"I'm as pure as the driven slush!" said Tallulah.
Finally, an evening where we didn't even need Tallulah.
- I thought I was the world class expert on fundraising evenings, but last week I received a big surprise when I trekked west, almost to the Hudson River, where something called Espace, was the scene of the 20th anniversary of the Abingdon Theater Company.
What a great night! One can't always say that about charities raising money to keep going. People truly want to help and cooperate but most of these sizzlers fizzle out and are so boring! Not the Abingdon one.
- So we had a great dinner and great evening and I got to celebrate the very first friend I ever made in the New York theater -- my Tony-winning press agent pal, the unique Shirley Herz who I have known since 1954. And her main man friend Sam Altman, a former garment creator and a mainstay of the Abingdon. (He is often styled as "Shirley's husband from Scarsdale!")
This personal touch was only the beginning -- Laurence Luckinbill, one of most talented and undersung men in theater today, and his charming gifted wife Lucie Arnaz, were the emcees. The crazy blonde bombshell, Julie Halston (queen of Vampire Lesbians of Sodom) introduced me and I talked about my longtime pal Shirley.
Then to make matters glamorous we had none other than opera star Marilyn Horne who introduced the brilliant actress Tyne Daly. (This was fitting, for Tyne is one of the many big theater names who has assayed the role of Maria Callas from Master Class.)
And finally we had Ms. Daly herself, one of the independent Tony-winning stars of today and one of the nicest women in the business. (She won for Gypsy of course!) She chided herself onstage for "not writing something down" but she has no idea how good she is on her feet and informal. Her co-star from Gypsy, the wonderful Jonathan Hadory, sang to Tyne a song against being nice, written by Jules Styne. This song had never made it into a show.
- I can't even recount how many nice people made this all happen but Taylor Brooks, Peter Brouwer, Jan Buttram, Michael Deep, JoAnn "Toots" Mariano, Carole Monferdini, Pamela Paul, Bill Shuman were all there and many evoked the memory of the late great June Havoc who inspired the Abingdon in her time. Also ran into some friends -- Rosie O'Donnell, looking just glowing in spite of her recent heart scare, and the one and only lyricist Martin Charnin who has Annie open again at the Palace Theater, and Enid Nemy, formerly of the Times, now a benefactor of theater.
- Sotheby's and Christie's should be looking up the man who arrived out of the blue, conducted an auction from the stage that raised thousands and he was surely the nerve-test surprise of the night. His name is Peter Brouwer and he's an actor and was simply great! I never paid much mind to the Abingdon Theater before, but now, I know I should have.Groups like this are the ones that discover and maintain young talent and fresh ideas and they have changed the nature of show business on Broadway and off.
- Save the date of November 28th at Doubles for the 25th anniversary of Quest magazine's "Collectors Edition." Nostalgia may indeed be over-rated but editor Chris Meigher has done himself proud with this look-back at a publication founded by Heather Cohane.
Brooke Astor is on the cover and it seems everybody she ever knew is inside. There are reminiscences and photographs about and by everyone who ever considered themselves to be "anything" -- I'll just drop a few names: Dominick Dunne and Andy Warhol and Jerome Zipkin, you know, people who loathed and loved one another.
C-Z Guest, Nan Kempner, Nancy Kissinger, Warner LeRoy, Glenn Bernbaum from 1993 on. I glimpse Kennedys, Hearsts, Lauders, Laurens, Mortimers, Nivens, Boardmans, Dudleys, Paleys, de la Rentas, Petries, as well as the 1996 New York Jets.
But, of course, there is Slim Aarons and Diana Vreeland, David Patrick Columbia, Jackie, Lee and
Maurice Tempelsman, and someone named Liz has written a paean of praise for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Let's don't forget Suzy and George Plimpton and Tory Burch and Graydon Carter and Bronson van Wyck and Albert Hadley and Barbara Walters and the institutions like The New York Public Library featured in a great antique photo... the Metropolitan Museum... the Costume Institute... MOMA... the Frick... the Museum of Natural History and let's not forget La Grenouille restaurant, an institution in itself.
You are all in there in all your glory. This is a real keeper, this Quest, and I liked Society's New 400 as it appeared back in 1995.