Jamee’s Fashion Week Diary

September 13, 2013, 7:52 am

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Tuesday, September 9, 9:30 AM Gorgeous sunny day. I am off and running along Park Avenue. Doorman says there are no cabs. Quickly cross to the uptown side, a passenger is deposited, and I jump inside. The Upper East Side glistens in the morning light, kids head to the first day of school. I am as excited as any new kindergartner. In spite of my friend Eric Wilson'sNew York Times musings that Fashion Week is overdone and over-populated, there is something thrilling about heading to Lincoln Center, exiting on the Josie Robertson Plaza, and seeing all of one's fashionista friends after a long summer respite. Crossing the steps, I am stopped by paparazzi and two women with cameras. "Are you famous?" they ask. "We are Australian!" "Yes, very!" I reply, giggling behind my sunglasses. Everyone is friendly and smiling. Curious crowds mill about. I stop to chat with chic Linda Fargo, Bergdorf Goodman's Fashion Director. She too looks forward to Carolina Herrera's show, always the first major event on my calendar. We enter the tent. It is almost full, though we are early — 10:00 always ends up being 10:30. We walk past a row of WWD editors, Vogue'sGrace Coddington and Anna Wintour. I am seated in Section B, along with the likes of Emilia Fanjul, CeCe Cord, Peter Lyden, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Princess Alexandra of Greece, Graydon Carter and Anna, and proud Reinaldo Herrera. Across the aisle sits Ingrid Sischy and Sandy Brant, Patricia Herrera, her two beautiful girls and mother-in-law Sydie Lansing, along with Shelley Wanger.

The scene heating up before Carolina's early morning show.

Flashbulbs pop off to my right. I recognize Michelle Dockery, Lady Mary, from Downton Abbey -- chic in a blue-printed silk blouse and skirt; Christina Hendricks, (Joan) from Mad Men, in a prim button-down blouse with black piping; and a tall blonde, her hair in a top knot, who turns out to be Uma Thurman, as well as a petite Christina Ricci, Dita von Teese, with wavy dark hair, and Molly Sims in a full-skirted red dress. The atmosphere electric. On the far side of the double-aisled space sits Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus' Fashion Director surrounded by his team. Saks'Ron Frasch chats with his group. I spot Elle'sJoe Zee and Harper's Bazaar'sGlenda Bailey.

L. to r.: Michelle Dockery, Christina Hendricks, Christina Ricci.

Carolina's show begins with a bang, as the lights dim and an announcer shouts, "Uncross your legs!" — hoping to remove random feet from the photographers' view of the runway. The front row complies, and the plastic runway cover is lifted up. The collection pays homage to kinetic art, focusing on the work of two Venezuelan artists, Carlos Cruz-Diaz and Jesus Rafael Soto. Carolina uses optical prints on everything from a bikini to evening gowns. Organza covered in fine lines and swirls creates dramatic effects. More movement comes from layered fabric panels. Jeweled embroideries on delicate webs sashayed down the runway. I love a shift with colorful jewels that move as the model walks, as well as a long evening gown with a full skirt and a thick leather belt, adding definition. Racer backs with deep cutouts add dash. The last halter neck gown in black, ivory and shell pink diamond-dot print, with an organza overlay, is stunning.

Carolina Herrera RTW Spring 2014 ...

The models sport upswept chignons. Heading back stage to congratulate Carolina I arrive at the moment when her granddaughter, also named Carolina, stands beside Grammy winning song-writer, dancer and singer Ne-Yo. I run home to Google him and quite like his song, "One in a Million." Check it out! He is certainly kinetic.

Tuesday, 10 AM, Lincoln Center, Badgley Mischka The morning crowd milling about the plaza is larger and younger, armed with cameras. Girls in shorts, hats, colorful sunglasses and eye-catching footwear beg for attention. There are more onlookers than participants armed with invitations. James Mischka, Niki Taylor, and Mark Badgley. Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, and Petra Nemcova. I greet the guards, who have become friends over the years. They stand at the top of the stairs leading to the tents and keep out crashers. Newscasters stop and question the most celebrated or intriguing. A group of Japanese editors snap my mini-Chanel hula hoop purse. Bill Cunningham, of the New York Times, sports his blue smock, and records and greets the fashion flock. "Hello child!" his favorite greeting, gets my day off to a good start. Copies of The Daily and bottles of Smart Water are offered. Entering the tent, I speak with Caryn Zucker, Dayssi Kanavos, Valesca Guerrand Hermes, Vogue'sMeredith Melling Burke and Palm Beach Daily News'Robert Janjigian, who points out models Niki Taylor and Petra Nemcova, along with singer John Legend. Arianna Boardman, Cornelia Guest, Alex Lind Rose and Patty Raynes appear, along with Nathalie Kaplan, Gillian Miniter and Jill Fairchild. Bergdorf's Joe Boitano and his crew take their seats alongside InStyle'sCindy Weber Cleary. Mark Badgley and James Mischka have many friends and loyal supporters. They love to entertain, travel and horseback ride, enjoying the good life, in Long Island and Florida. Their shows always feel like a family affair. This season I loved two pairs of lace pants, one white with a diamante stripe running down the leg and the other navy, with a beaded stripe. A navy halter over a polka-dotted swinging skirt looked fresh. A short-sleeved white dress with red embroidery on the top and a long column of grey flocked-brocade looked interesting. The audience stood for a rousing finale. Most of my friends headed backstage to give the dynamic duo a hug. It's not easy moving against the crowd, but it's worth it, acknowledging all the work that goes into producing such a lavish show. I think the designers appreciate the visit. Relaxed and smiling, they stand surrounded by fans and press, while the models change and rush off to the next show.

From Badgley Mischka RTW Spring 2014.

2 PM Wes Gordon Why am I taxiing along the West Side Highway towards 269 11th Avenue, between 27th and 28th Street? Because I received such a sweet email from young designer Wes Gordon's PR lady, inviting me to his first big show. Googling him, I see sophisticated clothes that look wearable and learn that he interned with Oscar de la Renta and Tom Ford, graduated from London's prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, grew up n Atlanta and was born in my hometown, Chicago. He also looks very cute — tall with a mop of tousled hair, so it seemed like a win-win idea.

The audience waits patiently outside Wes Gordon's show. As the temperature rises. The soaring space downtown dwarfs the guests.

It took no time at all to hit the 30th Street exit, where things start to get gritty, with construction everywhere. Arriving early was not rewarded. I saw a line forming in the heat. Sitting on the bench, waiting for the Wes Gordon show to begin. Being an adopted New Yorker, I walked up to the girl holding a check-in list and wearing earphones, explaining politely that I did not want to stand in the Sun. She sweetly let me inside, where the only people I knew were Lizzie Tisch and investor Gilbert Harrison. Exposed bricks and high ceilings made this space arresting. Benches were lined up, down the middle and on either side of a double runway. Glamour girls Shirin von Wulfen, Alina Cho, Marina Rust, Lauren DuPont, Amanda Ross, and Neiman Marcus' adorable Jim Gold all trouped in, comparing notes about their summers. The show began 25 minutes late and lasted about twelve minutes, which seems to be the ratio of Fashion Week. The collection was well-edited, with lace inserts appearing on gowns, skirts and shifts. A pale, tea-green lambskin motorcycle jacket and a much cropped tweed bolero-length jacket were fun. A man's striped shirt was tucked into a lace skirt. Swarovski crystals decorated a simple long dress, illuminating the black fabric. Gordon took his bows and looked as appealing in real life as in his photo. I think he is someone to watch. The trip was worth it!

From Wes Gordon RTW Spring 2014 ...

3 PM Dennis Basso I rush back to the tents, arrive at 3:10, having ordered a car to be on time for Dennis Basso's lovely show. No longer exclusively known for furs, Basso has been sending elegant dresses down the runway for the past few seasons. Basso's girls, and they are legion, turned out in full force. Somers Farkas, Hoda Kotb, Carol Alt, Amy Fine Collins, Olivia Palermo, Brooke Shields, Suzanne Johnson and Bettina Zilkha admired the fashion parade.

Front row at Dennis Basso: Bettina Zilkha, Somers Farkas, Suzanne Johnson, and Julie Macklowe.

More front row: Daniel Benedict, Olivia Palermo, and Ann Dexter-Jones.

A beautiful short black-and-white cocktail dress made my list, along with a pink appliquéd shift that peeked out from under a pink alligator vest, and a full-skirted pastel evening gown in sky blue and pale rose pink silk, with a strapless top. Tangerine orange and cloud-blue creations captured the audience's attention. Dennis makes the most of the finale, marching along the runway, blowing kisses to his fans. It was a great show.

From Dennis Basso RTW Spring 2014 ...

6:30 PM Oscar de la Renta Just as I was running to tennis in Southampton several weeks ago, the phone rang. "Hello, Jamee. It's Boaz Mazor (Oscar's long-time right hand liaison for his ladies). You are so lucky!" Boaz Mazor. "Why is that?" I inquire. "Because Oscar cut out half the attendees at his show! He only wants a select group for the defile in his showroom." Now who could refuse an offer like that? Certainly not I, since his dresses are among my favorite. Going to West 42nd Street in rush hour is no treat, but I arrive on time. Oscar's show is held in his showroom, redesigned for the presentation, in a large office building in an area not often swarming with paparazzi, as it is tonight. New Yorkers are a curious bunch. Everyone stops to watch the arrivals. I go up the elevator, finding all the major editors and retailers in their seats. After ten minutes, the music starts and the models step out, in swift succession. This show is all about business, with a steady stream of knock-out dresses, the type of stunning cocktail gowns and evening dresses that real Manhattan ladies wear with ease and confidence. Lovely prints, sprayed with gardens of flowers sashay past on full-skirted dresses, appliquéd flowers decorated simple blouses and sheaths, the colors, especially a lovely shade of green, sing of spring.

From Oscar de la Renta RTW Spring 2014.

Oscar's wife, Annette, sits between her pals Barbara Walters and Mica Ertegun, applauding the dazzling collection. Eliza and Alex Bolen beam proudly, the audience is elated. The entire show, bursting with elegant creations, lasted no more than ten minutes. This was a real fashion show, not a circus. I rush to the small elevator and share the ride down with Andre Leon Talley. Everyone, retailers included, appreciate the prompt, well-timed show. Less is more. No wonder Oscar is such a star!

From Oscar de la Renta RTW Spring 2014.

7 PM Zang Toi Rushing back to Lincoln Center, with no invitation in hand, a guard gives me a hard time. Luckily I am rescued and led inside by a guard I know. My husband, Peter, is waiting for me in the front row. (He enjoys a good fashion show, especially if it is in striking distance of Boulud Sud, where we will dine outside afterwards.) We are not disappointed by the show, as Zang always does something dramatic. On this evening a beautiful young male ballet dancer, Cory Stearns, a principal at American Ballet Theatre, comes out alone, removes his jacket and stands shirtless in black tights, dancing magnificently along the runway. The collection, aptly titled "Ballet Babe," maintains the excitement, recognizing the space as an epicenter of the arts. Zang's clothes are as dramatic as his muse's magical performance. His long navy gowns, decorated in crystal are glamorous. A beautiful pink coatdress, covered in flowers makes for a grand entrance. Cocoon-like sweaters wrap warmly around his ballerina-like models, while crisply tailored pantsuits, with long jackets, make great uniforms for busy ladies. Printed cobalt-blue linings make black cloaks daring. Zang takes his bow, wearing a single glittering clip in his precisely-cut hair, bowing to a standing ovation.

From Zang Toi RTW Spring 2014.

Wednesday, September 11th, 10 AM Michael Kors This day twelve years ago, dawned bright and shiny and ended with such tragedy. I remember dressing for Fashion Week and hearing the news on the radio, knowing my husband worked in the World Trade Center. Luckily, he survived and the city itself has grown and prospered. Michael Kors is one of the great success stories of this period. His show is always eagerly anticipated. He makes real clothes for real women. I am honored to be seated next to his vivacious mother, Joan, who obviously inspired him at an early age. She beams with pride, telling how Michael loved fashion since he was a toddler. I spot Katie Holmes and speak to Aerin Lauder, Marjorie Gubelmann, Jamie Tisch, Allure's Linda Wells and Bazaar'sGlenda Bailey. I compliment WWD photographer, Steve Eichner, on his new blog, "Eichner's Eye." As soon as the upbeat music begins, it's obvious that Michael has a winner, with the most natural and beautiful models of the week sporting easy-breezy separates with a '70s vibe, and some clingier, sexier, '40's styles. There are adorable little furs that twist around the shoulders, more like scarves with trim attached to pin-stripes or flannel, tailored safari tops with pockets over shorts, a boyfriend cardigan, raffia- embroidered skirts, bikinis, slinky dresses with bra-like tops and draped derrieres, a little something for everyone. As "Isn't She Lovely" played, the whole jaded audience smiled and tapped their feet. The room was happy, filled with good vibes, waiting for spring. Heading backstage with my tennis buddy, Renee Rockefeller, we both appreciate the fact that Michael makes great pieces for tall girls. His shifts are awesome and his trousers hit well below our ankles. His clothes are light-hearted and sporty, great for travel and for urban centers. No wonder he is fashion's darling. Long may he reign.

From Michael Kors RTW Spring 2014.

11 AM Douglas Hannant, 450 W. 37th My intentions are good, but a blast of fetid, 94-degree air makes me feel like fainting. I walk to find a cab, but feel woozy and my head starts to ache. Guess I am a fashion victim! Flagging a cab, I head for home and air-conditioning. Please check out Douglas' designs online!

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Ellin's Fashion Week Diary, Part VI

September 13, 2013, 9:13 am

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Models among the wreckage at Marc Jacobs RTW Spring 2014 collection.

by Ellin Saltzman As I was coming home from the Apple store after Anna Sui on Wednesday evening (by the way, two names to know at West Side Apple are Jean, who calmed a nutty customer with his misbehaving Mini iPad, and Steven, the technician who came to my aid after the hour wait at the Genius Bar), I saw the magnificent towers of light penetrating the sky. I shed a tear. Day 8: Thursday, September 12 My last day of shows. Exiting Lincoln Center, I allowed myself 45 minutes to get to 580 Washington Street. The ride was $30! I resolved it coming home ... my new mantra is "1 train to 42 shuttle to 6 train to 77." Get it? 2,302 steps according to FuelBand. RALPH LAUREN Beautifully set up. A nice kiss from the very attractive and charming David Lauren as I arrived. A kiss from Jonathan Newhouse. Hellos to Fabien Baron. All happy making. This was the press show and the one time I should have had my camera for the folks. If you did not read the name on the program you probably could not guess whose collection it was. It is a whole new direction for Ralph. Fun, young, colorful. Mod and modern, retro and up-to-date combined in a winning way.

Andrew Lauren, Ricky Lauren, Dylan Lauren, David Lauren, and Lauren Bush Lauren.

The opening nine outfits were black and white, school girl as in Sasha's opening outfit. Knee socks, brimmed English school boy caps, chunky-heeled Mary Jane patent shoes. Outfit 10 was Katya in an English Dandy type double faced jacket with a black and white tattersall shirt and double faced wool pants The collection continued with some great black and white separates and dresses, and an easy white ottoman ribbed mock turtle neck with matching ribbed knit mini skirt on Este (look 17)

Ralph Lauren RTW Spring 2014 ...

And then va va va VOOM came Jasmine in look 26 bright lime followed by orange and yellow and cobalt. It was a neon wonderland. Stephen Sprouse of the 2013s. It will surely brighten up Madison Avenue and Oak Street and Rodeo. These are delightfully mindless dresses, flattering, uncomplicated. Followed by a neon orange coat on Sui Le and s bright green one on Martha.

Suddenly the music played "Streets of Paris ... I miss you" and down walked Karlie in number 38. A to die for strapless cobalt silk gazar evening dress. That is going to the Met Costume Institute for sure and hopefully the Oscars as well. If not there is a red cady evening dress on Bridget and another on Josephine. Also some spectacular white evening pant looks and a white cady jumpsuit! WOW Ralph! What can I say? WOW!

I did forget to tell you that Ralph walked down the runway in black tee/sweater and white pants. Looking very Spring fresh and non-cowboy. He also was walking as stiffly as I am. Suspect his back is hurting! But he is a love with a fabulous family who all sit together and pose together and are nice together. One final note: I kissed Charles the marvelous design head of Ralph (I think that is his title) as I was leaving. I told him I loved the new look ... and he said "and very you!" At 1:15, I left my home for the 2 p.m. Calvin Klein show at 50 Varick Street. I was reciting my subway mantra when the heavens opened up and I stupidly got into a taxi. He told me how terrible the traffic was. I nicely told him to please stop talking on the phone and take the quickest route down to Varick. He somehow decided to follow our route on Google maps and I am sure took the longest possible way ... Fifth Avenue instead of the West Side Highway etc. I could do nothing except scold myself for taking a cab. We at NYSD just bought ourselves a $60 taxi ride. And I have decided I need to book a downtown hotel for next season. Or at least never ever get in a taxi to Varick or Washington or any of those locales again. I finally reached two blocks from the show at 2:45 (one and a half hours). To my horror and hysteria I bumped into all my pals walking to the Canal street subway ... getting back on the number 1 line!! I got a blow by blow while on the train of the show and here is what I heard ... CALVIN KLEIN Francisco Costa is true to himself. His collection is pure and unaccessorized except for some super strappy platforms. I want those shoes! He opened with whites, relaxed structures. Great tunic mixing sheer and solid in white and then again in black. Looks 11 and 12 are great clean white looks. A fern green coat is fringed or unfinished. One black cardigan outfit is full of fringe. There is an African feeling to much of the late day clothes not in prints but in structure. Look 31 seems to have a slinky in the middle.

Calvin Klein RTW Spring 2014 ...

It's 7 p.m. and I am leaving for the Marc Jacobs show. Happily, his show is at the Lexington Avenue Armory and reachable via the Lexington Avenue subway! As I am writing this, I am watching a tragic scene unfold, yet again, to the Seaside Heights boardwalk in New Jersey. So disheartening to see especially after they had just rebuilt following the devastation from Hurricane Sandy.

Thursday was quite a day: Heat (which I do not mind as much as the cold) and big thunder storms that seemed to start the minute I left the house. However, I am no longer a fashion victim. I wear city shorts (my best knee-length black Bermudas and a decent black belt and black tee shirt), long sleeves (for air conditioning and the dressier occasion of fashion shows), and my very most comfortable TOMS. My Toms. If you do not know about TOMS, you must buy and learn. For every pair you buy they give a pair to a needy child. Better yet, they are the most comfortable and affordable flats; a cross between an espadrille and a sneaker. Mine tonight were black shiny sequin-like. Ironically Marc Jacobs (who still hugged me and called me Mom) showed many of his clothes with bicycle pants and sequin flats. Telepathy, I guess. At any rate I left my apartment early as I knew Marc would start exactly on time (in the olden days he was at least 40 minutes late until Anna Wintour set him straight. He was also on the first Monday of the shows, not the very last show). As I left and headed to the Lexington Avenue subway stop on 77th street, the heavens opened up and the thunder started. Didn't matter as I had a head scarf, umbrella, and my Burberry duster. Bumped into some more folks on the Lexington line and when we reached 28th and Park ... they took off running. I did a rain skip and lope. By the way, my Nike FuelBand says I have taken 5,640 steps today! Made over my fuel level and burned 525 calories. MARC JACOBS As I walked into the enormous Armory, I realized it was very dark. Very dirty looking. People were handing out fans and bottles of water as it was also very hot. Broken train on one side. Broken life guard chair. Broken boardwalk. A wreck. Where was I? When I saw the Turkish carpets on the floor, I thought okay ... maybe this is some Moorish tale and I am at some rundown marketplace. I spoke to some in the know and they corrected me. It was the Apocalypse. The End of the world. Marc's world is ending with some absolutely spectacular matador jackets with more ball fringe than old Denning & Fourcade draperies (they were two very successful interior designers in the '70s and '80s). Most of these were shown with bicycle pants and flat sequin sneaker boots or booties. He had some dark prints with or without fringe. There were some infanta type dresses in black or dark green or deep red, always with black lace and ball fringe and fringe. Some marvelous embroidered coats. It was actually quite beautiful, but strange. I do not know how it translates to Spring 2014. Once I am taken through the collection piece by piece, I know it will start to click. The models all wore platinum blond wigs with short bangs and chin length.

