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| Holding hands on Columbus Avenue. 3:00 PM. Photo: JH. |
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| Tuesday, December 3, 2013. The weather is like those next door neighbors you never see. You know they’re there but whatever. Dress warmly my mother’s voice in my head will say…even if you don’t feel like it. Yesterday, I went down to meet a friend for lunch at Michael’s.Peggy Siegal was throwing one of her stylish movie-promo lunches in the Garden Room. The restaurant dining room is now fully swagged in pine boughs and red ribbons and there is something cozy and festive about it an LA/NY sorta way. This is happening all over town now. Peggy said to me: “Guess where I spent Thanksgiving?"
“Where?" I said. “Martha Stewart’s." “In Bedford?” “Uh-huh.” Martha told me last week at the Tiffany lunch that she was having her Thanks in Bedford and cooking. “So was it fantastic?” (It would have to be, no? I mean: Martha Stewart?) “Uh-huh ... amazing ...” Peggy then went on to describe some of the items on the menu. You know it was exquisite. The thing about Martha is she personally likes it like that; it’s not promo; it’s solid Martha. My lunch partner, hearing the conversation, then pulled out a picture (on his cell phone) of the house he owned in Bedford, not far from Martha. It was beautiful, stately, MGM movies mansion. Wow. Did he still own it? No, he sold it because when he was first going out with the girl who would become his wife (number two) and they were getting serious, she said “you’re not going to keep the house, are you?” So he sold it. For a lot more than he paid of course. But he loved it and still misses it. He and the lady did marry, and are now divorced. Alas, alack and all that. |
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| I spent the better part of the weekend reading a book I bought on Friday afternoon when I was over on the West Side and happened by a Barnes & Noble on West 83rd and Broadway. I first read about it in Liz' column. The book: Bill Bryson’s“One Summer; America 1927.” Before Liz' column, I had heard or seen the author’s name although I didn’t associate it with a book. It turns out, I’ve since learned, that he is a very popular author, having written a couple of books that have actually brought him a fan base. And for good reason: you learn and you think.
While looking at it in B&N, I did open the book for a second to see what the text was like. Obviously it was enough to make me buy it (along with the Barbara Stanwyck biography – Part I is 1000 pages and will I ever crack it, and do I really care?). It was Friday afternoon, and so when I got home the first thing I did after I put my groceries away, was to open the book and see what gives? I knew it was a “popular” history. The names: Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Calvin Coolidge, Sacco and Vanzetti, flagpole sitters, Bill Tilden, Al Capone, Mount Rushmore, and Charles Lindbergh – to name just a few. (I’ve got another 150 pages to go). I knew all those names – heard them around the house growing up. Mostly I didn’t know much about any of them, with the exception of Charles Lindbergh where my knowledge of the man was/is still thin. This book is like reading a documentary proposal that you can’t tear yourself away from. No, it’s not a proposal but it may as well be: you can practically see and hear it all. Bryson’s a terrific writer who draws you in and keeps your (changing) mind occupied to the point that you don’t even want to leave the house or turn on the TV. |
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| It’s like candy, for those of us -- would-be anthropologists all -- who can never get enough of reading about people – all kinds of people, all civilizations, all societies. The subject is one summer of one year in a decade that has been monumentalized as “roaring,” as “the jazz age,” and mainly a loosening of the bonds of polite society of the Victorians. It has taken several more decades for us to see this loosening reality because what followed this festival of the flappers and the flagpole sitters, the corrupt and the stupid, and the getting and spending, coupled with the seminal changes brought about by our technology (and specifically Henry Ford’s Model T) ... what followed was: The Great Depression,and then the Second World War. Darkness of the worst kind, a most somber one it was. |
