplace, large garage and barn. carriage ing mountain stream. Delightful details and high quality materials are evident throughout chef’s kitchen and 4 bedrooms. Walls of French doors lead to deck cantilevered over rushthe home which is sited on almost 5 acres. Offeredhouse at $1,875,000 on over acresthroughout is also ing mountain stream. Delightful details and high quality materials are4evident the home which is sited on almost 5 acres. Offered at $1,875,000 available for $1.5M. Offered at $7,500,000.
Putnam Valley, NY - Lovely country retreat on almost 5 acres. This C. 1935 home offers 4356 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4 ½ baths, 2 working fireplaces, hardwood floors, and numerous Putnam Valley, NY - Lovely country retreat on almost 5 acres. This C. 1935 home offers window seats, nooks and crannies for added character. The glorious backyard features an in4356 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4 ½ baths, 2 working fireplaces, hardwood floors, and numerous ground pool with spa and sizeable barbeque and patio area. The property also includes a forwindow seats, nooks and crannies for added character. The glorious backyard features an inmer dairy barn and pond. Offered at $1,300,000 ground pool with spa and sizeable barbeque and patio area. The property also includes a former dairy barn and pond. Offered at $1,300,000
Member of Westchester/Putnam, MLS • Mid-Hudson MLS (Dutchess County) Greater Hudson Valley MLS • (Orange, Rockland, Ulster, Sullivan Counties) Member of Westchester/Putnam, MLSand • Mid-Hudson MLSmany (Dutchess County) Greaterand Hudson • (Orange, Ulster, Sullivan Counties) For more information on these other listings, with full brochures floor Valley plans, MLS visit our website:Rockland, www.mccaffreyrealty.com For more information on these and other listings, many with full brochures and floor plans, visit our website: www.mccaffreyrealty.com
H A R RY B E N S O N
IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY
by the 1970s Francis Bacon was considered Britain’s greatest living painter, and I was eager to photograph him. He was overseeing the installation of his retrospective at the Met where we met. After taking photographs with his paintings, we headed to the Bowery.
Artist Francis Bacon at his first retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976.
We spent the afternoon in several local bars. Bacon seemed not to have any thoughts about getting back the museum. We walked the streets looking for winos and street people for him to talk with. Bacon told me part of his inspiration came from those journeys. He seemed happiest
with transients and street people. He would stop and give them money. He took them into the bars and drank with them. He was gregarious and not in the least pretentious—we had a great time together. My afternoon with Francis Bacon is one I will always remember. u
Ta k i
After rumors
President John F. Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Jackie Kennedy, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. watch the flight of astronaut Alan Shepard Jr., May 5, 1961.
Seventeen years after her death, the ultimate American female icon is back in the news as entrancing as ever to a public that seems to never get enough of this Irish-American family that has broken all the rules and then some. Even that bitter old hag who writes for the New York Times, Maureen Dowd, 66 QUEST
had only nice things to say about Jackie Kennedy’s small-minded opinions of the great Charles de Gaulle and the conservative icon Clare Boothe Luce. Not to mention FDR, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Martin Luther King—all liberal idols and supposedly sacrosanct among the circles la Dowd tries to please twice a week.
Mind you, everyone is entitled to their opinions—as long as they are politically correct and to the left of center—hence the Jackie surprise. I suppose her daughter needs a few more millions. Otherwise the oral history would have never seen the light of day. What I find rather amusing is that Caroline Kennedy tried to
From left to right: political commentator and columnist, Maureen Dowd; Jackie Kennedy on the state visit to India, March 1962. She described Indira Gandhi as “a real prune—bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman;” Caroline Kennedy, who released the seven hours of audio interview conducted in early 1964.
blame J. Edgar Hoover for her mother’s remarks—all true—about Martin Luther King. When in doubt, blame Hoover, a man whom the Kennedy family hated, but feared. Now long dead, Hoover has finally come to the aid of the family. I met Mrs. Onassis a few times, once in her house on Fifth Avenue when her sister, Lee, a friend of long standing, invited me to lunch. I’d been out dancing at the Kansas City Club the night before with Lee and she told Jackie about some new dance craze of the time. “Let’s see you do it,” Jackie said in the breathy, little girl manner of hers. I refused. I was both sober and not about to get up and play the clown à la Oleg Cassini. That’s when the climate turned cold. Jackie did not like people to say no to her. She was a geisha, but to far richer and more powerful men than yours truly. I was 28 at the time and slightly intimidated. What I should have said was, “Why not get Onassis to show it to you? He was there too.” Jackie married Onassis four years after the assassination of President Kennedy, a pearl among the swine that were the Kennedys, and therein lies a story that was told to me during a wonderful Paris lunch with one of the greatest raconteurs and spies of the 20th century. The aristocratic Alexandre de Marenches, head of the French Secret Service and a spy of the old school who spoke several languages, was at ease with the great and the good, and could sit down even with the
imperious Charles de Gaulle and tell it like it was. I met him through his cousin, my mentor Arnaud de Borchgrave, the man who got me in the lousy business of writing at a very young age. Alexandre, Arnaud, and I sat down to a very liquid lunch at the Paris Ritz during its hey-day of the 60s. Out of the blue he announced to us that Jackie would marry Onassis and that the affair had been going on for some time, hinting that it had started while Jackie was in the White House. The head French spook was no bull-shitter. After the third bottle of champagne, tongues loosened and it went something like this: During Onassis’s fight with the House of Grimaldi over SBM, the holding company that controlled the Monte Carlo casinos and the main hotels, Prince Rainier, it seems, asked for help from the French government in his bid to oust Onassis from his controlling interest in the company. de Marenches, as head of the secret service, was kept abreast. Onassis had done nothing wrong in business, but it seems he had been flirting with the wife of the president of the United States. There was no smoking gun, according to the head spy, but it sure looked bad for the president. I kept it in the back of my head and said nothing. The trouble was I was a lowly stringer for a wire service and even when I began writing for William Buckley’s National Review, Bill would not hear of publishing such a scurrilous article. By the
time I landed columns of my own, poor JFK was long dead, Jackie had married Onassis, the latter had died, and she had gone on to some diamond merchant. What the hell was the use? I let sleeping dogs lie. Until now. There were other reasons that made me believe every word of the story. Stas Radziwill and Lee were good friends of mine and I knew that they were not getting along. Stas was seeing Charlotte Ford, Henry Ford’s oldest daughter, and Lee was seeing Onassis on the side. JFK had asked both his sister–in–law and his brother–in–law to hold their horses until after the 1964 election, which both parties had agreed to do. Nov. 22, 1963 changed all that. Onassis went after bigger fish, and Stas and Lee stayed put. This is why Charles de Gaulle told André Malraux immediately following the state funeral in D.C. that, “Jackie will end up in some oilman’s yacht within three years.” The old boy had inside info and only got it wrong by a year. Now the oral history shows a side of Jackie most people didn’t know. Although extremely well read, especially by today’s standards, she was basically a clothes horse, a geisha for powerful men, and as tough as old leather. Nothing wrong with all that, but I’d hate to read what the bitchy Maureen Dowd would have written if, say, Pat Nixon had expressed the same opinions. u For more by Taki, visit takimag.com. OCTOBER 2011 67
Quest
Fresh Finds by Da n i e l c a p p e l lo AN D e l i z a b e t h m e i g h e r
once again, in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, many companies and designers are devoting proceeds from special-edition (often pink) products to breast-cancer research. We’ve found a few fab finds that are going toward the cause. We’ve also found some stellar things to dress them up with. From furs and fragrances to works of art, this October is sure to keep you busy shopping.
The triple-strand pearl necklace of cultured South Sea pearls with orchid clasp in platinum. $159,500. Tiffany & Co.: tiffany.com.
A portion of the proceeds from the black and pink limited-edition “Strength” sunglasses will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. BCBGMAXAZRIA: boutiques or bcbg.com. A sensational look for fall is this beaded silk jacquard coat paired with wool Co-designed by Olivia Palermo, the satin
request. LUCA LUCA: 212.288.9285.
strappy ankle-wrap sandal with fuschia feathers will benefit ovarian cancer research. $425. Stuart Weitzman: 625 Madison Ave., the Shops at Columbus Circle, or stuartweitzman.com.
68 QUEST
R i c h a r d Pi e r c e f o r t i f fa ny & co .
lycra skinny pants, with detachable utility belt in black and white. Price upon
Let luxury drip from your ears with de Grisogono’s cabochon, pink sapphire, and white diamond drop earrings. Price upon request. de Grisogono: 824 Madison Ave. or 212.439.4220.
Tod’s exotic wrap bracelets in a variety of colors feature the brand’s traditional buckle. $765 each. Tod’s: 650 Madison Ave., 212.644.5945, or tods.com.
Every kid, whether pirate or princess, will identify with this energetic tale of friendship and the playground. Pirates and Princesses (Dutton Juvenile), by Jill and Sadie Kargman, illustrated by Christine Davenier. $16.99.
Be stunning and sophisticated in Carolina Herrera’s black-andclay embroidered dress. $2,990. Carolina Herrera: Support the Breast Cancer Research Fund by dancing down
954 Madison Ave. or 212.249.6552.
Madison Avenue in the “Eddie” ballet flat in fuschia patent leather. $178. Tory Burch: boutiques or toryburch.com.
In time for fall, Rolex’s Oyster Perpetual Lady Datejust features 46 diamonds. $12,150. Rolex: 800.36.ROLEX or rolex.com.
Debuting during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Hanae Mori’s No. 4 is a brilliantly pink and floral fragrance blended in Paris. $95. Hanae Mori: hanaemoriparfums.com.
OC T O B E R 2 0 1 1 6 9
Fresh Finds
Elva Fields’ pink paisley pendant necklace will benefit the Breast Cancer Research
This ring, based on the life buoy
Foundation. $35.
found on natucial vessels,
Elva Fields:
symbolizies love, friendship, and
elvafields.com.
life. $2,700 (ladies) and $2,950 (gentlemen). Asprey: 853 Madison Ave., 212.688.1811, or asprey.com.
At Wally Findlay Galleries, find a 1926 lithograph by Henri Matisse on Japon paper (1/15). Price upon request. Wally Findlay Galleries: 124 E. 57th St. or 212.421.5390.
“Thank You!” cards engraved in gold metallic ink, paired with assorted tissue-lined colored envelopes. $45 per set. Mrs. John L. Strong Fine Stationery: 699 Madison Ave., 212.838.3775, or mrsstrong.com.