Marc Jacobs RTW Spring 2014.

That said, on every seat was a black and white Marc Jacobs hatbox. Very, very chic. And in every box were three great new cosmetic items. They are very, very chic. The packaging is beautiful. It should be very, very successful. Many congrats on the cosmetic launch Marc and all fondest love! Studied Marc's collection online only to realize I neglected to mention some spectacularly easy sweater jackets and beautiful silk dresses. In photographs, the clothes are lighter than in the dark disaster-strewn runway. The clothes are beautiful. For any season. A courageous show, Marc.

Marc Jacobs RTW Spring 2014 ...

Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 1 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 2 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 3 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 4 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 5

Photographs by IMAXtree.

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LIZ SMITH: Just Wait For the Opera! ...

September 16, 2013, 6:47 am

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"Brokeback Mountain," the opera, coming to Madrid's Teatro Real.

"Brokeback Mountain" — If You Thought The Movie Was Depressing, Just Wait For the Opera! ... THE FBI Still Loves J. Edgar Hoover: Call Him a Blackmailer, Call Him a Bully, Call Him Power-Mad. Just Don't Call Him a Cross-Dresser! ... Faye Dunaway in The New Q Magazine. Monday, September 16, 2013 by Liz Smith Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain." Elizabeth Taylor as Catherine Holly and Sebastian in "Suddenly Last Summer." "I WISH I knew how to quit you." That is the famous line from Ang Lee's 2005 movie, "Brokeback Mountain." This was a movie I was not especially fond of. In fact, I disliked it. And I suffered the slings and arrows of press reps and members of the gay community because I didn't agree that it was a "breakthrough" film — a Romeo and Juliet thing. When I initially reviewed it, I gave full measure to most of the performances. (But I thought the late Heath Ledger mumbled and almost needed subtitles!) I didn't see what had been advanced. It was a throwback to the bad old days when the gays always had to die. Sebastian Venable in "Suddenly Last Summer" had a better time of it than the "gay cowboys" of "BM." And they weren't really cowboys. They were mostly shepherds. It was all misery. In the end, everybody was dead or alone and shattered. The screening I attended was awash in tears. After my review appeared, the press rep called to say, "Well! If that's the way you feel ..." I hadn't bashed it nor slavishly adored it. As if my opinion mattered. The movie took three Oscars, including Best Director for Ang Lee. It was a big box-office success.

NOW COMES word that "Brokeback Mountain" is to be re-invented as an opera! It will debut in Madrid on January 28th. Bless all involved, including creator Charles Wuorinen, director Ivo Van Hove, and Annie Proulx, who wrote the libretto. Her short story was the basis of the movie, and now this. Ditto also to the stars, Daniel Okulitch, Tom Randle, Heather Buck and Hannah Esther Minutillo. It is commissioned by Gerard Mortier. Annie Proulx and Charles Wuorinen in Madrid's Teatro Real. Unless the opera version leaves everybody happy and alive, I can't imagine not wanting to slit one's wrists as the curtain falls. But opera is seldom happy. (Or, as Cher said in "Moonstruck," after her character attends a performance of "La Boheme": "I can't believe she died. I mean, I knew she was sick ...") In any case, it's modern opera, which is something, at least. However, one opera savvy pal of mine is not impressed: "Gerard Mortier is the impresario who was slated to take control of the New York City Opera a few years ago when the company decided it needed an avant-garde shot in the arm. He subsequently backed out once he realized he would actually have to stay within budget and that New York was not ready — or actually too sensible — for his radical nonsense. The whole fiasco contributed to the near collapse of the City Opera. This, apparently, is the sort of brilliance we are missing." Ouch!

AS FOR gays onscreen, the great major studio gay film has yet to be made. It can't be about AIDS or drag-queens, or elderly men coming out as they die, or people pulled comically out of the closet. It will have to deal with gay people as they are — real people, with real issues that are not very — if at all — different from the heterosexual world. But it seems many are lulled into believing "RuPaul's Drag Race" on TV, constitutes advancement.

P.S. to all that. I mentioned the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington the other day and remarked that I am surprised the F.B.I. still wants to venerate the detested, defrocked J. Edgar as a hero worthy to have a famous important building named for him. A very innocent-looking J. Edgar, and a more seasoned version. This is a man who blackmailed — or tried to blackmail — every U.S. President from FDR through Nixon. He insisted all through the '40s and '50s and on, that there was no Mafia. But his FBI searched and ruined hundreds of lives of those who were termed "reds" or Communists. He denied fruitlessly, but successfully, in a manner of speaking, that he was gay. (This suited the prejudiced times and I'm not criticizing him for that!) It is to laugh, however, to hear that current FBI-ers still love J. Edgar and are not concerned with his despotic ways but with accusations that he was a cross-dresser. They should know Hoover's late friend, the sometimes delightful but under-handed attorney Roy Cohn, was the source of all those delicious tales about Hoover in smart frocks. He told these tales while Hoover was alive and after he died in 1972, during the fall of Richard Nixon. I knew Roy only too well; he was a fabulous source of inside info, gossip and gross exaggeration. He insisted he wasn't gay but J. Edgar was. I didn't really care but didn't approve of Hoover's unchecked power. And right there in this month's Vanity Fair, on page 214, is a 1993 Risko portrait of J. Edgar, dressed in a sleek black gown which reveals burgeoning chest hair, and a glamorous black fur throw around his shoulders. The F.B.I. is proud that Hoover put them on the map but they will probably never forgive Roy Cohn for his remarks and they surely don't like the character Leo DiCaprio gave us as Hoover in the recent film "J. Edgar."

IF YOU are able to lay your hot little hands on the Q magazine put out by Elizabeth and Christopher Meigher of Quest Media, then don't miss this month's Liz by-line on the one and only legend Faye Dunaway. (You can buy this magazine or subscribe at 420 Madison Ave., NYC 10017. It is listed for $5.) With immense help and input from the movie maven Denis Ferrara, I was able to write what I consider to be the best movie star profile I've ever managed — about Faye the woman and star, her downs, her ups. And I have written about almost all the legends of the silver screen for Q, so I don't know why they haven't collected them into a book for cinema history. Just bragging.

Contact Liz Smith here.

Click here for NYSD contents.

Ellin's Fashion Week Diary Wrap

September 16, 2013, 7:48 am

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by Ellin Saltzman Before I took off to East Hampton for a weekend of religion, tennis, golf, movies, and friends, I thought a lot about the (Fashion) week gone by. It was a very good season. Filled with wearable clothes. That is often the kiss of death to a fashionista, but not in this case. They were clothes that for the most part were right for the next Spring/Summer season. They are clothes that move and seem to fit. They are clothes with sleeves for those of us who are no longer in love with our very upper arms. They are clothes in a variety of lengths. Clockwise from top left: Michael Kors (leather); Altazurra (long skirts); Nanette Lepore (jumpsuit); Oscar de le Renta (brights); Michael Kors (lacy knits); Ralph Lauren (brights). L. to r.: Ralph Rucci (pales); Donan Karan (chambray, denim tones); Zang Toi (fabrics). L. to r.: Ralph Rucci, Desigual, Zang Toi. These are clothes that you can imagine buying. And isn't that the point? Yes, these are press shows which require news, but the news this year was subtle rather than extravaganza. I realize part of the attraction was that we were seeing clothes for next season, but were living the week in the summer clime. The fabrics themselves led to the movement. Stiffness all but disappeared! What are some of the trends, you ask? • WHITE WHITE WHITE • BLACK AND WHITE • NAVY: in checks and plaids and night time jersies • FULL SKIRTS • SLIT SKIRTS • LEATHER: most often in white, caramel, or black (see Michael Kors) • SHORTER SKIRTS and LONGER SKIRTS but slit (see Altazurra) • JUMPSUITS • LACY KNITS: as in Michael pale grey cardigan long and lacy • SHIRTS: from whites to great stripes and SHIRT DRESSES • BOLERO: jacket knit sweaters and shrugs (again arm-covering) • VESTS: long and short knit and woven • RED • BRIGHTS: (as at Ralph and Oscar evening) • DRESSES: in soft prints, chemises (easy fit), full skirted • SHORTS: right for town and country • COATS: trenches, cabans; round shoulder buttonless, reefer, princess fitted (whatever happened to the Spring coat? global warming?) • SHOES: flat sandals, clunky heeled, sexy • PALES: from nude flesh to sand to palest pink (Rucci) • CHAMBRAY and DENIM tones (as at Donna Karan) • FABRICS: cotton, gazar, chiffon, silk, jersey (Zang Toi), wool crepes, neoprene, crinkled cottons and you name it ... they were right. Does that sound like a laundry list? Not really. They all work for you (and for me as well). The highlights for me and collections I would like to see again: • RALPH RUCCI • MICHAEL KORS • OSCAR DE LA RENTA • JOSEPH ALTUZARRA (which I actually did not see, except in photos) Some of my other loves and happy surprises: • DESIGUAL for fun prints; LaCroix style Surprises: • VICTORIA BECKHAM • ZANG TOI: Boy, am I glad I got to that show! Ladies, please make sure you check him out! He is hot hot hot! Collections I am very sorry that I missed: • DENNIS BASSO: fortunately he is covered elsewhere. The ladies all love him and what's not to love? • NARCISCO RODRIQUEZ: his comeback looked great • JOSEPH ALTAZURRA: I am in love with his multicolored striped skirt and his whole collection. Do not miss his clothes!!! • DONNA KARAN and DVF for old times' sake and because they have both done so much for this industry. Thanks to all the great PR firms that made my life easier: KCD (!!!) and Hamilton South and Linda Gaunt and Deborah Hughes. See you in February ... if not before. Thanks for reading! Love you all!

At the Marc Jacobs show: A black and white hatbox was on every seat. And in every box were three great new cosmetic items. The packaging is beautiful. Can't wait to try them out!

I never could find the VIP toilet, but this is hysterical! Cottonelle brings a fresh (and clean) look to New York Fashion Week with a dress made out of Cottonelle toilet paper and corresponding Flushable Cleansing Cloths clutch. The "bum-friendly fashions" made their way down the runway as part of the Strut Fashionable Moms Show at Lincoln Center.

Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 1 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 2 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 3 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 4 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 5 Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 6

Contact DPC here.

Jill Krementz covers Edmund de Waal at Gagosian

September 16, 2013, 10:45 am

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The entrance to Gagosian Gallery on the west side of Madison Avenue between 76th and 77th Street. It is the artist's first exhibition with Gagosian.

Edmund de Waal: Atemwende Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue September 12-October 18, 2013 Edmund de Waal was born in 1964. He studied English at Cambridge University and ceramics in both England and Japan. He is best known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels, which have been exhibited in many museums around the world including Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt; National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London. When Edmund de Waal inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had survived. And so begins this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story spanning five generations. Much of his recent work has been concerned with ideas of collecting and collections, how objects are kept together, lost, stolen and dispersed. His work comes out of a dialogue between minimalism, architecture and sound, and is informed by his passion for literature. The exhibition title derives from Paul Celan's 1967 poetry collection Atemwende ("breathturn"), a term that the poet equates with the moment when words transcend literal meaning. Set in series and sequences, the pots possess their own evocative power, appearing as characters that touch and huddle, or face isolation. De Waal has had major interventions in museums and public collections including Waddesdon Manor, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Britain, and the National Museum of Wales. Future projects include working with the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Ashmolean in Oxford, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. De Waal is also known as a writer. His memoir, The Hare with Amber Eyes, which traces his family, has been an international bestseller and has won many literary prizes. The artist's exhibition at Gagosian is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. The introductory essay, The Great Glass Case of Beautiful Things: About the Art of Edmund de Waal, is by Adam Gopnik. Gopnik's text is as exquisitely crafted as the artist's perfect pots.

"I've been thinking about new ways to make pauses, spaces and silences, where breath is held inside and between each vessel, between the objects and the vitrines, the vitrines and the room. In working with the vessel, working with porcelain, and with colors that express the great history of Oriental ceramics, but also the colors of modernism and minimalism; this seems to be enough material to be getting on with." — Edmund de Waal

Larry Gagosian read the artist's memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes when it was first published and was curious to see Mr. de Waal's art. "They're really poetic installations," the gallerist told Carol Vogel from The New York Times. Ms. Vogel profiled the artist in her paper's Arts & Leisure section on Sunday, September 1st. Ms.Vogel's piece can be read in its entirety HERE and it's worth reading.

Martha Parker, her husband Adam Gopnik, and Alan Yentob. Ms. Parker is a screenwriter and is working on a romantic comedy with Meg Wolitzer. Adam Gopnik, a staff writer for The New Yorker, has written a wonderful essay for the beautiful exhibition catalogue. Alan Yentob is the Creative Director of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The BBC is doing a documentary on Edmund de Waal and was filming at the opening reception for the artist on the evening of September 12th.

Edmund de Wall with Alan Yentob, the Creative Director of BBC.

Adam Gopnik and Alan Yentob.

Richard Roob and Karen Davidson. Mr. Roob is Chairman of The Studio in a School. Ms. Davidson oversees the Visual Arts at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Next month Ms. Davidson will be presiding over an exhibition, "Melt to Earth," an exhibition of fourteen site-specific large-scale sculptures by visual artist Aaron Curry on view at the Josie Robertson Plaza; October 2013 - January 2014. Mr. Curry is represented by Michael Werner Gallery.

Agnes Gund As reported in ARTnews, "In 1976, New York philanthropist, art patron, and collector Agnes Gund read in The New York Times that art programs were being slashed from New York City public schools due to drastic budget cuts. "Her response to the article was to found Studio in a School, a program that since its inception in 1977 has brought over 620 professional artists — including MacArthur-Award winner Pepón Osorio — into classrooms as teachers and creative role models for more than 800,000 New York City school children, 90 percent of whom are from low-income families.

"I thought that every child had the right to an arts program in their school," Gund says, "not as a frill or an extra, but as a consistent thing taught really well as both an academic subject and a joyful pleasure." To date, Studio has contributed over $90 million in services to students ages 3 to 23 at more than 700 locations, and is currently operating in over 150 public schools, daycare centers, community-based organizations, and museums.

Joan Platt, Richard Roob, Karen Davidson, and Agnes Gund. Joan Platt is a well-known potter. Her elegant functional tableware, JMP pottery, is made with stoneware clay, which is hard and durable. It has been glazed with non-toxic glazes and fired in a gas kiln to a high temperature.

Peter-Ayers Tarantino. Tarantino lives in Philadelphia and owns one piece by Edmund de Waal. Mr. Tarantino once visited the artist in his old workspace south of Brexton in front of White Road. Tarantino subsequently invited de Waal to give a talk at the Philadelphia Atheneum in conjunction with the hardcover publication of The Hare with Amber Eyes.

Leah Dickerman with Anna Marie and Robert Shapiro. Mrs. Shapiro is a life trustee of MoMA. Her husband Bob is the chair of the governing board of the Yale Art Gallery. Ms. Dickerman, curator in MoMA's Department of Painting and Sculpture, has just been appointed director of the Museum Research Consortium, a new partnership with the graduate art history programs at Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, and the Graduate Center at the City of New York. The Consortium will seek to develop a stronger dialogue between MoMA and academic institutions.

Installation view of one of the two galleries. Each of the four large vitrines, breathturn I-IV (all works 2013), holds hundreds of pots, while individual objects and smaller clusters sit within wall-mounted boxes, girders, and brackets (black field I-III and I am their music), evoking the ascetic constructions of Donald Judd and Giorgio Morandi's communities of everyday vessels on canvas. By setting intimate handmade works in fabricated aluminum vitrines, he produces a formal tension between tradition and innovation; de Waal imbues the mastery of an ancient medium with a bold new narrative.

Kate Eberstadt is an intern at 980. The work she is standing next to is entitled Atemwende. Derived from the title of Paul Celan's 1967 poetry collection, Atemwende ("breathturn"), a term that the poet equates with the moment when words transcend literal meaning. In the past, subtle shades of whites and celadon have become de Waal's signature so the Gagosian exhibit is a departure for the artist. He told Ms. Vogel that "his inspiration comes from studying the early Meissen porcelain makers who were working in Dresden, Germany, some 300 years ago. Their work was black because it was before they managed to crack the alchemy to make white. There's something incredibly beautiful about those early shadowy black porcelains."

Alan Yentob, Edmund de Waal, with Mike and Vera Hearn. Mike Hearn is the Metropolitan's Curator in charge of the Department of Asian Art.

Mike Hearn taking a good look at Atemwende.

Atemwende comprises a series of vitrines containing thrown porcelain vessels arranged in specific groupings. From simple pairs of pots to complex multitudes in their hundreds, these minimalist dichotomies in black and white suggest the sequences and patterns of a musical score, while titles cite the poetry of Paul Celan, Wallace Stevens and others.

Quoting from Adam Gopnik's essay: De Waal's beautiful vessels in their cases are vulnerable, so to speak, to the entrance of the Three Stooges: to men with brooms and to the odd awkward elbow. We feel for them, as we do for ourselves, because we know that someone made them, and we know that they will one day break. His art takes a familiar grammar of display and turns it into a poetry of memory. Inside a room, a great row of porcelain pots. Along each row, a story. Inside each pot, a breath.

Kaja Kühl, an urban designer from Germany, and her husband Jay Tsai, a retired art historian, live in Brooklyn. Kühl, the founder of youarethecity (2008) received her Diploma in Architecture from the University in Karlsruhe, Germany, and a Master of Science in Urban Planning from Columbia University in New York. youarethecity collaborates with institutions, individuals, and non-profit organizations to produce maps, diagrams, writings, designs, websites, events, and exhibitions about urban spaces.

Clare Tavernor, a Director of BBC, Edmund de Waal, and Paul Holdengräber, Director of "Live from the NYPL," a series of events held at the Celeste Bartos Forum. Moderated by Mr. Holdengräber, this year's series kicks off on September 17th with a conversation between Margaret Atwood and Carl Hiaasen and concludes on December 12th with Toni Morrison and Junot Diaz. It is among my favorite of annual cultural events in the city.

BBC crew interviewing Sam Bakewell, one of seven studio assistants working in Edmund de Waal's London studio. "We deal with every aspect of Edmund's work after he throws the pots. We fire the kilns, help him with glazing, and wrap the vitrines when they go off to various shows. Everything has to be photographed and measured. Many of the vitrines hold as many as 400 pots so it's no small task." Pepe and Beatrice Estevez. When I asked Mr. Estevez what he did, his wife chimed in that he was a playboy. Judging from how they acted with one another I would guess that he's plenty happy playing around with his pretty wife who is looking fabulous in an "age-old Caroline Herrera."

