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NYC
Marathoners close to the finish line.
2:30 PM. Photo: JH.
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The
first weekend in November. Autumn in New York. Thursday
night last. Balmy days with the foliage finally checking in.
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Bunny
signing away
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Click
cover to order
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Over
at Bergdorf’s there was a booksigning for Bunny Williams’ An
Affair With a House, (Stewart, Tabori and Chang), a great big beautiful
coffee table book about the great big beautiful country house she shares in northwestern
with her husband, the New York decorator’s best friend, connoisseur, antiquaire
(and obviously the good chef) John Rosselli. The house, which
is on the cover of the book, is more than one house. There’s a guest barn
and a pool house and a greenhouse and a potting shed and an aviary. Everything
but a doghouse. And that’s because the dogs (there are four or five of
them – all once-upon-a-time rescued mutts) live in the big house. And it’s
big.
I’ve never been to Mrs. Williams’ and Mr. Rosselli’s house
but let me tell you, after going through this book, I think I could handle a
nice quiet weekend visit, dining on Mr. R’s bill of fare and taking in
all the wonders of the interior decorator’s nooks and crannies, both inside
and out. It’s so damned beautiful, all I could think was: this is the way
you can live if you’re very rich. Or work your you-know-what-off, which
I know both of these people do. The only alternative for us working stiffs, at
this point of the game, is to buy the book and feast on the images, drink it
in, and then sit back and dream. |
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From
An Affair With a House
Left: A
happy member of the residence.
Right: John in the kitchen.
Below, l. to r.: Three other happy members
of the residence; Bunny setting the table. |
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L.
to r.: The house; Bunny Williams and John Rosselli
at home.
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Bunny
Williams is a famous New York international interior
decorator, if you didn’t know. Among her commissions
are some of the richest people in the country. I know a couple
of them but also know that I don’t know the scope of
her clientele. Last Fourth of July, I went with my friend Peter
Rogers to a big fireworks/buffet party up in Connecticut
on a spectacular estate that was this side of being a palace
and there were Bunny and John (among the other 700 guests)
because the owners (host and hostess) of the estate are clients.
The other thing you think when you read the book, is: where did they ever find
the time to make this amazing residence. Well, that’s not our problem.
Read the book, look at the book, see her gardening, see him in an alpha state
in the kitchen. See the dawgs looking like the furry angels that they are, take
in the amazing Grecian style/log cabin poolhouse, the cozy sitting rooms, the
acres of bookshelves of well-read books, and dream ... maybe someday, just someday
...
There was a small crowd lined up in one of those small boutique
rooms on the 7th floor of Bergdorf’s. JH got some pix
and we hightailed it out. He was going to a reception for the Young Forum of
American Friends of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra (tomorrow’s Diary)
and I was going over to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the twin-towered Time-Warner
Building on Columbus Circle to The New School’s LaGuardia Award Dinner
where Bill Clinton was being honored and giving the keynote
address. |
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Emilia
Saint-Amand and Virginia Pitman
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John
Rosselli
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Aaron
and Jen Greenberg
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Sharon
Hoge
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Harriett
Weintraub
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Duane
Hampton and Tim Lovejoy
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Bunny
Williams and Kitty Hawks
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Bunny
Williams,
Christina Juarez, and Christine Gilbert
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Tony
Manning and Mickey Ateyeh
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Christian
Brechneff
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Pamela
Fiori and John Cantrell
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Betsey
Ruprecht and Annette De La Renta
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Bunny
Williams with
Hilary and Wilbur Ross
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Christopher
Kennan and Cece Cord
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Annette
and Oscar de la Renta
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There were a lot of wonderful things going on in New York on Thursday
night, including:
The Aid for AIDS benefit at Capitale; The Time Global Health Summit
Gala – The Black Ball, which was also at the Time-Warner
in the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz @ Lincoln Center; the Center
Against Domestic Violence 29th Anniversary Gala; the
Metropolitan's Fund for Art Conservation Benefit; the Blanton-Peale
Institute 2005 Norman Vincent Peale Awards for Positive Thinking;
the Cancer Survivors Hall of Fame Dinner for Inductee, Michael
Milken; the 4th Annual RxArt Ball, which is one of New
York’s
most lively and spirited art events; the New York City Police Foundation
benefit cocktail party; the Academy Awards Ceremony: Featuring
Gerald Stern for The Academy of American Poets;
the New York Comedy Festival. Michael Kaufman, brother
of Andy
Kaufman presenting the
Second Annual “Andy Kaufman Award"; plus The Aspen
Institute 22nd Annual Awards Dinner.