The delicious dark silvery sable J.Crew’s Mona patent
coat ($150,000) and mocha piuma knit cocktail dress ($4,800).
leather pump
Dennis Basso: 765 Madison Ave.,
in warm bisque:
212.794.4500, or dennisbasso.com.
made in Italy, worn everywhere. J.Crew: 212.249.3869 or jcrew.com.
70 QUEST
Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog
Montblanc’s Star Retrograde Automatic with an alligator strap will impress, with
ranked #47 of the Top 100 Courses
a flick of your wrist. $4,500.
of the World—and there are more
Montblanc: 598 Madison Ave.,
than 33,000 courses in the world!
212.223.8888, or
Casa de Campo: 800.877.3643
montblanc.com.
or casadecampo.com.do.
The classic single-breasted trench ($450) and the men’s original short boot
The myrrh musk and
($125) should be
cypress Medio
your go-to this fall.
candela from Molton
Hunter Boot:
Brown conjures
hunter-boot.com.
the season’s scents. $49. Molton Brown: Saks Fifth Avenue or U.S. Molton Brown emporia.
Sturdy and chic: Stone Island offers the over-dyed nylon trench for braving the fall and winter weather. $863. Stone Island: stoneisland.com.
The Mr. Casual in black patent leather with black trim can be seen cutting a rug at the every party. $375. Belgian Shoes: 212.755.7372 or belgianshoes.com.
Pour yourself the perfect cappuccino with the Gaggia Accademia Super Automatic Espresso Machine. $2,999.99. Gracious Home: 1220 3rd Ave., 212.517.6300, or gracioushome.com. OC T O B E R 2 0 1 1 7 1
f rom t h e a R c h i v e s P u b l i s h e d N O V E M BE R 19 9 6
c e l e b r at i n g 2 5 y e a r s o f q u e s t
A P R I VAT E R E S I D E N T I A L S P O RT I N G C L U B HOMES FROM $1,250,000 TO $11,200,000 W W W. W I N D S O R F L O R I D A . C O M
r e al E s tat e
industry insiders in just the first three quarters of 2011, compared to only 84 sales for 2010, and a mere 60 sales in 2009. Buyers are enjoying the outstanding opportunities available today for exceptional values.
Linda Olsson, owner/broker of Linda R. Olsson, Inc., Realtor
in these uncertain times, the Palm Beach real estate market has seen an upswing in buyer confidence with smart investors buying real estate—a hard asset that can be used and enjoyed especially in stable areas of the country, like Palm Beach. Quest sat down with Linda Olsson, owner/broker of Linda R. Olsson, Inc., Realtor of Palm Beach for advice in this evolving real estate market. Linda has 22 years of experience listing, selling, and leasing Palm Beach’s finest properties since establishing her independent, locally owned firm in 1989. A Palm Beach resident since 1998, Linda is an active member of the Palm Beach community.
Q: Why is the Palm Beach real estate market stronger than it has been in the past three years? A: Sellers are pricing properties according to their actual value in today’s market.
7 4 Q UES T
Q: What are the advantages for buyers in the Palm Beach market today? A: Barron’s listed Palm Beach among the top 10 best places to purchase property. The weather is gorgeous and it doesn’t ever snow! But it’s Florida’s tax benefits that make Palm Beach appealing to so many. There are only seven states which do not levy a state income tax—and Florida is one of them. There are many tax benefits available to Florida residents, even our sales tax is low. With homestead benefits, no personal income tax, no inheritance tax, no gift taxes, nor intangible personal property taxes, Florida is an ideal place to live and enjoy the tax benefits of owning real estate. Q: Palm Beach draws international clients as well as young families and retirees. What makes Palm Beach unique? A: There is no place in the world with the uniqueness of a charming small town community coupled with a rich history and world renowned amenities, providing its residents with a high quality lifestyle surrounded by the beauty of Palm Beach. The community attracts people who are dedicated to philanthropy and the arts, as well as
Properly priced real estate is selling and the buyers who were waiting on the sidelines are buying now! With the lowest interest rates in decades available to qualified buyers, swings in the stock market, and global uncertainty, home buyers are looking to purchase real assets. According to the Palm Beach multiple listing service, sales of homes and estates in the $10 million plus range are strong this year. In this price range, 12 properties closed during the first three quarters of 2011, compared with five sales in 2010, and only three sales in 2009. A review of all price ranges for single family home sales shows that the Palm Beach market has sky-rocketed over the past three years with 92 closings recorded Kirkland House: Sold. Asking: $6,295,000—Exclusive
those who enjoy ocean activities, golf, tennis, world-class shopping, and dining on Worth Avenue. Q: As a boutique firm in Palm Beach, what specific advantages are you bringing to buyers and sellers? A: In today’s market, the right real estate firm is critical. My deep understanding of the Palm Beach market, uncompromising confidentiality and experienced negotiating skills are vital. Our business is built on strong relationships. We have been providing buyers and sellers of Palm Beach real estate with prompt, professional, superior service for more than two decades. Our expertise, innovative marketing approach, and online web initiatives provide our discerning clientele the level of service they expect. We believe that today’s buyers are tomorrow’s sellers. We don’t sell a property and move on, we continue our commitment. We work closely with buyers and sellers to provide excellent post-transaction services, including the top craftsmen, architects, builders, interior designers, and legal counsel. Our local guidance and personalized service enhance our clients’ Palm Beach experience.
332 Eden Road—South exposure oversized tropical paradise with 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and 4,099 sq. ft. Asking: $3,495,000—Exclusive.
Q: Describe your relationship with potential buyers and sellers? A: My energetic, enthusiastic, New England-style 24/7 work ethic translates into satisfied customers and success since establishing the firm in 1989. I love the Town of Palm Beach and enjoy uniting extraordinary people with exceptional properties. Buying, selling a home, or relocating to a new community is a major decision and it can be an emotional experience. I pride myself on the ability to listen and understand the customer’s needs, while having the patience and dedication to guide them through the process, making their transition as seamless as possible. My business has been built through the trust
The pool at Kirkland House, 101 Worth Avenue, Palm Beach
and continual referrals of satisfied buyers and sellers—a true compliment. Our buyers and sellers become friends. Q: What gives you and your firm the competitive edge in the Palm Beach real estate market? A: Experience and technology! We have 22 years of experience in Palm Beach. Choosing a firm with the commitment, confidentiality, and dedication to represent your best interests makes all the difference. Thanks to our superior customer service, strong business ethics, and a stellar track record, we continue to be a leader among Palm Beach firms. Ninety-eight percent of buyers begin their real estate search online. Our strategy in developing LindaOlsson. com was to tailor it to our global audience by sharing my knowledge of Palm Beach real estate as well as general information about the town itself. Our website is a mix of Palm Beach history, local happenings, market reports, easy access to every listed property in Palm Beach, and it ranks high in Google searches. It provides our buyers and sellers with the knowledge they require to allow them to make informative decisions. In addition, our listings are syndicated to more than 300 of the most highly visible websites. Active social networking connects us with our customers through e-mail blasts, blogs, Facebook, Linked-In, and Twitter. u For more information, call 561.820.9195 or visit LindaOlsson.com.
O C T O B ER 2 0 1 1 7 5
Books
As the nation commemorated the 10th anniversary of 9/11 last month, distinguished photojournalist and author Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave finished her third book of inspirational poetry, completing what is now a trilogy set that has been in progress since Sept. 11, 2001. Ten years ago on that night, de Borchgrave prayed for a way to bring even an ounce of comfort and healing to those who had suffered the loss of their families and loved ones. Searching within, she—although never having written poetry before—was compelled to pen earnest verses about love, hope, and courage. What results is this trilogy that continues to bring solace to families in need, yet what is perhaps an even greater contribution is the organization de Borchgrave founded after seeing the positive effects of these poems: the Light of Healing Hope Foundation, a nonprofit that provides encouraging books, including de Borchgrave’s poetry, to hospitals to comfort patients and their families. 76 QUEST
In the words of former secretary general of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the de Borchgrave’s trilogy is a “remarkable collection of poems which represent an oasis
of compassion and inner calm.” The first book, Healing Light: Thirty Messages of Love, Hope, and Courage, was published four years after the attacks and presents the inspirational
poetry with Indian Mughal art paintings. This book was sent as a gift to all of the survivors’ families with the help of former chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, John C. Whitehead. “I thought Alexandra’s beautiful little book with its inspiring words and lovely images might bring comfort and healing to the grieving families of the Sept. 11 victims,” he said. Encouraged by this, de Borchgrave then penned the second, Heavenly Order: TwentyFive Meditations of Wisdom and Harmony. Indeed, as Julian Raby, the director of Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery rightfully points out, de Borchgrave’s poems serve not only as catharsis, but they also communicate hope in a time of need. What’s even more encouraging and hopeful, though, is that the rights, titles, and interests to the books have been graciously given to the Light of Healing Hope Foundation to provide support for the foundation's efforts in helping the lost find hope. u
G l i t t e r at i I n co r p o r ate d
A TRILOGY of Healing
Clockwise from top: a page from Beloved Spirit; ten years later, the National 9/11 Memorial opened to the public on Sept. 12; the cover of one of the books in the triology. Opposite: the Twin Towers in 2001; a portrait of the author, Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave.