Beatrice and Pepe Estevez with the artist.

Edmund de Waal with Leila Straus, who is retired from Grenada TV and who regrets not owning work by the artist. "I missed the boat this time. I got to know Edmund when his work was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum."

Mark Francis is a Director at Gagosian. Kathy Steinberg confirmed how happy her sister-in-law Gayfryd is in her new relationship with Vanity Fair writer Michael Shnayerson.

Brett Garde, in Cynthia Rowley, and Vera Schneider, in Massimo Dutti, are both Gagosian interns. On the wall is breathturn #3.

Ice, Eden, 2013; 42 porcelain vessels with gilding in 3 wood, aluminum, and Plexiglas vitrines.

Thomas Brooks with his girlfriend Maria Petschnig, a video performance artist. Mr. Brooks teaches linguistics in the German Department at University of Vienna. He was in NYC visiting his girlfriend. Jessica Arisohn is Gagosian's Exhibition Manager. "I do special projects and I coordinated this exhibit," she told me. Mark Francis and Elon Wright were the curators. Ms. Arisohn has combined Zara pants and a J.Crew top.

Jessica Arisohn with Larry Gagosian.

Felipe Propper, Babette Cohen, and Dr. Carmel Cohen. Mr. Propper's father, Eduardo Propper de Callejón, was a Spanish diplomat who defied orders and courageously risked his life to save hundreds of Jews and others in France during the Holocaust. Ms. Cohen deals in fine diamond jewelry. The fingers of both her hands were covered with glittery and heavy jewels. Dr. Cohen is a gynecologist at Mount Sinai where he established a division of Gynecologic Oncology.

Courtney Hodell, wearing a dress by a Greek designer, is a book editor. She worked on The Hare with Amber Eyes, published in America by Jonathan Galassi at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The internationally acclaimed best-seller has been optioned by British movie producer Allon Reich. Jan Alejandro, a playwright and poet, visiting from Los Angeles. Mr. Alejandro is working on a musical he's hoping to get into next year's Fringe Festival in NYC. On the wall: black field, 111, 2013; eight porcelain vessels in wood and lead cabinet.

Mr. Alejandro with his wife Muffie Alejandro, who runs Jan-Al Cases. The company makes traveling flight cases for The New York Philharmonic, the New York Rangers, the Highlanders, the New York Knicks, the New York Yankees, and ... Jay-Z. For Jay-Z, the cases are for his wardrobe as well as what's known as his "ambiance," which would include his chandeliers. Lots of them. That would be four cases that hold eight each. Jan-Al also did the cases for Once, but the Alejandros still have not seen the musical on Broadway.

Ann Nitze and her sister Jane Richards. Mrs. Nitze is an art dealer who lives mainly in Washington, D.C. This installation, I am their music 2013, is way up high. If you don't crane your neck, you'll be missing 39 porcelain vessels in two aluminum girders.

Holly Hotchner and Suzanne Deal Booth have known each other since grad school at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU. Ms. Hotchner has just stepped down as the director of the Museum of Arts and Design, or MAD, in New York City. It was during her 16-year tenure that the museum exhibited the work of Mr. de Waal. 10 years ago Hotchner lead a group of MAD supporters to England to meet with artists working in ceramic. A highlight was visiting Edmund's studio and engaging in a dialogue with him. The Museum and supporters commissioned and purchased work at that time. Suzanne Deal Booth is the Director of Friends of Heritage Preservation.

Edmund de Waal with Tony Freund and Jane Garmey, the noted garden writer. Ms. Garmey's latest book, Private Gardens of the Hudson Valley, is being published next month by Monacelli. She has known Edmund since he was nine. Mr. Freund, the Editor and Director, Fine Art, for 1stdibs had this to say: "I think the work is beautiful. The Hare with Amber Eyes proved that the potter was a poet. Now Gagosian is showing that the potter is an artist. The works made me think of Morandi, of course, and a little bit about Damien Hirst's medicine cabinets, which I last saw in this same space."

De Waal's art speaks to his enduring fascination with the nature of objects and the attendant history of their collection and display. His poignant memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family biography whose recurring motif through five generations is a large collection of netsuke. A potter since childhood and an acclaimed writer, de Waal's studies of the history of ceramics have taken him from ancient Japan to late modernism. Confronting European and Asian traditions of intimate craftsmanship with the scale and sequence of minimalist art and music, his new ensembles evoke the delicate measure of Agnes Martin's sublime abstract paintings, and the rhythmic pulses of the music of Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

Edmund de Waal and Adam Gopnik. Anne Bass and artist Julian Lethbridge.

Meredith Martin is a professor at NYU where she teaches 18th Century French Art. She has recently moved to NYC after teaching at Wellesley for five years. Martin is the author of Dairy Queens about Marie Antoinette dressing up as a milkmaid and her desire to get back to nature — It was an architectural trend among royal women in France in the 18th Century to build fake farms and aristocratic gardens. Her hair is wet because she and her husband got drenched in a monsoon-like downpour.

Meredith Martin and her husband, Josh Siegel who is a film curator at MoMA. Louise Neri, a Director at Gagosian. "Before I was a Director I was a scholar of contemporary art and I published books on the subject. Before that I was editor of Parkett magazine and a curator of the Whitney Biennial in 1997. I've been working for Larry since 2006."

Installation view: how did we live here, 2013; the evening, also, 2013; and your hand full of flowers, 2013. Adam Gopnik writes in his essay: De Waal loves Wallace Stevens's great poem, "Anecdote of the Jar" (1919), about the effect of jars on space: I placed a jar in Tennessee, And round it was, upon a hill. It made the slovenly wilderness Surround that hill. The wilderness rose up to it, And sprawled around, no longer wild. The jar was round upon the ground and tall and of a port in air. It took dominion everywhere ... The jar, the elemental made thing, takes dominion over the unmade world. The air around it suddenly looks 'slovenly,' insufficiently jar-like. Made things remake the unmade world.

Dale Snepar and Amanda Spencer, registrars. Diana Willkie and Eliza Robie. "We are the front desk girls at 980."

Sun Kim and Barry Stedman, both ceramicists, are part time assistants in London for Edmund de Waal.

The end of the evening. Melissa Lazarov in the blue dress is a Gagosian Director.

8:30 PM: In the lobby after waiting for the pelting rain to subside before heading off to a celebratory dinner hosted by Larry Gagosian at The Mark for the artist. Four of the Edmund de Waal gang from London (left to right): Stephanie Forrest, studio director, with Barry Stedman, Sun Kim, and Nerissa Taysom, researcher.

Everyone went off to The Mark for dinner. The rain had subsided, somewhat, and I was able to hitch a ride home in a black car. The view driving south on Park Avenue was an exhibition as good as it gets: The MetLife Building on Park Avenue lit up in red, white, and blue to commemorate September 11th.

Text and photographs © by Jill Krementz: all rights reserved. Contact Jill Krementz here.

LIZ SMITH: Candid, Amazing and Oddly Heartening ...

September 17, 2013, 6:45 am

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Sisters forever: Nora and Delia Ephron.

Delia Ephron's Candid, Amazing and Oddly Heartening Memoir about her Sister Nora, their Family and a Dog ... "Breaking Bad" — The Astonishing Phone Call Scene! ... Miley Cyrus — Okay, Now We Know She's All Grown Up and Twerking; Curtain Falls, Next Act? Tuesday, September 17, 2013 by Liz Smith "AT NORA'S memorial service, Martin Short quoted Nora: ‘Hazelnuts are what’s wrong with Europe.’ It got a big laugh. It was my line. “Tom Hanks quoted this dialogue about falling in love from ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ — ‘It was like coming home, but not to any home I’d ever known.’ Also mine — from my wedding. I’d popped it into the script. It turns out, even though you never wear a wedding dress twice, you can recycle your vows. “Some weeks later, Frank Rich in New York magazine quoted another line of Nora’s: ‘Never marry a man you wouldn’t want to be divorced from.’ ‘That’s mine,’ I said to my husband. ‘I looked in one of her collections. There it was. I tried to recall if she’d asked permission to use it. I don’t remember. I’ve probably used hers. Our words and thoughts are muddied together in life and in the movies we collaborated on. We borrowed lines from each other the way other sisters borrow dresses.”

Nora Ephron, left and Delia Ephron, in front of their childhood home in Beverly Hills. (courtesy of Delia Ephron) Nora and Delia (a few years later). THE ABOVE IS verbatim from Delia Ephron’s book out today, titled “Sister Mother Husband Dog.” From Penquin’s Blue Rider Press. I wrote back on June 19th about how much I adored Delia’s love letter to Nora Ephron and her sickness at her sister’s death and her complaints and her inside story — as only Delia could tell it. But I didn’t say then that Nora Ephron had become all but canonized in people’s memories since she left us. Everyone claims her, but Delia probably knew Nora best. She certainly suffered, long before any of the rest of us even knew that Nora was sick. I have already written that Delia’s book is amazing, candid, and borders on hysterical insanity. It deals with the loss of Nora, how they worked and fought together, their successes, failures, romances, divorces, their sisters Amy and Hallie, their well-known screenwriting and impossibly alcoholic mother and father. And, this book of Delia’s is the thing that has heartened and cheered me up. If I miss Nora — and I do — I go and re-read Delia. I couldn’t quote from the book back in June as it was embargoed. But Nora would be so proud of Delia — maybe a little envious that Delia had her down so pat. As for Nora stealing Delia’s lines. Nora would have just laughed — “Serves you right, Delia!” I close this book every time thinking about how it deals with one-upsmanship. I recall a fellow Nora admirer who asked me at a table in a discussion of Nora’s death, “But why did Jacob Bernstein call YOU to tell you Nora was dying that very day? Why did he call you?” I could tell she thought, at the very least, she should have had the “honor.” I answered that I didn’t know but I expected it was because I’d known Jacob from before the day he was born. Anybody else who wants to claim Nora is welcome to do so. But Delia has written a wonderful memoir of truth and loss and observation — and what she, Delia, tells about her mother, husband and dog is great as well. Nora Ephron, the Mark Twain of our times! Immortalized by her sister Delia. (And I stole that Mark Twain line from writer Joan Juliet Buck.)

“THE PHONE call scene” in Sunday night’s “Breaking Bad” goes down as one of the series’ best, most revealing moments. It showed that for all his terrible deeds Walt does not want his family to go down with him. (Some people misinterpreted Walt’s vicious rant to Skyler. But he knew the cops were listening. He was getting her off the hook.) He also didn’t want his brother-in-law, Hank, to be killed. He does have limits. Again, I have to give high marks to Anna Gunn as Skyler. What an actress!

WHEN I ran into my friend Linda Stasi recently, she said she was stopping working night and day on her Post column covering all the thousands of things going on now in TV world. She said she’d go back to writing books and “having a life.” That sly puss — Linda. There she was Sunday in the rival tabloid, the New York Daily News, with the Linda byline. Even though she didn’t give us the scoop, we wish her all the best and are thrilled she is still writing for a real newspaper. Meantime, rumor has it that the tabloid New York Post will bring back Richard Johnson from L.A. to do a celebrity column in his old stomping ground!

ENDQUOTE:“I was an adult when I was supposed to be a kid. So now I’m an adult acting like a kid,” says Miley Cyrus to Harper’s Bazaar. Well, she’s 20, which in show biz terms means she’s a slightly precocious 14-year-old, mentally. I think that the media “shock” over Miley’s MTV performance was hypocritical. Not that it was in any way appealing. She’s been on this road to “free” herself from her Disney image for a number of years. Of course she was going to take advantage of an audience of millions. So now she’s established herself as ... not Hannah Montana. She’s happy about that. Now let’s see if she has any real talent. This reality has escaped me, so far.

Terry Richardson for Harper’s Bazaar.

Contact Liz Smith here.

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No Holds Barred - Fashion's Disconnect

September 18, 2013, 6:36 am

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The Christmas rush outside Macy's in Manhattan, 1939 (© Bettmann/CORBIS).

No Holds Barred: Fashion's Disconnect By Blair Sabol With the the Jewish High Holidays recently passed, I wondered how much New York still worshipped at the altar of Fashion Week. After all Fashion's Night Out was eliminated and that was the only way people west of Elizabeth, New Jersey knew about fashion's big biz. I didn't seen any A-list stars along any of the runway front rows. Imagine ... not even a Bravo "Housewife," a Kardashian, or a Duck Dynasty brother. Only Kanye West and Sarah Jessica Parker, but who cares about them?

Actually, who cares about any of this? I didn't even know that "Project Runway" was still on TV. As the New York Times reported, most of Fashion Week's participants just want to party nonstop and then "complain how boring it all is." Actually a dear NYC friend recently COMPLAINED to me how depressed she now gets every September after reading the phone book-sized fashion magazines and strolling up Madison Avenue's retail row. Is it her age (over 50)? Is it our times (war swords rattling while money high dives)? Personally I never read the fashion magazines and Madison Avenue is as "disconnected" as any high-end mall. But, I like the walk at 6 a.m. or 9 p.m.

Actually, I am overwhelmed that anyone is buying anything anymore!!! I assume the big consumers are the Russians, Chinese, and Brazilians. They are keeping "luxe" alive. Although from the look of the outlets ... the Russians and Asians are now first in the busload lineups. What my friend misses is the "fun" high style used to be. Window shopping use to inspire and reflect some kind of energy. Now when we browse, all we feel is alienated and confused. People are always trying to find their individual stylistic sea legs. It doesn't matter if the season is about prints, ruffles, feathers or leather. It is really about finding the "uniform" that works for you. Over and Out! But "Fashion" has nothing to do with that. As for shopping ... I have heard more serious fashionistas frequenting resell boutiques (that is ... one notch up from thrift shops and down from vintage stores). A friend told me she took all her Grade A Stella McCartneys in for "a trade" or a buy and the sales girl laughed in her face. "She told me they are now only into tip top Valentinos or Saint Laurents and I should go to The Salvation Army." My friend felt stylistically humiliated. But, second hand sales is no news next to the rage of flea markets, H&M, Target, Uniqlo, and that "high low" (mostly low) dressing everyone is now doing. When I was last in NYC (late August) I was fascinated walking along Madison Avenue since there was no buzz of anything new or fresh. It didn't even feel that luxe anymore. How could it be when Las Vegas's Caesars Mall is considered the height of merchandising. But along Madison Avenue ... Ralph Lauren seemed to own the entire stretch with all his various shops. However, each status store looked the same: very minimal, vaguely dull, and extremely expensive. Also, I kept smelling the worst "label" perfumes everywhere. Of course, Kate Spade broke the subdued code by looking like Fiorucci on meth. Oddly, Spade was filled with 65-year-old "broads" with knobby knees and corrugated fleshy arms trying on short sleeveless pink ballerina "tutu" dresses and high gold wedgies. Michael Kors has now become THE GUY with his explosion into jewelry, make-up, and no doubt interiors. Is he "the new Ralph"? Actually, there in no "new" anyone. They are all playing the same song, just changing the year. Recently, Kors observed: "All women want to look like they are 30." I think 24. Sad but true. Best selling French author Sophie Fontanel had it right when she said in a Wall Street Journal interview about her next book (on the deterioration of the female dress), "We can't only be sexy. If we are only sexy we only exist between 15 years old and 55 years old, and after that it's over."

The height of merchandising: Vegas's Caesars Mall.

Speaking of the demise of elegance ... tongue twirling train wreck Miley Cyrus got to explain her current twerking visual: "I love wearing jewelry as weird bondage. My ultimate look is white trash meets Chanel." Is Coco turning over in her grave yet? Actually I thought Chanel became white trash years ago when Karl Lagerfeld tramped up the whole line. So, we've lost taste and class. For some that is the good "comfy" news. Now style has become a sub-level playing field. Few people have commented how awful Brad Pitt's slob style has become or how disheveled (there's a limit to the sexy" bed-headed" look) all the starlets and rappers REALLY appear off the red carpet. For me, Bezos is the new Pitt. For me, there are no more fashion designers, icons or even stores that really influence me anymore. Actually, I take that back ... there is one person who has had the biggest affect on my look and spending power. That would be Jeff Bezos. He (Amazon) has everything I want and need and customer reviews, too (better than experts). Plus, I can freely return the whole thing with a prepaid label. Imagine all with the "one click" key!!!! I love him because in the end he is ALL about customer service. And that may be all I really care about. Last week, he gave a great interview where he stressed the number one rule in merchandising: "Don't be boring, but know your customer." I wondered who in FASHION really cares about the public? Isn't it basically the most narcissistic business in the world besides Hollywood and politics. He went on to list the three things that worked for him at Amazon: "Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient." What a credo. Tony Hsieh and Zappos gets me…and everybody!!! My other impactful stores (and people) would be Sephora — which made the cosmetic first floor of all department stores irrelevant with their cost efficient sales and customer online campaigns. They have taken the lead in a very serious game — makeup and skincare!!! Then, there is Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh— one of the hottest online retailers. One night (at 3 a.m.) I was on the phone with a Zappos customer service gal ordering two pairs of shoes. At one point she spontaneously broke the sales pitch to tell me how great her boss Tony was and that he was "buying up a lot of downtown Vegas for the Zappos' headquarter. "We are enlarging massively. He walks the floors constantly and talks to all of us to get our input and we all love him." It sounded like a cult. But after I hung up I felt like I wanted to work there, and I ended up ordering another pair of shoes. It dawned on me that Tony Hsieh could run for office. I'd vote for him on the basis of my love of Zappos (overnight free delivery and returns!!!!!!) Zappos gets me ... and everybody!!! As for this spring's Fashion Week ... I had heard that many shows were streaming on Facebook which is great for all of those who would love to go to those branding parades and not get physically and verbally abused in the process. At least our own NYSD Ellin Saltzman gives us her authentic eye on the whole situation. She brings her whole life and more than just a POV to the front row of each show, which in many cases is better than just looking at the clothes. But honestly, aren't we done with the fashion industry's "disconnect" of a week??? Face it ... it is a new "click, buy, and send" day!!! Funny how "fashion" hasn't gotten the news yet ... they have become the LAST to know!!! Oh well ... party on!!!!!!

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LIZ SMITH: Who's Worth it, And Why? ...

September 18, 2013, 7:35 am

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Of the thousands of photos taken that night, this is the most familiar image.

How and Why  Hollywood Pays Its Stars — Who's Worth it, And Why? ... Nate Jackson's "Slow Getting Up" — A Book That Tells The Real Price of Being an NFL Star ... Off-Broadway's Hilarious "Buyer & Cellar" — Would Barbra Be Amused? Marilyn's Flying Skirt and What She Didn't  Bleach. Wednesday, September 18, 2013 by Liz Smith "IT'S ONE of the curious paradoxes of contemporary Hollywood: The more it searches for the next big talent, the more it relies on the tried and true to generate box office." Cameron Diaz — "Bad Teacher," Great Payday! Daniel Craig — Soon to Clutch a $20 Million Payckeck? So writes Stephen Galloway and Tatiana Siegel in The Hollywood Reporter. Their article, "The New A-List" is a fascinating glimpse at the new, old and middle-aged of show biz; how they make their deals ... how they are viewed by producers and directors ... how well their films do overseas. Who can command $5 million? (Jennifer Aniston, but only in comedies.) Who can command $15 million (Dwayne Johnson, but only in action films.) Who can command $20 million (Angelina Jolie, but only if she agrees to a "Salt" sequel. Without a gun, she's worth much less.) And who scored a whopping $42 million for a film? Cameron Diaz in "Bad Teacher." (But that was because she cleverly agreed to a paltry one million against a percentage of the gross.) And even though stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith have been around for ages, they can demand and receive $20 million, because although they have their share of flops, the hits make up for that. (Daniel Craig is expected to join the $20 mil neighborhood when he films his next 007 movie. Maybe even more, as "Skyfall" has grossed a billion dollars! Craig is 45.) This is a fascinating article — and there are also separate profiles of Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock, tracking their box office standing and the clever managing of their careers. (Matthew, after a long, distressing fallow period, is now a full-fledged sexy character actor, with unlimited possibilities.) This article gives a terrific insight to how stars stay on top, or even in the profitable middle. And also how youth, precious as it is, isn't always what brings in the big bucks.

