5.18.07: It's a Wild Life | New York Social Diary

It's a Wild Life

An alligator out for a petting at the Central Park Zoo for last night's Wildlife Conservation Society's Spring fundraiser.

All you wonderful NYSD readers who have been somewhat (very?) confused by certain aspects of the re-design and how to find previous postings that you may have missed: we are about to remedy that BUT in the meantime – previous postings are actually easy to find: on the Right Hand Column of each section’s page, is a BLUE SIDEBAR. That sidebar contains the last two weeks of postings for that section. So when you click on Social Diary and arrive at that page, look for the BLUE SIDEBAR on the right, under the first ad.

The remedy making it even simpler is on its way, but like everything else in cyberland re-design, it takes time. Sorry.

End of the week. Just beginning to wind down the Spring social season in New York. And it’s been a very very busy one this year. The NYSD May calendar, for example, has had more than 200 events posted. And those are just the ones we know about.

Leonard and Allison Stern

Last night was jammed with activities, but we hit only two. The first was “Safari! Madagascar” -- the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Spring fundraiser which took place, as it does every year at the Central Park Zoo.

The evening began at 6:30 under partly sunny skies fortunately (we had a lot of rain the night before last) with cocktails around the sea lion pool, with a performance by some of the sea lions and their trainers, with a commentary by one of the zoo staff.

Did you know that sea lions can stay underwater for as long as fifteen minutes? And that they can also swim up to 25 miles an hour when being pursued by a predator or doing a little pursuing themselves? And on land they can run at a rate of 11 miles an hour? Faster than you or I.

Also during the cocktail hour, there was a visit with the zoo’s Florida alligator (with his handlers keeping hands on the reptile). I remarked to one of the curators that the creature seemed fairly calm, considering he was surrounded by guests. It was explained that Mr. Gator has been in residence in the zoo for the past 25 years and so “he’s used to being around people.” Okay.

Also, “he’s well-fed and not hungry, right?” I asked. Right. After an hour or so of visits and people touching (caressing?) Mr. Gator (his skin is flaky), a half dozen handlers carried the old boy back to his lair where I’m sure he was much happier with his privacy.

When cocktail hour was over, the hundreds of guests adjourned to their tables and dancing among the polar bears and penguins.

This annual gala was chaired by: Darlene and Brian Heidtke, Katharina Otto-Bernstein and Nathan Bernstein, Allison and Leonard Stern, Ann and Andrew Tisch, Ann and Thomas Unterberg, and Priscilla and Ward Woods. They raised more than $1 million last night.

Monday’s Diary will carry more on the gala and more pictures. In the meantime, if you check out our latest Philanthropy entry, you can read about the beautiful and wonderful Allison Stern, one of the driving forces behind the Wildlife Conservation Society.

A butterfly greeting the guests

Dennis Basso and Michael Cominotto

Dailey and Gordon Pattee

Bonnie and Senator Frank Lautenberg

Nathan Bernstein and Katharina Otto-Bernstein

Deborah Norville and Karl Wellner

Kelley Graham, Susie Hayes, and John Barman

Bettina Zilkha

Missy Taylor

After leaving the Central Park Zoo, we went down to the Russian Tea Room on 57th Street, just down from Carnegie Hall where Hollywould, the fashion label was hosting a benefit for TAPS.

Bonnie Carroll and Dan Sudnick of TAPS

NYSD readers are familiar with the red, white and blue TAPS ads on our pages. TAPS stands fore Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. It’s a wondeful organization that supports the family members of those lost in military service. It’s nonpartisan, with strong support from both political parties. And it's totally privately funded and very deserving of the support of all of us.

The goal of last night’s event was only to support the many families who have lost loved ones in this war. The funds they raised will enable TAPS to meet its mission of caring for the loved ones of our brave Soldiers, Marines, Airman and Sailors, both on active duty and in the National Guard and Reserves.

With the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, TAPS receives requests for help from more than a dozen new families a day, many with children under the age of 8 who are struggling to deal with the death of a significant adult in their life, a big brother, sister or a mother or a father. How many of us ever think about that aspect of this war? For a small child losing a parent, it is something he or she will think about maybe for the rest of his or her life. Anything we can contribute can help. www.TAPS.org.

Meanwhile, today’s NYSD HOUSE features an “The Way They Live” interview with Brooke Hayward Duchin, one of our favorite people in the world.

Brooke is a true child of Hollywood, the eldest daughter of the late actress Margaret Sullavan and agent/producer Leland Hayward. She grew up in California and in Connecticut on a farm in Litchfield called “Haywire,” which was also the name of her best-selling memoir which was published in 1977. At the time the book was ground-breaking as it was the first biography of a Hollywood/Show Business family that dealt with its emotional and psychological history.

Brooke’s been married three times – first to writer Michael Thomas with whom she has two sons; secondly to actor/producer Dennis Hopper with whom she has a daughter Marin (whose 2003 wedding to John Goldstone was featured on the NYSD in 2003); and for the past twenty-five years to orchestra leader Peter Duchin. The Duchins live in Connecticut and in a loft here in Manhattan where she was interviewed by Sian Ballen and Lesley Hauge, with the Duchin loft photographed by JH and the Digital. Have a look.