Imagine, that’s just ONE night in New York, and only the
things I was informed about.
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Bill
Clinton on the big screen
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I made my choice because I wanted to hear our former President
speak. It is rare that I have ever had the opportunity to share
the same space (no matter how large) with a President of the United
States, and so it remains for me a thrill. As readers of the NYSD
may remember, I shared (a similarly large space) with this particular
former President the week before when he was honored by the American
Red Cross downtown.
It was hard going around town that night. There weren’t many
vacant cabs to be found so I ended up hoofing it from Bergdorf’s
on 58th and Fifth across Central Park South to Columbus Circle.
It was a fairly warm night and there were lots of horses and carriages
parked along the northern side of CPS. I love seeing the horses
although I’m always left with a feeling of sadness for the
lot of these old nags. A friend of mine, Richard Feldman who rides
daily in the Park, tells me that these particular horses, however,
have a new stable that is really fine and so they are well cared
for.
I was also reminded, walking along this equestrian parking block
that New York in the pre-automotive days must have stunk to high
heaven. It must have been one of those odors that the human sense
of smell simply adjusted to because obviously it was far greater
in presence and power with thousands of horses in the city than
with the couple dozen lining this modern thoroughfare.
Anyway, I made it over to the Mandarin Oriental just as former
Nebaska Senator Bob Kerrey, the president of the
New School had got up to the podium to introduce President Clinton.
Perhaps because
I am older than he, I am always amazed at the youthfulness of this
man who was our 42nd president. I was also curious to see if, because
he’s always on the rubber-chicken dinner circuit, his speech
would be similar to the one I heard the week before downtown.
He began by talking about Fiorello LaGuardia who was mayor of New
York at the same time FDR was president. He tied
that in with the history of the New School and its division being
highlighted on
this night – Milano The New School for Management and Urban
Policy which trains working professional to be leaders in their
fields and activists in their communities. He reminded us of the
New School’s University in Exile, which was created during
the 1930s German Jewish professors fleeing Hitler and
Nazism, and how LaGuardia’s first job in civil service was
working with arriving immigrants on Ellis Island.
He told us about a book he was reading now called 5 Days
in Philadelphia; the Amazing “We Want Wilkie!” Convention
of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World. Mr.
Clinton pointed out how Mr. Wilkie, despite being the opposition
party candidate threw his backing behind FDR’s Lend Lease
policy that ultimately rescued England from the scourge of the
Nazis.
It was like listening to a very smart and engaging professor give
us a fascinating history lesson on our heritage and the great men
who populated it. And then he segued into his main speech which
was, lo, yes, the speech he gave last week for the Red Cross. With
some improvised riffs and diversions which made it just as interesting
to listen to for the second time.
He talked about the three things that are happening in the (entire)
world today which are having what he considers the greatest impact
on our society (all societies). They are: that more than half the
nations of the world are now electing their own leaders. This is
a first, and as he pointed out, even if the leaders aren’t
the best, they can also be replaced by election.
Secondly, the
rise of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in other worlds,
organizations created by the people for the people to deal with
issues and problems of the people. This is a phenomenon which can
now be found all over the world including in the countries of the
former Soviet Union where no NGOs existed only a decade ago. Now,
he reminded, despite how he or any of us might feel about President
Putin, there are more than 60,000 NGOs in Russia alone.
And of course the Internet. The Internet is (my words not Mr. Clinton’s)
the communications center of the 21st century world community.
And even in places like China which remain under communist domination,
its power and influence is being felt.
To his remarks about the internet, for those of us who are directly
participating in its phenomenal power, I’d like to add a
thrilling postscript. A couple of weeks ago, we ran some party
pictures of an 80th birthday celebration of a woman named Zozo
de Ravenel in Paris. The following day, we got an email
from a man in Shanghai (!) who knew the Countess de Ravenel, and
wrote
to fill us in on a name we’d left out on one of our pictures.
The words you’re reading on this page now are being read
by people all over the planet and many at this very moment.
Mr. Clinton’s speech, despite having been heard by these
ears before, was not only engaging but inspiring. His natural optimism
filled the room and one could feel the uplifting effect his words
had on everyone.
Furthermore, he was finished at 8:30, and so was
I. I was out the door and soon hailing a cab to get me home earlier
than most nights. A second gift and with many thanks that we were
winding down another very very busy week in New York. |
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