BY the way, hope you didn't miss Forbes magazine dated September. This boasts on the cover that voice from the past, Ross Perot, Sr., plus Ross Perot Jr. who are said to be "Reinventing America." And you must read and learn about Jr. himself who is erecting his own not-so-little Fort Worth-Dallas world. It is called "Inland Port" and has created the family's third billion-dollar fortune. No wonder a lot of people who want to forget all about would-be presidential candidates like Gov. Rick Perry and Senator Ted Cruz, are ignoring ideology altogether. They are moving to the Lone Star State in order to even get an underpaying job.

AFTER the Times raves about the following book and the following off-Broadway show — you just know that one is going on the best-seller list and the other — well, you will be lucky to get into "Buyer & Cellar" at the Barrow Street Theater. Detail from cover of "Slow Getting Up." Michael Urie in "Buyer & Cellar." First, the book. It is by former NFL pro Nate Jackson who can really write and has done so for Harper with his "Slow Getting Up" story that is a cautionary tale if you are one of those dreaming of your son becoming a football star. Within the true pages of the price paid in pain and "mostly empty sex," Mr. Jackson has some things to say that are probably really important. He cites a natural and organic pain reliever: "The NFL should remove marijuana from their banned substances list. Don't tell anyone about it; just stop testing for it. Pain is a big problem in the NFL ... No one ever overdoses from weed. The problem is pills and booze. A joint can alleviate the need for either ..." Author Jackson says he saw no evidence of steroid use in the NFL at the time he was playing. As for the comic show at the Barrow Street — "Buyer & Cellar" — it has grossed a million bucks and it "stars" Barbra Streisand, in a manner of speaking. I am sorry I haven't already gone to this, but I hear it is phenomenal and Barbra and I can both see it if we wait until it turns up in L.A. A palpable hit for star Michael Urie and writer Jonathan Tolins, directed by Stephen Brackett. It won the Drama Desk award already. So what are you waiting for?

END FACT: Because of all the Marilyn Monroe anniversary coverage this year, we are now informed via The Huffington Post, that September 15th marks the 59th anniversary of Monroe's famous "Seven Year Itch" skirt-blowing scene on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue. (Any excuse to show pictures of the world's most enduring movie icon.) MM, wearing two pair of panties — to try to avoid what the strong klieg lights might reveal — stood for hours in front of a screaming crowd of fans and reporters, as director Billy Wilder had her repeat her little moment over and over. It was all for publicity, as the scene that eventually appeared in the movie was filmed on the 20th Century Fox lot. And it was much more decorous than the candid press shots.

Monroe holds her skirt in place — but not for long! Despite legend, Marilyn only bleached the hair on her head.

No angle went un-photographed. MM having way too much fun for Joe DiMaggio's taste.

It seems innocent now, but in 1954, a woman exulting in exposing her legs and the area above was rather shocking. The most shocked was then-husband Joe DiMaggio who watched her briefly and then fled back to their hotel, enraged. (Walter Winchell, ever the troublemaker looking for a story, had prodded DiMaggio to see what his wife was up to.) Sounds of screaming, scuffling and crying were later heard by other hotel guests. The couple filed for divorce shortly after. ("Who did he think he married, when he married me?" MM remarked bitterly to a friend after Joe's violent reaction.) By the way, despite Monroe's attempt to be discreet, not even two pair of panties could conceal the fact that MM did not bleach her pubic hair.

Monroe and Tom Ewell relax before the next gust of wind.

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LIZ SMITH: King of Kings ...

September 19, 2013, 6:59 am

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"Breaking Bad" — One For The TV Ages ... Liz & Co's Message In a Pillow from the Generous Barbara ... Judith Ann Abrams Takes "A Time To Kill" to Broadway Thursday, September 19, 2013 by Liz Smith "BREAKING Bad Recap:The king of kings has fallen," wrote TV Guide this week. Fox News also brought clarity to this descending episode as viewers approach the last two startling episodes of this astounding AMC show. I've been touting "Breaking Bad" from its very beginning and as far as I know ... every single episode has been "startling." So "Breaking Bad" is one for the TV ages. What amused me the most about this particular episode, which showed lead actor, Bryan Cranston, still trying to "take care" of his family at the expense of all else, was that the creators tagged it by the name "Ozymandias." If you are an English major, you doubtless remember the 1818 classic poem, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, reminding us that in the end, all kings "fall" in one way or another and that fame is fleeting despite monuments of stone. This particularly appealed to me because as I saw what the episode was named, I glanced around my office. My eyes lighted on a green pillow, which reads: "My name is Ozymandias. King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!" And it is signed, in needlepoint, "Egypt. 1990." This was a gift to me — and to a large group of people who were taken on a trip to Egypt by Barbara Walters and Linda Wachner, Mort Zuckerman, Linda and Mort Janklow back when Egypt was still under strict control of Hosni Mubarack.

If you think I'm identifying all these people, you're crazy.

Such trips, to enlighten those in the west to the grandeurs of the east — Egypt especially — used to be de rigueur. Each of us had received such a pillow as a sentimental reminder from the generous Barbara. Wikipedia has put up the entire Shelley poem in case our English schooling had faltered. It goes like this: 1817 draft of "Ozymandias" by Percy Shelley, Bodleian Library. I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. Shelley's friend, Horace Smith, also wrote a similar poem about the great Ozymandias, but his has always been shadowed by Shelley's more memorable one. (You can find the second version on Wickipedia.) I wrote in my own memoir that on this trip, I felt like an American Indian surrounded by many chiefs. ("Nobody wants to go to an all-Indians, no Chiefs event. And vice versa." (I guess I wrote this before becoming enlightened by native Americans!)

But this trip was certainly a satisfying VIP happening. It is great to remember Egypt as it was in 1990. Barbara was then a giant celebrity world-wide and especially in Egypt. She got us whisked in and out of places we'd never have seen otherwise. I recall walking through the great Temple of Karnak with Barbara who seemed depressed by the grandeur. She said she'd never be able to write a real book about her amazing life. (Eventually, of course she did!) She also remarked, "Anyway, next year at this time, I may be dead." Egypt was the perfect place for deadly thoughts, for it is historically a land dedicated to the dead. But Barbara is still with us, alive and kicking. And Ozymandias might be totally forgotten had it not been for Percy Bysshe Shelley. And for the memorable writers of "Breaking Bad."

Judith Ann Abrams comfy at home. HERE COMES producer Judith Ann Abrams (she is just one of the Tony Winners and Olivier Winners for "Kinky Boots" and "Matilda.") So you see, I know another big winner who I never dreamed would succeed as she has. Judith is working with Daryl Roth, the theater's big deal producer and along with many others, they are mounting John Grisham's "A Time to Kill." The writer has never allowed a play from one of his plethora of successful and thrilling novels to be done onstage. The movie, directed by Joel Schumacher, was a big hit back in 1996. (It made a major star out of Matthew McConaughey.) The enduring timeliness of the book, dealing with Civil Rights issues, might have something to do with the idea of putting it on Broadway now. It opens Oct. 20th. Judy reminds me that Rupert Holmes has adapted Grisham's novel and the director will be Ethan McSweeny. And I am just thinking of producer Judy as a grown up person. When I first met her, she was doing children's shows; now she has arrived. We both learned a lot under the wing of our mutual pal, the actress Elaine Stritch. Judith Abrams has also long been a supporter of the Police Athletic League. So you'll be hearing more about her now that she is an adult.

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LIZ SMITH: The World of Phyllis Diller ...

September 20, 2013, 6:08 am

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The Not-So-Wacky Private World of Phyllis Diller, Up For Auction in L.A. ... Jon Voight, Brilliant in "Ray Donovan" But He Still Has a Steady Hand in Vampire Slaying ... Zac Zefron Keeps in Private — It Can Be Done! Friday, September 20, 2013 by Liz Smith “HOUSEWORK can’t kill you. But why take a chance?” That was one of the hundreds — no, thousands — of jokes told by the late great Phyllis Diller. She was the comedienne with the wild hair, wilder clothes and a no-account husband she referred to as “Fang.” Diller paved the way for today’s crop of female comics, including Joan Rivers. Although Diller’s routines remained self-deprecatory. She rarely, if ever, went for the funny bone through the jugular. Diller, who began her career late, remained extremely popular for decades, in stand-up, movies and countless TV appearances. She even had a go at “Hello Dolly!” on Broadway. But behind the gaudy image was a woman of some refinement and taste — an accomplished concert pianist. Aspects of the private Phyllis Diller are up for auction at Julien’s in Beverly Hills on Sept 22nd. Diller lived large, and luxuriously, as the items in her estate sale attest. From antique Jacobean walnut settees to Edwardian music stands, to an elaborate Victorian easel to a 17th century cassone and on and on. Crystal, gorgeous dinner plates, rugs, decorative eggs, delicate figurines, goblets, Art Deco wall masks, a Matisse sketch. There is a lot of impressive art, including Diller’s own paintings. Also, various dining room and kitchen sets, all of Diller’s awards and then — the clothes!

JACOBEAN WALNUT SETTEE. Estimate: $1,800 - $2,500.

ELABORATELY CARVED VICTORIAN EASEL. Estimate: $600 - $800. COW, 1971, ANDY WARHOL. Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000.

HENRI MATISSE LITHOGRAPH. Estimate: $100 - $200.

In the early years of her career, Phyllis performed in a housecoat. Later, although her act remained the same, she had some plastic surgery. Her onstage wardrobe became increasingly modern, if no less eye-catching. Some of the pieces are wild — mini-skirts and fringed pantsuits; masses of sequins, glitter, embroidery and bold prints. (It all reminds me amusingly of a lot of Elizabeth Taylor’s clothes! In fact, one of the items up for sale is an Edith Head sketch of Elizabeth in costume for “The Bluebird.”) Other outfits are more quiet and chic, more what the private woman actually was. There are endless hats, lots of colorful — and no doubt expensive — costume jewelry.

PHYLLIS DILLER BROCADE DRESS. Estimate:$100 - $200 PHYLLIS DILLER HANAE MORI PARTY TUNIC. Estimate: $800 - $1,200.

PHYLLIS DILLER OSCAR DE LA RENTA PARTY DRESS. Estimate: $600 - $800. EDITH HEAD SIGNED COSTUME SKETCH. Estimate: $800 - $1,200.

PHYLLIS DILLER ORANGE FEATHERED HATS. Estimate: $400 - $600.

PHYLLIS DILLER COSTUME JEWELRY. Estimate: $600 - $800.

Really, there is no way to list Miss Diller’s impressive collection of a lifetime. Obviously, she rarely threw anything out, and kept her clothes and furnishings in beautiful condition. This is a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of Phyllis Diller’s wacky public persona. If you can’t get to L.A., get the catalogue. It’s really something! Call 310-836-1818, email info@juliensauctions.com or visit www.julienslive.com.

PHYLLIS DILLER MINIATURE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME STAR. Estimate: $400 - $600.

CAREERS ARE a funny thing in Hollywood. You’re up, you’re down, you’re sideways, you’re making a “comeback.” And nobody knows who you are when you’re down and out. (Which is about the only adage worth remembering in show biz. That and, “Save your money!”) Jon Voight and Jane Fonda in "Coming Home." Jon Voight in “Ray Donovan." Take Jon Voight, the 1978 Oscar-winner for “Coming Home.” He has three other Oscar nominations and three Golden Globes. He has continued to work, some of it prestigious, some not so much. Right now he is winning raves on Showtime’s drama “Ray Donovan,” playing Liev Schreiber’s monstrous ex-con snake of a father, with ratty, childlike charm. But as we speak, a straight-to-DVD movie starring Voight is being released. Titled “Dracula: The Dark Prince.” It sounds like your typical Dracula fare — the Big Undead Guy kidnaps a woman he believes is the reincarnation of his late wife. Voight plays vampire-slayer Dr. Van Helsing. (A role essayed by everyone from Peter Cushing to Lawrence Olivier to Anthony Hopkins to Hugh Jackman.) The rest of the cast includes Luke Roberts, Kelly Wenham and Stephen Hogan. No, I haven’t heard of any of them either. But we’ll assume they are young and taking what they can get. (Let’s not forget Renee Zellweger got her start in one of the “Friday the 13th” slash-fests.) So there you have it, the see-saw, yin and yang, yo-yo effect of show biz. On one hand, Voight is doing his career-best work in “Ray Donovan.” In the other hand, there is a wooden stake. Up next for Voight are “Baby Geniuses and the Treasures of Egypt” and “Baby Geniuses and the Space Baby.” Family stuff, not a zombie or a vampire in sight.

CELEBRITIES often complain — and with some justification — that they are never allowed a private life. But you can be young and famous and live your life privately if you really want to. I do mean like the adorable Zac Efron, who slipped quietly in and out of rehab several months ago. Not a whisper of this got out until Mr. Efron himself allowed his press people to make it public. Good for him! He got help before he fell down on Sunset Boulevard or had a car accident or was found unconscious by his staff and rushed to a hospital. I wish him the best of health, and though he’s not setting himself up as a role model, I’ll do that for him! Take a good look, you whiney celebs who cry about the intrusions in your life. You can keep it real and still have a career.

P.S. To our tale of MM and her Flying Skirt. Producer Jay Weston writes: “When I produced Billy Wilder’s last film, ‘Buddy, Buddy’ he told me that Marilyn was always late. “But she was worth it. When she finally appeared, magic happened.” Jay went on to say that Billy Wilder had always wanted to film “Catcher In The Rye,” but his (and Weston’s) overtures were always rejected. Jay also observed: “Wilder was the most sophisticated man in Hollywood. Just before he died, he told me that the city of Berlin had asked him to come over to receive a Golden Bear award. He replied that instead they should send him a Volkswagen!”

Billy Wilder and MM by Richard Avedon.

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Jill Krementz covers the full dress of Eugene Onegin

September 20, 2013, 7:43 am

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The poster outside the Met for Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, conducted by Valery Gergiev. The photograph in the display panel is by Lee Broomfield.

Eugene Onegin Composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Metropolitan Opera House On Monday night, September 23rd, the Metropolitan Opera will open its 2013-14 Season with Deborah Warner's new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin conducted by Russian maestro Valery Gergiev and directed by Fiona Shaw.  Anna Netrebko will sing the role of the lovestruck Tatiana, Mariusz Kwiecien that of the imperious Eugene Onegin. The full dress was at noon today and I loved it from beginning to end.  Everything was perfect:  The music, the sets, the lighting, the conducting, the projections, the chorus and the costumes.  It's the perfect role for Ms. Netrebko and the entire cast is wondrous.  The opera is based on the poet Alexander Pushkin's re-imagining of the Byronic model of the restless romantic anti-hero as the definitive bored Russian aristocrat caught between convention and ennui.  The three act opera presents an overview of Russian society around 1820.  The opera opens in the rural countryside and moves in Act III to the glittering aristocracy of St. Petersburg.  The finale's blinding snowstorm provides a dramatic ending.  The composer has a proclivity for snow as you might recall from Balanchine's annual production of “The Nutcracker.” I couldn't help wondering if those snowflakes had been carted in big bins across from the David H. Koch Theater. There will be 13 performances: September 23, 26; October 1, 5 (Mat), 9, 12, 16, 19; November 23, 29; December 2, 5, and 12.

Banner hanging at the Met's entrance. The art work by Dasha Shiskin was commissioned by Dodie Kazanjian, the director of Gallery Met. According to Dodie, "Dasha is one of the most inventive young artists working today."

The tent is already up for Monday night's gala.

The tent, as you can see, extends way to the back of the Plaza. There will be a seated dinner the night of the Gala.

Ken Howard is the company's talented house photographer. I always visit with him during the intervals when I go the dress rehearsals. We have been friends for more than a decade. With Ken is his friend Ryan McAdams, a young and up-and-coming conductor. He'll be conducting in Israel next month. Ryan McAdams with his girlfriend, Laura Careless, a dancer with Company XIV. She will be performing at the Minetta Lane from Dec 3rd-Jan 12, 2014 in "Nutcracker Rouge."

Up on the plaza, my Sagaponack neighbor and friend, producer Jeffrey Seller who is working on "Fly," a musical about Peter Pan. Seller produced "Rent," "Avenue Q," and "In the Heights."

One of the beautiful scrims with projections; this one opens Act III.

Act III set. That's Maestro Gergiev at the podium in lower left hand corner; Anna Netrebko is between the pillars on the far right.

Baritone Mariusz Kwiecień takes a bow.

More bows and lots of bravos.

Photographer Henry Grossman, who is also an opera singer, is always at the Met rehearsals taking pictures. A former colleague of mine when we worked for Life and People Magazine, Henry has recently published a beautiful book on the Beatles whom he shot extensively between 1964 and 1968.

Donald Palumbo, the Met's chorus master, is the first to confer with the Maestro.

Then Peter Gelb, the company manager, had a few words with the conductor, but not many. It was a splendid rehearsal. Standing between Gelb and the Maestro: Irina Sobeleva (vocal coach) and Pavel Smelkov (assistant to Mr. Gergiev).

David Smith is one of the camera operators for Live in HD, which will be projected on the big screen at Lincoln Center and in Times Square on opening night.

The production crew dismantles the set.

At the rear of the house, the technical crew confer with one another.

Outside Lincoln Center: the bus that transported 102 West Point cadets (men and women) in their dress whites to the performance as guests of the Met. You can see the opera house reflected in the buses' windows. It was fitting that the young cadets were invited to attend as Act II opens with a Christmas party replete with a military band. And why, you may ask, did I not photograph the 102 cadets in attendance? Because I saw them as I entered the opera house but at that point I was not thinking about doing a photojournal. And when I decided I would take photographs, I remained in the house after the performance. This bus was waiting to pick up the parents of the cadets (also invited). The driver told me that the cadets were "already back in their barracks."

Also outside on the sidewalk, photographer Sonia Moskowitz, who was already waiting to cover the evening's red carpet arrivals at the David H. Koch Theater for the opening of The New York City Ballet. Ms. Moskowitz used to be my assistant.

Ethan Bedell is with the New York City Ballet. He's not dancing with the company — he works on the production end. But who knows, maybe we'll see him on the stage in years to come.

And now Ethan and Sonia know one another.

A last look at Lincoln Center Plaza with the big screen, where anyone can go and watch Monday night's performance, seated in chairs that will be set up.

Text and photographs © by Jill Krementz: all rights reserved. Contact Jill Krementz here.

LIZ SMITH: "Rush" Heats Up ...

September 23, 2013, 6:25 am

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Niki Lauda and James Hunt.