Open house
commanding compounds Established in 1986, Klemm Real
Estate is Litchfield County’s premier brokerage house. This month, we feature three of their unique compound listings currently available on the market. lake waramaug compound Located on Lake Waramaug in New Preston, Conn., this rare compound has 240 feet of premium water-frontage. First, a finely detailed main house features four bedrooms and three and a half baths. The public rooms have grand room proportions with three fireplaces located throughout the living room, kitchen, and library. There are several porches as well as a luxurious master suite. A boathouse on the lake’s edge has three bedrooms, two full baths, two kitchens, and two living rooms. There is an additional apartment and gym above the four-car garage. 7 8 Q UES T
major estate Featuring the highest standards of construction, this property is located within the Sunny Ridge historic district of Washington, Conn. On the 14 private and pristine acres are two ponds and an orchard of apple, pear, and quince trees. Highlights include billiard and screening rooms, a paneled library, a sunroom, and a new country kitchen. On the grounds are fabulous stonewalls, a swimming pool, and a garage for 10 cars. An attached guesthouse and party room boast a restaurant-size bar, a commercial kitchen, maid’s quarters, two guest rooms with en suite bathrooms, an office, and more. cobble brook farm Cobble Brook Farm in Kent, Conn. is a remarkable country estate. Located in the picturesque and peaceful Cobble Valley,
abutting a large land trust parcel, the property includes 46.7 acres of pasture lands. The three-bedroom main house is a dramatic Haver and Skolnick design, circa 2001. Built from a 6,000–square–foot converted barn, the main house features a double-height great room incorporating living room, dining area and kitchen, and a massive fireplace. Also within the main house is a sunroom, a master bedroom suite with a private screened porch, which is cantilevered over the Cobble Brook, a silo that includes a soaring 28-foot high entry foyer, and den or observatory with commanding views. The grounds include incredible gardens, an orchard, a pool, a large deck, stone walls, and mature shrubs and trees. Outbuildings include a brookside three-bedroom guesthouse, a chic hilltop two-bedroom post-and-beam house, and two large antique barns. u
Above: Major Estate in Washington, Connecticut. $4,295,000. Represented by Peter Klemm; below: Cobble Brook Farm in Kent, Connecticut. $4,900,000. Represented by Roger Saucy. Opposite: Lake Waramaug Compound in New Preston, Connecticut. $8,995,000. Represented by Graham Klemm and Carolyn Klemm. For more information on any of these properties, please call 860.868.7313 or visit klemmrealestate.com.
presents
Career Transition For Dancers 26th Anniversary Jubilee
A HALLOWEEN THRILLER A Dance Celebration of Ghosts, Ghouls, Vampires & Wilis
Monday, October 31, 2011 • 7:00 PM Hosted Hostedby by
CHITA CHITARIVERA RIVERA
A “spook-tacular ” show for kids & adults of all ages !
With With appearances appearances by by
Carmen De Lavallade
Judith Judith Jamison Jamison
Natalia Makarova
Noah Racey plus Michael Jackson’s Thriller Donna McKechnie
Bebe Neuwirth
Special Special invited invited guest guest
Ne-Yo
performed by 150 children from NYC schools Special appearances and performances by, and artists from
American Repertory Ballet • Carolina Ballet • Lynn Cohen Houston Ballet • Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo Lypsinka• Mark Stuart Dance Theatre • MOMIX National Dance Institute • New York City Ballet New York Song & Dance Company • Peter Pucci Plus Dancers Honoring
Nigel Lythgoe
ROLEX DANCE AWARD
Co-Creator Co-Creator//Executive Executive Producer Producer “So “So You You Think Think You You Can Can Dance” Dance” and and Executive Executive Producer Producer “American “American Idol” Idol”
CAREER TRANSITION FOR DANCERS’ AWARDS
Victor Elmaleh • Nancy MacMillan Michele Riggi • National Museum of Dance
Produced and Directed by Ann Executive Producer
Marie DeAngelo
Alexander J. Dubé
Visit careertransition.org PERFORMANCE ONLY TICKETS AT $130, $90, $75, $55, $45 Patron Tickets: $1,200, $750, $600. Tables for 10 start at $7,500. Patron Tickets and Tables include premium performance seating and postperformance “Masquerade Supper with the Stars,” dancing and a live auction at the Hilton New York. Contact Marjorie Horne at 212 228 7446 x 33; Marjorie@mcevoyandassociates.com, or at careertransition.org • Group Sales: 718 499 9691 • Artists and program subject to change.
26th Anniversary Chairs
Michele Herbert • Anka K. Palitz • Stewart Wicht 26th Anniversary Jubilee Sponsors
Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation • Condé Nast • Dance Magazine and Pointe Michele & Lawrence Herbert • Nancy & Duncan MacMillan • Michele & Ronald Riggi • Cindy & Tom Secunda Dance Image: Dracula, courtesy of Houston Ballet. Choreography by Ben Stevenson. Dancers: Timothy O’Keefe & Susan Cummins. Photo: Drew Donovan • Photos: C. De Lavallade by Amy Audrey; J. Jamison by Andrew Eccles; N. Lythgoe by Fox; N. Makarova by Donald Saddler; D. McKechnie by Bill Westmoreland; Ne-Yo by Def Jam; B. Neuwirth by Christopher Calkins; N. Racey by Morgan Shevett; C. Rivera by Laura Marie Duncan
Gala attire, elegant masquerade, fun Halloween costumes and masks suggested!
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d o mi n ick r e u te r f o r mit n e w s ; ru th t. dav is , mit
Above: David Koch, second from left, and MIT leadership visit the construction site of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. Left: David Koch with MIT president Susan Hockfield at the Institute’s opening.
the science of giving By daniel cappello
growing up, David Koch’s father persisted in asking his son, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It was not, Koch explains, done in a nagging fashion; rather, Koch says his father told his kids to be successful. “He would repeatedly ask us that, and he transmitted the message that life is so much more appealing if you work your tail off and achieve great accomplishments.” Koch obviously took his father’s message to heart. He works at a “baffling” pace, as one colleague put it (in the time it took me in between my meetings with him to squeeze in some midtown appointments, he had managed to make business trips all the way to Boston and back), and his life is certainly as appealing as it gets. As an executive vice president of Koch Industries, Inc.—the OCTO B ER 2 0 1 1 8 5
second-largest private company in America with annual revenues of about $100 billion—Koch has proved himself successful perhaps even beyond his father’s wildest dreams. At an impressive six-feet, five-inches tall, it is as if Koch was born to stand out. He manages Koch Industries’ diverse collection of companies, which supply equipment to oil refineries and chemical manufacturing plants, and, along with his brother, Charles, approves major projects advanced by the rest of his family business. David is active in politics and think tanks, along with many other fields that make his reach seem limitless. The world of philanthropy is as important and essential to him as any aspect of his life. “David is our modern Carnegie,” one Upper East Side neighbor who served on an arts board with him said. Like Carnegie, Koch’s support of the arts and culture has been momentous. Anyone who passes by what used to be the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center is now greeted by the David H. Koch Theater, the home to New York City Ballet and New York City Opera, which was renamed in his honor after a $100 million donation in 2008. The David H. Koch Charitable 8 6 Q UEST
Foundation has contributed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and American Ballet Theatre in New York for decades. “The thing about David is that his gifts are strategic—he looks to the long-term and makes the most meaningful contribution at that time,” Ballet Theatre’s executive director, Rachel Moore, says. “He’s also able to spot the choreography that’s sure to endure,” like Alexei Ratmansky’s new take on The Nutcracker, which premiered last year. Koch says he enjoys “a certain psychic pleasure” in theatre, ballet, and opera: “They are all dessert.” But, more than just a mere treat, he also sees them as a duty. “That I can advise and support financially these institutions, and all that they mean for New York and the country,” he says, “is one of the most important things I can do with my life.” And David Koch is not one to take life for granted. In fact, the other side of his philanthropic devotion—to medical and cancer research—is proof not only of a lifelong interest in the sciences, but a way for him to play a meaningful role in the battle against a disease that he has lived with for many years. Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1992, Koch has experienced many treatments, remissions, and relapses. “I know that feeling of being scared to death. Anyone who is diagnosed with cancer knows it,” he says, not so much with solemnity, but with a breath of hope in his voice. “And when you have that kind of scare in your life, it makes you passionate about doing something about it.” To date, his financial contributions in the fight against cancer have amounted to over $300 million, for such institutions as
d o mi n ick r e u t e r f o r mit n e w s
For years, David Koch’s philanthropic efforts have sustained the American arts. Now, his contributions to science might help find a cure for cancer.
On March 4, 2011, MIT and David Koch unveiled the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, a 365,000-square foot facility housing 27 faculty labs and 630 researchers who are bridging the disciplines of biology, engineering, and the physical sciences in an effort to treat and cure cancer.
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Above: MIT’s Susan Hockfield (left) applauds David Koch, with his wife, Julia, at the opening of the Koch Institute (March 2011). Opposite, clockwise from top left: David, Charles, and Fred Koch (November 1958); Mary and David Koch at Deerfield Academy graduation (June 1958); David Koch, Lead Underwriter of American Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker, is flanked by its stars on opening night (December 2010); David Koch on the MIT basketball team (January 1962); Julia and David Koch in the labs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
close friends, or his private time with his wife, Julia, and their three children—the crux of his life—it’s clear that David Koch is endlessly fascinated by science. Talking about his own bouts with prostate cancer, he can sit down at lunch and quickly map out the process by which Zytiga (a new type of miracle drug he is taking) inhibits testosterone formation in cancer cells, thereby suppressing cancer of the prostate. Ever the optimistic American, Koch is encouraged by the future of cancer research and treatment. “The U.S. is leading the way in terms of biomedical research,” he says—thanks, in no small part, to the numerous gifts he has made to many cancer research institutions across the country. And in his far-reaching, diversified gifts, Koch might not be so similar to Andrew Carnegie. After all, Carnegie famously advised, “Put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket!” Koch pursues a different strategy. The one and only time he went to the Kentucky Derby, he managed to pick the winner. How? “Bet on every horse in the race,” he explains, “And there’s no way you can lose.” u
patrick mcm u lla n ; co u rt e s y o f ko ch i n d u stri e s , i n c .
Cancer Center (September 2011); David Koch at his MIT graduation (June 1962).
harry b e n s o n ; d o mi n ick r e u te r f o r mit n e w s ;
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Hospital for Special Surgery, the latter three in New York City. He made a $100 million gift to his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which allowed for the opening in December, 2010, of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, a first-of-its-kind facility that brings cancer researchers and bio-engineers together under one roof to accelerate the discovery of breakthrough treatments for cancer. Dr. Tyler Jacks, a world-class cancer researcher by training and the Director of the Koch Institute, points out the significance of Koch’s vision and involvement. Not only did Koch recognize and support the unique concept at play here—creating a powerful synergy between basic research and bio-engineering—but he understands the intricacies of what is going on as an engineer and scientist himself. “David earned his bachelor’s and master’s in chemical engineering at MIT. He’s remarkably aware of what we are doing, but he in no way influences the research direction.” So, while he loves keeping up with the advances that are being made, Koch removes himself personally from the detailed research. An example of one of the most promising advances the Institute has made is the development of a nanotechnology treatment that delivers extremely targeted, highly effective drugs to cancer cells with very few side effects to the patient. In other words, nanoparticles are the “smart bombs” of cancer treatment. And, though he cherishes small dinner parties at home with
F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Personal Perspective By
C h a r l e s Sc r i b n e r III
F. Scott Fitzgerald, photographed by Carl van Vechten, 1937. Opposite, inset: The Great Gatsby was re-released with its original cover art by Francis Cugat—perhaps the most iconic book cover in American literature.
“reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own…For learning purposes there is no substitute for one human mind meeting another on the page of a well-written book.” I found this quote of my late Dad’s via Google. (I never write about our most famous authors without consulting first with him.) Born in 1896 on the brink of a new century, Fitzgerald’s life and career would alternate between success and setbacks like the alternating current of major and minor keys in a Mozart symphony. Just as his life bridged two centuries, so his work has a Janus-like aspect, looking back to the romantic lyricism and expansive dreams of 19th-century America, and forward to the syncopated Jazz strains of the 20th. “My whole theory of writing,” he said, “I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward.” How magnificently—if posthumously—he fulfilled that ideal. His fleeting literary fortunes—a dozen years of commercial and literary success followed by distractions and disappointments— ended in 1940 with a fatal heart attack at the age of 44. He was then hard at work on the Hollywood novel he hoped would restore his reputation. At the time of his death his books were not, as is so often claimed, out of print with Scribner, his publisher. The truth is even sadder: They were all in stock at our warehouse and listed in our catalogue; but no one was buying them. When his daughter, Scottie, first approached the Princeton University Library and offered to give them her father’s papers she was turned down. They couldn’t be the repository, someone said, for every failed alumnus author’s papers. Fortunately she gave them a second chance, years later, to reconsider, and today those archives are the most avidly consulted holdings of the library, by scholars who come there, as if on pilgrimage, from all over the world. A half-century later, more copies of Fitzgerald’s books are sold each month than the entire cumulative sale throughout his lifetime. His novels and stories are studied in virtually every high school and college across the country. I am the fourth Charles Scribner to be involved in publishing his works since my great-grandfather first signed him up, at the prodding of Max Perkins, in 1919. My grandfather, Fitzgerald’s contemporary and friend as well as publisher, died on the eve of the critical reappraisal and the ensuing revival of his works that gained momentum in the 1950s and has continued in full force down to the present time. It was my father who presided over a literary apotheosis unprecedented in modern American letters. I am struck by the realization that I am the first generation—of no doubt as many to come—to have been introduced to this author’s work in a classroom.
As a fledgling editor, I had the good fortune to work closely with Fitzgerald’s talented and delightful daughter, Scottie, together with her dedicated adviser Matthew J. Bruccoli, whose prolific scholarship and infectious enthusiasm have long fanned the flames of Fitzgerald studies. The day I met Matt, four decades and many books ago, I asked him what had prompted him to devote the lion’s share of his scholarly life to Fitzgerald. He told me exactly how it happened. One Sunday afternoon in 1949 Bruccoli, then a highschool student, was driving with his family along the Merritt Parkway from Connecticut to New York City when he heard a dramatization of The Diamond as Big as the Ritz on the car radio. He later went to a library to find the story; the librarian had never heard of F. Scott Fitzgerald. But finally he managed to locate a copy—“and I never stopped reading Fitzgerald,” he added. This story struck a familiar chord—for I too remember where I was when I first encountered that same literary jewel “as big as the Ritz.” It was an evening train ride from Princeton to Philadelphia: A commute was converted into a fantastic voyage. Fitzgerald later converted my professional life just as profoundly, claiming more of me than any other author. There are worse fates in publishing than to be “curator of literary classics,” especially if one’s own scholarly training is in Baroque art. Placed aside my other specialties, Rubens and Bernini, Fitzgerald seems very young indeed: a newcomer in the pantheon of creative genius. There is something magical about Fitzgerald. Much has been written—and dramatized—about the Jazz-Age personas of Scott and Zelda. But the real magic lies embedded in his prose, and reveals itself in his amazing range and versatility. Each novel or story partakes of its creator’s poetic imagination, his dramatic vision, his painstaking (if virtuoso and seemingly effortless) craftsmanship. Each bears Fitzgerald’s hallmark, the indelible stamp of grace. He is my literary candidate to stand beside the demigods Bernini, Rubens, and Mozart as artists of divine transfigurations. The key to Fitzgerald’s enduring enchantment lies, I submit, in the power of his romantic imagination to transfigure his characters and settings—as well as the very shape and sound of his prose. There is a sacramental quality—one that did not wane along with the formal observance of his Roman Catholic faith. I say “sacramental” because Fitzgerald’s words transform their external geography as thoroughly as the realm within. The ultimate effect, once the initial reverberations of imagery and language have subsided, transcends the bounds of fiction. I can testify from firsthand experience. When I arrived at Princeton as a freshman in the fall of 1969, I was following the footsteps of four generations of namesakes before me. Yet, surprisingly, I did not feel at home. It seemed a big impersonal place: more than 10 times as big as my old OCTO B ER 2 0 1 1 9 1
The “country club” campus of Princeton, where Fitzgerald’s character Amory Blaine attends University in This Side of Paradise and where the writer first experienced a transcendent moment with Fitzgerald’s prose. Opposite: the Fitzgeralds, F. Scott, Zelda, and Scottie in Paris, 1925.
boarding school, St. Paul’s. There I had first been exposed to Fitzgerald in English class, where we studied The Great Gatsby. But my first encounter at Princeton was dramatically extracurricular. One day that fall, soon after the Vietnam Moratorium and the ensuing campus turmoil, I returned to my dormitory room to find that some anonymous wit had taped to my door that infamous paragraph from Fitzgerald’s The Rich Boy: “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” (My next-door neighbors in the dorm represented a cross section of campus radicals; and while I was hardly “very rich” by Fitzgerald’s lights—closer to Nick Caraway than to the Buchanans—I was still the son of a university trustee.) Stung as I was by this welcome note, curiosity got the better of me. So off I went to Firestone Library, looked up the story, and read it. Now hooked by Fitzgerald, I bought a copy of This Side of Paradise, his youthful ode to Princeton. Though university officials to this day bemoan its satirical depiction of their college as a country club (if there was any book they could ban, this would be it), they miss the point—the poetry, the sacramental effect of this early, flawed novel on their majestic campus. For me, this book infused the greenery and gothic spires with a spirit, with a soul, with life. Fitzgerald transfigured Princeton. I now saw it not as a stranger, but through the wondering eyes of freshman Amory Blaine: Princeton of the daytime filtered slowly into his consciousness—West and Reunion, redolent of the sixties, Seventy-nine Hall, brick-red and arrogant, Upper and Lower Pyne, aristocratic Elizabethan ladies not quite content to live 92 QUEST
among shop-keepers, and topping all, climbing with clear blue aspiration, the great dreaming spires of Holder and Cleveland towers. From the first, he loved Princeton—its lazy beauty, its half-grasped significance, the wild moonlight revel of the rushes. For me it was not love at first sight; but thanks to Fitzgerald, it was love at first reading. Oscar Wilde was right: Life imitates art, not the other way around. We view our world through a prism of words. During my sojourn there, my friends and I would religiously recite Fitzgerald’s sonnet of farewell to Princeton: “The last light fades and drifts across the land—the low, long land, the sunny land of spires...” From his earliest days, Scott wanted nothing more than to be a writer: “The first help I ever had in writing was from my father who read an utterly imitative Sherlock Holmes story of mine and pretended to like it.” It was his first appearance in print, at age 13. Here’s the chilling denouement (which proves we can all write as well as Fitzgerald): “I forgot Mrs. Raymond,” screamed Syrel, “Where is she?” “She is out of your power forever,” said the young man. Syrel brushed past him and, with Smidy and I following, burst open the door of the room at the head of the stairs. We rushed in. On the floor lay a woman, and as soon as I touched her heart I knew she was beyond the doctor’s skill. “She has taken poison,” I said. Syrel looked around; the young man had gone. And we stood there aghast in the presence of death. No surprise that he next took to writing plays, one a summer, for a local dramatics group. At Princeton, he wrote
musical comedies for the Triangle Club before he flunked out (chemistry was the culprit), joined the army, and wrote his first novel, This Side of Paradise, which debuted in 2005 as a musical in the East Village under a new title: The Pursuit of Persephone. “Start out with an individual and you find that you have created a type—start out with a type and you find that you have created nothing.” Fitzgerald started out with himself—a good choice. “A writer wastes nothing,” he said—and he proved it by mining his early years at St. Paul, Minn. and Princeton to forge his early stories, poems, and dramatic skits into that witty autobiographical novel that launched his fame. Fitzgerald’s first novel was turned down—can you believe— twice by my great-grandfather, until after several revisions by a young writer who refused to give up, it was published to great acclaim. Years later, writing to his daughter, Fitzgerald offered the following advice: “Don’t be a bit discouraged about your story not being tops...Nobody became a writer just by wanting to be one. If you have anything to say, anything you feel nobody has ever said before, you have got to feel it so desperately that you will find some way to say it that nobody has ever found before…” A couple years later, he added some more technical advice: “About adjectives: All fine prose is based on the verbs carrying the sentences. They make sentences move.” Unlike Scott’s brisk prose, I did not move; I stayed on at Princeton for two more graduations, leaving the university only when there were no more degrees to be had, but not before I had the pleasure of teaching undergraduates. Since my field was art history, the next transition into the family publishing business was abrupt, but once again facilitated by Fitzgerald. Ensconced at Max Perkins’s old desk at Scribner (which I was given because the senior editor complained that it ran her stockings!), I dreamed up my first book project in 1975, a revival of Fitzgerald’s obscure and star-crossed play The Vegetable, which featured a presidential impeachment too true to be good: Can you believe the play had opened—and closed—in 1922 at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City? My post-Watergate project not only justified repeated revisits to the Princeton University Library for research in the Scribner and Fitzgerald archives—the Mecca for Fitzgerald scholars—but, more important, it brought me into a happy working relationship with Scottie. It was published during the election year of 1976, and since we find ourselves again in the dusty deritus of election politics, I’d like to recommend