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| Bill Bryson tells us about ourselves– I mean us, you, me, now, in real terms, not dollars and cents. We get the human part. Warts, lots of warts and all. Example: the boringly taciturn yet enigmatic Calvin Coolidge is a fascinating character. You ever see that black and white now-archival photograph of him wearing a feathered Indian headdress and a plain grey business suit, looking like some hayseed at a carnival? The absurdity belies the reality of the man at that very moment: He had just announced that he “did not choose” to run for President – not unlike Lyndon Johnson’s surprise announcement 37 years later. And he was very happy. Bryson reminds us that Silent Cal's brief statement: “I do not choose to run for President in nineteen-twenty-eight” left some commentators more than slightly askance. Was "do not choose" the same as "I will not"? Nevertheless he provides the evidence that Coolidge really wanted to get out of there (the White House). He famously spent only three hours a day at his desk, and otherwise took a lot of naps and enjoyed sitting around counting the number of cars driving by the White House. Also,he found Hoover -- the man who believed it was "inevitably" his successor almost pathologically annoying but useful. |
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| "One Summer" is history as it actually is: gossip distilled and petrified. The heat, the rains (record), the vanity and the despair. Human behavior under the circumstances. Despite the genius and the astounding talent found therein, Bryson’s story reminds that into every orchard must fall (a lot of) rotten apples. Yet the talent and the genius remain awesome, and something to remember it by. The chapters run from May through September (followed by an Epilogue). We can see our reflections in these pages. It is inescapable and thought-provoking. It is also entertaining – like a movie, even. And dead serious. |
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| I love this book. I haven’t finished it so I can’t sum it up for you but even if I could I wouldn’t want to spoil the pleasure you’ll have in discovering what Bryson has mined, analyzed and recorded in broad, sometimes hilarious, other times distressing, strokes of discovery. He loves it too. What makes it so accessible almost a century later is its timeliness, probably based on the nature of our behavior as humans versus the rest of the animal world. |
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| On November 22nd, a week ago last Friday, more than 400 women – leaders of industry, media, government, and the arts – gathered in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza for the 27th annual Citymeals-on-Wheels “Power Lunch for Women.” This is an by-invitation-only benefit. Katie Couric emceed, and they raised $1.3 million – or enough to provide 202,000 meals for New York’s homebound elderly. Citymeals was started as a small, helpful, caring idea by the late James Beard, the very much present Gail Greene and a few friends to share Thanksgiving dinner with a number of people who were infirm, or alone, and/or just in need. This year, they honored Donald Tober, Chairman of Sugar Foods. Greene told the luncheon audience, “Donald was one of the first people I called in 1981 after reading a New York Times article describing how homebound elderly New Yorkers weren’t receiving weekend or holiday meals. Ever since, Donald, along with his wife Barbara, has been one of Citymeals’ strongest supporters, a founding board member, activist, fund-raiser and a go-to in emergencies." |
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| This year they also honored (“for their compassion, philanthropy and longstanding support of Citymeals”) Betsy Bernardaud, Executive Vice-Presdent of Bernardaud; and Cyndi Lauper the singer/songwriter whose currently got a hit show on Broadway (“Kinky Boots”). Lauper performed her hit “Time After Time” to a backdrop of images of Citymeals recipients. “If you’re lost you can look – and you will find me –If you fall I will catch you – I’ll be waiting Tie After Time. That’s the credo of Citymeals, as Beth Shapiro, its Executive Director reminded the guests. “For more than three decades, we have been there, time after time, for our homebound elderly neighbors providing a lifeline of support and companionship that allows them to remain in their homes, where they want to continue to live.” |