Ron Howard's "Rush" Heats Up The End of Summer Movies — Racing to Oscars? ... Chris Hemsworth  is a  Hot God! ... We Love Vin Diesel, as "Riddick" or as Anything Else. Monday, September 23, 2013 by Liz Smith “EXCUSE ME, please. But could you keep it down? "Oh, sure.” Victoria Silvstedt. Ten minutes later: “I’m so sorry, but honestly, your chatter is distracting me." “Gee, I didn’t realize.” This civilized exchange was conducted during the opening 20 minutes of the new Ron Howard movie “Rush” which was screened in Manhattan last Thursday, hosted by The Cinema Society and Ferrari. Alas, a certain beautiful blonde just couldn’t stop talking — to her seatmate — and on her cell phone. She was finally silenced by no nonsense Elle/Cosmo writer Sergio Kletnoy. I can’t repeat what he said, but suffice to say it had the desired effect. (The blonde is Swedish model and actress Victoria Silvstedt. She really is a terribly nice girl. But she needs to channel her love to talk in some other way. Maybe “The View” needs a hot blonde?)

BELIEVE ME, “Rush” is not a movie you want to talk through. In fact, it is hard to catch one’s breath as it progresses. It is the true-ish tale of Formula 1 racing champs James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (an astonishing Daniel Bruhl.) It’s about their nearly deadly rivalry. I’m not much of a racing fan, but director Howard beautifully captures the mise en scene of the mid-1970s, when racing and its stars were peaking. It is impossible not to get caught up in the tale, a slow burn that builds and builds until you are all but convinced you are right there in various European and Asian cities, behind the wheel, determined to win at any cost.

Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda.

Howard’s spot-on directing plays a major role in conveying the excitement. But the leading men, Hemsworth and Bruhl, are almost never off-screen and carry the film through every twist and turn and blazing wreck. Hemsworth is almost distractingly beautiful, like a more finely chiseled — not to mention younger — Brad Pitt. His thick head of hair alone is poem-worthy. (The one fast glimpse of his naked backside had the audience audibly yelling out, “Let’s see more!”) And he can act. It’s a difficult role. He plays a talented but feckless playboy racer, a drinker, a womanizer, unable to commit. Still, you root for him.

Olivia Wilde as Suzy with Chris Hemsworth.

Bruhl, on the other hand, while shorter, and meant to be less attractive, is driven, somewhat humorless and utterly professional. He is not charmed by James Hunt. Though he respects the talent beneath the wanton lifestyle. You root for him, too. The women are peripheral. Olivia Wilde appears as Hunt’s wife, Suzy, a model from whom he is quickly estranged. Suzy would go on to become the third real-life wife of Richard Burton; their affair is alluded to briefly in “Rush.” (And boy, do I recall that business — Burton kissing Suzy at Sardi’s while a stunned and miserable Elizabeth Taylor looked on.) As Niki Lauda’s wife Marlene, Alexandra Maria Lara has more to do, and conveys quite a bit without much dialogue. She is lovely, and stands by her man during the worst of times.

Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene with Daniel Bruhl.

“Rush” is visceral, virile movie-making. But I noticed most of the women in the audience seemed as caught up as the guys. (Although there are a number of moments that had even strong men wincing and looking away from the screen.) The film runs two hours but it increases in intensity to the point that it seems not like two hours at all. This is one of Ron Howard’s best efforts. It confirms the stellar magnetism of Chris Hemsworth and a star is born in Daniel Bruhl.

HEMSWORTH arrived at the theater looking every inch the star, his hair cut shorter than the mop he tosses around in “Rush.” He wore a well-fitting black suit, and a black shirt open at the throat. He was utterly swoony. I know his eyes are rolling back in his head because of all this attention to his looks. Enjoy it while you can, kid. It’s gone in a flash. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl at the Cinema Society Screening. The screening began, amazingly, on time! After, everybody trucked on over to the Hotel Americano. Well-known types such as Julie Taymor, Paul Haggis, Chris Matthews, Dana Delany, Oliver Platt, Eve Ensler, Dan Abrams, Scott Gorenstein washed down tasty steak hors d'oeuvres and juicy sliders with D’Usse cocktails (aka Lauda’s Libation) The always fabulous, in one-way-or-another, Courtney Love also attended. The event organizers were most impressed that Love arrived on time and was seated as the lights went down. This was a first, an apocalyptic moment, I was assured. The Americano party rooms were discretely lit, the better for everybody to look almost as good as Mr. Hemsworth. One of the rooms had a pool. Alas, nobody dived in. We always love a good jumping-into-a-pool story. So “La Dolce Vita.” With Courtney Love on such good behavior I suppose The Cinema Society’s Andrew Saffir has no recourse but to put Miley Cyrus on his guest list. She wouldn’t have let that pool go to waste.

Clockwise from top left: Dana Delany and Andrew Saffir; Dan Abrams; Oliver Platt; Paul Haggis; Courtney Love; Chris Matthews; Eve Ensler.

I MISSED the first two Vin Diesel“Riddick” films. But over the weekend I went to see the latest. (And they say, the last.) Well, I loved it. Shoot me. It’s not high art, but it is high sci-fi adventure. Alien predators, intergalactic bounty hunters, evolutionary dogs, vengeance. And Mr. Diesel whom I have always liked. He has an odd vulnerability under the aggressive muscularity. It is said that neither he nor Dwayne Johnson will do “family” movies again, because they go against the grain of their action images. Too bad. Both are most appealing in such fare. (And Johnson in particular looks divine in black tie!)

Two teddy bears: Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel.

IF you are one of those people who is turned on by Mike Huckabee and you think you want to get rid of Obamacare as he calls it ... try dialing the number Huckabee gives: 1-800-392-1700. What you will get in answer is a pitch from exercise guru Richard Simmons that you lose weight his way. Is this is an ad for exercise under the guise of ridding yourself of something that has become a law? Is this a Huckabee/Simmons scam? Sounds like it to me.

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LIZ SMITH: Big Broadway Meal To Hollywood ...

September 24, 2013, 6:11 am

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Bette Midler Brings Her Big Broadway Meal To Hollywood. (But Come Back to New York In Your Mermaid Tail, Bette!) My Fun Movie Recommendation of the Week — "The Family" with Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer, still Great After All These Years. Tuesday, September 24, 2013 by Liz Smith “SUPPOSE you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but I repeat myself!” said Mark Twain. I swore off writing about politics after the last Presidential election because so many sore losers were threatening my editors and publishers. (We won’t discuss ‘free speech' here.)

BUT I confess that many of my so-called Liberal friends shock me as they don’t even know what’s going on when there is so much blather these days. (Including mine!) I was with a smart friend of mine this week who didn’t realize that the conservative GOP is trying, after 40 failed tries, to defeat The Affordable Care Act, which is now the law. And these Tea Partyers threaten to do this by shutting down the government and going on with their ridiculous “sequester” which will probably hurt the USA more than any health program ever has. This gang won’t listen to its own smart Republicans in the midst and are resorting to blackmail instead of representing enlightened voters who keep these loonies in office in the Republican House. If you don’t like Obama’s medical solutions under the Affordable Care Act and it is already the law of the land, why not wait and amend the Constitution a little later? Why put the entire Republic in jeopardy just as we are beginning to economically come back?

President Obama with the Amir of Qatar. I WILL once again ask you to invest in a weekly that I have absolutely no influence over and I pay the subscription price. I learn so much reading this compilation called The Week. So if you want to edit down on volume and pick up the essence of everything, do subscribe to The Week, Box 421243, Palm Coast, Florida, 32142-7622 or go to Theweek.com/savings. You can get 25 issues for $39.50. Hours ago, I read The Week on the powerful little country of Qatar, pronounced KUH-tr not ka-TAR. It’s the richest country in the world, as every citizen has at least $400,000 annual income. Qatar is a moderate Islamic state. Women can drive, non-Muslims can buy alcohol, young people can hold hands in public. The rulers are pragmatists, not ideologues.

THE about-to-be-Democratic Mayor of New York, Bill De Blasio, isn’t even elected yet and already he is judged a failure by some because he was against ”stop and frisk." This is because, recently there are so many more guns are on the streets of New York. I still don’t understand why the police as insurance against charges of stopping/frisking minorities, didn’t just indulge in a lot of “stop and frisk” at Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany’s and the Trump Towers and other elegant places at the center of Manhattan, 57th and 5th. The police then could have defended themselves as being “impartial.” I am personally going to vote for whichever candidate wants Ray Kelly, my hero, to stay on as Police Commissioner!

I TOLD you to be patient, that Bette Midler would take her version of the late saucy talent agent Sue Mengers to L.A. Now it is announced that “I’ll Eat You Last” will be at the Geffen Playhouse from Dec. 3-22. Why not? Bette earned over $2.4 million in just eight weeks; rare on the Great White Way. Bette hadn’t appeared on Broadway in 40 years. Maybe after this she’ll come back as herself, along with her Harlettes, wheelchairs, and mermaids.

SO, we discover that there are no microbes or even the required methane gas on Mars after all. So we can stop worrying about all those aliens dropping down on us from there at least. And all the crazies who are dying to pay millions to go to Mars are just fine with me. We won’t have to worry about them. They will probably come back with so much loss of muscle tone that it won’t do us any harm. Aliens from Mars were fun while they lasted. Hollywood certainly thought so. Hollywood believes not just in Scientology, but in vampires and zombies. NASA could turn its hand by disproving the latter as well. The indisputable bad weather and climate change are enough to worry about.

I LIKED a letter to the Times last weekend from Norman Wain of Lyhndhurst, Ohio. He noted that long ago, playing music on radio, he’d decided that Billboard was “unreliable.” He started sharing music based on actual record sales. This worked. But you can’t pay much attention to what is being recommended to you as “hot” these days because as Wain writes about current “ubiquitous media choices — rather than sharing our experiences, we are all relegated to our own individual cocoons.”

AND the “Eat, Pray, Love” author, Elizabeth Gilbert who has a new book coming from Viking in October, gives this advice to young writers and would-be entrepreneurs: “I was taught how to work. Creativity and imagination alone are not going to get you there.” Ms. Gilbert’s new book is very different from her above mentioned hit. It is titled “The Signature of All Things” and is described as an “old-fashioned, rip-roaring tale.”

I HAVEN'T seen too much about a current movie I enjoyed over last weekend at the 86th Street Theater. “The Family” is a hoot — a takeoff on a Mafia family you will both detest and root for. To tell even the slightest detail is to ruin whatever plot this comedy has. Suffice to say, Michelle Pfeiffer is still adorable after all these years, Robert De Niro is still himself, and herein they have two gifted children, played by Dianna Agron and John D’Leo. The great thing is that these criminals all love each other very much. I just had such great fun at this movie. And it has an inside joke about Nick Pileggi’s famous film “Goodfellas,” that makes it worth the price of admission.

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Jill Krementz covers Magritte at MoMA

September 25, 2013, 6:28 am

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Wall text at entrance of exhibit. Beginning in 1926, when Magritte first aimed to create paintings that would, in his words, "challenge the real world," and concluding in 1938—a historically and biographically significant moment just prior to the outbreak of World War II—the exhibition traces central strategies and themes from the most inventive and experimental period in the artist's prolific career. Displacement, transformation, metamorphosis, the "misnaming" of objects, and the representation of visions seen in half-waking states are among Magritte's innovative image-making tactics during these essential year

Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938 MoMA, sixth floor September 28, 2013-January 12, 2013 Member viewings now René Magritte putting his arm around LÉvidence Éternelle (The Eternally Obvious.) René Magritte, (21 November 1898 - 15 August 1967) was the creator of some of the 20th century's most extraordinary images. This exhibition, co-organized by Anne Umland The Museum of Modern Art's Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Josef Heldenstein, Director ofThe Menil Collection, Houston, and Stephanie D'Alessandro, Curator of Modern Artat The Art Institute of Chicago, is the first to focus exclusively on the artist's  breakthrough Surrealist years. The partnership between the three museums began three years ago, spearheaded by Ms. Umland.  MoMA was the first major American museum to acquire works by Magritte.  Bringing together some 80 paintings, collages, and objects, along with a selection of photographs, periodicals, and early commercial work, the collaborative endeavor offers fresh insight into Magritte's identity as a modern painter and Surrealist artist. A richly illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

René Magritte and Le Barbare London, 1938 Gelatin silver print; Anonymous Magritte wears what became his trademark bowler hat, the headpiece of the common man, thereby identifying himself with both the everyday bourgeoisie and the fantastic underbelly of reality. Look carefully: that's the reflection of the huge Magritte wall text opposite the photographic display at entrance. My own little Magritte if you will.

Josef Helfenstein, Director of The Menil Collection, and Anne Umland, Curator of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA. The exhibition has been co-organized by The Museum of Modern Art, The Menil Collection, Houston, and The Art Institute of Chicago. The original concept of the exhibit was Ms. Umland's.

Stephanie D'Alessandro is the Curator of Modern Art at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Many of the photographs displayed here relate directly to the paintings and objects Magritte created during the period covered by this exhibition. Others highlight his interest in performing for the camera in ways that correspond to ideas expressed in his works. Although the photographs are in most cases unidentified, Magritte almost certainly directed the staging of the images or collaborated in their making.

Photograph of The Eternally Obvious, Brussels, 1930 or 1931 Gelatin silver print Cami Stone (Belgian, 1892–1975)

René Magritte and Attempting the Impossible Paris, 1928; Gelatin silver print; Anonymous Unidentified girl and Attempting the Impossible, Paris, 1928; Gelatin silver print (reversal print); Raoul Ubac (Belgian, 1911–1985)

Edward James in front of On the Threshold of Liberty, 1937 Gelatin silver print Anonymous Edward James was a pivotal figure in Magritte's life. An eccentric poet, collector, and patron of both Dalí and Magritte, James appeared in two of Magritte's surrealist paintings.

Les Habitants du fleuve (The Denizens of the River), Brussels, 1926

Le Sens de la nuit (The Meaning of Night), Brussels,1927 Oil on canvas The Menil Collection, Houston Once again I am citing a collection as The Menil has so many Magrittes and because the show will be travelling to Houston.

As you enter the first gallery, this painting is directly ahead. Painted for his first solo exhibition, in 1927, The Menaced Assasin (or L'Assassin menacé) is one of Magritte's largest and most theatrical compositions. Like many of the Surrealists, Magritte was an avid fan of the pre-World War I popular crime fiction series Fantômas; he borrowed the placement of the two detectives figures flanking the doorframe from the Le Mort Qui Tue (The Murderous Corpse), a film from the series first released in 1913. It was Magritte's ambition to create a similarly immersive and fantastical world on the canvas, here made manifest in the unsolvable narrative of this enduringly mysterious painting.

Le Joueur secret (The Secret Player), Brussels, 1927; Oil on canvas

Le Ciel meurtrier (The Murderous Sky Brussels), 1927; Oil on canvas In Le Ciel meurtrier Magritte suspends four seemingly identical bloodied bird corpses in front of a rocky, mountainous backdrop. The repetition of the birds recalls Magritte's designs for decorative wallpapers early in his career, but the logical and symmetrical order is undermined by the violent subject matter and thickly applied paint.

Jeune fille mangeant un oiseau / Le Plaisir (Young Girl Eating a Bird / Pleasure), Brussels, 1927; Oil on canvas

Portrait of Paul Nougé Brussels, 1927 Oil on canvas Paul Nougé was a biochemist and the leader of the Brussels Surrealist group, and from 1924 on he and Magritte were close friends and collaborators. Magritte's portrait of Nougé is reminiscent of images made for the stereoscope, a precinematic device in which two slightly overlapping photographs are viewed side by side to create the illusion of depth. Through the use of doubling, Magritte challenges the conventional idea that a portrait should represent a singular self or an individual. Neither image is Nougé: both are representations.

Entr'acte (Entracte), Brussels, 1927; Oil on canvas With its parted curtains, stormy backdrop, and dramatic light and shadows, Entr'acte recapitulates the stagelike settings seen in many of Magritte's early Surrealist works. Its five protagonists, each reduced to an arm and a leg, are, however, unprecedented. Like grotesque parodies of the Impressionist Edgar Degas's famous ballet dancers, these fragmented and severed limbs are posed standing, leaning, embracing, or sprawled on the floor. Their quasi­human appearance transforms the intermission of the work's title into a hallucinatory drama.

Le Double Secret (The Secret Double), Brussels, 1927; Oil on canvas This pair of monumental busts set before a seascape in a shallow, indeterminate space appears to be a single portrait split in two, with the face set aside to reveal brownish-gray bells, or grelots, interwoven with some sort of fibrous matter, where human organs should be. These bells became a recurring motif for Magritte, who identified them as the type found on a horse's harness.

Margaret Doyle and Paul Jackson are the press officers for the MoMA Magritte.

Overview of one of the galleries.

Gabriella Fuller and Stephanie Sonsino write for Travel and Leisure magazine. Art writers Hilarie Sheets (ArtNews) and Ariella Budick (Financial Times). "Our greatest claim to fame is that both our sons are at Hunter."

From 1926 to 1927 Magritte designed numerous advertisements that appeared in avant ­garde Belgian journals such as Le Centaure and Variétés.

These advertisements contain spatial ambiguities, strange juxtapositions of objects, and iconographical elements (curtains, mannequins, boxes) that bear striking similarities to the paintings he was creating at the time.

Le Musée d'une nuit (One-Night Museum), Paris, 1927; Oil on canvas

L'espion (The Spy), Paris, 1928

Detail of L'espion (The Spy)

Découverte (Discovery), Paris, 1927; Oil on canvas Le Dormeur téméraire (The Daring Sleeper), Paris, 1928; Oil on canvas

Le Paysage fantôme (The Phantom Landscape), Paris, 1928; Oil on canvas In this unsettling image—the first in a series of four variations of Les Amants that Magritte painted in 1928—the artist invokes the cinematic cliché of a close­up kiss but subverts our voyeuristic pleasure by shrouding the faces in cloth. The device of a draped cloth or veil to conceal a figure's identity corresponds to a larger Surrealist interest in masks, disguises, and what lies beyond or beneath visible surfaces. The melodramatic scene may also relate to the graphic illustrations that accompanied pulp fiction and thriller stories, which Magritte's friend Paul Nougé, in a letter from 1927, encouraged the artist to emulate.

Les Amants (The Lovers), Le Perreux-sur-Marne, 1928; Oil on canvas In this unsettling image—the first in a series of four variations of Les Amants that Magritte painted in 1928—the artist invokes the cinematic cliché of a close­up kiss but subverts our voyeuristic pleasure by shrouding the faces in cloth. The device of a draped cloth or veil to conceal a figure's identity corresponds to a larger Surrealist interest in masks, disguises, and what lies beyond or beneath visible surfaces. The melodramatic scene may also relate to the graphic illustrations that accompanied pulp fiction and thriller stories, which Magritte's friend Paul Nougé, in a letter from 1927, encouraged the artist to emulate.

Magritte made significant contributions to the January 1929 issue of the Belgian journal Variétés, edited by Paul­Gustave Van Hecke. On the cover is an illustration after Magritte's painting Les Amants (The Lovers), 1928, and reproductions of five word­and­image drawings appear throughout the issue. This publication marked the first time Magritte's depictions of words and images appeared in print.

Le Monde perdu (The Lost World Paris), 1928; Oil on canvas

Richard Woodward writes for The Wall Street Journal and other publications. "When I first heard about the show I wondered why it was being done. Seeing it hasn't profoundly changed my view of Magritte. But he is central to where we are in contemporary art — there's no getting around it. He was a comic genius. His jokes are still funny and perplexing."

