Can’t We All Just Gay Along?Today’s “Gatecrasher” column in the Daily News includes a truly excellent story that also appears in the Village Voice. Turns out News gossip Ben Widdicombe and Voice scribe Michael Musto were sharing a table at Bowery Bar last Tuesday during the weekly gay party, Beige. With them was former Village People cowboy Randy Jones, who had a delightful tale to tell. From “Gatecrasher”:
In 1977, [Jones] found himself sharing a table at Studio 54 with two people he recalls as being Paris’ parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton. “There was one rock of cocaine left, and it rolled off the table,” he said. “They just didn’t even bother bringing it back up to a hard surface — they just crushed it into the carpet and snorted it off that.”
Jones explained, “Whatever Paris Hilton is, she came by it honestly!” (Not the adverb we would necessarily use.) Now Rick Hilton denies this story ever happened, and it may be too good to be true. But it is a lovely little example of the gay media mafia at work. Widdicombe needs to fill a column every day, but he nonetheless waited an entire week to run this item so that he and Musto could run it at the same time. Thus, nobody was unduly scooped. See? Gay gossip columns will help you out! Unlike straight gossip columns, which threaten to rape you.
Violence is Golden [VV]
Hilton Story Doesn’t Seem to Check Out [NYDN]
in other news
Marc Jacobs: Backlash to the BacklashEver since designer Marc Jacobs came back from rehab all tanned and buff, some reporters think that he has been “acting out” (clearly said reporters took a one-semester class in child psychology freshman year). There was his infamous Fashion Week show this fall, which was delayed for two hours, followed by infamous verbal fisticuffs with the International Herald Tribune’s Suzy Menkes, followed by the hot nudie pictures in Out and Arena Hommes Plus and the blue — sorry “navy” — hair. A concerned Eric Wilson of the Times sat down with him to find out what it was all about:
“In the most basic way I can say it,” he said, relighting a cigarette, “coming from a psychological place, what I love more than anything is attention. That is about as honest of a statement that I could possibly make. I want a reaction, because I want the attention.”
It’s not that we didn’t already know that. It’s just that, well, for him to just come out and say it makes this whole year of drama just … lovable.
Loving and Hating Marc Jacobs [NYT]
Related: Daily Intel’s Marc Jacobs Obsession
The Surreal Marc Has Designs on TV [NYM]
party lines
Revealed: Marc Jacobs’s Recipe for Tuna SaladMarc Jacobs’s svelte physique is not the result of his skills in the kitchen. We asked the designer about his cooking repertoire at the Out 100 awards gala on Friday, and it turns out it’s, well, fashionably slim. “Cook?” he asked. “I make tuna salad. It’s not really cooking, but I chop the spring onions and the celery very, very well, and I put it with tuna fish and mayonnaise and pepper. And that I do extremely well. More than that, I can’t do.” Marc attended the party on the arm of his on-again-off-again boyfriend, Jason Preston. We asked what Preston contributes, and the Louis Vuitton creative director just guffawed. “Jason? Do you cook?” he asked, turning to Preston who shook his head. “No, he doesn’t cook,” Jacobs told us, laughing harder. “We eat out a lot, and we have room service a lot.” Oh, silly us. We thought Jason was the room service! —Bennett Marcus
Related: Tan, Trim & Rehabbed Marc Mark II [NYM]
More Party Lines photos and quotes from the Out 100 party: Kelly Rowland digs gay people, and Tori Spelling on being a married gay icon.
it just happened
Kanye West’s Mom Dies During Cosmetic Procedure
Kanye West’s number-one fan, his mom Donda West, died this weekend in Los Angeles from complications related to a cosmetic procedure, CNN has just reported. Donda, 58, was the author of Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar, which was released earlier this year. She once compared her son to Jesus, and the worship was apparently mutual. “Hey Mama, I wanna scream so loud for you, cuz I’m so proud of you,” he sang on 2005’s Late Registration. West’s publicist won’t say what type of cosmetic surgery she was having, but we’re putting all of our liposuction plans on permanent hold.
