NEW YORK LIVE!

A Bite Of The Big Apple

by Boswell Peeps

    So many parties. So little time. The season hasn’t ended yet in Florida, and already the mail is stuffed with invitations to May and June charities, and even a few private dinners, in New York, and for those who get depressed if the calendar isn’t filled four months in advance, “Save the Date” for the summer soirees in the Hamptons are already en route.

   Monday through Thursday are still the days to entertain when the weather is cool in New York. And San Franciscans, Dr. Alan Malouf and Elizabeth Laurence outdid themselves at a long-planned dinner they gave for a low-key pillar of society in the private dining room at Per Se, Thomas Keller’s gourmet heaven at the Time Warner Center.

   The 10 invitees (all this crown jewel can hold) were diverse dynamite — Iris Cantor, John & Susan Gutfreund, Ivanna Trump and Rossano Ribicondi, Denise Rich, and the guest of honor, the mysterious tall and handsome South African magnate whose request for anonymity is respected in the finest watering holes in the world. Delicious food and wine, and three hours of conversation so juicy that one would have paid a king’s ransom to be a fly on the wall with a tape recorder.

   Susan Gutfreund is one of the most gracious and important hostesses in the Big Apple, with arguably the greatest apartment in the city — 12,500 square feet overlooking Central Park in the grandest building, decorated by Henri Samuel. She opens her home to the shakers and bakers in all fields — banking, medicine, philanthropy, fashion and photography, etc.

   Last week she had 100 for cocktails to honor a Dutch photographer of renown. Among the guests were couturier Ralph Rucci, Anne Bass, Jean Doumanian, Cynthia Annenberg Polsky and various Rockefellers who then sauntered uptown to a dinner given by Elizabeth Stafford. Other guests were Joanne DuPont, Irene Roosevelt Aitken, and Rosalie Brinton.

   All those dinners of rich foods and heavy wines — no wonder if you peek out the window onto Fifth Avenue at 5:30 AM you see so many familiar faces struggling (it cannot be considered jogging) up the street hoping to shed a few pounds before the next night of feasting.

   LaGenouille, Le Cirque, Swifty’s, Michael’s, The Waverly Inn, La Goulue, Harry Cipriani. Night after night. What is a poor guy or gal to do? You can’t stop nibbling. Ah — there is a solution. Fly down to Palm Beach to swim, golf and exercise. Ha! Impossible! Too many parties and changes of clothing to have time to exercise. And what parties they are.

   Charlene Nederlander took over the courtyard and round ballroom of The Breakers for a black tie dinner dance honoring theater magnate hubby Jimmy Nederlander’s, 86th birthday. Terry Allen Kramer, Bob & Joyce Sterling (Coca Cola bucks — things do go better with Coke and a few hundred thousand shares of stock in it) and ITT former chair Rand Araskog & his wife Jessie, two-stepped the night away to Peter Duchin and orchestra.

   Billionaire John Kluge had Tony Bennett & his wife Susan, Iris Cantor and her beau John Desiderio (you can go to dinner all over the world whenever you want when you have a private jet) to his oceanfront estate.

   Oprah Winfrey honored Dr. Maya Angelou, her dear friend, at Mar-A-Lago the next morning. The social life in the Big Orange is as diverse as it is everlasting — nobody gets bored and everyone has a good time. All you need is a hearty appetite, a good pair of dancing shoes, fabulous jewelry for the ladies, a dinner jacket for the men, and the willingness to open your bank book to benefit some worthwhile charities.

   The wedding weekend of Ivanna Trump & Rossano Rubicondi started with a lunch given by Steve & Christine Schwartzman (he of the Blackstone Group) at their estate, and dinner at the Delray Mansion of Louise & Steven Kornfeld. On Friday, a dinner-dance was given by Ivanna and Rossano, and the wedding/dinner-dance happened on Saturday, both at Mar-A-Lago. Yes. It took place. Yes, the whole family was there, along with 600 guests and yes, everyone had a fabulous time. The uninvited will invent the fiction. Those who are guests partake in the fantasy. It’s a fact.

   And now for a blind item or two. When complimented on her evening gown by an old-guard Palm Beach hostess, which new kid on the block proceeded to give designer’s name and the price she paid, where she got it and how long it took to make? The older lady smiled and said, “How nice. It obviously has more background than you do.”

   And which “straight-as-an-arrow” young stud was caught trying on his beautiful young date’s dress and heels when he excused himself to go upstairs to the bathroom in her parents lakeside home? And guess what? His date didn’t care in the least. He was too good a dancer to worry about his private moments.

   See you next month with a full report on The Big Apple in Bloom.

     Boswell Peeps is the pseudonym of a prominent New Yorker who wants to be anonymous.

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