Left: L'homme au journal (The Man with the Newspaper), Paris, 1928 Oil on canvas Above: Detail of L'homme au journal.

Les Charmes du paysage (The Delights of Landscape), Paris, 1928; Oil on canvas The cast shadow of a mysteriously freestanding frame with a plaque reading paysage (landscape) suggests that the frame is empty and serves no conventional function. A realistically rendered shotgun leaning abandoned against a saturated red wall contributes to the scene's unsettling atmosphere. Magritte apparently considered titling the painting Edgar Poe, in homage to his favorite poet, but ultimately settled on the paradoxical title it bears today. Writers, however, have continued to link the image to the passage from Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1842) that observes, "It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see."

Tentative de l'impossible (Attempting the Impossible Paris), 1928; Oil on canvas Magritte's image of an artist, likely modeled on himself, in the process of depicting a nude woman is one of his most direct interrogations of the act of painting. Like a sculpture, the woman seems to inhabit the same dimensional space as the painter, yet Magritte points to the powerful artifice of his own pictorial illusionism by leaving her in a partially incomplete state. The painting pays homage to Magritte's wife, Georgette, who was the model for the female figure, even as its title strongly suggests the impossibility of fully capturing an object of desire on a canvas surface.

Detail of Tentative de l'impossible.

[Biomorphs with Words], Paris, 1928; Oil on canvas The heavily worked surface of this small painting is unusual for Magritte. Amorphous blobs of brown paint are built up so thickly that they resemble crumpled paper. Below the vaguely pipe­shaped form on the right, la pipe is rendered in equally textured impasto. This painting is a predecessor of Magritte's iconic La Trahison des images (The Treachery of Images, 1929), on view nearby, which pairs a realistic, clearly legible image of a pipe with the contradictory caption "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" (This is not a pipe). The form in this painting, however, is almost as abstract as the unidentified blob to its left.

With the deceptively straightforward pronouncement Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe), this iconic painting declares that an image is not the same as what it purports to represent. Magritte presents a skillfully realistic likeness of a pipe, rendered with the direct clarity of a shop sign or school primer. The title further focuses attention on the slippery relationship between words and images at the heart of Magritte's work of this period. According to the artist, "This image, which immediately suggests a pipe, shows clearly, because of the words accompanying it, that only through a persistent misuse of language could one say: 'It is a pipe.'" "Who could smoke the pipe from one of my paintings?" Magritte later wrote. "Nobody. Hence it is not a pipe."

"This is not an art critic." Jason Kaufman prefers cigars.

Le Faux Miroir (The False Mirror), Le Perreux-sur-Marne, 1929; Oil on canvas Le Faux Miroir presents an enormous lashless eye with a luminous cloud­swept blue sky filling the iris and an opaque, dead­black disc for a pupil. Magritte's single eye functions on multiple enigmatic levels: the viewer both looks through it, as through a window, and is looked at by it, thus seeing and being seen simultaneously. The Surrealist photographer Man Ray, who owned the work from 1933 to 1936, recognized this compelling duality when he memorably described Le Faux Miroir as a painting that "sees as much as it itself is seen." The Museum of Modern Art owns this painting.

Sharon Hoge is Editor-at-large of Cottages and Gardens magazine.

La Clef des songes (The Interpretation of Dreams), Brussels, 1935; Oil on canvas My favorite art critic, The New Yorker's Peter Schjeldahl. Mr. Schjeldahl has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998. If he wore bowler hats he would wear three of them: critic, poet, and educator.

Andrew Hofstetter (photographer) and Sharon Reich (reporter) from Reuters confer with MoMA's Paul Jackson. Eric Gibson, editor of the Wall Street Journal's Leisure & Arts page, with his colleague Robert Greskovic, who covers dance for the paper. I used to see Mr. Greskovic at the NYCB with his close friend, the late Edward Gorey, back in the early '70s when I was working on A Very Young Dancer.

This apparently free­floating object juxtaposes incongruous images in six sections: fire, a nude female torso, a forest, a building facade, a cloud­filled blue sky, and what Magritte referred to as grelots (sleigh bells). Magritte painted numerous variants of this compartmentalized composition, each containing different arrangements of the images now recognized as being among the artist's signature motifs. André Breton, the leader of the Paris Surrealist group, owned this painting briefly in 1937.

Anne Umland stands next to L'évidence éternelle (The Eternally Obvious), Paris, 1930 Oil on five canvases

Profondeurs de la terre (The Depths of the Earth), Paris, 1930; Oil on four canvases Four fragmented and framed views of an ostensibly conventional landscape make up this work; Magritte called them toiles découpées, or cut­up paintings. The original glass pane on which Magritte intended to mount them has not survived and no early photographs have surfaced, so the present display, with the paintings mounted on acrylic, relies partially on conjecture. Of his three toiles découpées (all on display in this exhibition) Magritte wrote to Paul Nougé, "In the case of the woman, the sky or the landscape, it seems to me that they gain from being subjected to ... such a process," referring to the act of cutting or fragmenting. The viewer is asked to play an active role in reconstituting the full image by imagining the missing parts between the canvases.

Les Perfections célestes (Celestial Perfections), Paris, 1930; Oil on four canvases

L'annonciation (The Annunciation), Paris, 1930; Oil on canvas Magritte created this painting, among his largest, for his solo show at the Galerie Goemans in Paris in the spring of 1930. Several of his signature motifs— grelots (sleigh bells), cut­out paper, and bilboquets (forms resembling chess pieces or table legs, used by Magritte as human stand­ins)—are imbued with an unprecedented monumentality.

Grelots roses, ciels en lambeaux (Pink Bells, Tattered Skies), Paris, 1930; Oil on canvas

La Condition humaine (The Human Condition), Brussels, 1833 Oil on canvas

Tad Smith and freelance art critic Alexander Peers. Mr. Smith is CEO and founder of Flyer, "a tiny startup of a twitter covering events. We have the ability to follow any venue around town."

La Lumière des coïncidences (The Light of Coincidences Brussels), 1933; Oil on canvas Light, Magritte wrote in 1938, "is manifest only on condition that it is accepted by objects .... The object illuminated itself gives life to light." The nude white torso in La Lumière des coïncidences—most likely based on a plaster model of the Venus de Milo—seems to receive the light from the candle to its right, as evidenced by the orientation of its shadows. But while the torso seems to be modeled in three dimensions, the frame and easel surrounding it suggest that it is painted: a painted depiction of a sculpture in a painting. At the same time that Magritte undermines our assumptions about the art of representation, he alludes to the history of representational art. The dark, candlelit interior recalls Baroque paintings, and the stark still life arrangement evokes a vanitas or memento mori, designed to remind us of the transience of life and its material pleasures.

Le Thérapeute (The Healer Brussels), 1937; Oil on canvas Detail of Le Thérapeute.

Le Modèle rouge (The Red Model), London, 1937; Oil on canvas Le Modèle rouge proposes a visual rhyme between a body part and the thing that normally covers and contains it. "Thanks to Le Modèle rouge," Magritte wrote in the lecture La Ligne de vie (Lifeline), "people can feel that the union of a human foot with a leather shoe is, in fact, a monstrous custom."

The shock provoked by this merging of dead and living skin is in part produced by the anatomical realism of the veined feet and toes. This is the first of three versions of this image that Magritte painted. The third (not included in this photojournal) displayed in the next section of the exhibition, was a large decorative commission for Edward James, and André Breton reproduced one of them on the cover of the first illustrated edition of his book Le Surréalisme et la peinture (Surrealism and Painting) in 1945.

L'amour désarmé (Love Disarmed), Brussels, 1935 Oil on canvas The polished women's shoes in this painting sprout a mane of auburn hair that spills from their cut­out sides and is partially reflected in a mirror above. But the reflection reveals an uncanny inconsistency: the shadow cast by the mirror suggests that it hangs flush with the wall, but it would only show the hair were it tilted forward. With this sly manipulation of perspective, Magritte introduces another irrational layer to an already inexplicable scenario.

Marvin Siegel, retired reporter from The New York Times, where he was deputy editor of The Week in Review. Mr. Siegel's son, Josh Siegel, is a film curator at MoMA.

La Lampe philosophique (The Philosopher's Lamp), Brussels, 1936; Oil on canvas Magritte associated this painting, in which a man appears to smoke his own phallus­shaped nose, with "the meditations of an absentminded, obsessive philosopher [that] may conjure up the image of a mental world closed in upon itself as, in this case, the smoker is the prisoner of his pipe." The man's face may be a self­portrait, with the obvious exception of the oversize, sexualized nose.

Whereas Magritte put an egg in the place of a bird in Les Affinités electives (Elective Affinities, 1932), on view nearby, in this work a painter conjures a bird from an egg. The artist in the painting is Magritte himself, engaged in his profession. The unframed canvas, easel, and painter's palette are rendered with convincing naturalism, but the table tilts strangely and sharply forward, putting the egg on display for the viewer. Here Magritte shows the physical act of painting as well as his ideational process, that of associating one object (an egg on a table) with another (a bird on a canvas).

Le Modèle rouge (The Red Model London), 1937; Oil on canvas In 1935 Magritte wrote to the poet Paul Éluard about his recent depictions of single objects and parts of objects "painted with the maximum trompe l'oeil effect I could muster." This fragment of a nude woman from below her breasts to her thighs is an outstanding example of his technical virtuosity and debt to the Old Master tradition, yet the abruptly cropped genital region and curved, contoured frame render it immediately strange. The only shaped canvas in Magritte's oeuvre, it was originally rectangular and then cut down, perhaps reflecting the artist's awareness of Salvador Dalí's shaped canvases.

Les Muscles célestes (The Muscles of the Sky), Paris, 1927; Oil on canvas This is the first painting that Magritte completed after his move from Brussels to Paris in mid-September 1927. In a letter to Paul Nougé he described this scene as one of concealment: "The floor, lit by the moon which one knows to be behind one, is not surrounded by wall; it hides, with far-off trees, a patch of sky. But a patch of floor is itself concealed by the legs of the sky, which touch down on it." Magritte employed the techniques of pictorial illusionism in his characteristic fashion to produce an irrational and impossible scenario: the intricately contoured, irregular biomorphic shapes have a flat, cut-out quality, but their crisp outlines and shadows lend them the appearance of solid weight and presence.

Director Glenn Lowry with Anne Umland, Stephanie D'Alessandro, and Josef Helfenstein.

Lowry, wearing his trademark colorful socks, takes his seat and prepares for the press conference.

Ms. Umland is blushing as Mr. Lowry had introduced her saying, "your shows always sparkle." He went on to ask why is this Magritte's first major show in America, Umland's opinion: "I think he suffered from overexposure. This is René Magritte's first major show in New York City in over 21 years. These are the thirteen years Magritte becomes Magritte — with bowler hats and cloud filled skies. "The artist identified these years as his most productive, I like to think that Monsieur Magritte is curating this show." Umland also mentioned that Magritte is in her blood as she grew up in Brussels. "When Josef, Stephanie and I set out to do this exhibit, we didn't want to take Magritte at his word when he said 'my reproductions are just as good.'" At the conclusion Lowry asked: Is New York experiencing a surreal moment? To which the curator responded, "I hope so."

Cora Rosevear is an Associate Curator at MoMA. Charly Herscovici heads the Magritte Foundation. Josef Helfenstein.

Stephanie D'Alessandro fields the last question regarding the discovery of a painting hidden under another painting — specifically Le Portrait (The Portrait), Brussels, 1935. Conservators, using the fairly recent infra-red process, were able to ascertain that Magritte had recycled a canvas, half of which is under The Portrait. The other half of the original canvas remains a mystery. Rena DeSisto from Bank of America, sponsor of the exhibition, is seated at far right.

Michael Duffy, Conservator, in front of Le Portrait (The Portrait), Brussels, 1935; Oil on canvas Mr. Duffy told me: "When we x-rayed this we found the lower section of a long-missing painting underneath: The Enchanted Pose — two nude women leaning against columns." Here we see that a simply laid-out meal is not as simple as it seems. Each singular object is rendered with equally sharp focus and pictorial realism, yet any expectation of everyday reality is overturned, above all by the unblinking eye that stares inexplicably from a slice of ham on a plate. The Belgian Surrealist writer Louis Scutenaire described Magritte's objects as totems, and the spare arrangement here points toward the significance of a ritual meal. The perspective of this still life tilts dramatically toward the surface of the picture plane, as if to confront or perhaps invite the viewer to join the table. After exhibiting the canvas in several international Surrealist exhibitions in the 1930s, Magritte produced a life­size, three­dimensional version for a 1945 Surrealist display in Brussels.

La Reproduction interdite (Not to be Reproduced), Brussels, 1937; Oil on canvas The double or doppelgänger motif that had fascinated Magritte since the 1920s appears here in the form of a man looking at himself in a mirror that, instead of reflecting his face, shows him (and us) his back. This is one of two portraits—the other being Le Principe de plaisir (The Pleasure Principle, 1937) also on view in this exhibition—commissioned by the artist's friend and patron Edward James, both of which take the form of a portrait manqué, a failed portrait in which the subject's face is hidden. Magritte achieves this enigmatic illusion with scrupulous detail, modeling the figure on a photograph he took of James with his back to the camera. The book on the mantelpiece, however—the French edition of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838), by Edgar Allan Poe—is reflected, as expected, reversed.

La Durée poignardée (Time Transfixed), Brussels, 1938 Magritte's mysterious substitution of one familiar but unexpected object for another—a train, in this case, for a stovepipe—creates a visual pun: the hearth suddenly resembles a train tunnel, and the train's billowing smoke rises into the flue as if from a fire. The pairing of train and clock, both emblems of time, gives resonance to the poetic title, whose literal translation is "ongoing time stabbed by a dagger." Edward James purchased the painting in 1939, aware that Magritte had modeled the mantelpiece and mirror on those in James's own dining room.

Magritte produced three of these small, peculiar, meticulously painted objects; shown here are the second and third versions. Each depicts a single eye and partial view of a woman's face as if seen through a circular peephole opening. The artist's patron, the Belgian playwright Claude Spaak, commissioned the first version (with a brown eye) after admiring a piece of antique jewelry containing a similar eye portrait, perhaps of the type worn as a locket or brooch in the eighteenth century. Magritte produced the second version, with green eyes, as a gift for his own wife, Georgette. He mounted the versions displayed here in custom­made and custom­painted square wooden boxes, confirming their status as the painted objects of the title.

Objet peint: oeil (Painted Object: Eye), Brussels, 1936 or 1937; Oil on panel glued to wooden base. Magritte created his first Surrealist objects in Brussels in 1932, by covering two ready made objects with paint: in Les Menottes de cuivre (The Copper Handcuffs), a statue of Venus de Milo, and in L'Avenir des statues (The Future of Statues), a cast of Napoleon's death mask. In his preface to the catalogue of Magritte's 1933 exhibition at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Paul Nougé focused on two such works, despite the presence of fifty­-seven paintings. In doing so, he deliberately positioned Magritte as a maker of Surrealist objects at a time when the genre was rapidly gaining prominence within the movement. Collection Timothy Baum, New York. Mr. Baum was an early collector of Magritte's work and was a guest at the opening night reception.

Les Menottes de cuivre (The Copper Handcuffs), Brussels, 1931; Oil on plaster L'Avenir des statues (The Future of Statues), a cast of Napoleon's death mask.

Le Fait primitif (The Primordial Fact), Brussels, 1936; Oil on panel with pebble

The idea of placing a painting of a piece of cheese under a glass dome came from the Belgian Surrealist poet Paul Colinet. The title is a joking play on the Ceci n'est pas un pipe (This is not a pipe) inscription on La Trahison des images (The Treachery of Images, 1929) and a humorous reversal of that negative statement into a positive declaration: this is a piece of cheese, although of course it is not. Magritte made three versions of this painting­object, although he likely left the selection of the glass dome and pedestal for this version's first public appearance, in the Surrealist Objects and Poems exhibition at the London Gallery in November 1937, to the exhibition's organizers.

View of gallery with vitrine in foreground.

Le Jockey perdu (The Lost Jockey), Brussels, 1926; Cut-and-pasted sheet music, watercolor, pencil, and ink on paper. Magritte's first solo exhibition, held at the Galerie Le Centaure in Brussels in 1927, included twelve papiers collés, or collages. Such works contain what would become the artist's signature motifs: bowler hats, theater curtains, mysterious landscapes, and bilboquets (a term that refers to a toy but in Magritte's work evokes many other objects). Among them Le Jockey perdu has a singular status: In September 1926 the poet Camille Goemans, Magritte's friend (and later his dealer), compared the figure of the mounted jockey "hurtling recklessly into the void" to the artist himself.

Untitled, Brussels, 1926 Cut-and-pasted sheet music, gouache, and watercolor on paper

Untitled, Brussels, 1926; Cut-and-pasted printed paper and sheet music, pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper

Detail of Untitled, Brussels, 1926

YOU WILL WANT TO EXIT THROUGHT THE GIFT SHOP

Exhibition poster: $22.95. On the right is a display edition of the exhibition catalogue for a concurrent show: "Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes," MoMA's first major exhibition of the work of Le Corbusier, encompassing his work as an architect, interior designer, artist, city planner, writer and photographer.

Mugs, $20.

Pretty plastic Plates, $18. I bought two of them for my assistant, Maria Escalante: the white bird and the pipe (even if it isn't one).

Trays, $24.

Mousepad, $28; Paper Weight, $50.

Totes, $35 (showcased by Maria Escalante.)

Reverse sides of tote bags. What's not to like about these?

Tibor Kalman's Blue Skies umbrella, $40. Not Magritte, but it'll keep you dry.

The exhibition catalogue. Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938, edited by Anne Umland with essays by Stephanie D'Alessandro, Michel Draguet and Claude Goormans, Josef Helfenstein with Clare Elliott and Anne Umland. 250 pages, 194 color and 58 black-and-white illustrations. Hardcover, $65; paper, $50. C'est superbe!

When you leave the museum, gaze upwards and you will see the famous CBS eye (adorning the black rock building) inspired by Magritte.

ON THE EVENING OF TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH THERE WAS A PRIVATE PREVIEW & RECEPTION FOR THE MAGRITTE EXHIBIT

6:25 p.m.: The crowd waiting to enter the museum for the 6:30 VIP reception.

Irving Sandler is an American art critic and educator. He has provided numerous first hand accounts of American art, particularly around the abstract expressionist circles of the 1950s, where he managed the downtown Tanager Gallery. Gil Kaplan and his daughter, Claude. Mr. Kaplan is a connoisseur of Gustav Mahler and has conducted the composer's work at Carnegie Hall and other venues. He was acknowledged in the exhibition catalogue and thanked for his expertise "for facilitating the study of specific objects from this period in Magritte's work."

Amy and Ronald Gutman. Mr. Gutman, an actor, was born in Belgium. "I knew Magritte when I was fifteen years old. He used to come to our house and visit my father. He had a little Maltese named Lulu and so did we." I should add here that I live next door to the Gutmans in Sagaponack and I, too, have a Maltese named Lulu. Imagine that: All three of us with Lulus. Michael Gutman and Ronald Gutman are brothers. Michael is a concert violinist who has played in Madrid with Martha Argerich, "The greatest pianist alive," he said. He is the Director of the Dallas Festival of the Arts of 2015. "I knew Magritte when I was very young. He wanted to take my face because he needed the face of an innocent blond child to put it in a painting. But then he died and it never came to be."