Fitzgerald’s version of a presidential address. (Perhaps some might picture a present candidate as the speaker?) Fitzgerald whips up a delicious confection of mixed metaphors. After approving my introduction to the play, Scottie wrote me a touching note about her parents’ reburial service in the Catholic cemetery of Rockville, Md. I had been unable to attend, and instead had arranged for a memorial mass to be said that day in the once exclusively Protestant Princeton chapel. No doubt Fitzgerald smiled at the delicious irony of both liturgies. “Surely it was the Princeton prayers,” Scottie later wrote to me, “which made our little ceremony go so smoothly. The day was perfect; a mild breeze rustling the fallen leaves, and there were just the right number of people, about 25 friends and relatives, 25 press, 25 county and church ‘officials,’ and 25 admirers who just popped up from nowhere. As most of the guests had never before had bloody marys in a church basement, the party afterward was a jolly affair, too. I’m sorry you weren’t there, but loved knowing we were having a backup ceremony in his real spiritual home.” I cannot resist contrasting Scottie’s gracious note with what Edmund Wilson wrote to me when I had first proposed that he reintroduce the play Fitzgerald had dedicated to him. Wilson had given its publication a rave newspaper review—a fact he now conveniently chose to forget: “I cannot write an introduction to The Vegetable. The version I read and praised was something entirely different from the version he afterwards published, and I did not approve of this version. The trouble was he took too much advice and ruined the whole thing. I was not, by the way, as you say, closer to Fitzgerald than anybody else. I was not even in his class at college, though people still think and write as if I had been...” When I lamented this letter to my father, he said that for Wilson it wasn’t so bad, jesting that “after God created the rattle snake, he created Edmund Wilson.” Not long afterward, I unwittingly allowed Wilson’s first name to be misspelled “Edmond” in huge letters on the cover of our paperback edition of Axel’s Castle. My Freudian slip is now a collector’s item, which fortunately for me, Edmund did not live to see! Fitzgerald considered his year and a half spent on The Vegetable a complete waste, but I disagree. For he followed it with a new novel, written with all the economy and tight structure of a successful play—The Great Gatsby. Both The Vegetable and Gatsby shared the theme of the American Dream (first as a spoof for a comedy, finally as the leitmotif of a lyric novel). OCTO B ER 2 0 1 1 9 3
I don’t think there has ever been a more elusive, mysterious, intriguing character than Gatsby. He’s pure fiction—and pure Fitzgerald: the hopeful, romantic outsider looking in. He smiled understandingly—much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced—or seemed to face—the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Who cares how James Gatz became Jay Gatsby—bootlegger, or worse? Who would not want to be in such a presence, and call him friend? But it was years later—eight years ago—when I first met Bill Clinton through my Princeton classmate and friend Queen Noor of Jordan that those sentences came to life and recorded my experience of mortal, if presidential, charisma I could never have imagined outside the bounds of fiction. Clinton made Gatsby real; or perhaps Gatsby prefigured Clinton? Fitzgerald wanted his book to be a “consciously artistic achievement...I want to write something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned.” And he succeeded in spades. He later said that what he cut out of it, “both physically and emotionally, would make another novel.” In his first letter to Perkins—summer of 1922—about his “new” novel, Fitzgerald wrote that it would “concern less superlative beauties than I run to usually,” and “would center on a smaller period of time.” He was to change the period and locale as he began writing (it was originally set in the Midwest and New York around 1885), but he never abandoned his determination to limit the time frame and thus give a sharper focus to his plot and characters than he had done in his earlier two novels. And this, I think, was the result of his failed attempt to be a Broadway playwright. The special demands imposed by a play—a short work defined by acts and scenes, limited in time and setting—proved an ideal exercise in literary craftsmanship, which the young novelist sharpened through the long series of revisions while the play was in rehearsal. From Fitzgerald’s long-lost first draft of 1923, only a fragment survives in the form of the short story Absolution and two handwritten pages I discovered 30 years ago in a rare book shop here in New York: They reveal that Fitzgerald had already settled on the essential plot and locale of the final version, but the story was told in the third person. The next year he wrote to Perkins that he was now working on a “new angle”—I’m sure he meant through the eyes of his inspired narrator Nick Carraway. (It’s worth renting the video of the famous Redford film just to hear Sam Watterson tell the story—36 years before the final episodes of Law & Order!) In the flush of creativity, Fitzgerald wrote to his editor: “I feel I have enormous power in me now, more than I’ve ever had in a way, but it works so fitfully and with so many bogeys because I’ve talked so much and not lived enough within myself to develop the necessary self-reliance. Also I don’t know anyone 94 QUEST
who has used up so much personal experience as I have at 27.” Perkins, for his part, had grave reservations about the proposed title, Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires, and suggested that Fitzgerald return to The Great Gatsby, which he called effective and suggestive. He also commissioned at this early date—seven months before the author completed his manuscript—the most famous jacket painting of the past century, which we’ll consider as bit later. He continued to revise his draft from September to October, “working at high pressure to finish,” he wrote in his ledger. In November 1924, he mailed the manuscript to Perkins with a new title, Trimalchio in West Egg. He was to run through several others—Trimalchio, Gold-Hatted Gatsby, Gatsby, The High-Bouncing Lover, and On the Road to West Egg—before Perkins’s steady favorite was restored in time for publication. Most of the final revising was done directly on the printed galley proofs, which Fitzgerald treated almost as a clean typescript. (In fact the uncorrected galleys, titled Trimalchio, were published a decade ago, as if a distinct novel.) Then, just three weeks before publication on April 10, 1925, the nervous author cabled his editor from Paris: “Crazy about title Under the Red, White, and Blue.” But fortunately it was too late to change the title and our book was spared the fate of sounding like a George M. Cohan song. While writing an introduction to a new paperback edition of Gatsby, I decided to revive the original jacket, which is now an icon of the Jazz Age, and was most recently enlarged as a huge poster for Harbison’s opera at the Met. When Matthew Bruccoli discovered Cugat’s preliminary sketches for the Gatsby dust jacket in a country shop, serendipity allowed me at last to merge art history and literature. I’m a Gemini. For this once, thanks to Fitzgerald, my dual careers came into sync. Francis Cugat’s painting is the most celebrated and widely disseminated jacket art in 20th-century American literature, and perhaps of all time. After decades of oblivion, and several million copies later, like the novel it embellishes, this Art Deco tour de force has established itself as a classic of graphic art. At the same time, it represents a unique form of “collaboration” between author and jacket artist. Under normal circumstances, the artist illustrates a scene or motif conceived by the author; he lifts, as it were, his image from a page of the book. In this instance, however, the artist’s image preceded the finished manuscript and Fitzgerald actually maintained that he had “written it into” his book. Cugat’s small masterpiece is not illustrative, but symbolic, even iconic: The sad, hypnotic, heavily outlined eyes of a woman beam like headlights through a cobalt night sky. Below, on earth, brightly colored lights blaze before a metropolitan skyline. Cugat’s carnival imagery is especially intriguing in view of Fitzgerald’s pervasive use of light motifs throughout his novel; specifically, in metaphors for the latter-day Trimalchio, whose parties were illuminated by “enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden.” Nick sees “the whole corner of the peninsula...blazing with light” from Gatsby’s house “lit from tower to cellar.” When he tells Gatsby that his place “looks like the World’s Fair,” Gatsby proposes that they “go to Coney Island.” Fitzgerald had already introduced this symbolism in his story Absolution, originally intended as a
Legendary editor Max Perkins at his desk at Charles Scribner’s Sons. An early champion for Fitzgerald, Perkins served as editor to Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
prologue to the novel. At the end of the story, a priest encourages the boy who eventually developed into Jay Gatsby to go see an amusement park—“a thing like a fair only much more glittering” with “a big wheel made of lights turning in the air.” But, “don’t get too close,” he cautions, “because if you do you’ll only feel the heat and the sweat and the life.” Daisy’s face, says Nick, was “sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth.” In Cugat’s final painting, her celestial eyes enclose reclining nudes and her streaming tear is green—like the light “that burns all night” at the end of her dock, reflected in the water of the Sound that separates her from Gatsby. What Fitzgerald drew directly from Cugat’s art and “wrote into” the novel must ultimately remain an open question. The multicolored lights of Gatsby—whether votive or festive— seem a suitable image for a Fitzgerald banquet on Gatsby’s
Island, where my family and I were transplanted 28 years ago after several generations on the other side of the Hudson River. From our new vantage point, I cannot look out over the Sound, as I do each week, without smiling at Fitzgerald’s description: “The most domesticated body of salt water in the western hemisphere, the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound.” There is no longer a dock at the beach in Lattingtown, and, as the crow flies, we are in fact several miles east of East Egg. But occasionally I catch a glimpse of a green light reflected in the water, and each time I drive through the Valley of Ashes and approach the twinkling Manhattan skyline, I feel very much at home. The novel has made me a native. One wise teacher once told me that the ultimate function of art is to reconcile us to life. Fitzgerald’s prose is life-enhancing; its evocative power endures. That is why I have no doubt he must be beaming—from the other side of Paradise. u OCTO B ER 2 0 1 1 9 5
Hollywood Glamour Takes Manhattan produced by daniel cappello Photographed by mimi ritzen crawford all jewelry by van cleef & arpels a l l w a t c h e s b y r o l e x w a t c h USA
every fall, a group of dedicated individuals works tirelessly to create the dazzling Rita Hayworth Gala, benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association. This year’s 28th annual gala, “Hollywood Glamour,” pays homage to the elegance and allure of Rita Hayworth’s Hollywood. Held on October 25th, the gala calls our attention to the quest for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. To date, more than $55 million has been raised through past galas for the care, support, and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. Here, we feature the leadership of this year’s gala, including founder and general chair, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, gala chairs Jay and Anne Hearst McInerney, steering committee members Margo MacNabb Nederlander and Robin Meltzer, and 2011 honoree Somers Farkas, who is being recognized for her fundraising and volunteer efforts with the Rita Hayworth Award. Fittingly, they have been photographed in some of New York’s most glamorous spaces—inside the timelessly classic Surrey Hotel. u 96 QUEST
The 2011 honoree, Somers Farkas, in a purple Paola Quadretti dress, is photographed with her mother, Caramine Kellam, also in Paola Quadretti, in the living room of the Penthouse Suite at The Surrey Hotel.
Margo MacNabb Nederlander in the lobby entrance of The Surrey Hotel, adjacent to the in-hotel restaurant, CafĂŠ Boulud. Margo wears a jacket by Naeem Khan.
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Gala founder and general chair, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, in a dress by Naeem Khan, at the entrance to The Surrey Hotel’s Penthouse Suite.
Gala co-chairs Anne Hearst McInerney and Jay McInerney in the lofty Penthouse Suite at The Surrey Hotel. Anne wears a Naeem Khan dress. Jay’s tuxedo is by Gieves & Hawkes of Savile Row, his bow tie, studs, and cufflinks are by Ralph Lauren. All hair styling by Luden Ovidio Henriquez and all makeup by Sandy Linter, both for Rita Hazan Salon. Shoot assistants: Mariya Chekmarova, Robert Evans, and Grace Whitney.