Kanye West’s Mother Dies After Cosmetic Procedure [CNN]
Kanye West’s Mother On Parenting [Baltimore Sun]
company town
Al Gore: Cashing In on His Big YearFINANCE
• Al Gore, venture capitalist? The Nobel laureate and Apple board member is taking a hands-on role at Kleiner Perkins, the leading Silicon Valley venture firm. His goal: Save the world. And annoy GE’s Jeff Immelt as much as possible. [Fortune]
• Harvard picked Robert S. Kaplan, a former Goldman Sachs vice-chairman, as the new steward for the $35 billion endowment. Something tells us his kids won’t have any trouble getting in. [Reuters via NYT]
• A few management consultants with nothing better to do gave the Times its newest buzzword: CEO version 3.0. With the departures of Stan O’Neal, Chuck Prince, and Richard Parsons, it’s now time for leaders “who can assemble a team that functions as smoothly as a jazz sextet.” Because, as James Cayne showed, the old CEOs were way too bebop. [NYT]
in other news
Marc Jacobs and John Galliano Are the Blair and Serena of FashionWe didn’t notice that Times Styles section writer Eric Wilson had left us an extra-special present inside the Runway blog last week until just now. Apparently he was having lunch at the Mercer last week when he witnessed a dramatic exchange between John Galliano, who was wearing a “fabulously grommeted” beret and his fellow LMVH designer Marc Jacobs, whose hair is (fabulously?) blue. It was recently reported that Jacobs was overheard trash-talking Galliano at his gym, but he wasn’t mean to him at all!
“Hi, John!” Mr. Jacobs exclaimed. “How are you doing?”
“Good, nice to see you,” Mr. Galliano said. “Oh, you’ve gone a little darker, I see.”
“Navy!” Mr. Jacobs said. “Na-vy.”
“Oh, that would be a little chicer,” Mr. Galliano said. “Indigo!”
“Well, if you ever feel like having tea or coffee, I’m sort of bedridden for a few days, so I can’t move far,” Mr. Jacobs said. “I had an operation.”
“Oh really?”
“Sex change.”
This totally makes up for last week’s Gossip Girl being a rerun.
If Nothing Else, There’s Applause [Runway]
company town
Stephen Colbert Doesn’t Make the BallotMEDIA
• Hollywood and television writers have decided to strike and will announce a walk-out deadline by noon today. Late night will be most immediately effected — guess we’ll find out just how funny Jon Stewart and David Letterman really are. [NYT]
• The South Carolina Democratic executive committee rejected self-proclaimed “favorite son” Stephen Colbert’s attempt to get on the ballot. Colbert now has to accumulate 10,000 signatures to make the ballot as an independent or pay the Republicans $35,000. Tough decision. [HuffPo]
• Don Imus signed a deal with Citadel to return to radio, broadcasting on WABC in New York and syndicated nationally on ABC Radio. The I-Man had to settle for $5 million a year, half of what he made with CBS. [WSJ]
photo op
Marc Jacobs Has Blue Hair “I suppose you could say I’m having a midlife crisis. But I’m enjoying it,” Marc Jacobs told W recently. Until now, we didn’t believe him. Sure, he is still dating someone much younger who may or may not be bad news. And yeah, he’s begun fighting with his co-workers a lot lately. Sure, sure, he’s also been on a big health kick and won’t stop trying to prove that he’s still sexy to anyone who will look at him. But still, we defended him. He’s an artiste, we’d explain. He can’t stay on the cutting edge by being boring and not evolving! But then we saw this. Blue hair? Don’t say it’s for his annual holiday party — this year’s theme is “Arabian Nights” and everybody knows all Arabians have black hair, even the genie from Aladdin who WAS BLUE.