Carole Iseler and Nicholas Ruiz work in MoMA's Special Events Department. Elizabeth Piercey and Caroline Gerwitz, MoMA's Development Office, volunteered for the evening check in.

There was an open bar and small spicy crackers served in Bowler hats.

Artist Pat Steir has a show up at Pace Prints on 57th Street. She's part of a group print show at The National Gallery with Chuck Close, Julie Mehretu, and John Cage. Kerry Gaertner with her 11-month-old son Eamonn. (That's an Irish name I was told). Ms. Gaertner is an art historian who works for ArtResource. "We license images for the museum," she told me.

Stephanie Barron, Senior Curator of Art at LACMA: "We lent the Magritte painting of the pipe. It's our most well-known 20th century painting and to lend it to this show is a tribute to the scholarship of the exhibition and the importance of the project."

Ann Temkin is MoMA's chief curator of painting and sculpture. Christophe Cherix, MoMA's Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books.

Arts writer Larry Qualls. "Most of us, even most critics of contemporary art, know Magritte only as a purveyor of the signs and signifiers of cultural meaning that provide the standard discourse of art textbooks. "This exhibition gives us a chance to see another side of the artist, that of the painter as craftsman. It is in his handling of his medium that we can finally take a full measure of his work. "A first impression of the wealth of material on display: extraordinarily conservative means for radical ends, classical form wielded for iconoclastic destruction."

Courtney Miller and Paul Jackson. Ms. Miller lives in Seattle where she is an editor with Amazon's Young Adult imprint, "Skyscape." Photographers Susan Meiselas and Bruce Davidson with Emmy Davidson. Susan has just published an ebook, Chile From Within. Bruce has a show of his Los Angeles photos at the Rose Gallery in Santa Monica.

Leah Dickerman with curators Stephanie D'Alessandro and Anne Umland. Ms. Dickerman, curator in MoMA's Department of Painting and Sculpture, has just been appointed director of the Museum Research Consortium, a new partnership with the graduate art history programs at Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, and the Graduate Center at the City of New York.

Leah Dickerman and her husband, Dr. Neil Alan Shneider. Dr. Shneider, 48, is a neurologist and neuroscientist at Columbia.

Lovebirds Writer Janet Wallach and MoMA trustee Bob Menschel. Art Critic John Zeaman who writes for the Bergen Record:"To be honest I like surrealism more as social history than aesthetically."

Timothy Baum owns the Magritte eye in the display case: Objet peint: oei (Painted Object: Eye). "I only met Magritte once. It was in 1963, the only time he came to America to visit the de Menils in Houston. Magritte then came to NYC to see his friend George Reavui, one of the old English surrealist poets and a translator of Russian literature. "George had no money so he got his friends to lend him some cash so that he could hire a limo to take Magritte on a tour of the city. I accompanied them. "Magritte, in his dark suit, black tie, and silly face, was wearing a big Texas Stetson cowboy hat. We went to Harlem, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and then we went out for a Chinese dinner. He didn't speak English so the three of us spoke French. "I spent every dime I had to buy the painting with the green eye."

Mr. Baum is a "very private dealer" who specializes in Dada and Surrealism which he refers to as "Nadada." "I did a big Surrealism show at The National Museum of Australia in Canberra. I bought the tie when I was there."

Pascal Reynold from Haiti and now a Security Guard at MoMA with Timothy Baum.

Professor Lewis Kachur teaches modern and contemporary art in the Department of Fine Arts at Kean University in New Jersey. Professor Linda Nochlin, an art historian, teaches at NYU.

Artist Alexandre Arrechea with Peter and Lilian Salama, lenders to the show. The Salamas also own a small Arrechea piece. "I saw his work in Cuba and bought a photograph. Then I bought a modest sculpture that I had to beg him to sell me." Liliane Salama, wearing Thierry Mugler, in front of the painting she and her husband will be without for the next year as it travels from NYC to Houston and then Chicago. There is a wonderful chapter, by the way, in fashion commentator Simon Doonan's amusing new book, The Asylum: A collage of couture reminiscences ... and hysteria.

Alexandre Arrechea, born in Trinidad, Cuba in 1970, lives in New York with his wife, Marlene Barrios, an art historian (also from Cuba), and with their two children, Arturo, a five-year-old boy, and Dalia, a seven-year-old girl. Arrechea is represented by the Magnan Metz Gallery in NY. He is preparing for a solo show on November 29th in Casado-Santapau in Madrid. New Yorkers will recall that Mr. Arrechea's work was displayed from 54th Street to 67th as part of the Park Avenue project, "No Limits." His ten flexible steel sculptures (renditions of New York buildings — the Chrysler, Empire State, Helmsley, Citigroup and Seagram to cite five) were installed on the grassy medians from 68th to street to 53rd. They are now on display in the Hamptons and Union Square.

Mercedes Bass in her Oscar. She never wavers from her favorite designer.

Mercedes Bass with her husband, Sid Bass. When I asked Mercedes if they owned any Magrittes, she replied: "Well now that Sid is painting all the time we don't have any more wall space."

You will enjoy this thoughtful and well curated look into Magritte's work.

Text and photographs © by Jill Krementz: all rights reserved. Contact Jill Krementz here.

LIZ SMITH: Kim Novak Tells All ...

September 25, 2013, 6:42 am

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Bogart's Final Great Performance Marred by Sentiment? Kim Novak Tells All To Robert Osborne ... Henry Kissinger Honored by The Lighthouse. Wednesday, September 25, 2013 by Liz Smith “IT'S easy to be warmly nostalgic about Humphrey Bogart’s last film, ‘The Harder They Fall.’ But to do so is to run the risk of marginalizing one of Bogie’s finest performances. “The film was released in April 1956, just nine months before Bogart succumbed to esophageal cancer. And while he looks more worn down than we remember him, there’s no mistaking his screen power. “It’s a great film, maybe the best boxing movie ever made, and a solemn reminder that Humphrey Bogart still had so much left in him.” writes Ben Mankiewicz.

Bogie and "Baby" in their first film, "To Have and Have Not."

Bogart in his last film, "The Harder They Fall."

AND NOW for another celebrity who is in a class by herself. Mr. Robert Osborne, the Turner Classic Movies maven, scored a coup when he convinced the usually reclusive Kim Novak to sit with him. This month, Novak is being saluted by TCM and her interview with Osborne has been airing. I have always referred to Kim as “The Blonde Who Got Away.” She opted out of Hollywood with her mind and soul and bank account still healthy. But listening to her speak so frankly and touchingly to Mr. O ... well, I think I’ll re-title Kim as “The Blonde Who Had To Get Away.”

THIS star speaks openly about the issues of mental illness in her family and says she herself is bi-polar. She was not the tough cookie that Marilyn Monroe could be. (Under the vulnerability, which was real, MM had a will of iron. She fought her demons like a warrior.) Novak was apparently eventually worn down by the fight — to stay on top, to remain a certain way, to accept Hollywood’s dismissal of her as just another troublesome blonde who asked too many questions.

Kim as the vulgar, ordinary Judy in "Vertigo."

She did get on surprisingly well with her directors, the terse Alfred Hitchcock and the fearsome Otto Preminger. Of Hitchcock, she said, “As soon as you accepted that he had a strong vision of what the character should look like — I hated that grey suit I had to wear — he allowed you to find the character. He’d say: “You’re doing fine. If not, I wouldn’t have hired you.”

Kim as the disturbed, ethereal Madeleine in "Vertigo"

NOVAK never rebelled against the system; Monroe did. Thus, Kim was not as disliked as MM. Her smoky voice and hesitant manner also assured her a more varied career than Marilyn’s. But after the death of Columbia’s detested Harry Cohn, Kim Novak’s carefully crafted image suffered. Kim in Robert Aldrich's Gothic high-camp tale of Hollywood, "The Legend of Lylah Clare." “Nobody had a good script for me,” she says now. Her “blonde bombshell” image had also suffered with Monroe’s passing in 1962. After a two-year hiatus from movie-making and then the failure of her “comeback” in the campy “The Legend of Lylah Clare” — Novak saw the handwriting on the wall. Her work would become infrequent, but at the same time, extremely effective. (Consider “The Mirror Crack’d.”) And for all the distance she kept from most major films, she still had ambition. This was shattered, however, after her 1991 experience with director Mike Figgis on “Liebestraum.” Kim Novak breaks down recalling that debacle. (And she was cut from most of the film.) It is unlikely she will give anybody the opportunity to hurt her in this manner again. Today, Kim Novak lives in Oregon with her veterinarian hubby of many years, her animals, her art and she is a sensitive painter. She seems content. She is happy to be remembered so fondly. She is proud of her best films. She is genuinely moved to tell her story her way!

As Madge in "Picnic." "I get so tired of only being called pretty!" "I could eat a can of Kodak and PUKE a better movie!" Kim as Lola Brewster in her best comic performance, "The Mirror Crack'd."

AND OUR dear highly-respected friend Robert Osborne seems quite swept away by Kim Novak. His studio audience gave her a tumultuous ovation. Kim remarked that she wasn’t much of a “fighter” in the matter of her career and some aspects of her personal life. Fighting is okay; it works for many actors. But Miss Novak got off the battlefield before the war was lost.

I WAS struck by columnist Frank Bruni’s analysis of Pope Francis in his last Sunday column. Then, Bruni verged off into human beings in general and the human failing for self-aggrandizement. He wrote: “Politics is most depressing of all. It rewards braggarts and bullies, who muscle their way onto center stage with the crazy certainty that they and only they are right; while we in the electorate and the news media lack the fortitude to shut them up or shoo them away. They disgust but divert us, or at a minimum wear us down. Maybe we get the showboats we deserve.”

AND, the most amazing thing I read were the words of Iran’s former agriculture expert, Isa Kalantari. He cautioned that it wasn’t the U.S. or Israel who are Iran’s worst bugaboos. He offered this thought: “In 30 years, Iran will be (like) a ghost town. Forty-five million Iranians will have to live with uncertain circumstances because the droughts and lack of ground water will have made both Iran and Egypt uninhabitable.”

YOU might want to call the Lighthouse because on October 1st, I am going to be emceeing the annual big lunch there at the Metropolitan Club and I’ll be introducing the wonderful biographer Jon Meacham and he’ll be introducing the Lighthouse honoree for the Henry Grunwald award. None other than Dr. Henry Kissinger.

Contact Liz Smith here.

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LIZ SMITH: Philanthropist Deluxe! ...

November 8, 2013, 6:16 am

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Bette Midler with Mardi Gras Indian Show at New York Restoration Project's Hulaween gala (Photo: Mia McDonald ).

Will "Thor" Hammer The U.S. Box-Office? ... Bette Midler — Philanthropist Deluxe! Friday, November 8, 2013 by Liz Smith “WOULD YOU rather have a real drink?” “Uh, sure. A screwdriver.” “Fine. Go get him a screwdriver.” Besides screwdrivers .... guests drank Qui Tequila cocktails, named Thor and Loki. That was an exchange at the special screening of “Thor: The Dark World” the other night at The Crosby Hotel. (The bar was only serving water and popcorn.) A few minutes later the helpful bartender appeared with ... a Phillips screwdriver. “Will this do?” The thirsty patron, his friends, and The Cinema Society’s Andrew Saffir fell about laughing hysterically. The bartender, blushed furiously, but he too laughed. “Okay, I guess I’ll have to watch Chris Hemsworth completely sober!” said the vodka and orange juice man. THE SCREENING room at the Crosby is one of the most comfortable and intimate in the city. Perfect for a non-hysterical event, which this was. Only one of the stars, Natalie Portman, appeared. She arrived at the Crosby, posed on the red carpet and then went to the opera. (She showed up later for more photo-taking at the after-party.) Some people were annoyed that it wasn’t specified on the invite that this was a 3-D screening. Nobody stormed out, but there was some bitching about how uncomfortable the 3-D glasses are. (They really are!)

Nina Garcia, Natalie Portman, and Anne Fulenwider at a special screening of “Thor: The Dark World” at The Crosby Hotel.

SO HOW about “Thor: The Dark World?” It has made at least $120 million overseas. It will probably be a smash in the U.S., too, despite some scathing reviews. I wonder what people expect from a movie based on a Marvel comic book character who carries a big hammer, and whose storyline is an amalgam of Norse mythology, science fiction and modern-day irreverence? There’s always “12 Years a Slave” if you want gut-wrenching realism and dramatics.

Mighty Hemsworth.

This sequel to the first “Thor” and “The Avengers” concerns itself with the evil Dark Elves who want to destroy the universe (but not themselves) with some super-powerful agent called The Ether. The Ether has found itself into the lissome body of Thor’s mortal ladyfriend, scientist Jane Foster. Thor must save the world, save Jane, collaborate with his enjoyably evil brother Loki, battle villain Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) and maneuver around all the spectacular CGI. I found the movie generally quite engaging. And much funnier than I expected. A good deal of this humor is provided by Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He drips with acid insincerity. (“Oh, dear, is she dead?” he inquires laconically as Natalie Portman’s Jane collapses again.) Hiddleston is sleekly sexy. The bad boy most women can’t resist. He’s not onscreen enough to suit me! And Kat Dennings as Portman’s assistant is very lively. Anthony Hopkins as Odin is not funny. He’s not meant to be. (He wears an eyepatch. Rarely amusing.)

Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor is every muscled inch a charismatic movie star and a super-hero. But Thor, as written isn’t a ball of fire, except when he’s slamming that hammer. Miss Portman, as Jane, fares worse. She is required to swoon and look distressed — a lot. Although she has a few hearty face-slapping scenes early on. The “romance” between Jane and Thor doesn’t ring true. But in a movie like this, maybe it’s not supposed to? I think this film would satisfy even those who don’t know the entire story. (I do, and it’s still confusing!) It’s fun. And it will be just as much fun in 2-D, too!

THE AFTER party at The Marlton Hotel on West 8th Street, attracted the likes of Howard and Beth Stern ... Marie Claire editor in chief Anne Fulenwider ... singer Peter Cincotti ... Cosmo and Marie Claire scribe Sergio Kletnoy ... Hearst’s Nathan Christopher ... designer Nicole Miller ... Tony Danza ... and fashion’s Nina Garcia. (Nina was asked “Are you going to be nicer on ‘Project Runway?’ She laughed and gasped: “But I AM nice! I think I should be bitchier!”)

The after party at the Marlton.

Dior Beauty co-hosted the event. Guests drank Qui Tequila cocktails, named Thor and Loki. The Marlton is brand new, not even open yet. It’s so new you could smell the fresh paint and the unvarnished wood of some of the booths. Andrew Saffir said, “Liz, you know, being here means you are really on the cutting edge!” “Oh, thank you. Especially considering that the other day’s column devoted a good deal of space to Gloria Swanson and Ann Dvorak.” “Who?” Sigh! I love children. And I enjoyed “Thor.”

Clockwise from top left: Peter Cincotti; Natalie Portman; Beth and Howard Stern; Tony Danza and Peter Berg; Nigel and Cristen Barker.

THE one and only Bette Midler raised $1.8 million taking advantage of Halloween for her annual bash that builds, creates, and keeps up parks in New York and cleans up the city’s garbage. This is for her New York Restoration Project and this year Bette had The Mardi Gras Indian Show at the Waldorf making lots of noise, dropping feathers, masks, and generally making the wearing of costumes an art. People love this charity and it is proof that Bette deserves to be on the recent list of top women philanthropists. She is the only “singer” on the list and is also cited as “a humanitarian.” There is one other show biz person on the list — Oprah! The rest are all brilliant “civilians.” The Restoration Project has two new parks opening near the East River Drive — one is dedicated to the late Governor Ann Richards who made NYC a second home. And the other is a bequest from the estate of the late Geraldine Stutz who ran Henri Bendel at the height of the '70’s fashion revolution.

I PARTICIPATED in a memorial recently that was one of the classiest and most touching because it happened to a select audience invited to the Carlyle Hotel in the very room made famous by the late Bobby Short. Two late greats: Jean Bach and Bobby Short. It was for Jean Bach, a jazz expert who produced wonderful TV shows and was the force behind the popularity of the late Arlene Francis. This charming salute to the lovable and beautiful Jean was put on by Carol Friedman of Dominick Films. Carol showed film clips of Jean cracking wise and maybe it will soon become a documentary for everybody. Performing were world class musicians like Bill Charlap and Sandy Stewart ... Annie Ross ... Jimmy Heath on the tenor sax ... Barbara Carroll on piano ... Joe Temperley of Jazz at Lincoln Center on the bass clarinet ... Barry Harris, the greatest living bebop pianist ... and Jessye Norman closed accompanying her operatic self with “Amazing Grace.” Everybody joined in. This event was as chic, elegant and smart as the woman it honored. I was thrilled to say a few words about Jean Bach.

Jean Bach, Liz Smith, and Bobby Short.

FANNIE FLAGG, the “Fried Green Tomatoes” girl, has a new book coming titled “All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion.” How cool is that title? Jackie Jones told me this and added that we can all try writing a novel in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) See if you can do finished fiction in 30 days. This is a fun website. It encourages all you would-be best-selling authors out there to do your best.

PEOPLE are still talking about producer Ted Hartley of RKO Pictures (wed to the famous Dina Merrill) and how he fell down going up the steps for the presentation of the Olivier Award for Best Stage Musical in London recently. This honor is the equivalent of the Tonys. Ted missed the last of 8 steps up to accept the award but he did a quick rise and then imitated the Fred Astaire two-step and bowed. The audience applauded. Ted is happy to have been joined by Jennifer Lawrence who tripped receiving her Oscar.

On solid ground: Ted and Dina.

Contact Liz Smith here.

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LIZ SMITH: Glamour-ized! ...

November 11, 2013, 5:38 am

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The gorgeous Jackie Bisset.

Barbra and Lady Gaga are Glamour-ized! ... Gorgeous Jackie Bisset is "Dancing on the Edge" Monday, November 11, 2013 by Liz Smith “MORE Americans have been killed by firearms over the past 45 years than in all the wars the U.S. has been involved in since its birth. Furthermore, forecasters predict that within two years firearm deaths will surpass those of road deaths." This is Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair paraphrasing Britain's Henry Porter of The Observer.

SEEMS like a very good time — Veterans Day — to use the above quote. Have you done anything for veterans lately? Contact the Bob Woodruff Foundation here and ask them what you can do.

BARBRA Streisand tonight in person at the Glamour Women of the Year party! Well, November 29th, you can still see the concert she did in Brooklyn in 2012 when she returned to the borough for the first time in concert. PBS is airing this at 9 p.m. EST. Special guests then, with Babs, were Italian opera singers Il Volo and her son, Jason Gould, singing with her. Oh, yes, and Lady Gaga will be one of the Women of the Year and is on the cover of Glamour mag looking quite spiffy.

Babs and gaga: Maybe they're not so different!!

HAD A chat with the eternally beautiful Jacqueline Bisset last week. At times I’ve just shot the breeze with Jackie, as she is one of the most down-to-earth and curious-about-life actors I’ve ever known. (Behind the amazing cobalt eyes, the cheekbones, the fine-grained translucent skin, she can be surprisingly fragile, vulnerable. And fairly raucous, too when she’s of a mind.) But this was professional. Have any of you yet caught the new series on the Starz Network, “Dancing on the Edge?” This follows the adventures and adversities of an all-black jazz band in London’s 1930s. Starz is best known for such graphic fare as the “Spartacus” series. But this is a very different effort. I would not have been surprised to see it on HBO or one of America’s PBS stations. (It is a BBC production.)