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Robin Meltzer wears a dress by Naeem Khan. She is photographed in the Penthouse Suite, with access to a private garden.
life in pictures BY GEORGINA SCHAEFFER
Gordon Parks once said, “Subject matter is so much more im-
portant than the photographer.” Best known for his photo assignments for Life magazine, Parks’ groundbreaking work is preserved today by the Gordon Parks Foundation, a division of the Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation. The foundation, which houses three major photographic collections, is overseen by Peter Kunhardt Jr., the grandson of Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., who worked with Parks at Life. After years of cataloging, more than 100,000 images are available to the public at SUNY Purchase in Westchester. The Meserve-Kunhardt Collection began in 1897 by Frederick Hill Meserve (Philip Kunhardt’s grandfather) as a private collection of Above: Husband and Wife, Sunday Morning, Fort Scott, 1949; Right: Woman and Dog in Window, 1943. Both photographs by Gordon Parks.
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This spread, clockwise from top: Muhammad Ali, 1970; Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1951; Jackie Stoloff, Paris Fashions, 1950. All photographs by Gordon Parks
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photographs, artifacts, and documents from the 19th and early20th centuries that focus on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Historian Harold Holzer said: “There’s only one other family that’s contributed more to our understanding of America’s most enduring leader, and that’s the Lincolns themselves.” Peter Kunhardt Jr., who is the director of the foundation, explains, “I’m the fifth generation to be working with the Collection, Meserve was simply an image collector who was illustrating his father’s war diary. My great-grandmother Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt (author of the children’s book Pat the Bunny) and my grandfather continued to study and write about the collection during their lives. It wasn’t until it was passed down to my father Peter Kunhardt and uncle Philip B. Kunhardt III in 2002 that they started the foundation.” In 2007, the Gordon Parks Foundation was established to
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Above: Paris Fashions, 1950. Photograph by Gordon Parks. Below right: First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy, 1961. Photograph by Ed Clark. Opposite, from top: a portrait of President Lincoln; a 19th-century photograph of freed slaves. Both from the Meserve-Kunhardt Collection.
preserve and protect Parks’ work. “His work will be in good hands and we are all going to work hard to make it available for future generations,” said Gene Young, Parks’ former wife and executor of his estate. The foundation will launch a major publication next year for Parks’ centennial. In 2009, the Ed Clark Photography Collection was gifted to the foundation by Clark’s widow who wanted to keep her husband’s work together and preserve his legacy. Clark, who was also a Life photographer and friend of Parks and Kunhardt, is most well known for his pictures of the Kennedys. The foundation intends to publish a book and hold an exhibition in 2013. The year 2012 will mark the 10th anniversary of foundation, and although it has only been 10 years, it has been many more in the making. These images speak for themselves. Perhaps best said in the words of John Szarkowski, former director of photography at MoMA, “It isn’t what a picture is of, it is what it is about.” u OC T O B ER 2 0 1 1 1 0 7
all photographs courtesy of Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation
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“I shall treasure it forever—as a reminder of such happy days—when we were all together...” wrote Jackie Kennedy about this photograph of JFK and baby Caroline in a thank-you letter to photographer Ed Clark in 1964.
JFK with baby Caroline, 1958. Photograph by Ed Clark.
skipping down the runway By daniel cappello P h o t o g r a p h e d B y j o e S CHILDHORN
about to descend upon New York, the halls of fashion were abuzz about certain runway models. But they weren’t talking about Chanel, Natalia, or Karolina. Instead, the likes of Kacey, Paige, and Kaylyn—the young models for the first-ever Ralph Lauren Girls Fashion Show—were being chattered about. For the first time, Ralph Lauren and Saks Fifth Avenue invited a group of girls, along with their mothers, to experience an exclusive fashion show held in Ralph Lauren’s corporate
headquarters. Must-have items from the 2011 Fall and Holiday Collections were sported down the runway by young girls of varying ages. With friends in the audience cheering them on, the models showed off some 34 looks, all of which defined the bohemian, feminine-meets-sporty chic of the season. At this show, New York’s bold-faced fashion regulars—such as Alexis Bryan Morgan, Alexandra Lind Rose, Stephanie WinstonWolkoff, and Veronica M. Beard—sat in unfamiliar territory, second row. Moms, take note: Front row is now for the girls. u
J o e S c h i l d h o r n / B FA nyc . co m
earlier this season, as Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was
The crowd applauded as Ralph Lauren, accompanied by Jasmine (in a vintage-wash denim cropped jacket with faux fur), made a surprise appearance to conclude the show. Opposite: the runway, pre-show. O C TO B ER 2 0 1 1 1 1 1
From left: Zhu Zhu’s look includes the red and cream snowflake sweater with button shoulder detail, black ribbed skating skirt with red tipping, and black patent-leather flats; Ava wears the faded indigo/heather intarsia horse sweater, heritage white batiste lace-trim blouse, dark indigo skinny cargo jeans, and brown herringbone rain boots; Kacey, with the faux shearling messenger bag, wears a country floral mix-print chiffon dress, cream cotton-knit henley top, and chocolate suede boots. O C TO B ER 2 0 1 1 1 1 3
The girls are all smiles both backstage and then making their way down the runway, including Macey (bottom right), in the red and black patchwork toggle coat with faux fur collar, and Kacey (bottom center), in the finale look: a black and red trimmed military coat, cream silkchiffon ruffled blouse, black stretch velveteen skinny cargo pant, with a puppy in the reindeer holiday sweater. Opposite: Amanda Brooks and Lauren Dupont (top) with Coco Brooks, Eva Dupont, and Lila Dupont (bottom).
Here, Kacey wears the indigo vintage military jacket with a white cotton batiste lacetrimmed blouse, brown stretch corduroy riding pant, and tan leather biker buckle boots. Opposite: Isabelle wears the red-and-black brushed cotton twill plaid tucked tunic shirt and black pointelle lace-knit top. Pictured, from top: Molly Van Antwerp Fox with Kate Dimmock; Deborah Roberts and Nathalie Kaplan; Blair Husain with Hannah Husain.
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GHOST HUNT By georgina schaeffer
Nancy Spungen at the Chelsea Hotel. John Lennon at the Dakota. Uptown, downtown, and literally all around town—New York has her share of (alleged) ghosts. In this brief guide, you will find the traditionally haunted places—cemeteries, churches, and such. But, notably, inside some of New York’s oldest taverns and Broadway theaters, is a spook or two (and in one case, more than 100), along with a quirky tidbit of the city’s history. As varied as the current residents of New York, this colorful cast of ghostly characters ranges from literary wits like Dorothy Parker to historical figures like Aaron Burr. In the immortal words of the Ghostbusters: “Who you gonna call?” Happy Halloween!
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The Belasco Theater is haunted by the self-proclaimed “Bishop of Broadway,� David Belasco. He is often seen accompanied by a woman and congratulates actors after the performance. Opposite: Both Nancy Spungen and Dylan Thomas are said to be haunting the halls of the famous The Chelsea Hotel.
Algonquin Hotel Guests have reported seeing many members of the hotel’s literary round table, but it’s Dot Parker who specifically spooks small children when they are in the Rose Room. Bridge Cafe Originally a pirate bar, the building dates to 1794. Still lurking around from its earlier days is Ms. Gallus Mag, the six-foot Irish bouncer, who would bite or cut off the ears of misbehaving customers and pickle them in jars. Belasco Theater Self-proclaimed “The Bishop of Broadway” David Belasco lived in the apartment above his theater until his death. Known as a ladies’ man, Belasco is said to watch a show from the balcony with a woman in blue. He has also been known to congratulate actors and tinker with the elevator (no longer in service) where a showgirl fell down the elevator shaft. Brittany Hotel Now an NYU dorm, footsteps are often reported. One resident claims the ghost’s name is Molly. Chelsea Hotel Both Dylan Thomas and Sid Vicious’s girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, are said to be spending part of their time here. Chumley’s Former bar mistress and owner Henrietta Chumley comes to drink a Manhattan and messes with the jukebox. The Dakota In addition to being the set for Rosemary’s Baby, the building is said to have several ghosts: contruction workers saw the ghost of a young man and painters saw a girl in turn-of-the-
Clockwise from top left: this drawing illustrates Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr defending Weeks in the murder case of his fiancée Elma Sands. Weeks was acquitted despite strong evidence of his guilt; Weeks killed Sands and dropped her body down this well located in the basement of Manhattan Bistro; at the New Amsterdam Theater, Olive Thomas appears when audiences have left. She is said to carry a bottle of her husband’s syphilis pills, which she used to kill herself. Opposite: the headless ghost of George Frederick Cook haunts Saint Paul’s burial ground. His skull was used in productions of Hamlet.
century clothing. But John Lennon is the star ghost here. Ear Inn Mickey, a sailor who was killed outside this bar, haunts this one-time boarding house. Empire State Building Sightings of a woman dressed in 1940s clothing have been reported on the Observatory Deck. “The House of Death” The brownstone is believed to be haunted by the 22 people who died in the house, as well as Mark Twain (he lived there for a year), who is said to haunt the stairwell. Landmark Tavern Opened in 1868, the waiters believe it is haunted by an Irish girl and a confederate soilder. Manhattan Bistro Elma Sands, who was most likely murdered by her fiancée Levi Weeks, haunts the well in this restaurant’s basement. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr defended Weeks at trial and got him off for the crime despite strong evidence he was guilty. There’s also a ghost of an artist who hung himself. Merchant House Museum Gertrude Tredwell is thought to be watching over her family home where she died in 1933. Morris-Jumel Mansion The oldest house in Manhattan is rumored to have multiple ghosts: a servant girl, a soilder from the American Revolution, and Eliza Jumel. Jumel was having an affair with Aaron Burr when her husband died after falling out a window onto a pitch fork. She’s been seen wandering the grounds in a white dress. In 1965 (100 years after her death), she shushed a bunch of school children wearing a purple dress. New Amsterdam Theater The ghost of Ziegfield Follies chorus
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girl, Olive Thomas, has been spotted on stage and in the dressing rooms. Thomas killed herself by overdosing on her husband’s syphilis medication and she appears carrying a bottle of pills while wearing her green beaded dress, headpiece, and sash. Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral Nineteenth-century hairdresser Pierre Toussaint haunts the area, as does the ghost of Bishop Dubois. One if by Land, Two if by Sea Once the site of Aaron Burr’s carriage house (as well as Steve McQueen’s apartment), this spot is said to be haunted by Burr’s daughter, Theodosia who was lost at sea aboard the schooner, Patriot. She is said to remove the earrings of female customers at the bar. Burr visits as well. The Palace Theatre The theatre is said to have more than 100 ghosts (a girl near the balcony, a cellist in the orchestra pit, an apparition of a boy near the mezzanine, and Judy Garland near a
Opposite: The Morris-Jummel House, the oldest house in New York, is haunted by Eliza Jumel who married Aaron Burr after her husband suspiciously died. Her most famous appearance was 100 years after her death. Above: One if By Land, Two if By Sea, where Aarron Burr’s daughter, Theodosia, who was lost at sea, is said to play with women’s earrings. Below: the Dakota has several ghosts in house, most famously—John Lennon.