Earlier: Marc Jacobs Turns on American Fashion
company town
Tony Blair Sells Out Rupert MurdochMEDIA
• Tony Blair sold his memoir for $9 million to Knopf, something of a surprise since Blair has long been tight with Murdoch, known for offering advances so big they resemble campaign donations through HarperCollins. [Media Mob/NYO]
• A democratic member of the FCC requested an investigation of Murdoch’s Dow Jones deal, arguing the merger consolidates too many powerful outlets in one less than trustworthy hand. [B&C]
• Bloggingheads, everyone’s favorite lo-fi insider-y political fight club, reached a content-sharing agreement with the Times. [HuffPo]
company town
Who’s the Real Heir to Sandy Weill?FINANCE
• Citigroup’s Chuck Prince and Chase’s Jamie Dimon are battling it out to see who’s the real heir to Sandy Weill. With Citi crashing and Chase eking out a gain despite the credit crunch, it looks like Dimon, long prodigal, may be the true son. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned that we may see as many as one million home foreclosures before the end of the year. [NYT]
• Want to be a hedger and a do-gooder, work a trading floor and enjoy the peace of mind of a nonprofit? Join the World Bank like former Goldman exec Robert Zoellick, and you can manage $55 billion in assets. [NYT]
in other news
Marc Jacobs and Suzy Menkes End Feud by Exchanging Valentines
You know how we were all psyched that Marc Jacobs and Suzy Menkes’s feud was going to become an epic fashion battle to the death? Well, apparently, like all exciting trends, it’s fizzled out as quickly as it flared up. At the Louis Vuitton show in Paris this weekend, Jacobs (who artistically directs the luxury brand’s clothing and accessories) left Menkes a T-shirt on her assigned seat, tied up with a lovely bow, reports Fashion Week Daily. The shirt showed a drawing of Menkes and Jacobs together, and though reporters couldn’t see the writing on it, Jacobs smilingly called it “a love letter.” Menkes, in return, wrote a cautiously warm review of the LV show in her International Herald Tribune column. “The clothes were colorful, if chaotic,” she explains. “[They] took what the music business would describe as ‘samplings’ of existing pieces, putting them randomly together, often to fine effect.” Doesn’t sound too fawning to you? Compared to her coverage of the Marc Jacobs show in New York, which she called “a freak’s costume party,” we’d say this easily qualifies as her version of a love letter.
Chic Report: Suzy and Marc Make Up With a Love Letter! [Fashion Week Daily]
Earlier: Cranky Fashionistas Hungry for Blood
company town
Facebook Steals Your Billable HoursLAW
• Highly paid associates are wasting lots of time on Facebook, to the tune of $50 million a year in hours the little bastards should be billing. [NYO]
• Cadwalader’s bracing for a double whammy: While trying to deal with the massive slowdown in its core mortgage practice area, the firm’s also facing a $70 million legal malpractice suit for mortgage warrantees from the late nineties. [Law.com]
• Michael Mukasey, attorney-general nominee and New York homeboy, is facing complaints that he used a U.S. marshal to take out the trash, and we don’t mean that figuratively. [AP via Law.com]
company town
Walters Says Greenspan Always Gave Bad AdviceFINANCE
• Alan Greenspan’s old flame Barbara Walters complained the G-man never gave good advice, insisting back in the seventies that she avoid an apartment on Fifth Avenue because it was a “bad investment.” [NYP]
• Henry Kravis got a little egg on his face thanks to the collapse of the $8 billion Harman buyout. Steve Schwarzman gets bragging rights or an excuse to back out of his own impossibly huge deals. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• With computers taking over, the NYSE plans to cut the trading floor down by half from its historic high. The famous Main Room and “the Garage,” opened in 1903 and 1922 respectively, will remain open. [NYT]
the week in beef