Jacqueline Bisset as Lady Lavinia Cremone in "Dancing on the Edge."

It is lavish, fun, realistically dramatic and accurate in costume and overall design. The cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor as the band leader ... Matthew Goode as a music journalist ... Angel Coulby as the band’s hot lead singer and Miss Jacqueline Bisset as Lady Lavinia Cremone, a wealthy recluse who becomes the patron of the band. “I don’t talk to reporters ...." Miss Bisset, sporting a surprisingly flattering blonde wig, is delicious, regal and on her guard. (“I don’t talk to reporters,” Lady Cremone says at one point, sliding the window up on her limo with icy authority.) What drew Jackie to this project? “Well, first of all, I was pleased to really be playing a Brit, and to film in London.” (Bisset was born in Surrey, England.) Also, this was one of the most complete scripts I’ve ever been offered. The atmosphere was perfect. And, all the undies were correct under the period clothes. Honestly, once you get the undies right, you can relax! “Also, she is a remarkably grounded character, though her backstory is terribly sad. I won’t give it away, but she copes well, despite being something of a recluse. Listen, after a certain point in an actor’s life, you have to choose well, and appropriately. This was appropriate in every way and a pleasure.”

Jacqueline Bisset and Linda Yellen.

Has she found anything else appropriate as a follow-up? “No, not yet. But I don’t worry myself. Something always comes up. Although I wish the movie I made with Dennis Hopper,‘The Last Film Festival’ would finally see a release. It was his last film, he’s terrific, and I’m rather good myself. It’s a comedy and I use this crazy Italian accent.” (Two years ago, Bisset and I were walking out of an expensive midtown restaurant, and she fell into the accent, it was hysterical! The movie was directed by Linda Yellen, and she still has hopes for it.) We spoke a bit about Jackie’s early experiences in Hollywood, and how she was, in the dying days of the studio system, offered one of those notorious seven year “slave contracts” with 20th Century-Fox. “I ran as fast as possible in the opposite direction, please!” Jackie’s career flourished despite her refusal to be tied down and “groomed.” Though I think her incredible beauty did (and perhaps still does) stand in the way of sensible critique of her work.

Jacqueline Bisset and Gerard Depardieu in “Welcome to New York."

Jackie also has another movie on the burner, “Welcome to New York,” based loosely on the infamous Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal (The French political accused of rape.) Gerard Depardieu plays the accused. Jackie is his “very pissed off wife!” How was it acting with Depardieu? “It was fine. I’m sure he has a temper and moods and all that. But he’s actually quite playful and still rather charismatic. It was a good experience.” As for “Dancing on The Edge,” it airs every Saturday at 9:00 PM. It’s quite a show, and now that I know Jackie has such a pivotal role, I’ll make sure not to miss it.

WE wrote here some time ago about the troubles being endured by the rich denizens of the River House at 52 Street and the East River, noting that the Henry Kissingers live in this exalted building. We also said, last June, that if the River Club, which has a large portion of the building, is sold to someone who wants it "entire" — it could be the priciest dwelling in all of Manhattan. We also said that owners in the River House are debating whether to keep the River Club a club, or sell it for private ownership, and make themselves almost titanically rich! Delightful story on this contretemps of the wealthy, covered with his usual skill by Jacob Bernstein last Thursday (Nov. 7) in the New York Times.

December 15, 1931. River House, 52nd Street and East River. Shoreline with clouds. Gottscho-Schleisner.

LOTS of commentary in this space all the time but occasionally we delve into the news. The agent Ari Emanuel is the show biz agent. His controversial brother Rahm Emanuel is Chicago's Mayor and advisor and friend to President Obama. Ari and his wife Sarah, are said to be shopping for a Park Avenue apartment in NYC. So look out New York!

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LIZ SMITH: This, That and So On ...

November 12, 2013, 5:46 am

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This, That and So On: "Thor" ... John Travolta ... Gloria Gaynor ... Miley Cyrus ... Tom Cruise ... Charlie Sheen ... "Living Landmarks" Rule Manhattan. Tuesday, November 12, 2013 by Liz Smith “MARK MY word, if and when all these preachers get control of the Republican party, and they’re sure to try to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.” So said Barry Goldwater, way back in the day. (1964) Those chickens are coming home to roost, along with even more disturbing elements. But like lemmings we rush ahead, heedless, pushed by relentless and meaningless cable TV coverage, which cannot spare a moment to ask a sensible question. Then again, “60 Minutes” worked on its bungled Benghazi story for a year.

CONSERVATIVES have been shrieking for President Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s heads over Benghazi, and all pointed to the “60 Minutes” story — as it came upon us and then initially aired — as “proof.” But with the revelation that the British source for the tale was a big liar, the right wing simply ignores that. Literally. It never happened. (Senator Lindsey Graham still says he will block all of President Obama’s nominees to various administration posts, unless he personally can talk to the American survivors of the Benghazi attack. And the beat-down goes on.)

THIS N’ THAT:“Thor: The Dark World” is expected to eventually take in over $600 million at the box-office. So much for the power of negative reviews. ... John Travolta wandered around Boston’s Impressionism gallery at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, soaking up some culture. He was actually filming at the museum. The movie is titled “The Forger” and tells of a former art prodigy and thief, his dying son, his grandfather and a final job to be pulled off ... Gloria Gaynor, the legendary “I Will Survive” disco queen has written a new book (with help from reporter Sue Carswell) “We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration and the Power of Song.” Gloria tells of her own struggles and those of people she has met along path of her life. Grand Harbor Press publishes in December. ... Angela Lansbury has weighed in on the “reboot” of her classic TV series “Murder, She Wrote.” She’s not happy. Angela much admires Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer, who will star in the show, but Miss Lansbury wishes they’d change the title. She says, “’Murder She Wrote’ will always be about a place called Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people.” Miss Lansbury was nominated for a record 12 Emmys for “Murder” and her fans cried “murder” when the series — still doing well — was canceled in 1996. ... So Miley Cyrus smoked a joint (or pretended to) at MTV’s European Awards show the other night. I’d say, sarcastically, “Her parents must be so proud.” Apparently they really are! ... ... Now Tom Cruise has learned the hard way that you simply cannot have a lighthearted moment in public (or even private, if it’s in a lawyer’s office.) While being deposed for his lawsuit against Life & Style magazine, the actor talked about the rigors of making the kind of movies he makes, comparing his efforts to professional athletes and fighting soldiers. Then he laughed and said “Oh, come on!” when somebody responded to this with “Really?’ But, damage done. Eyes and ears are everywhere.

BRUCE WEBER, the filmmaker/photographer who has done more to get men up off the couch and go to the gym — via his famous studies of buff male bodies — will have four of his most well-known movies screened at NYC’s Film Forum beginning Friday. Fans can catch “Broken Noses” ... ”Let’s Get Lost” ... "A Letter to True” ... and “Chop Suey.” Bruce is such a nice guy, and he’ll be making appearances at some of the screenings. For tix and info visit FilmForum.org

I HAVEN’T yet seen “Blue is the Warmest Color” mostly because the three-hour length gives me pause. But a film-going pal of mine (who is also a director) assures me it is “Absolutely fascinating and engrossing. Not at all what I expected. I did find the positioning of some of the sex scenes a little dicey but then what do I know. I haven’t been 22 in a while!” The movie tells of the intense love affair between two young women. As to the length, my friend says it doesn’t seem at all like three hours: “It makes you feel you are living their relationship in real time ... and I think both actresses, Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos are Oscar worthy.”

WORD IS that Charlie Sheen wants to “make up” with his former “Two and a Half men” producer Chuck Lorre. At least, so Charlie recently Twittered. Maybe he’s reaching out because the custody battle over his children and ex-wives has become so nasty, and he needs more to do? (He wants his children taken away from the oft-troubled Brooke Mueller, whom he has referred to as “a whore.” And that’s the nice part.) TMZ, the show-biz source for all the things you don’t want to know but can’t look away from, reports that the actor has made no friends among court officials. The court’s opinions of Sheen’s own parenting skills and actual interest in his children’s well-being is said to be scathingly negative.

Chuck and Charlie.

CHARITIES SCORE these days after natural disasters, fighting illnesses, offenses against children. the environment, etc. But one of the big ones I work with — "Living Landmarks" raises money for the New York Landmarks Conservancy and works to keep New York City like — well, it helps keep NYC from being totally destroyed. (You do want famous architecture, religious buildings, museums, monuments, parks etc. to be kept from disappearing, don't you?) Thursday night we are holding our annual black tie event at the Plaza Hotel ballroom, which the Conservancy just happened to save from destruction. Dancing to Peter Duchin's amazing orchestra will be our honorees — Ann Buttenwieser who is a parks saver ... Oscar winner Joel Grey ... hero of Hurricane Sandy, Dr. Robert I Grossman ... overseer of the new FDR Park, William vanden Heuvel ... advertising legend Mary Wells Lawrence ... and the beautiful talented actress and Princeton graduate Brooke Shields. I am threatening to open as emcee by singing. So it should be anight to remember. If you want to attend or give us money, call 212-995-5260 or jennasmith@nylandmarks.org.

SO MANY people have asked me who made the dress I am wearing in this photo with Jean Bach and Bobby Short, I’m telling you it was a Halston and I still know where it is!

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LIZ SMITH: Are Some Big Stars Out of Alignment? ...

November 13, 2013, 6:13 am

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"We're all busy little bees making honey day and night, aren't we honey?" Margo Channing confronts Eve.

An Afternoon With Bette Davis ... Are Some Big Stars Out of Alignment? ... Our Dream Couple — Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber ... The Success Story of Theater's Great Director, Jack O'Brien, Told In His Own Book, "Jack Be Nimble." Wednesday, November 13, 2013 by Liz Smith “DON’T LET me kill the point, or isn’t this a story for grownups?” “You’ve heard it. About the time I looked into the wrong end of a camera finder.” “Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke.” “I’d like to hear it.” “Some snowy night in the front of the fire. In the meantime Eve, would you check on the hor d’ oeuvres? The caterer forgot them. The varnish wasn't dry, or something." So it went between Bette Davis, Gary Merrill and Anne Baxter in “All About Eve,” moments before everybody had to fasten their seatbelts!

"Nice speech Eve. But I wouldn't worry about your heart. You can always put that award where your heart ought to be."

OUR readers constantly remind us of info we don’t always have. Here’s Penelope Bianchi. She writes: “When my husband and I were first married 37 years ago, my mother-in-law came to visit us in Pasadena. She asked me to take her to Los Angeles to visit ‘my dear old friend from Maine for tea.’ I drove her to a lovely apartment building and a young woman was waiting for us outside. We went to the penthouse at 3 p.m. Our friend Penny Bianchi in Montecito. Photo: JH. “The elevator doors opened and there, in front of us, was Bette Davis jumping up and down and ecstatic to see my mother-in-law!!! I was the only one who had tea! They had vodka! “They shared stories of their wild time in Maine together when Bette was married to Gary Merrill! I tried to tell a story, but Bette Davis hushed me up!! She said ‘Listen!’ We were there for four hours! “As we were leaving, Bette told me that if I lived to be her age, and had close friends that I could count on two hands, I would be very lucky. She said since she was a movie star, she was lucky to have friends she could count on one hand! She said, ‘Your mother-in-law is my closest friend! When my husband beat me up; she took me in!’ “She told a story of when they were on the board of the symphony in Portland, Maine, my mother-in-law wrote Fidel Castro and asked him for his hat to be auctioned! And he sent it! ‘None of those old Biddys understood what a value it was, so I had to buy it!’ “Bette Davis still had it! And she fished it out of the drawer!! this dirty old fatigue hat! When we left and the elevator doors closed, I said ‘Why didn't you tell me your dear old friend from Maine was Bette Davis?’ She said ‘Darling, that was a test!!! Anyone would’ve taken me to have tea with Bette Davis. You passed!’”

"Anyone would’ve taken me to have tea with Bette Davis ..."

IS IT really all over between one of the most legendary stars of all time and her husband of many years? Everybody in Hollywood says so. I’ve reached out to said star’s PR but expect no answer or a denial. Not printing any names. Finally I have a reasonably good relationship with this great star. Why mess with it now? It might not be true or it might just be one of those things that heal in time. We’ll know soon enough. P.S. Of course I did not hear from the star's press rep. But digging a little more I got this from somebody else in L.A. "Oh, please. That magazine had a really bad photo of her, and decided to make up a negative story around it. To paraphrase Mary McCarthy on Lillian Hellman— everything in that publication is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.'"

Think of the twerking possibilities! JUSTIN BIEBER can’t catch a break — although if he keeps up at this rate he is bound to catch something! After the escape from the brothel ... the photo of him sleeping (maybe) taken by some girl he met ... last we heard he couldn’t find a hotel in Argentina because his fans are so disruptive and destructive. (Never get in the way of a ragingly hormonal teen-age girl and the object of her affection!) South America will be glad to see the back of Mr. Bieber, although with those eternally saggy pants of his, the back of Mr. Bieber is not his most attractive side. I hope Justin and Miley Cyrus hook up eventually. That would take people’s minds off little things like food stamps, unemployment, drones, typhoons and the Obamacare rollout.

MANY people would give anything to be in the theater. They can just see themselves as stars, accepting the Tony and taking bows and having fans waiting for their autograph at the stage door. Click to order"Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director." But I want to tell you a real success story, that of director Jack O’Brien who has a book out that is a wonder. Its title is “Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director “ offered by the select publishing firm Farrar, Straus & Giroux. This is the story of a guy who fell under the influence of a gifted actor-director named Ellis Rabb and of Mr. Rabb’s talented wife, the actor Rosemary Harris. Jack writes as if he hadn’t a clue what his life was going to be like and the reader comes along for this merry and versatile ride. In the end, Jack O’Brien directed the bicentennial revival of 1976’s “Porgy and Bess.” He has also directed “Hairspray” ... ”Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” ... ”Catch Me If You Can” ... ”The Nance” ... many others. He will be helming “Macbeth” on Nov. 21-January 12th with John Glover and Ethan Hawke. I think Jack O’Brien always knew he was going to become a famous celebrated director and there was no “accident” about it. Read his book, nevertheless, just for the thrill of it and if you truly love theater.

Jack camera "ready at five years old!" with his mother Evelyn and sister Janet, 1944.

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LIZ SMITH: “MOST PEOPLE thought I was strange ..."

November 14, 2013, 7:35 am

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I don't care how she does it, The Big M still looks amazing to me.

Madonna Dares Me to Read Her Article!...Can "Ghost" Become a TV Series?...Stevie Nicks, Witchy Woman..."Homeland" Improves, but Where is Brody?!! Thursday, November 14, 2013 by Liz Smith “MOST PEOPLE thought I was strange. I didn’t have many friends. I might not have had any friends. But it all turned out good in the end, because when you aren’t popular, and you don’t have a social life, it gives you more time to focus on your future. And for me, that was going to New York to become a real artist ... to revel and shimmy and shake and be surrounded by daring people.” The Big M on the cover of HB. "... I decided I needed to be more than a girl with gold teeth and gangster boyfriends.” So says Madonna in the current issue of Harper’s Bazaar. (I bet some of you thought it was Lady Gaga!) I’ve had the magazine sitting on my desk for more than a week, with a gorgeous-looking M on the cover, staring me down. (“You will pick up this magazine” her eyes seemed to command.) For some reason, I didn’t delve into the article. Maybe it was because such an issue was made of her — I now realize — throwaway remark that she had been raped during her tough early years in Manhattan. I knew she’d alluded to this a long time ago, and thought, “Why bring it up again?” But that terrible memory is hardly the essence of the article, written by Madonna herself. There’s no BS here. The star writes that at some point after her divorce from Sean Penn, she found herself “looking for love in all the wrong places ... I decided I needed to be more than a girl with gold teeth and gangster boyfriends.” She credits her immersion in Kabbalah for preparing her for motherhood; something she very much wanted, but for which she felt unfit. And she is heartbreakingly candid on the controversy surrounding the adoption of two children, especially the first one, David.“A real low point in my life. I could get my head around people giving me a hard time for simulating masturbation onstage or publishing the ‘Sex’ book or even kissing Britney Spears at an awards show ... but trying to save a child’s life was not something I thought I would be punished for.” (When Madonna appeared on Oprah, to discuss this controversy, as it unfolded, I felt, watching her, that she was just barely holding it together; unusual because M keeps her emotions close. I was right. I heard that moments after the interview was over and the cameras stopped, Madonna broke down hysterically.)

Madonna in 1978 (Photo: Michael McDonnell).

Looking 28 at 55. OF HER four children, she writes: “I try to teach them to think outside the box. To be daring. To choose to do things because they are the right thing to do, not because everybody else is doing them.” Madonna concludes that “challenging people’s ideas and belief systems, and defending those who don’t have a voice have become part of my everyday life. In my book, it’s normal. In my book, everyone is doing something daring. Please open this book. I dare you.” I suppose Madonna has changed a lot over the years, but this determination of hers to provoke and dare and take her audiences on that journey — even if some would rather be taken on a less challenging, more nostalgic journey. This never changes. And I doubt it ever will. By the way, the last time I saw Madonna, up close, the 55-year-old looked about 28. (She had just come off her tour and had put on a few flattering pounds.) And please, I don’t care how she manages it, she looks amazing, period.

ANOTHER RE-BOOT! Now it’ll be a TV version of the smash 1990 hit movie “Ghost” starring the late Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg in her Oscar-winning turn as the fake psychic who turns out — much to her surprise — not so fake.

Hmmmm ... I think I've had it with pottery tonight!

Well, I suppose I see the possibilities of a weekly series, but the movie was so perfect in its way, and so perfectly cast, I don’t think any actors, no matter how good, can re-create that particular chemistry. (Not to mention the presence, in the movie, of Tony Goldwyn, who memorably pays the price for his bad ways.) I wonder if Demi or Whoopi will follow in the footsteps of Angela Lansbury and protest a bit? (Miss Lansbury, as many of you know, isn’t crazy about “Murder, She Wrote” being revived.)

"Molly, you in danger, girl!" Whoopi Goldberg's most famous line in her Oscar-winning "Ghost" performance.

NICE TOUCH that the producers of “American Horror Story: Coven” have invited pop legend Stevie Nicks to appear on the show. One of characters this season is a witch who is obsessed with Stevie — dresses like her, plays her songs, etc. So, why not get the real thing? This third edition of “American Horror Story” is the best yet. The entire plot changes each season, but a great deal of the cast remains, in different roles. Most notably Jessica Lange, who is having a hell of a time as the sexy, bad-to-the-bone, head of the coven. She’s come a long way from the vulnerable, adorable girl fooled by Dustin Hoffman in “Tootsie.” Others wafting dramatically in an out this year include Patti LuPone, Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe.

All your life you've never seen A womanTaken by the wind

SPEAKING OF series, Showtime's “Homeland” seems to have gotten its groove back. The show is again tense, intrigue-driven, and Claire Danes has finally stopped crying. However, except for one grueling episode, Damian Lewis, who plays the tortured POW, Brody, who returned to his family, planning to betray the U.S .(He didn’t, we don’t think) has been missing in action. Even though he’s mentioned on every single episode. “Homeland” isn’t quite “Homeland” without the talented Mr. Lewis. I hope his character escapes his latest terrible incarceration and has some screen time before the season ends. (Cable shows have notoriously brief seasons and agonizingly long waits before they start up again.)

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