private door she used). The one to watch out for is the acrobat, an “omen” ghost, which if you see means you are soon to die. Radio City Music Hall Builder Samuel Roxy Rothafel has been seen on opening nights accompanied by a glamorous woman. St.Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery Four ghosts haunt this church, including the Dutch colonist, Peter Stuyvesant. Church attendents report a tapping sound of his wooden peg leg. St. Paul’s Chapel Burial Ground The headless ghost of English actor George Frederick Cook haunts this ground. He donated his head to science to pay his bills; his skull was used in multiple productions of Hamlet. Trinity Church There have been reports of laughter coming near one of the tombstones in the cemetary late at night. Washington Square Park The Park was used as a hanging ground during the Revolution (Hangman’s Elm still stands), and later a burial ground to some 20,000 bodies. There have been many claims of apparitions walking around the park late at night. White Horse Tavern Dylan Thomas died after drinking 18 shots of whiskey at this bar in 1953. He is usually spotted at his favorite table, although he also has been seen stumbling outside. u
“As varied as the current residents of New York, this colorful cast of ghostly characters range from literary wits like Dorothy Parker to historical figures like Aaron Burr.�
art for africa B y F R A N C E S S C H U LT Z
“The Reign,” 2010, a mixed-media sculpture by Mary Sibande. Opposite: “Nguya and his 201 lb. Nile Perch,” by Peter Beard, with drawings in the margins by African artists he trained.
J o h n Ho d g k i ss co u rt e s y o f Ga lle ry M o M o / P e te r B e ar d S t u d i o
The pen, they say, is mightier than the sword; but the
paintbrush is right up there with it. The power of art to engage is also the power to attract attention—and funds—this fall for a cause championed by a handful of New Yorkers and supported across the U.S., U.K., and Africa. A gala dinner on Oct. 12 heralds
the main event on Nov. 17, when Sotheby’s New York hosts the first U.S. Art for Africa auction with works by rock-star-status American and African artists to benefit Africa Foundation’s work for orphaned and vulnerable children in southern and eastern Africa. Charity auctions are not new, but what distinguishes OCTO B ER 2 0 1 1 1 2 5
Right: “Magritte Ramme with World Record Ivory,” a print with watercolor and tempura paint by Beard. His photographs are framed with drawings done by other African arists. Beard, Beezy Bailey, Sibande, and many others will have their works auctioned off at Sotheby’s first-ever U.S. Art for Africa event. Below: Beard and his wife Nejma, who was born in Kenya, relax in Montauk.
this sale is its collaborative nature and the participants’ direct connection to the cause. For this November auction, famed photographer, author, and New Yorker Peter Beard has contributed a show-stopping piece depicting model Magritte Ramme poised between world record elephant tusks laid on the floor of London’s Natural History Museum. The photographs were taken while Beard and Magritte toured the museum. Beard asked the guard to turn his head, and Magritte ripped off her clothes and posed. Selected by Beard’s wife Nejma, who was born in Kenya and serves as executive director of the Peter Beard Studio, the 1 2 6 Q U EST
piece is classic Beard: gorgeous, fastidiously composed, subtly menacing, and exuberantly embellished in the margins with drawings done by African artists that Beard trained at his Hog Ranch in Kenya. Beard settled in Kenya after graduating from Yale in 1961, acquiring the farm next to Out of Africa author Karen Blixen (Isak Denisen). After Blixen’s death, her devoted house steward, Kamante Gatura, came to live at the Hog Ranch and became the first of many local artists Beard trained. The colorful, animated, and occasionally naughty drawings by Kamante and others famously embellish Beard’s work.
J o h n Ru ss e ll / P e te r B e ar d S T u D i o
Beard’s old Montauk running-mate, the late Andy Warhol, is represented in the auction, as well as Alex Katz, Alexander Calder, Donald Baechler, Paul Balmer, Ross Bleckner, Nick Cave, E.V. Day, Thornton Dial, Caio Fonseca, Gary Komarin, Julian Lethbridge, Matt Magee, Nabil Nahas, Hunt Slonem, Shinique Smith, Jeff Sonhouse, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, and Purvis Young. Three of the big names from South Africa include Beezy Bailey, Dylan Lewis, and rising star Mary Sibande, who created a stir this summer at the Venice Biennale. Her arresting installations depict the fraught circumstances of domestic women workers as
evocations of a history and culture in conflict. Sibande uses a character called Sophie in a series of life-size sculptures and photographic prints. Sophie lives in a dream world. “If she can dream it, she can do it,” Sibande says. She dresses her in blue fabric typical of worker uniforms and laborer overalls. Defiantly, however, Sibande makes these uniforms into enormous and elaborate ball gowns in which Sophie explores a lavish world of no limits, in stark contradiction to a worker’s life in apartheid-era South Africa. One of Sibande’s Venice pieces was snapped up by New York collector Beth DeWoody, who coincidentally traveled to Africa OCTO B ER 2 0 1 1 1 2 7
with Africa Foundation (U.S.) board chair Krista Krieger for a first-hand look at the foundation’s work. DeWoody, Sibande, and the Beards are honorary chairs of the Oct. 12 preview gala. The New York auction sails on the estimable coattails of London’s inaugural Art for Africa auction held by Sotheby’s in September 2009, which was attended by hundreds and raised hundreds of thousands for the foundation: £475,000, (U.S. $750,000). British sculptor Antony Gormley’s Standing Matter XX brought in £130,000 ($205,000), and six artists set record prices for their works sold at auction. Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker noted in the catalog that the sale represented “the most comprehensive to date” of works by South African artists. The success surprised even the most optimistic organizers, says Africa Foundation (U.K.) CEO Susannah Friend. “We never imagined it as more than a one-off thing, but as soon as the exhibit was installed at Sotheby’s and we saw the reactions of people, how emotional their response was, we knew they were forming a bond to Art for Africa.” Seizing the moment, Krieger and fellow board member Jenny Kennedy urged their British counterparts to keep a good thing going. “So we are taking this infant concept and developing it, and adapting it to another country,” Friend says. “The gala preview dinner, for example, is a very American concept.” Looking to the future, she says, “There could be opportunities to grow and do other projects under that banner worldwide.” Before the last gavel landed in London, Krieger and her team began marshalling forces in New York. “Eliza Osborne at Sotheby’s has been a champion, and Sotheby’s has been incredibly generous to us,” Krieger notes. Board members Kennedy, Michele Gradin, Rob Irmas, yours truly, and advisory members Flo Fulton, Nina Griscom, and Sue Devitt, have been active advocates as well. Their hope is to make the Art for Africa New York sale the largest single fundraiser in the charity’s history. “What’s also exciting for us,” Krieger says, “is that people who might never have paid attention to Africa Foundation are now aware of it because of the auction. Because of the diversity of work and the broad range of prices, the auction is widely accessible,” she adds. There is a feel-good bonus in acquiring— 1 2 8 Q U EST
at any price—an artwork whose value is not only aesthetic but humanitarian, too. Sotheby’s is pleased as well, says Scott Nussbaum, Sotheby’s contemporary art specialist, who adds that the first sale in London “saw enormous enthusiasm from collectors for works by some of the rising stars of African contemporary art.” Here, here, Krieger says. “The collateral benefit for artists is huge.” The exposure of African artists to the U.S. and U.K. markets is a boon. “We’re helping children in Africa and artists,” she says. Lead sponsor Northern Trust is known for its philanthropic efforts to support education, the arts, and people in need, and chairman and CEO Frederick H. Waddell says this auction covers all three bases. Also appealing to an ask-weary audience is the efficient, grass-roots organization of the foundation itself. Funds go directly to the communities. “People ask me all the time how we know the money is being well-spent,” Krieger says, “and the answer is we never just hand over the cash. We spend it directly on the goods and services needed to build the classroom, or equip the clinic; then we go to see it. Most importantly, the communities are involved every step of the way.” When the project is complete, there is an official hand-over ceremony to the community. “And we embarrass the government into coming and building more schools,” Krieger adds, only halfjoking. This actually happened in a South African village: Within two years of the foundation’s formal hand-over of a new double classroom, the government came in and built boys’ and girls’ bathrooms and six more classrooms. Take that! meets Win-win. The foundation’s areas of focus are education, healthcare and water provision, and income-generating activities. Last year, the U.S. foundation raised close to $1 million to build facilities and to support programs, including women’s craftsfor-sale programs across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, and Kenya. u For more information, contact Krista Krieger at Krista@ africafoundation.org or 917.929.7400.
“...Of Prosperity,” 2011, a mixed-media, life-size fiberglass sculpture by Mary Sibande—a piece that was on exhibit at the South African Pavillion in Venice Biennale where Sibande was deemed a rising star for her arresting installations. Opposite, from top: an archival print entitled,“They don’t make them like they used to...” 2008; artist Sibande rigs
K e n da ll B u st e r co u rt e s y o f Ga lle ry M O M O
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her sculpture, “The Reign.”
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K l opp
What the Chairs Wear Last month, founder of What2WearWhere.com, Karen Klopp, debuted the first What the Chairs Wear column. This month, Klopp answers the eternal question, ™
“What do I wear?” with a sizzling dress, accessories, and shoes that make a perfect ensemble for “Rock the Cashbah,” the Boys’ Club of New York’s annual fall dance.
This year’s vibrant chairs, Danielle Ganek, Anjali Melwani, Betsy Pitts, Marina Purcell; and vice chairs, Sloan Overstrom and Elizabeth Pyne, are belly-dancing to their own beat as they fashion a Moroccan-themed soirée for the Boys’ Club annual fall dance. The Pierre Hotel will be transformed into the “sheik”-est scene on Oct. 19, featuring a luscious feast, recently prepared for Mohammed VI, the king of Morocco. 136 QUEST
Since 1876, the Boys’ Club of New York has positively influenced the lives of nearly a million young men by offering programs that nourish creativity and focus on character development, academic achievement, and physical fitness. u For more information, visit bcny.org. For fall dance inquiries, contact Claude Barilleaux at Claude.Barilleaux@bcny.org.
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Fragrant Tanjine spices inspired this Badgley Mischka paprika gown from Neiman Marcus (1), which is accessorized with gold shoes and a leopard bag from Stuart Weitzman (5 &6), and iconic Alhambra jewelry by Van Cleef & Arpels, including the “Vintage Alhambra” 20 motif necklace in 18-kt. rose gold (3), the “Magic Alhambra” 2 ear-clips (4), and the “Magic Alhambra” 5 motif bracelet (2) with tiger’s eye and carnelian set in 18-kt. gold—turning up the heat to a spicy simmer!
