Kristen Johnston Turns Forgetful Into FunnyFormer mayor Ed
Koch said his scariest moment in office was when a bunch of doctors threw eggs at his face during the Iran hostage crisis. Kristen
Johnston forgot her lines while performing at The 24 Hour Plays. Bill
Clinton said that he’d like to do a makeover of Grumpy Old Men with Bill Crystal if Hillary is elected president. An assortment of famous folks ate at both Le
Cirque and the Waverley Inn. Donald Trump’s brother, Robert,
and wife Blaine got a divorce. Ben
Affleck said he’d rather worship Satan than flip baseball-team loyalty à la Rudy Giuliani. Maybe fat Ryan Gosling hung out with a hot brunette at Rose Bar.
gossipmonger
‘Gorgeous’ Ben Affleck Skips His Own PremiereBen Affleck slipped out of the premiere of his Gone Baby Gone to go watch the Red Sox game. (Ben says he left because he gets nervous during his screenings. Cindy Adams thinks he’s getting “gorgeouser and gorgeouser”). Fifty of the world’s greatest chefs are having dinner tonight at Le Bernadin to celebrate the book My Last Supper. Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni shelled out $7,000 for a 1.1-pound Italian white truffle. Tim Robbins had his birthday party on Tuesday at the Beatrice Inn. Barneys creative director Simon Doonan thought Phillip Bloch had gone blind, though he was actually just preparing for a movie role.
gossipmonger
Is Marc Jacobs Engaged?Marc Jacobs may have given a Cartier engagement ring to his on-again, off-again boyfriend, Jason Preston. Tyra Banks dropped her manager, either because he was a prima donna or because her investment-banker boyfriend told her to. Britney Spears backed out of recording a Timbaland-produced duet with Justin Timberlake. It’s unclear why. No cameras or cars are allowed at the fund-raiser Oprah is throwing for Barack Obama at her California ranch, which is expected to draw George Clooney, Halle Berry, and Jamie Foxx. Harvey Weinstein is offering $100,000 to anyone who can identify the Upper East Side mom who inspired The Nanny Diaries. (Some speculate it’s Preppy Handbook author Lisa Birnbach.) Marc Ecko’s CEO threw $500 in cash around during a company-sponsored booze cruise. Norman Reedus, Helena Christensen’s baby daddy, is making a movie in which Richard Nixon sleeps with a hooker and then kills her. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon dined at Le Cirque with two tables’ worth of security guards.
party lines
Catherina Zeta-Jones Can Cook, Aaron Eckhart Can’tCatherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart trained at Fiamma to play New York City chefs in their new romantic comedy No Reservations, as the two have been bragging to the press. But Martha Stewart, who co-hosted a luncheon for the stars at Le Cirque yesterday, isn’t impressed. She’d met the two stars during a segment for the Today show, and she quickly surmised that these were “two people with seemingly no interest in cooking,” she said at the lunch. They were to make a lattice pie crust for the show, but Stewart said she quickly gave up and told Eckhart that he could cheat. (“There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in my kitchen in terms of storage,” Eckhart admitted. “If you don’t want to throw something away and you don’t want to wash it, you just put it in the refrigerator.”) Zeta-Jones, on the other hand, was determined to give her pie a go, and she carefully laid each strip of dough on the fruit. She was so proud, said Stewart, that she took the raw pie home to bake for her parents. “And it was delicious,” Zeta-Jones said. —Jada Yuan