Cranky Fashionistas Hungry … for BloodNew York’s Fashion Week is over, and in the five minutes between the closing of the tents and the start of London’s Fashion Week, all the stylish folks have had just enough time to focus on their distaste for one another. Seeing as industry-standard diet of clen and champers does little to help one’s mood, we can’t be surprised at this week’s outpouring of bitchery. A quick rundown of the postshow battles:
Rachel Zoe vs. Anna Wintour
In Sunday’s Times’ mag, stylist and possible “raisin-faced” alien Rachel Zoe unwisely taunts Anna Wintour: “Anna Wintour is one of my heroes, but they say I’m more influential,” the stylist tells Lynn Hirschberg. “As great as it is, Vogue won’t change a designer’s business. But if an unknown brand is worn by a certain person in a tabloid, it will be the biggest designer within a week.” Oh no, she didn’t. But she did! And now let’s follow the backbiting path over to…
company town
Greg Larkin Was the Al Gore of the Subprime MessFINANCE
• Alan Greenspan was giddy when old buds Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney took over the White House. But it turned out they were bad boys and not his friends at all. Check out this and more in Greenspan’s new bio. [
it happened this week
Moving Along
The sixth anniversary of 9/11 came and went, with what has come to pass for normality on the city’s darkest date: a walk-through at ground zero for victims’ families, and Rudy Giuliani observing a rare moment of silence. Just like old times, a suspicious powder turned up in the mail room at the Standard & Poor’s offices. Census data found that blacks appear to be leaving the city — an exodus that may increase after 704 code violations were found at a single Harlem apartment building. The toxic oil spill under Greenpoint was discovered to be bigger than anyone had imagined. HIV infections were once again on the rise.
company town
Alan Greenspan: ‘Not My Fault’FINANCE
• Alan Greenspan says don’t blame him for the credit crisis. He may not have understood the dangers until recently, but the former Fed chief claims there’s nothing he could have done. [NYP]
• Who needs Wall Street 2 when Gordon Gekko is already back in the guise of Steve Schwarzman? The Blackstone founder just bought a big stake in a firm called BlueStar, the same name as the central company in the original Wall Street. [DealBook/NYT]
• Big surprise: Funds that invest in Vice typically do far better than those that insist on Virtue. [NYT]
in other news
Marc Jacobs Turns on American FashionMarc Jacobs goes bananas in Women’s Wear Daily today, threatening to leave the country, berating the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and excoriating anyone who complained about his Monday fashion show beginning two hours late. “I don’t really feel a part of the American fashion community,” he spat to WWD editor Bridget Foley. “I really feel like an outsider, I think we all do, and we feel unloved here, so we want to go somewhere else.”
company town
Clarence Thomas, Porn Addict?FINANCE
• Henry Kravis supposedly gave a big concession when he let the banks place restrictions on the debt offering for the all-important First Data deal, but banks are now complaining the concession is less an olive branch than a fig leaf. [DealBook/NYT]
• Hits on hedge-fund bonuses may not be as bad as we all thought: While they won’t set any records, they’re still set to grow 1 to 9 percent from last year, and general compensation is still climbing. [Globe & Mail via DealBook/NYT]
• Jordan Belfort, the former broker who swindled investors out of $100 million, didn’t discover Jesus in prison, but he did chance upon Tom Wolfe. His new book, The Wolf of Wall Street, looks back on the good times selling bogus stocks while tripping on quaaludes. [NYT]
photo op
Marc Jacobs, a Blunter Kenneth Cole?Marc Jacobs doesn’t show his line until next week, but for this week’s effort, we give him high marks. A fellow New Yorker noticed this tableau in Marc’s West Village storefront window today on the way to work. You’ll recognize his iconic tees, garnished with the faces of disavowed homosexuals Ted Haggard and Larry Craig. Guess the Ed Koch tees are on back order?