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OCTOBER 2011 137
a p p e a r a n c es
fashion forward fÊte by hilary geary
Daphne Guinness and Liz Peek at the FIT luncheon celebrating the new show of Daphne Guinness’s clothes.
Come September, everyone is back in town feeling refreshed from the summer and in the back-to-school frame of mind. They are ready to shake the sand out of those summer sandals and pop on the Louboutins to embrace the city. Right after Labor 138 QUEST
Day, the action started with MercedesBenz Fashion Week, days of nonstop fashion shows, festivities, and events. We took in a day of shows, starting with Michael Kors who “gets it” every single time. He just knows how modern women want to dress, and this year’s
“Safari” theme was inspired by his recent African adventure—just right for the wilderness of New York City. I spotted Celia and Silas Chou with their pretty daughter, Hilary and Galen Weston, Michael Douglas, Lawrence Stroll, Annalia and John Idol, Jamee
Gregory, Blaine Trump, Muffie Potter Aston, and more. The next stop was Douglas Hannant’s show of luxurious outfits that will take you to all the swell spots around town. The gals included Grace Meigher, Audrey Gruss, Cece Cord, Gillian Miniter, Jill Fairchild, Bettina Zilkha, and more. After the show, the designer graciously hosted a lunch of scrumptious lobster salad in the Palm Court at the Plaza. Last stop was Chado Ralph Rucci’s beautiful show with timeless designs that are absolutely irresistible. On another day, all the gals popped into their Valentino Red to pay homage to every fashionista’s hero: the one and only Valentino, who was honored at the Couture Council of the Museum at FIT’s fifth annual fall luncheon.
collection. The ladies in attendance included Liz Peek, Susan Gutfreund, Charlotte Moss, Adrienne Vittadini, Yaz Hernandez, Alexandra Lebenthal, Eleanora Kennedy, and more. Let’s not forget the nighttime! The fall benefit season kicked off with the 9/11 memorial dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street. This sold-out event accommodated the overflow by also hosting a benefit breakfast. You must see this truly beautiful memorial, a tribute to the precious lives lost on that terrible day 10 years ago. Supporters in attendance included Pat and Johnny Rosenwald, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Cynthia and John C. Whitehead, Suzanne and Woody Johnson, Veronica and Ray Kelly, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Libby and George Pataki, Christy Ferer, Beth DeWoody, Emily and John
on Oct. 27, supporting the restoration of Winston Churchill’s birthplace This time of year, the restaurants are hard to get into because they are packed. Even on a “quiet” night at Sette Mezzo, we spotted Larry Gagosian, Donna and Bill Acquavella with Anne and Ken Griffin at one table, David Patrick Columbia and Kathryn Steinberg at another, Catie and Don Marron with their family, and tucked in the back we saw the star baseball player Hideki Matsui there too! At La Grenouille on another evening, we saw Barbra Streisand and her husband James Brolin in a banquet and Liz and Felix Rohatyn in another one. At Le Cirque, I spotted Alfy and Raysa Fanjul with his brother and sister-in-law Pepe and Emilia, plus more family members. Speaking of Le Cirque, that is where
From left: Celia and Silas Chou and their daughter at Michael Kors; Michael Arad and Johnny Rosenwald at the 9/11 memorial dinner.
Another FIT luncheon took place at Leviev jewelry store, a tiny jewel of a shop filled with enormous diamonds, to toast fashion icon Daphne Guinness and the Couture Council, as FIT had a “do-not-miss” show of Daphne’s stunning clothing and accessories
Rafferty, Bill Rudin, and more. There are many more benefits later in the month, so mark your calendars: Oct. 19 for the Boys’ Club of New York’s annual benefit—this year’s theme is “Rock the Casbah.” Also, do not forget the Blenheim Foundation at Sotheby’s
Kathy Hilton launched her terrific new clothing line. Among those toasting the talented designer were Cornelia Guest, Anne Hearst and Jay McInerney, Mark Gilbertson, Bettina Zilkha, Sharon Bush, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Debbie Bancroft, and more. u OC T OB E R 2 0 1 1 1 3 9
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THE YOUNG & THE GUEST LIST From Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center to the Liberty Ball, honoring the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2011, our columnist spent September dashing around town, stopping at a Cinema Society screening or two. by Elizabeth quinn Brown
Selma Blair and Lauren Santo Domingo chat before viewing the J. Mendel Fashion Show from the first row.
Christina Hendricks and Olivia Munn pose together at the Hudson Hotel on Sept. 12.
Cassady Nordeen browses pieces from lia sophia’s budika collection.
Jessica Szohr and Sarah Jessica Parker at the after-party for a Cinema Society screening.
Haleigh Breest and Nicholas Hunt after a
getty images for lia sophia / patrick mcmullan
screening of I Don’t Know How She Does It.
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen in the first row at
Mary Alice Stephenson, Dani Stahl, and
the J. Mendel Fashion Show on Sept. 14.
Elena Kiam at the lia sophia suite.
The advent of autumn: apple cider doughnuts, Exeter/ Andover, flannel sheets, foliage, homecoming, ice hockey (Go Rangers!), pumpkin-flavored everything, wool sweaters. It’s more than a season, really—and that’s something every New Englander understands. So, zip the lining into your Barbour, purchase some Halloween-themed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Skittles, and enjoy! Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was, of course, a swirl of flashing lights, lights, and lusting after the latest clothing. Also, lots and lots of Liquiteria. When I felt like I was about to faint, I ate a cube of cheese—or a free Fiber One bar. Day after day, I walked across Lincoln Center Plaza, observing bloggers flock to Bryanboy or Man Repeller. At Jill Stuart with Alex Polkinghorn, I spotted hotpants, pastel hues, and pleating; at Vivienne Tam, I saw pops of color,
kimono sleeves, and suiting; at Tibi with Sam Dangremond, I spotted floor-skimming lengths, muted tones, and shorts suits; at J. Mendel, I saw black-and-navy looks, fur accents, and high slits...and not one, but two Olsens! For me, the 10-day event was complete with a visit to the lia sophia suite at the Empire Hotel where Elena Kiam and Dani Stahl introduced the boudika collection. (It would’ve been more complete if Nicki Minaj or Hilary Rhoda had decided to respond to my tweets.) Anyway, I left Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week concluding that it will always be more exciting to scramble for first row seats than to be assigned them. The Cinema Society hosted a series of screenings and after-parties, beginning with the premiere of I Don’t Know How She Does It, with Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Christina Hendricks, Olivia Munn, Kelsey Grammer, OCTOBER 2011 141
and Seth Meyers, on Sept. 12. At the event, co-hosted by the Weinstein Company, guests mixed with members of the cast at the Hudson Hotel. Sophia Bush and Emma Roberts, both of whom were super see–and–be–seen at the tents, made an appearance. Casually. On the 14th, a screening of Gus Van Sant’s Restless was hosted by the Cinema Society with Dior Homme and GQ. The after-party was at the Electric Room at Dream Downtown, the latest from Nur Khan. There, guests like Ryan McGinley, Michelle Monaghan, and Cynthia Rowley, lounged on the distressed leather and wine-colored velvet couches. On the 15th, Caroline Smith and I attended a screening of Straw Dogs at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. After collecting a couple of cocktails, I muploaded (uploaded via mobile) some pictures of James Marsden and Aaron Skarsgard. Then, the theater dimmed for a film described by the
Jill Stuart presented her Spring 2012 collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on Sept. 10.
Society screening of Straw Dogs; James Marsden and Kate Bosworth on Sept. 15.
director as “genre-less.” (Whatever the genre was, it was intense.) The Liberty Ball honored the 10-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, on Sept. 10 at Gotham Hall. The event was hosted by Sumeria Group, founded by Nick Moseley and Alex Widen, friends from the Middlesex School. Guests like Padget Crossman, Briggs Fraser, Medora Hartz, Alexandra Oelsner, and Tripp Potter toasted the event with ales from sponsor Cisco Brewers, a Nantucket-based microbrewery and microdistillery. After the White Panda performed, guests trickled uptown to Dorrian’s and downtown to Southside. The month of October promises to be sweet. On the 22nd, the Far Hills Races a.k.a. “The Hunt” a.k.a. a celebration of rubber boots, mimosas, and waxed cotton. On the 28th, the Adeona Foundation’s fifth annual Cowboys and Indians Halloween Hoe-Down. So, cowboy or indian? Personally, I’m about face paint, forever and ever, amen. u
m e d o r a h a rt z / pat r i c k m c m u ll a n
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From left: Andrew Skarsgard at the Cinema
Wells Ross, Peter Gronlund, Kerry Powers, and Michelle Walker at Gotham Hall.
Alex Widen, David Paine, and Nick Moseley at the Liberty Ball—Alex and Nick founded Sumeria Group, which hosted.
Luigi Tadini at the Jill Stuart Fashion Show on Sept. 10.
Sebastian Pinto Thomaz, Ellie Guadiana, and Nina Platt on Sept. 10.
A reporter from E! interviewed Jill Stuart before her show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
Melissa George and Michelle Monaghan at the Electric Room at Dream Downtown.
Kris Humphries and Scott Disick seated in the first
Kenza Fourati at the after-party for
row at the Jill Stuart Fashion Show on Sept. 10.
the Cinema Society screening of Restless. OCTOBER 2011 143
SNAPSHOT
John Quidor’s “The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane” (1858); Below, from left: Washington Irving’s home; tombstone; and gravesite.
the Spooky stuff of legend “ON mounting a rising round, which brought the
figure of his fellow-traveller in relief against the sky, gigantic in height, and muffled in a cloak, Ichabod was horror-struck on perceiving that he was headless!—but his horror was still more increased on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders, was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle!” weaves The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (1783-1859). The short story, set in Dutch-settled Tarrytown, N.Y., after the Revolutionary War, follows Ichabod Crane as he 144 QUEST
competes with Brom Bones for the attention of Katrina Van Tassel. After Ichabad encounters the ghost of a Hessian soldier whose head was removed by a cannonball, he disappears. Was it a spook, or a spirited horseman in disguise who frightened Ichabad? Today, the tale continues to haunt the area, and visits to Irving’s home and its surrounding scenes are fun in fall with graveyard tours and hayrides. So, in the advent of Halloween, venture festively up the Hudson River; but be prepared for anything, trick or treat!—Elizabeth Quinn Brown
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