Many and much to see

Peter Woytuk street sculpture at 72nd and Broadway. 5:30 PM. Photo: JH.

Thursday, March 22, 2012. A gray day, in the 60s. Although the pear trees in bloom can even take care of the grayest days.

Down at Michael’s it was Wednesday of course, although so much the clatter of the chattering classes as we usually see. It’s Spring vacation for a lot of the schools, and many head out for the last of the skiing or sunning with family.

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	Click to order [2] So Pretty it Hurts.

Nevertheless, there were many and much to see. The Spring menu comes out and the flowers sing it. Cherry blossoms. At Table One in the window Linda Fairstein was giving a lunch for her friend, Cosmo’s EIC, Kate White to celebrate the publication of her 8th mystery novel So Pretty It Hurts.

At table were Hilary Gumbel, Peggy Vance, Michele Promaulayko, Stephanie March, and Dr. Holly Phillips.

In the room: David Adler and pop, novelist and screenwriter Warren Adler; David Sanford and Lewis Stein; Judy and Peter Price; Shirley Lord Rosenthal and Lynn Nesbit; Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski with Esther Newberg; Jason Binn; Richard Descherer; Bob Christie; Vin Cipolla; Aryeh Bourkoff; Jerry Levin; Shelly Palmer; Michael Toccin.

Michael’s very own Brenda Starr also got the scoop of the day. Waiting in the lounge for his table was Andrew Madoff. Nobody else recognized him, only our ace Diane Clehane.

Standing, left to right: Dr. Holly Phillips (internist/medical expert for CBS This Morning); Michele Promaulayko (editor in chief of Women's Health); Kelli Thompson (head of Armani fragrance); Peggy Vance (fine arts photographer and wife of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance); Diane Clehane.

Seated, left to right: Kate White (Cosmo editor in chief, bestselling crime novelist); Linda Fairstein; Stephanie March (one of the stars of Law and Order: SVU who played the original sex crimes prosecutor based on Linda Fairstein, and who begins filming a pilot of a new show today called Baby Bigshot); Hilary Gumbel (board member of Unicef and wife of Bryant Gumbel).

Spring bouquets at Michael's.

JH and I were lunching with our former star reporter in Washington, Carol Joynt, who left NYSD for the Washingtonian Magazine and web site. We were joined by Ellen Charles, Carol’s friend and neighbor in Georgetown.

We first met Ellen a few years ago when we went down to DC to attend the annual Foreign Correspondents dinner and had a tour of Hillwood, the Washington residence of Marjorie Meriweather Post, the fabled Post Toasties heiress who was also Ellen’s grandmother. Hillwood is now a museum and Ellen is the President.

JH, Ellen Charles, DPC, and Carol Joynt.

DPC and JH's Open-Face Parmesan Omelet, Caviar, Chive.

JH's Bibb Lettuce-Endive Salad, Cucumber, Avocado, Breakfast Radish, Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette.

DPC's Spring Pea Soup, Carrot, Hearts of Palm.

Carol Joynt's White asparagus, prosciutto, microgreens.

Carol Joynt's Special Soft Shell Crab Tempura.

An aside, Mrs. Post as she was known, was her father’s sole heir to the Post Cereal company, which she and one of her husbands – EF Hutton – developed into a large food company which they named General Foods. Mrs. Post lived royally with a 50-room triplex on Fifth Avenue, “Topridge,” an enormous summer camp in the Adirondacks, an estate on Long Island, which is now CW Post College, and her palace in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, now a private club owned by Donald Trump. Mrs. Post was married four times. Her three daughters (by husbands Close and Hutton) had ten marriages between them.

Ellen Charles has been reading Sally Bedell Smith’s Elizabeth the Queen and was curious about That Woman, which I wrote about in yesterday’s Diary. Ellen recalled meeting the Duke and the Duchess when she was ten years old, on her grandmother’s sailing ship, Sea Cloud. The Windsors were coming to lunch and Grandmother trained her granddaughters to curtsey to them on meeting.

The Sea Cloud.

This was an issue for Mrs. Post’s British butler and valet. The duke’s brother King George VI had denied the duke’s request that Wallis be given the HRH title. Therefore, because Wallis wasn’t “officially” Royal by order of the King, she was not worthy of the curtsey. Americans didn’t necessarily know that, but all Brits did. To them Wallis was and would always be “That Woman.” Many Americans who were “friends” of the Windsors, however, curtsied out of respect for the Duke’s wishes.

And so it was that the granddaughters were taught to greet their Royal guests thusly. Except, Ellen recalled, when the Duke and the Duchess finally arrived, the children were so fascinated by their presence that they just put out their hands to shake. Grandmother couldn’t believe it. After all that effort! But everyone survived.

After its conversion to the Coast Guard manned USS Sea Cloud.

Carol’s big story this week (or is it next week?) was/is on a local DC dominatrix. Is there something in the air? Or is it the water? Carol showed us a picture of this sweet looking petite woman probably in her early 30s.

Her official professional title is “therapist.” Her busiest day of the year is April 16th because that’s when taxes are filed and a lot of accountants feel the need for some “discipline” or is it domination? Whips, chains, etc. and a lot of spanking. No sex except they kiss the tips of her boots.

She pays taxes, and she’s very discreet (no names, etc.) She carries all of her equipment around in a large handbag. Evidently you can stash a lot of whips and chains in a Birkin bag, or something that size.

Other than that, the lady’s just another single small business in our nation’s capital. She’s not pulling down the kind of money those accountants get, but it’s a good living. God knows the article will probably bring “Christy” (I think that’s her name) a lot of new business of naughty boys who moonlight as masters of the universe.

More Windsors. JH found these images from Life Magazine when the Duke and Duchess were living on Boulevard Suchet, circa 1939. The Windsors lived here between 1938 and 1941. It was when they lived here that the Duke gave his duchess the flamingo clip featured on yesterday's Diary [3].

Meanwhile, more from The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht ...

With an average of 8000 visitors a day, TEFAF has been filled with people of all ages, parents with strollers, young children discovering the 7000 years of art, collectors, dealers and groups, a majority from the States. Pictured above, 15 people from NY, Greenwich, CT, and LA on a trip arranged by Michel Cox Witmer. They are standing at the Fair's entrance in front of a display of 11,000 white Avalanche roses. Other groups at the Fair included 70 students from Sotheby's Institute, London and 80 students from Sotheby's Institute, New York. Photographs: Guy van Grinsven & Harry Heuts, NL.

Jean-Francois Heim and Camille Oostwegel, owner of the Kruisherenhotel Maastricht.

Albrecht-Neuhaus, Würburg, Germany.

A mother explains the art to her daughter.

Comments? Contact DPC here. [4]