A Modest Madoff Money Proposal
It’s been just over a year since Vos Iz Neias, an Orthodox Jewish blog, took umbrage at the presence of plaques on several Central Park benches celebrating convicted Ponzi thief Bernie Madoff’s parents and in-laws. Though it speculated that Madoff’s “adopted” benches, just inside the East 67th Street entrance to the park, would be vandalized, […]
Yes, that’s $1.25 per room
My post yesterday on Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Campbell‘s $10.00 (yes, ten dollars, it’s no typo) Fifth Avenue apartment didn’t include a description or floor plan because I didn’t have one. The apartment floorplan above found by a Gripebox reader is not Campbell’s, but it’s the same line — one floor up. It […]
I’ll take one of those…
Back in 1991, William Luers, then president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, moved into an apartment on the second floor of 993 Fifth Avenue, a distinguished limestone building by architect Emery Roth, right across the street from the museum. It had previously sheltered Luers’ predecessor William Macomber, and would subsequently be passed to his […]
Giving Museums Characters
On New York Social Diary today, David Patrick Columbia unveils the all-new paperback jacket of Rogues’ Gallery, starring Henry Kissinger, Brooke Astor, J. Pierpont Morgan, Andy Warhol and Anna Wintour (click here to see it) and generously adds, “Michael Gross loves research and loves details but mostly he loves the characters in his books. They’re […]
From the Vault: A Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Bomb!
The new movie The Runaways reminded me that back in the day, I saw them from the front row of a place called Santa Monica Civic. I knew their manager and Pygmalion, Kim Fowley, because in fall 1974 as a fledgling freelance writer, I’d interviewed him for a story on the Hollywood scene that Joan […]
Rogues, blogged
Ten months after publication, Rogues’ Gallery continues to draw readers and praise around the world. This week, three blogs cited the book. Pravdakino, by Indonesian film and video student Veronika Kusumaryati calls it “worthy reading but in some parts, regrettable due to its writer’s love of gossip and drama. But I still think it should […]
A reader speaks
This customer review of Rogues’ Gallery was posted recently by marilynnewyork on barnesandnoble.com. “I heard this author speak at the Mid-Manhattan Library a few months ago. He was such a fabulous speaker, I recommend him to all history aficionados — especially Manhattan history — what a great dinner speaker he would make. If you live […]
A Medal for Montebello
Bob Dylan, Robert Caro, Clint Eastwood, Milton Glaser, Theodore Sorenson, Maya Lin and Metropolitan Museum of Art director emeritus Philippe de Montebello were among the twenty recipients of 2009 national medals of arts and humanities, bestowed by President Obama at the White House yesterday. Montebello was praised for revitalizing the museum. I hate to rain […]
What’s So Funny About Art, Knowledge and Understanding?
“Tapestry Tom” Campbell, latest director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has just announced the latest fruits of its antiquities loan agreement with the government of Italy — a display of twenty silver objects found near Pompeii. “The presentation of these splendid works in New York, where they will be viewed by millions of visitors […]
Moguls in Lust, Wintour in Spring
Molly Fisher at the New York Observer’s Daily Transom has uncovered the new subtitle and a bit about the new jacket that’s going on Rogues’ Gallery for its paperback edition, out in May. She writes, “Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum has been recast as […]