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 Watching the world go by
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| Hudson River sailing. 8:00 PM. Photo: JH. |
June 17, 2010. Sometimes sunny, sometimes grey-ish day with temperatures in the low 70s, yesterday in New York.
My friend Margo Howard, writing in wowowow.com more or less claims, or attributes to reliable rumors, that Al Gore has been having an affair for the past two years with the ex-Mrs. Larry David.
Laurie David is an enthusiastic supporter of environmental causes. I heard her speak at a dinner a couple of years ago here in New York. With her then husband’s money and his Hollywood connections she was able to position herself very favorably in the movement. I’m not saying she bought her way in, incidentally. I’m saying that all the other stuff really helps for those who want to get ahead (and get around) and effect policy.
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| Al Gore with Laurie David and Sheryl Crow. |
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She has a very dynamic personality. Listening to her talking about her involvement, it was clear that she really knew her stuff. I didn’t know the state of her marriage, at the time but I do remember wondering how Mr. David liked his wife’s travel schedule. What appeared to be a lot of time away from home and hearth. I know that is a male chauvinist thought, and although I don’t think of myself as a male chauvinist, it occurred to me that Laurie David’s husband could be/could have been. A male chauvinist. Or annoyed, or something. Hollywood is a breeding ground for macho martyrs.
Mrs. David didn’t seem like the type who would have much time for such folderol. You could almost hear her thinking, he’s a big boy, he can take care of himself. They’re no longer together, the Davids, so evidently he is taking care of himself.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gore and Mrs. David. Margo also (in the Comments section) referred to Tipper Gore as “high maintenance.” A loaded statement if there ever was one. She also thinks that because of his alleged relationship with Mrs. David, the former Vice-President will not become a spokesman for the Environmentalists regarded the Gulf catatrophe.
Margo says that a popular opinion about the affair is that Al is a boomer, and boomers, planning on living forever, being as invincible as they (like to think they) are (in public), this gives Al a new lease on life. It’s interesting when you think of it. At a certain age the boomer male gets a new wife and the boomer woman gets a new face, or at least a lot of botox. Both not quite illusions. Close but no cigar.
Margo, while we’re on the subject, also covered the jury selection and first day of the corruption/extortion trial of Governor Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois in Chicago. You remember him: the guy with the hair who was accused of selling President Obama’s former senatorial seat. Margo was covering this because 1. She’s from Chicago (her mother was Eppie Lederer/Ann Landers) and 2. she likes covering court cases and getting a gander at the characters. And they are characters, as you will see.
I personally have zip interest in Blago and his wily ways. When you read about it, it seems like all the rest – everybody robbing/bribing/extorting some dough from someone so they can pay off the local loan shark aka credit card. But Margo’s natural skepticism makes it all fascinating.
She did that Blago trial coverage for The New Republic’s web site. She’s no-nonsense and doesn’t miss much. And all that extortion business is funny. You laugh out loud. Sad too; even tragic for all of us, but as they say, that’s the Way We Live Now.
You can read Margo’s observations here (I’d advise reading from the first dispatch). There are four or five. None long, and very amusing as well as eye-opening (although not surprising).
Yesterday was the Wednesdays-it’s-Michael’s lunch. The likely suspects at Table 1: Gerry Imber, Jerry Della Femina, Jeff Greenfield, Andry Bergman and Michael Kramer. On the reservations list, around the room: Kris Fuchs with Joan Tisch, Gerry Byrne with David Melancon and Joseph Sutherland; Kathy Lacey, Tony Hoyt, Steven Stolman, Cathy Graham, Tom Shaffer, Kirk de Gooyer, Micky Ateyeh with Steve Russo (FAB); Barbara Cirkva and Dan Rangone, David Corvo of Dateline NBC, Nick Verbitsky, Sarabeth Shrager, Brooke Hayward, Rob Weisbach, Chris Meigher, David Chase with Morris Levy, Randy Jones with Richard Bradley.
In today’s Social History, Hugo Vickers, the British biographer, has written about the Jungman sisters, Zita and Teresa, who were the original members of the Bright Young People crowd in London in the 1920s after which they faded from publicity glory and lived together (after marriages) from middle-age until their centenaries. Both died at 102 – Zita first and Teresa very recently.
Hugo is a student of the culture of the first moderns in Britain, having written biographies of Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Cecil Beaton, Gladys, the Duchess of Marlborough, Vivien Leigh, Garbo, the edited memoirs of Alexis, the Baron de Rede, Etti Plesch (“Horses and Husbands, the Memoirs of Etti Plesch”) and several other volumes on related subjects.
With a few exceptions his subjects are not well known to the public (although always well known with their time and their social connections). They were all European, often royal or aristocratic and mainly British. They all lived in the twilight of empire and monarchy.
I’d read an obituary of Teresa Jungman (whom I’d never heard of) and was reminded of Hugo Vicker’s work and contacted him about the Jungman sisters. As I imagined, he was a fount of information about them and their world.
They were early inhabitants of the goldfish bowl of celebrity of youth. Their scandals were things like running scavenger hunts all over London during the day. Hard to imagine a scandal there, but unlike people today, they had time only for play. Their 21st century peers are a rabble of boldfacers and compared to them, these “Bright Young People” look absolutely quaint. It is interesting to note the change which few would call progress. |
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| Douglas Hannant bows to the crowd after showing his Resort 2011 Collection. |
| Yesterday afternoon at 4 at the Terrace Foyer (the second floor above the Plaza shops) Douglas Hannant showed his Resort 2011 Collection. Afterwards guests were invited to join the designer for a glass of champagne at the Douglas Hannant Boutique in the hotel. |
| Michele Herbert. |
Denise Wohl. |
Cece Cord. |
| DPC, Pamela Gross, and Somers Farkas. Photo: Jill Lynne. |
| Rachel Hovnanian, DPC, Pamela Gross, Jill Fairchild, and Somers Farkas. Photo: Jill Lynne. |
| Lucia Hwong Gordon, Douglas Hannant, Paola Rosenshein, and Janna Bullock. |
| It was sunny at five o'clock when I emerged from the Hannant show at the Plaza. The flowers were all around including the bowers of white petunias in vast concrete planters outside the hotel. And the pink ones in the window boxes on the window ledges of the Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue, the metal baskets of hydrangeas on Fifth Avenue in the 60s, and the window floral treatments of the Hotel Pierre. |
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