[Betamax Doctrine via Racked]
company town
Jeb’s JobFINANCE
• Lehman landed former Florida governor Jeb Bush as an adviser. Makes you wonder which bank will get the honor of hiring W. when the “first MBA president” finally steps down. [Deal Journal/WSJ]
• Does Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis’s move to save Countrywide, the largest mortgage lender in the United States, make him a modern-day J.P. Morgan? [MarketWatch]
• John Dyment, the global head of Deutsche Bank’s hedge-fund unit, jumped ship for Shumway Capital Partners, a hedge fund based in Greenwich. [TheStreet.com]
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.
it just happened
Fred Thompson Calls City of New York ‘A Big Bully’
Presidential non-candidate Fred Thompson has finally turned on the city that made him rich and famous. The Law & Order star, who spent years pretending to fight violent crime as district attorney Arthur Branch, lashed out at the Big Apple today in a blog post that decries efforts by Giuliani and Bloomberg to crack down on gun trafficking. He called the moves, wherein the city sought to sue some weapon providers whose wares ended up being used in crimes, an “attack by New York City on the Second Amendment.” “In this case,” he says, “we need Federalism to protect states from a big bully in New York City.” A bully! Well, we never. We don’t know anything about guns, and frankly, we like it that way. But by golly we know a slap in the face when we see one!
I’m in a New York State of Mind [I’mWithFred.com]
Related:: The Actor [NYM]
gossipmonger
Diddy-Diddling DenialKim Porter is in denial that Diddy is diddling Sienna Miller. (Also, his famous White Party is slated for September 2). Britney Spears was in a fender bender, after which she announced, “I’m a braniac!” On-again, off-again couple Marc Jacobs and Jason Preston are back on. Jeffrey Chodorow is keeping China Grill closed for a few extra days to get a new fridge and get rid of some insects. Phoenix Sun point guard Steve Nash got into a pickup soccer game at Central Park and scored two goals. The Freakanomics guys are moving their blog to the New York Times. Mort Zuckerman gets Harry Evan to help him write his weekly column in U.S. News. Chevy Chase found a $20 bill at a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser in the Hamptons. George Pataki is being considered for an ambassadorship.
gossipmonger
Ba Ba Ba, Ba BarbaraleeHollywood players like Ben Stiller, Toby Maguire, and Steven Spielberg can’t figure out which Democrat to support for president, so they’re donating to multiple ones. (Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Jennifer Aniston, however, are firmly in Camp Obama.) Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel was passed over for appointment as executive director of New York State Council of the Arts, perhaps because she has donated money to Spitzer, who’s now trying to look ethically pure. Gwen Stefani loves breast-feeding even though she’s been getting bitten. Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz refused to be photographed with their KY Intimacy Kit swag bags at Lollapalooza because they were scared of Joe Simpson. Tracy Morgan wants to get his SCRAM ankle bracelet “blinged out” at Jacob the Jeweler.
company town
It’s Expensive Being Rupert MurdochMEDIA
• Did Dow Jones cost Rupert Murdoch an extra $1 billion just because he’s Rupert Murdoch? [Slate]
• Rik Hertzberg to blog for The New Yorker. From YearlyKos. And without fact-checking. [
gossipmonger
Curb Your MarriageLarry David and his environmental-activist wife, Laurie, have separated. Today show staffers refer to Good Morning America as “Gay-MA”; GMA staffers refer to Today as “Yesterday.” Marc Jacobs is back on with boyfriend Jason Preston and even got Preston’s initials tattooed on his stomach. Graydon Carter thinks of Vanity Fair’s publisher as a dancing monkey. Eric Alterman claims his arrest was a “misunderstanding”; police claim they asked him to leave a private reception area seven times and that Alterman was “belligerent.” Vanessa Minnillo is gaining a rep with TV insiders as being difficult to work with, and photos of her posing with Lindsay Lohan and a knife aren’t helping.
company town
The Charney ConspiracyLAW
• Aaron Charney filed his long-awaited amended complaint against Sullivan & Cromwell. His new suit contains allegations of emotional distress and conspiracy. [New York Law Journal]
• Things are getting ugly at the Harvard Law Review the new president has a “decidedly fascist approach to leadership,” complains one staffer. [Above the Law]
• Australia’s Slater & Gordon is the world’s first publicly traded law firm. [Law Blog/WSJ]
show and talk
It’s a Steal! Fashionable sources tell us that some Marc Jacobs bags are on sale at his Mercer Street store today. The Mixed Chain pouchette and handbag are starting at $200. Get down there!
intel
Giuliani Blames Aide for Poor Emergency Planning
Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani whose campaign is based on his reputation as “America’s Mayor,” the hero of 9/11 is famous for a lot of things. Letting bygones be bygones is not one of them.
