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 Women in public life
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| Central Park at Central Park South entrance at 6th Avenue. 3:50 PM. Photo: JH. |
April 20, 2010. A bright and sunny Spring day, yesterday in New York.
The Schedule yesterday turned out to be about women in public life: media and entertainment. I started out down to the Waldorf at noon where New York Women in Communications was celebrating its 40th anniversary and presented its 2010 Matrix Awards.
This was an amazing event with a star-studded cast of honorees and presenters. There were 1500 guests, and NBC’s Brian Williams was emcee. I’ve never seen the Waldorf Ballroom so packed. |
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| The Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria yesterday at noontime for the Matrix awards. |
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| Denise Warren, president of New York Women In Communications, addressing the guests. |
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Matrix Awards luncheon is one of the New York communications and entertainment community’s most outstanding events of the year. Portions of the proceeds from the Matrix Awards Luncheon go to their Foundation, which offers a full range of scholarships to women whether just beginning their careers, embarking on a professional transition or advancing their skill-set.
Honorees were: Susan Chira, foreign editor of the New York Times with her award presented by Jill Abramson, managing editor of the Times; Sheryl Crow, whose award was presented by Mariska Hargitay; Tina Fey, executive producer, head writer and star of “30 Rock,” whose award was presented by Seth Meyers, head writer and “Weekend Update” anchor of Saturday Night Live; Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, of the Emmy Award winning Food Network Program of the same name, award presented by Anna Quindlen; Doris Kearns Goodwin, author and Presidential historian, award presented by Lesley Stahl; Anne Keating, Senior V-P Public Relations for Bloomingdales, award presented by Katie Couric; Gayle King, editor-at-large of O, the Oprah Magazine, with her award presented by Oprah Winfrey; and Marissa Mayer, vice-president Google, presented by Maria Bartiromo. |
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| Oprah Winfrey paying tribute to her friend, Gayle King, before presenting her with the Matrix Awards. |
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I had an additional luncheon engagement but was able to see Oprah’s presentation to Gayle King. The two women have known each other since they were in their very early 20s in Baltimore where Oprah was a newscaster and Gayle was a production assistant when they met. The friendship was immediate in forming and it turned out to last for a lifetime.
Oprah spoke about Gayle with an effusive intimacy. Gayle is her rock, and she is very comfortable in the role, perhaps because by nature she is endlessly curious about and interested in other people. They are like sisters. She has grown up with Oprah, professionally, is the one person Oprah can lean on, fall back on, depend on for loyalty, support. And she is devoid of envy and jealousy. That’s a tall order to fill especially for someone of Oprah’s celebrity (not to mention wealth). However, as we learned from her tribute to her friend yesterday, Oprah knows how lucky she is to have such a friend and protector, and she honors it. |
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| Gayle King accepting her award and then giving her speech about her life and her career that has been associated with Oprah since they were young women first working in television. |
There were more than a few men and women in the room who were thinking how much they admired and even envied that friendship.
When Hearst first presented Oprah with the idea of doing a magazine, Oprah had to talk Gail into working with it as her “eyes and ears.” Once begun, however, Gayle loved learning about the business of making a monthly magazine which is now ten years on.
The two friends have never, according to Oprah, had an argument, and even their disagreements are without tension. Gayle is open and friendly with everyone but her friendship with Oprah also has very strong business implications, all of which she handles seemingly effortlessly. From this writer’s point of view, the friendship is one of the luckiest breaks in Oprah’s spectacular career, an unwavering connection to everyday sanity.
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| Yesterday's luncheon at Michael's with Blair Sabol, our "No Holds Barred" columnist, in town briefly from her home in Scottsdale; along with JH, who joined us after lunch. |
Then last night I went down to MoMA where Peggy Siegal was hosting a screening of Leslie Zemeckis’ first film, Behind the Burly Q, a documentary on the history of burlesque and its stars in the 1930s and 1940s.
Now forgotten as an art form except for its popular reference in the musical show “Gypsy,” burlesque was a child borne out of the last days of vaudeville when movies came into their glory and stole a lot of the show.
Girls taking off their clothes on stage in a strip-tease was a natural lure, especially to the male audience. Zemeckis’ documentary includes on camera interviews with many of the strippers of that day (a number of them have since died since filming). |
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| The scene at MoMA last night before the screening of Behind the Burly Q. Photographers are shooting, left to right, Sharon Stone, Leslie Zemeckis, the film's creator and director, and her husband Robert Zemeckis. |
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| Co-producer Sheri Hellard with Leslie Zemeckis. |
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Burlesque was at its zenith during the Great Depression. Women got into because it was an aspect of performing/acting and because they needed the money. It was not a time when nudity or women taking off their clothes in public was accepted as legitimate entertainment. In fact , when Fiorello LaGuardia became mayor of New York, he cracked down on the business and it never wholly recovered.
