Media Archives

New York, November 9, 2009 – Glamour magazine’s 2009 Women of the Year Awards were as thrilling as ever, honoring distinguished women like Maya Angelou, Amy Poehler, Stella McCartney, Rihanna, Maria Shriver and Michelle Obama.  Presenters included Bill Clinton, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Each speech was more moving than the last, and comic Amy Poehler had everyone laughing, but Tyra Banks took the cake when she introduced tennis great Serena Williams with the following anecdote:

“A couple of days ago I went to the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum here in New York City.  So I’m walking around, checking everything out and this one figure caught my eye; and I know the real person and have even broken bread with her before, but I never really felt comfortable enough to, like, really just, like, stare at her and, like, admire her strong biceps.  And, like, I wanted to grab her biceps when I was at dinner with her, and I wanted to just kind of like pull her dress up and really, you know, get a close up of those amazingly taut legs and…the booty.  You know, I wanted to…really, like, damn, mine are nowhere near that toned!  And of course I wasn’t going to touch her at dinner, but here I am at the Wax Museum.  So my dream came true: I started to squeeze the biceps and squeeze the legs and squeeze the booty, and I was, like, oh my god, I was in heaven!  And then these little girls actually came up to me, and they were like, ‘Tyra, what are you doing?’  They were like, you’re so not cool, you’re not supposed to be touching the exhibit.  And I was, like, you guys, I can’t help it.  This woman is so amazing, and she’s so powerful, I cannot help myself.”  

New York, October 10, 2009 – Pedro Almodovar’s film Broken Embraces closed the New York Film Festival on Sunday, but Paper magazine celebrated a day in advance, feting the Spanish director and his star Penelope Cruz at a star-studded dinner Saturday evening at the new eatery Casa Lever. 

None other than Madonna popped in at the party, unannounced.  Fashion designers Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Cynthia Rowley, Catherine Malandrino, Jeremy Scott and ThreeAsFour’s Gabi, Ange and Adi joined Paper’s Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovitz at the bash.  Debbie Harry, Beth Ditto, Joey Arias, Alison Pill, Jeffrey Deitch, Kenny Scharf and Albert Maysles all sang Happy Birthday to Paper mag’s beloved Mickey Boardman.

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig

New York, June 8, 2009 – It was a very exclusive event when Kelly Ripa announced the Electroluxe Virtual Lemonade Stand campaign at the Central Park Boathouse.  So exclusive, in fact, that most members of the press were not invited to hear about the fundraising program for ovarian cancer research. 

But the charming Ripa was delighted that some enterprising photographers who were not admitted rented a rowboat and rowed across the lake to snap some photos.  Kelly laughed when she noticed the amphibious cameramen pointing lenses from the boat, and came over to the edge of the dock and posed. 

Washington, D.C., May 9, 2009 – There were two big themes at this year’s White House Correspondents Association dinner.  On one hand, presumably due the presence of the Obamas in the White House, Hollywood stars embraced the dinner in a big, big way.  We haven’t seen such a high glamour quotient at the dinner in years, and these stars worked the red carpet to maximum effect.  On the other hand, for unknown reasons Cabinet members avoided cameras at the Washington Hilton at the dinner – Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, Janet Napolitano and others skipped the red carpet and headed directly into the dining room. 

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were reportedly in the house but avoided the cameras.  There was buzz that Tom and Katie were seen hanging out in the hotel lobby all day, that they were staying there, and were seen later shopping at a drugstore across the street.  Our spy inside the dinner told us that the Cruises sat toward the back of the room instead of front and center. 

Captain Richard Phillips, the ship captain who survived capture by Somali pirates, worked the press line like a seasoned pro, posing for photos, answering questions and joking with photographers on the red carpet. 

Afterward, we hit the parties.  When White House Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel rushed into the Capitol File party at the Corcoran Gallery of Art without posing for photos, publisher Jason Binn sent photographers in after him.  When the cameramen cornered Emanuel on the dance floor, they got a taste of his legendary temper – he looked like he was going to charge like a bull – and no photos were taken.  For the record, Emanuel seemed to be networking on the dance floor, not dancing. 

New York, April 21, 2009 - Vanity Fair again kicked off the Tribeca Film Festival with a dinner at the State Supreme Courthouse in lower Manhattan.  VF editor Graydon Carter has been busy opening his new restaurant, Monkey Bar, which he insists is not going after the Michael’s crowd.  “We’re just going after people with jobs at this point,” Carter quipped.

Carter played host, along with Robert De Niro and Ron Perelman, to a crowd of New York and Hollywood power brokers.  Christopher Walken, Regis Philbin, Larry David, Diane von Furstenberg, architect Richard Meier and CBS chief Les Moonves and his wife Julie Chen were among those schmoozing and talking film at the party.  Bono bounded up the stairs and quickly melted into the crowd. 

Kanye West chatted with Spike Lee in one quiet corner during pre-dinner cocktails, and we found Fran Lebowitz and Andre Leon Talley conferring in another.  Debra Messing insists that festival founder De Niro is not intimidating. I was at a very small dinner at someone’s home, he was charming and approachable,” Messing said.  Her Starter Wife co-star Chris Diamantopoulos has also met De Niro, and he agrees. “I didn’t find him scary; I found him actually very, very shy,” he said. 

We’ll take their word for it. 

New York, April 14, 2009 – A veiled Drew Barrymore delighted attendees at the premiere of HBO’s Grey Gardens, the latest incarnation of the documentary film turned Broadway musical about Jackie O’s real-life relatives.  Barrymore was also delighted with herself, and lingered endlessly, posing in front of the flashbulbs in every direction

Barrymore plays Little Edith Beale in the movie, and Jessica Lange plays her mother, Big Edith. 

Drew’s ex, Justin “I’m a Mac” Long was by her side all evening, causing much gossipy speculation about whether or not they’re on again. 

Security guards apparently did not recognize New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., and told him to move away from the entrance to the red carpet where he stood waiting for someone outside the Ziegfeld Theater.  Sulzberger did not play the don’t-you-know-who-I-am game, but someone from HBO seemed to come to his rescue, and he stayed where he was, impatiently checking his watch for ten minutes or so until his date, an older woman, finally arrived.  Hope they enjoyed the movie.

New York, March 28, 2009 – The New York version of the GLAAD Media Awards took place on Saturday evening, and everyone waited with baited breath to see if recently out and proud Clay Aiken would now be operating on “gay time” (i.e. arrive late), but it was Tyra Banks who fittingly kept everyone waiting like the supermodel that she is.  Clay hung around good naturedly to pose with Tyra on the red carpet.  Tyra and personal finance guru Suze Orman, who must be really, really busy these days, were the honorees at GLAAD’s 20th awards ceremony.  Aiken presented, as did Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight.  Chris Noth, Cherry Jones, S. Epatha Merkerson, Christian Siriano, Stockard Channing and Ugly Betty’s Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Judith Light and Ana Ortiz were among the guests. 

Photos: Joy E. Scheller