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| A brooding sparrow warms his tail on East 61st Street. 11:15 AM. Photo: JH. |
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| Cool and cloudy Wednesday in New York; great weather for late June, free of heat and humidity. If it’s Wednesday, it must be Michael’s: Celebrations: In the bay, producer Jean Doumanian celebrating her Tony with “August Osage County” producer Barbara Freitag and Jennifer Manocherian, Susan Gallan and Merle Reskin. And right next door, Peter Brown, and next to him Bobby Zarem with producer/casting director Bonnie Timmerman. And next to them Barry Diller. And next to him Arnold Scaasi and Parker Ladd; one over from them Charles Koppelman and Susan Lyne, recently exited as head of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; next: Leonard Lauder lunching with philanthropist Brooke Neidich who just joined Mr. Lauder’s board of the Whitney; across the way Joan Jakobson with Suzanne Maas and Deborah Krulewich; Beverly Camhe with the boomers’ sociologist Gail Sheehy who is currently writing a book on What’s Gonna Happen now that Boomers are turning senior (oy! – for starters) and who also has a piece coming out on Hillary Clinton in the next Vanity Fair. Rumbles in the executive suite: Janet Chan who was lunching with Hearst Editorial Director Ellen Levine suddenly got up and headed for the door. For a minute there as she rushed by my table, she looked like she was having a stomach upset; but then I was told she’d just heard that her boss, Hearst CEO Victor Ganzi had just resigned. Around the room: The NY Post’s media man, Keith Kelly, Elle’s creative director Joe Zee, Jack Myers, the doyenne of private residential brokerage Alice Mason, Peggy Siegal, Chris Meigher, Andrew Stein, Deborah Grubman, Freddi Friedman with Lynn Goldberg; John Hart and Fred Zollo; Leslie Stevens with Jodi Wing who has abandoned New York for LA and loves it so much she has written about it. Coming out in November from HarperCollins, the book is called The Art of Social War. Last night in New York, I missed (but I’ll tell you what I know because it sounded interesting) Christie’s hosted a cocktail party from 7 to 9 at the apartment of the late Pat and Bill Buckley where they auctioned off items from Mrs. Buckley’s estate, “cute things,” according to my source Couri Hay, like Buckley peanut butter and other items the Buckleys branded. This was a sort of kick-off (which is what they now call the party before the party) for the upcoming Fall Antique Show, the opening night of which will benefit the Society for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Unusual, don’t you think, but definitely something that the wonderful Mrs. Buckley would have approved of since she was one of those influential New York women who knew how to carry on and move forward. I was across town at the Time Warner Center where Sandy Hill was hosting a little private reception to introduce an investment of hers called CLO, the brainchild of Andrew Bradbury, the well-known sommelier from Aureole in Las Vegas. CLO is a kind of wine-bar, a very cool cyber-based wine-tasting place located in a small rectangular facility on the fourth floor of the T-W Center overlooking Columbus Circle (I took a picture of the view from the single long table where people will congregate — bar-like) while having their wine. |
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Looking out from CLO at Columbis Circle. |
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| This is a first. The long table, for example, is a computer touch screen with bottles illustrating the collection of wines available at CLO. You can stand there and scan the selection with your fingertips, choose one (or as many as you like), and with a touch of the screen (and the swiping of your plastic) a glass will be filled at a dispenser on a shelf running along the walls of the space. You can also buy the wine by the bottle if that is your wish. You can also send a glass of wine to an interesting looking customer who might be standing at the other end of the table, i.e., a drink from an admirer. CLO is opening for business in early July. Hours will be 3 in the afternoon until about 11 in the evening for pre-dinner, pre-movie, after dinner, late night stop-by or picking up your most recently selected favorite wine by the bottle. |
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| Then on to the Rainbow Room where The Alliance for the Arts was holding its Presentation of the 2008 Alliance for the Arts Prize dinner honoring Shelley and Donald Rubin and filmmaker Albert Maysles. Alliance for the Arts is an Arts advocacy organization and the authoritative source for Cultural information in New York. Through research and communication, they promote public and private funding of art and art education in the community and in the schools. It is headed by a man named Randy Bourscheidt. It’s a crucial conduit for the public to the cultural institutions and artists community. Through print publications and web sites, they promote the programs and activities of New York’s cultural community. Honorees Shelley and Donald Rubin founded the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) in Chelsea in the old Barney’s building which they bought at a bankruptcy auction, completely refurbished, and created an international center for the presentation and study of Himalayan art. Mr. Rubin is the founder and former CEO of Multiplan, a supplier of independent, network based cost management solutions, handling more than 65 million healthcare claims annually. He started this company in 1980 and it’s the biggest in its business. And from the sound of it, it made him rich. |
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| Meanwhile, even before he started it, about five years earlier, he and Mrs. Rubin were walking up Madison Avenue one day and saw a piece of art in a gallery window that caught their eye. It spoke to them and so they went in to inquire as to what they were looking at. It was a Himalayan picture. The price was $1500. At the time, they had $3000 in their savings account. They bought it, took it home, and unwittingly embarked on a rich and rewarding life of collecting Himalayan art. It was a karmic choice, you could say – since we’re on the subject of Eastern Art. Several years ago the Rubins committed $100 million to building a museum for what had become a vast and most comprehensive collection of Himalayan in the West. What was once (when they were introduced to it) a little known area of art interest, has now become very popular and very important in the West. Last night the Rubins were introduced by Martin Segal. Mr. Segal is a man of 93, although his voice and his energy belie his age. He told us that he had been a friend of Mr. Rubin’s father and so he’s known Mr. Rubin almost since he was a baby. He too started a business, with some assist from Mr. Rubin’s father, in 1939. In time it became a great success and Mr. Segal pursued his other passion: art and culture. He’s now the chairman emeritus of Lincoln Center and has been a major supporter of the arts in New York.
After the Rubins were given their award and after they told us (Mr. Rubin did the talking) about their great adventure which culminated in creating a great art institution in New York, film director Bennett Miller (“Capote”) introduced Albert Maysles. Mr. Maysles and his late brother came into prominence in the 1960s as outré filmmakers of documentaries. You’ve seen at least some of them even if you don’t know it. “Grey Gardens” for example. Also “Salesman,” and “Gimme Shelter.” In 2003 Mr Maysles (Albie to his friends and family) was given exclusive access to film the Dalai Lama’s visit to New York. He also recently completed a 26-year chronicle of Christo and Jean-Claude’s The Gates. The artists were there last night and at Mr Maysles table. Mr. Maysles told us that he is 81. He kind of grinned and laughed when he said it, almost as if to say that it was an ironic joke. He is still very active in his business and three years ago founded the Maysles Institute which provides training opportunities produces film projects and operates the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. One of the distinguishing characteristics of last night’s Alliance for the Arts Awardees is their generosity of spirit which seems to have expanded in their pursuit of their art or rather, their bliss. It is a quality of gentleness and sweetness toward humanity. There is a strong measure of the triumphal in their accomplishments; achievements. It was the good lesson provided by the Alliance for last night’s audience. The evening was capped off by a performance of Christine Ebersol singing a song written by Scott Frankel for the Broadway musical version of “Grey Gardens.” Mr. Frankel accompanied Ms. Ebersol. |
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| Photographs by DPC/NYSD.com | CLICK here [15] to subscribe to our mailing list. |