Ellen Dethrones Oprah, Finally Has a Real Reason to DanceMEDIA
• Ellen beat Oprah as the nation’s favorite TV personality, dethroning the Queen of Talk who held the top spot for five years. [HR]
• Will Schwalbe quit Hyperion after seven years as editor-in-chief. His decision seems to have come as something of a shock, and the publisher has no immediate successor planned. Schwalbe, co-author of Send, the recent guide to e-mail etiquette, won’t divulge his own plans. [NYO]
• Christopher Hitchens quits smoking! Really, we’re excited and interested! [Radar]
intel
Beard Diners Get No Graydon But Several Waverly-Reservation TipsGraydon Carter skipped the dinner his Waverly Inn chef John DeLucie cooked at the James Beard House last night, but that doesn’t mean Beard members won’t get a chance to rub elbows with the Falstaffian editor. After attendees were served seven wines and a five-course dinner that included the restaurant’s luscious Dover sole, Chef DeLucie informed them that they’re all now worthy of a hard-to-come-by tables at Graydon’s clubby Bank Street spot, just a few blocks west of where they were eating; they should simply stop by a day or two in advance to reserve. “Just say ‘James Beard dinner,’” advised sommelier Sammy Kebob, whose name may or may not be spelled that way, as the restaurant answered neither its public nor private phones when we called to check. “Don’t use my name,” he warned the crowd. “It won’t work.” Neither, we suspect, will the “Beard dinner” trick for much longer. —Alexandra Peers
in other news
Bush Visits Wall Street, Discovers Income Inequality
The president was in New York yesterday, and he brought some odd tidings for our city’s financial industry. In a speech strategically delivered across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, George W. Bush — who on a trip to New York years ago delivered his famous “Some call you the elite, I call you my base” line — spoke out against excessive executive pay and lush severance packages. Meantime, an editorial in the same day’s Wall Street Journal posited that any legislation curbing executive pay would immediately translate into higher taxes. As the person hectoring the gaggle of Wall Streeters about fiscal modesty was the same person who had drastically cut taxes for everyone in attendance, the listeners could be forgiven for mild confusion. The Sun calls the crowd’s response “muted.” But of course it was: The real target audience for the speech was the general public. “The fact is that income inequality is real,” said Bush. “It has been rising for more than 25 years.” And you’re first noticing that now, George? Pardon the pun, but that’s rich.
Bush Warns Wall Street on Pay [NYS]
George W. Bush: The Elite, My Base [YouTube]