Thus Giuliani is blaming an old aide turned adversary Jerry Hauer, the city’s first director of the Office of Emergency Management, for the much-criticized decision to locate the emergency command center at 7 World Trade Center instead of a site in Brooklyn. After terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers, 7 WTC burned and collapsed, and the 23rd-floor command center was rendered useless.
“Jerry Hauer recommended that as the prime site and the site that would make the most sense,” Giuliani claimed this week on Fox News Sunday. “He recommended that site as the site that would be the best site. It was largely on his recommendation that that site was selected.”
company town
Advertisers Flee Imus FiascoMEDIA
• Advertisers ditch Imus faster than you can say “Rutgers basketball” Proctor & Gamble is out, along with Staples and Bigelow Tea. Considering Imus’s show generates 25 percent of revenue for WFAN, this isn’t looking good. We’ll see what happens when the Rutgers basketball team meets up with him. [WSJ] and [NYT]
• SNL producer Lorne Michaels is frustrated with NBC’s vigilante legal department for removing network material from YouTube. [NYO]
• Newish Times editorial-page editor Andrew Rosenthal is embracing the Web in ways his predecessors have not. Anyone want a TimesSelect column? [NYO]
it just happened
Marc Jacobs Goes to Rehab
Marc Jacobs went into rehab today, his business partner Robert Duffy announced, and it’s hard not to feel bad for him. He’s struggled with addiction for years, and it’s a relief to see that he’s on top of the problem this time around. He pulled off fantastic shows in New York (Marc Jacobs), London (Marc by Marc Jacobs), and Paris (Louis Vuitton) last month, and is expected back the second week in April, which should give him plenty of time to get to work on the collections for the September shows. We’ll be waiting for his next chapter. —Amy Larocca
Lost and Found [NYM]
Marc Jacobs in Rehab [WWD]
cultural capital
Sundance Report: Justin Theroux’s Hat Trick Yields Big Weinstein Sale
Justin Theroux is running a filmic trifecta at Sundance this year. He steals Zoe Cassavetes’s Broken English out from under Parkey Posey with a dazzling performance as a self-loving L.A. actor (is there another kind?); in David Wain’s Biblical takeoff The Ten, he plays what he calls “Jesus Christ, or something”; and then there’s Dedication, his first directorial effort, a New York–set dark-toned romantic comedy starring Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore, which the Weinstein Co. snapped up for a cool $4 million. We spoke to Theroux the day after Dedication’s premiere and found him sporting a hand-drawn “Brad Pitt 2006” T-shirt and a necklace made of human teeth.
party town
Boomers Rock Tribeca!• RSVP to Help benefit. Tribeca Rooftop, 2 Desbrosses St., nr. Hudson St., 7:30 p.m. The red-hot scheduled-guest list includes Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Torre, Elton John, Lewis Black, and Jon Bon Jovi. We respected JBJ before in a somewhat patronizing way, but since we started doing karaoke more, our respect is complete and sincere. “Livin’ on a Prayer” is tough to sing when you don’t have the rest of the frat party backing you up.