The most famous strippers in the history of Burlesque included Sally Rand (the fan dancer who was entirely nude behind the fans) and Margie Hart (who retired to become a Los Angeles social matron, wife of a City Councilman named John Ferraro. I realized that I met the Ferraros several times in Los Angeles in the 1980s and never knew until last night who Mrs. Ferraro had been professionally. There was Lili St. Cyr, probably the last of the famous strippers, and of course, Gypsy Rose Lee, whose memoir, Gypsy, moved Burlesque into literary class as well as musical theatre mythology. |
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| Leslie and Robert Zemeckis |
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| Genevieve Bahrenburg |
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Gypsy’s place in the profession was barely recalled in this film, however. Nor was she remembered with fondness by those who worked with her, which may have had something to do partly with her separating herself from Burlesque and moving onto Broadway and then films and television. To many of the girls who worked the same circuit, Gypsy was not endearing. To her credit, Gypsy classed up the profession with her wit and ambition.
Leslie Zemeckis’ film concentrated on the grittier aspect of the genre, allowing a visual commentary on the times economically and socially. It was a way for a pretty young woman (who had the nerve and the gumption – and the looks) to make a living and support herself. For some it was a damned good living. |
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| Robert Zemeckis and Michael Douglas conversing at "21" for the after-screening dinner. |
Although the word “burlesque” comes from the French, it was a distinctly American art form that began in this country in the mid-19th century as entertainment for the working classes. In the 1920s, for a dime a man could take in a theatrical production that was basically a variety show of singers, dancers, comics and then The Stripper.
Director Zemeckis, who also wrote and co-produced the film with Sheri Hellard, has made a fascinating story about a slice of American life of entertainers – mainly women – that was fraught by hardship and danger, especially for young women on their own. Many came from hardscrabble lives – not unlike, and even worse than that described in Gypsy. What strikes you about them in looking back on their lives is how focused, resilient and courageous they were, as well as how much they enjoyed the experience while it lasted. Check out the website.
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| Sharon Stone |
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| Writer/director Brian Koppelman and writer/film critic Elvis Mitchell |
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End of Weekend. It was a sunny spring evening on Sunday for the Citymeals-on-Wheels fundraiser at Restaurant Daniel. Now in its 12th year, the annual dinner is billed as a "casual Sunday supper" and guests are encouraged to dress down in blue jeans. In case you don't already know the story of Citymeals-on-Wheels, the charity was founded in 1981 by the legendary restaurant critic Gael Greene and the late James Beard to deliver meals to the homebound elderly throughout the boroughs of New York City.
The only slight disappointment this year was that the guest chef invited by Daniel Boulud — Heston Blumenthal of London's The Fat Duck — was prevented from attending because of the volcanic ash cloud that grounded air traffic across the pond. |
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| Scott Kasen and Daniel Boulud |
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| Citymeals-on-Wheels Co-Founder Gael Greene and Michael Lynne |
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| Rusty Staub, Lillian Vernon, and Paolo Martino |
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| Guest chefs from The Fat Duck |
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| Table detail |
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Luckily, Blumenthal's executive chef and pastry chef flew into New York on Thursday, so diners were still able to enjoy The Fat Duck's culinary influence in spite of Blumenthal's absence.
The event began at 5:30 with cocktails: champagne and Daniel's signature White Cosmopolitan (Vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liquor, Lime Juice, White Cranberry Juice) with an orchid encased in a ball of ice. Hors d'oeuvres prepared by Chef Brandon Kida of Asiate at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel included Rabbit Croquette with shiso and lemon confit.
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| The cocktail reception |
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| The silent auction |
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| The table settings |
At 6:30, the crowd of 150 took their seats in Daniel's main dining room. The evening's theme was "Burgundy, Bordeaux, Blue Jeans, and Blues," with the wine pairings for the four-course dinner chosen by Daniel Johnnes and music by Chris Bergson Band.
The first course, which in this writer's opinion was the most impressive, was prepared by the team from The Fat Duck and was ambiguously labeled on the menu as "Meat Fruit." Before serving the dish, waiters presented diners with what looked like a fruit platter and told us that our first course would be "in" one of the items on the tray.
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| Richard Quest of CNN |
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| "Your first course is in one of these..." |
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| The first course |
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| Foie Gras! |
Moments later, we were all served something that looked like a small piece of red fruit, perhaps an apple. As we all lifted our forks and cut into this mysterious object, it was immediately clear that this was no apple. The texture was soft. One slice through the middle and inside was ... foie gras! A truly inventive and playful presentation.
Katafi Wrapped Maine Lobster followed, and then Hazelnut Crusted Wild Red King Salmon. The dessert, the other dish courtesy of The Fat Duck, was "The BFG" (Black Forest Gateau). It was a delicious cake comprising eight layers of different mousses and sponges and biscuits, and the perfect finale to an ideal meal. |
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| Executive Chef Jean Francois Bruel |
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| Chef de Cuisine Eddy Leroux, Daniel Boulud, and Executive Chef Jean Francois Bruel |
Attendees included Michael and Ninah Lynne, Samantha Boardman Rosen and Aby Rosen, Joan Tisch, Lillian Vernon, Rusty Staub, and Donald and Barbara Tober.
Richard Quest was an ebullient auctioneer as he encouraged people to spend, spend, spend during the live auction, which included dinners around this city and in other interesting destinations like Singapore and South Beach. In total, the event raised $310,000, which equates to 51,666 meals delivered by Citymeals-on-Wheels. Quite an impressive sum when you consider that there were only 150 people in attendance.
— SD for NYSD |
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| Preparing the dessert course |
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