Distrusting Trustees
Beth Landman of New York Magazine revealsleaked minutes of a meeting indicating that the Board of Trustees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is worried about the forthcoming publication of Rogues’ Gallery. Me, too. But I am looking forward to it. Five weeks and counting.
Story Without End, Amen
Forget John Thain and Ezra Merkin and Steve Schwarzman and the meltdown of the economy. The market was up yesterday. And the George David-Marie Douglas divorce circus is still so on. Today, we learn that David is addicted to filing divorce papers and Marie, well, she likes money and wants babies but isn’t having the […]
Oy, Marie
Those folks at 740 Park just don’t know when to stop. If this keeps up, I may have to write a sequel. In the latest episode of the slap-happy soap opera of the richest apartment building in the world, the owners of the triplex apartment built for Electra Havemeyer and Vanderbilt heir J. Watson Webb […]
No Gripe Here
The first pre-publication review of Rogues’ Gallery is in and it’s a doozy. “The author clearly relishes dishing the dirt, but he also offers a supremely detailed history of the museum,” says Kirkus Reviews in its April 1 issue. “Gross’s portrait of Met politics is sharp and well-constructed, and readers will marvel at how the […]
A Long View of Layoffs
Today’s New York Times announces 74 layoffs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the likelihood of more, a 28% drop in its storied endowment (once nearly $3 billi0n) and a “hiring freeze, halted merit raises and curtailed staff travel and entertainment as well as the use of temporary employees.” This news comes on the same […]
Go West, Young Man
Keith Kelly, media columnist of the New York Post (above, right, with David Carr, his counterpart at the New York Times), has the scoop today on my next book for the Broadway imprint at Random House: a 740- Park-like look at the lifestyles and lives of, as he puts it, “the Super-Wealthy in the Estate […]
Bagged By Popular Demand
They tell me the internets are all abuzz about my latest Bergdorf Goodman Conversation with the buff Marc Jacobs and the beautiful Victoria Beckham. So for all of you not fortunate enough to be on our subscriber list or near the store (where you can pick up the magazine) here it is in its entirety. […]
Marc Jacobs Neutered? Posh Bitch-Slapped?
Todays’ WWD features a provocative snippet from my upcoming BG Conversation with Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham and designer Marc Jacobs. The entire dual interview appears in the spring issue of Bergdorf Goodman Magazine, available at the store in a couple of days.
Bravo YSL, Welcome Judy D.
Judith Dobrzynski has launched a new blog about the arts called Real Clear Arts. As she’s one of the most clear-eyed journalists in the field, I expect great things. Her first post, on the Yves St. Laurent auction last week in Paris, finds her off to a great start. I do wish someone would tell […]
Whale of a Sale Sale
So… Max Abelson of the New York Observer reports that Courtney Sale-Ross‘s unofficial offer to sell her double duplex (Apt. 12-13 C/D) at the 71 East 71st Street entrance of 740 Park Avenue for $75 million — it was on the market, sort-of, and then off — is back on again. And he quotes the […]