cultural capital
Sundance Report: ‘Angel-A’ Actress Goes to Park City, Turns on New York
Rie Rasmussen, the 31-year-old Danish model, artist, filmmaker, and actress, calls New York home these days, but she’s in Park City this week with Angel-A, the Luc Besson film in which she stars. The story of a Parisian lowlife whose attempted suicide is thwarted by mysterious blonde, played by Rasmussen, Angel-A drew a young and enthusiastic crowd — mostly twentysomething guys — to the Library Center Theatre Tuesday night. After the screening, Besson, creator of fan favorites Nikita and The Professional, entered to cheers; the cheers turned to hoots and whistles when Rasmussen sprinted down the aisle to join him onstage. But the next day, just before last night’s screening, Rasmussen wasn’t exactly returning the love.
cultural capital
Sundance Report: Columbia Profs Can Be Good-Luck Charms, TooWriter-director Christopher Zalla prepared for a Sundance screening of his New York immigrant drama Padre Nuestro Tuesday afternoon with a lobby pep talk from his Columbia professor. Park City’s Eccles Center, where his Spanish-language film screened, holds more than a thousand people, and the young filmmaker was well aware of the many empty seats and dearth of press photographers. And he had even more reason to be worried: A projection error at a prior screening turned the film’s rich blacks into blurry darkness. Key scenes were hard to see.
intel
Battling Behaviorists Move Fight OnlineWhen New York profiled the legendary psychotherapist and sexologist Albert Ellis in November 2005, he had lost control of the Upper East Side’s Albert Ellis Institute, which he’d founded and where, till then, he’d worked. Now three supporters of Ellis, who at 93 is ailing, have had to shut down a Website, AlbertEllisFoundation.org, because the Ellis Institute claims it owns rights to his name and threatened a $500,000 lawsuit for copyright infringement and unfair competition. “It’s a pragmatic decision because we don’t have deep pockets,” said William Knaus, a former training director at the institute who is one of the three behind the site, which provides information on Ellis’s work, news about his much-publicized legal battles with the trustees, and updates on his medical condition. David Blasband, the intellectual-property lawyer representing the institute’s trustees, said he’ll file for an injunction tomorrow unless he hears “directly” from the defendants that the site has been dismantled. The old Web address, meantime, now directs readers to REBTNetwork.org, after Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy. Of course, the institute’s site is REBT.org —Mary Reinholz
Behaviorists Behaving Badly [NYM]
office-party patrol
Decadence With Marc Jacobs; Elegance With ‘Portfolio’
Those who know about such things will tell you that the annual Marc Jacobs holiday party — a themed masquerade ball — is the premier event of the season. It was held last night, and we can tell you that they are correct. Tons of food, free-flowing booze, elaborate costumes, lots of exposed flesh: It’s good to be a fashion designer. Party-hopping Julia Allison stopped by to check it out, and she also went to the quiet, refined party for still-to-launch Condé Nast Portfolio. You’ll never guess which was more fun.
gossipmonger
Bob Dylan Criticizes What He Can’t Understand (At Least Until He Sees It)Bob Dylan claims that upcoming Edie Sedgwick biopic Factory Girl falsely portrays him as the cause of Sedgwick’s suicide, threatens to sue unless he is allowed to see the film before it is released. Chuck Schumer wrote a book. An employee of Wyclef Jean was kidnapped in Haiti and held for ransom; he was released for free. An L.A. Times reporter scored an “exclusive” interview with Martin Scorsese, featuring quotes that are actually two years old. Popular Greenwich Village drinking hole Boxers lost its lease, is shuttering. Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant partner, Phil Suarez, put on quite the culinary show at an apartment party he threw. Access Hollywood host Billy Bush might be leaving L.A. for the Today show here. Tom Brokaw made an “insensitive” joke about public housing that doesn’t really seem to be that offensive. Uma Thurman was bailed out of a stuck elevator by her buff bodyguard. Marc Jacobs and Jason Preston are officially broken up, according to Jacobs. The high-octane friendship between Paris Hilton and Britney Spears is over, because the latter was told to stay away from the former if she ever wants to make a comeback. Nancy Sinatra celebrated what would have been her father’s 91st birthday at his favorite restaurant, Patsy’s. Peter Boyle’s greatest regret was not taking the role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. Mariah Carey is pitching a “lifestyle-type book-cum-pseudo memoir.” Let Meryl Streep eat steak!
