Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

The Social Climb. Guests scaled one of the garden's many magnificent staircases to reach the top of the Garden Mound where a reception preceded Vizcaya's 7th Annual Preservation Luncheon. Great fun! Planning is already underway for next year's Vizcaya Centennial, 1916-2016.

"On a beautiful summer day in March, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens welcomed its boldest fashion-forward supporters to the 7th Annual Preservation Luncheon, known informally as the Hat Luncheon. By noon, the event's heads had greeted 325 patrons for a champagne reception high atop the garden's shaded aerie before strolling through the Formal Gardens to a luncheon beneath a tent installed on the waterfront East Terrace overlooking the Barge and Biscayne Bay. Guests donned fascinators and fedoras, headbands and hatinators, panamas and pillboxes. Reflecting a refreshing multi-generational spectrum, the luncheon's supporters, whether Kiki, Cuca, Lili, Lulu, Lola, or Betty, represented Miami's stature as mega-hemispheric international destination. The popular gathering benefits the organization's notable ongoing preservation and conservation projects." (NYSD)

photo credit: Shutterstock

"Flipping through some television garbage trying to induce sleep, I came upon an old western starring Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone and Rock Hudson. Once upon a time the above names would trigger common points of reference. A collective vocabulary signifying the Fifties, chrome tailfins, standard issue gray flannel suits, hats, and stifled alternative views. No longer. Common points of reference today are unrecognizable, at least for yours truly, still stuck on black and white movies, good manners, and correct dress. At one point, a young, beautiful girl tells a middle aged Kirk Douglas that she loves him. He dismisses it, telling her she’s just a girl who will one day find a young man who’s right for her. 'I’m not a girl,' she cries, 'I’m a woman who will wash your clothes and cook for you, and take care of you…' Just as well that only a kiss is exchanged because Kirk turns out to be her father, conveniently shot dead by Rock at the end of the movie. Phew, that was a close one. The beautiful youngster was Carol Linley, whom I once lunched with at Mark’s Club back in 1979. But that’s not the point of my story. It’s what she told Kirk in order to get him to change his mind about her: I’ll wash your clothes and so on. Oh for those good old days. Which brings me to how very different things were for all of us, but mainly for women, back in the Fifties. Mind you, I’m not Virginia Nicholson, the lady who wrote a book about the lost world of womanhood during the Fifties. Her excerpts in a daily newspaper hinted that the last thing a man wanted was a clever woman. In my long life I’ve read and heard a hell of a lot of rubbish, but this takes the cake." (Taki)

Bruce Willis, Keith Richards and Patti Hansen at Willis’ 60th birthday bash.

"Bruce Willis celebrated his 60th birthday in style in New York with his family and music legends Keith Richards and Tony Bennett. The “Die Hard” actor was toasted at elegant midtown restaurant Harlow at a private party thrown by his wife Emma Heming on Saturday. Stars celebrating Bruce’s birthday included the Rolling Stones rocker and wife Patti Hansen — who own a house next door to Willis on the Caribbean island resort of Parrot Cay — crooner Bennett, “Sopranos” star Steve Schirripa, Mary Louise Parker — who starred with Bruce in his 2010 movie “Red” — Bon Jovi keyboard player Dave Bryan and actress Carol Kane. Also there was Bruce’s family, including his mother Marlene Willis, his daughters Tallulah and Scout — his other daughter with Demi Moore, Rumer, is in LA practicing for “Dancing With the Stars” — Russian supermodel Irina Shayk, art collector Inga Rubenstein, film and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer, screenwriter and director Barry Levinson, and “Real Housewife” Kristen Taekman. Bruce was seen chatting with 88-year-old Bennett and 71-year-old rocker Richards before blowing out the candles on his cake and mugging up in a photo booth with fellow guests." (P6)

Michael Thomas and Linda Yellen at Le Veau d'Or Friday afternoon.

"Friday I went down to Le Veau d’Or on 60th between Lexington and Park to lunch with Michael Thomas and Linda Yellen, the screenwriter-producer-director. She’s now in the process of raising funds ($90,000) to finish a film she was making with Dennis Hopper when he died in 2010. Liz Smith wrote about it in her column two weeks ago. Conversation with Michael is always interesting because it covers a lot of territory  -- from politics and Wall Street to the worlds of art and music, of history, and even Hollywood. Back in the days when he was an investment banker he sat on the board of 20th Century-Fox and therefore is well-informed on the last days of Darryl  Zanuck the last real film mogul from the days when the Studios (which is now remembered as the Golden Days of Hollywood). Dennis Stanfill, an investment banker who had previously been an executive at the Los Angeles Times Company, became studio president. After that came Marvin Davis the Denver oilman who bought the studio and installed Sherry Lansing as the first woman studio president ever. And after that came the man who continues to own it today, Rupert Murdoch." (NYSD)