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| Honoree Bernardaud has sponsored many Citymeals fundraisers over the years including the Power Lunch. Among the distinguished guest list were: Citymeals-on-Wheels Co-Founder and Board Chair Gael Greene, Co-President of the Citymeals-on-Wheels Board of Directors Anne E. Cohen, Nina Arianda, Cécilia Attias, Jennifer Baum, Aliyyah Baylor, Samantha Boardman, Bobbi Brown, Sharon Bush, Laura Day, Elisabeth de Kergorlay, Patricia Duff, Dasha Epstein, Tovah Feldshuh, Ruth Finley, Anne Fulenwider, Kathie Lee Gifford, Trish Goff,Donna Hanover, Caroline Hirsch, Dana Ivey, Harriette Rose Katz, Rikki Klieman,Padma Lakshmi,Alexandra Lebenthal, Margo MacNabb Nederlander, Debra Messing,Liz Neumark, Cynthia Nixon, Norah O’Donnell, Bernadette Peters,Ruth Reichl, Betty Rollin, Brooke Shields, Silda Wall Spitzer, Christina Steinbrenner, Gloria Steinem, Marcy Syms, Laurie Tisch, Lizzie Tisch, Barbara Tober, Kathleen Turner, Lillian Vernon, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Patricia Wexler, Audrey Wilf, Leslie Ziff, and others. |
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| As is the tradtion, a limited number of men are invited to join the privilege of lunching with these most powerful women ... for the admission price of $10,000 per. This year’s “10K Men” included Citymeals-on-Wheels Board of Directors Chef Daniel Boulud, Albert Behler, Michel Bernardaud, Jeff Bliss, Jeffrey Chodorow, Joseph Cohen, Bill Fischer, Bobby Flay, Robert S. Grimes, Rich Krawiec, Daniel Levin, Michael Lynne, Craig Pfeiffer, John Pomerantz, Michel Roux, John Shapiro, Bob Shaye, William T. Speck, Myron Stein, Hal Steinbrenner, Jonathan Tisch, Steven Zavagli, and Preston Robert Tisch (in memoriam). |
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| Major sponsors include Bernardaud, Paramount Group, Amherst, Bloomberg and the Travelers Companies, Inc. Other sponsors include Teleflora, Bentley Meeker, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Citarella, Citi, Duane Reade Charitable Foundation, Marie Claire, Zabar’s and zabars.com, Bellus Wines, Bloomingdale’s, Lalique, Pango Rhum, by Rhum Barbancourt and Setton Farms. Citymeals official sponsors are American Airlines and FIJI Water. One hundred percent of the money raised from ticket sales at Power Lunch, and all Citymeals events, goes toward the preparation and delivery of nutritious meals to homebound elderly in the five boroughs of New York City. |
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| Just so you know the reality: More than 60 percent of Citymeals recipients are over 80 years old; 23 percent are over 90; dozens have lived at least a century. All recipients are chronically disabled by conditions such as vision loss, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. Nearly all need assistance walking. It is estimated that 66 percent use a cane, 39 percent use a walker, 16 percent use a wheelchair. Citymeals recipients are also isolated: 73 percent live alone; 40 percent rarely or never leave their homes; 8 percent have no one with whom they can talk; and many are at risk for malnutrition. All this from just a small but inspired idea of a few friends giving to others/neighbors, people in need on a holiday celebrating our fortunate bounty. Thank YOU neighbor! |
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| Feeding and caring for older New Yorkers since 1981, Citymeals-on-Wheels (citymeals.org) supplies a continuous lifeline of nutritious food and human company to our city’s homebound elderly. Citymeals works with 33 community-based meal centers to deliver over 2 million weekend, holiday and emergency meals to nearly 18,000 of our frail aged neighbors. Last year, more than 12,000 volunteers provided over 55,000 hours of volunteerism. One hundred percent of donations from the public goes toward the preparation and delivery of meals for our most vulnerable neighbors. Citymeals, a 501 (c)(3) charity, has a Charity Navigator 4-star rating and meets the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance Standards. |
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| If you didn’t read Carol Joynt’s Washington Social Diary yesterday, and you’re interested in how those folks entertain themselves and each other these days, and who does it best and most effectively, and what happens when they do, take a look. |
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| Photographs by Maggie Marguerite Studios, Samuel Stuart, and Alan Barnett (Citymeals). | Contact DPC here. |