cultural capital
Mel Gibson Rides Feathered Serpent to Boffo B.O.Seems he will work in that town again. Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto is the weekend’s No. 1 film. Okay, it’s true: Its haul was only a so-so $14.2 million, which means its top rank was due mostly to lack of competition — the only potential challenger, Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle Blood Diamond, flopped hard with an $8.5 million box office, which means it’ll be okay to wear diamonds to the Oscars. And Gibson’s take also pales next to the $83.8 million premiere of his previous directorial effort, The Passion of the Christ. (Then again, more people seem to be into Jesus than the Mayan god Chac.) But the main point remains: The auteur’s DUI arrest and the subsequent Jews-and-sugartits business apparently did little to hurt the film. Apocalypto’s dialogue is entirely in Mayan, it has no stars, and it’s rife with Gibson’s trademark torture-porn, so it’s hard to see it making any more money even without the baggage. It’s amusing, however, to see the industry insiders’ tone shift from gleeful derision to polite surprise (“The movie obviously succeeds on its own level”) at the first hint Gibson might actually still be financially viable. Oy.
Gibson Delivers Another Box Office Win [Yahoo News]
intel
Nothing Gets Between Dakota and Her Jacobs
Marc Jacobs, it seems, likes ‘em young. He has unveiled his new ad campaign — it breaks in February issues of fashion mags, and you can see two of the shots above — featuring 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning, as WWD reported today. Slightly skeevy fashion advertising, of course, is nothing new, but, still, this one manages to be, we think, a bit creepier than shaved pubic hair (Gucci), awkward celebrity stand-ins (Versace), or emaciated models (pretty much all of the major labels). Perhaps Marc’s avant-garde taste is more attuned to European tastes: WWD also reports that he’ll be showing Marc by Marc in the London shows for the first time this February. —Kendall Herbst
On Your Marc [WWD]
cultural capital
Beyoncé Busts Up Midtown
Stalkers and shoppers, take note: According to well-dressed and equally well-informed sources, Beyoncé will arrive at the Armani store on Madison Avenue sometime between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. today. She’ll pull double duty, promoting both the Bono-hyped AIDS charity, Project RED it’s World AIDS Day today and, naturally, promoting her new movie, Dreamgirls. Will the style icon wear one of Armani’s chari-tees to her photo op? The odds are good, if she shows up at all though Miss Knowles is lauded for many things (star power, grace, lip gloss), party punctuality isn’t one of them. She famously held up a Marc Jacobs show for two hours and often arrives to her own events only as they’re ending. Or sometimes she doesn’t show at all panicked, perhaps, that her hair just isn’t shiny enough. —Faran Alexis Krentcil
in other news
Dick Parsons Continues to Maybe Plan to Run for MayorYou might have seen yesterday’s news that Time Warner chairman and CEO Dick Parsons, speaking at the Reuters Media Summit, did not explicitly reject the possibility that he might run for mayor in 2009. (“[W]hile saying he was not running for the job, he suddenly sounded a lot more like a man who wants to keep the option open,” is how the Times put it.) You might also have seen Cindy Adams told-you-so-ing that “I told you this months back, at which time Mr. Parsons said no-no-a-thousand-times no.” We’ll just quickly point out that Ms. Adams’s item, from April 19, merely said “Time Warner big mouths … [were] salivating over boyohboyohboy what a shot this African-American multimillionaire businessman would have.” And we’ll further point out, while these told-you-sos are being told, that Geoffrey Gray reported in August 21 issue of New York, that “[i]nsiders say that it’s all but official: Richard Parsons, Time Warner’s chairman and CEO, will run for mayor.”
That’s all.
Business Chief Hedges, a Bit, on Running for Mayor [NYT]
A Movie Star Goes for Moore on B’Way [NYP]
Is Parsons the New Bloomberg? [NYM]