"I DO care!" says your writer Liz Smith.
So I won't be one of those people who says, "I don't care who wins just so it is fair and equal." Because life is never "fair" and "equal." Look closely at how the GOP in state after state is trying to disenfranchise voters who are black, Latino, old or too poor to get a ride to wherever they hand out the hard-to-get I.D. crap that will enable them to actually vote. (Previously they had voted through the years and were established voters.) Oh well, you take my meaning. We used to encourage everyone to vote; now some states don't even bother to hide their bias. They try to make it impossible for large factions to do their duty as citizens. And, at the very least, many people will be standing in long long lines on Nov. 6.
I care also who wins in Missouri's Senate race and I sent my widow's mite directly to Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.
She should sweep the field because her opponent is the brain dead, so-called "Science" expert, Rep. Todd Akin who will probably appeal to evangelicals and other anti-abortion deadheads who are waging war on women all over the U.S. It is vitally important for Democrats to keep the Missouri seat!
- I KIND of feel sorry for the idiotic Mr. Akin who thought (thinks) most women raped enjoy it and shouldn't qualify as "legitimate." And is unmovable as to aspects of the Republican platform (agreed to by Romney and Ryan) to disallow abortion, no matter what. As we went to "press" the GOP hadn't changed that aspect of their platform one bit.
- And, let me say again to those who don't seem to want me to have any opinion except about Brangelina or the late lamented Liz 'n' Dick -- don't bother to write and tell me you are going to stop reading me. Just stop. It's your privilege. But stop threatening me that you are going to stop.
- THESE ARE supposed to be the dog days of summer with nothing going on in New York except for the Second Avenue, 72nd Street explosion at the site of the ongoing subway construction...Gore Vidal's memorial at the Schoenfeld Theater...and President Obama coming to town, which always reduces Lexington Avenue to a parking lot.
But a gang of us wended our way to Le Cirque on 58th-59th streets the other night, thinking we'd have the whole place to ourselves. We believed most VIPs were away and that the chef, the waiters, the bus boys would be so glad to see us!
Well, as usual some of the famous sons of Sirio Maccioni and their minions were glad to see us, but they were glad among a sea of seated diners, with not an empty table glimpsed from about 6 p.m. to way past 10 p.m. The world seemed to be dining here where the authentic Dover sole is listed at only $79 and this is without accoutrements!
I had Baked Alaska after the main course, at the urging of the waiter, and I don't know how I missed this delicacy before in a long lifetime. But I do hope my seatmate, Mr. Jeff Hirsch (who resembles the actor Christian Bale), got a good picture of it as it was lowered before him, set aflame and eaten by all concerned. (Young Mr. Hirsch does the layouts and presentation on newyorksocialdiary.com and makes us look especially good every day. His selections of photos and video, augmenting words, is sensational.)
People are still talking about his recent clip from the old MGM movie "Ziegfeld Follies," wherein Adrian's costumes are so glamourous. They're like dreams Lady Gaga hasn't had yet! You can see this snippet by looking back at the archives for this column on August 1. Then, rent the entire movie!
It is always a night to remember at Le Cirque. A new book about the eatery is coming soon, titled "A Table At Le Cirque". It's full of photographs of the rich and famous and those who haven't gone to jail yet. I am looking forward to many more Baked Alaskas.
- A FEW weeks back People magazine ran a fairly unimaginative article commemorating the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. It was mostly all the old murder theories dragged up. Two things really bugged me. One was a nasty slap at Pat Newcomb, who was Monroe's fiercely devoted last press rep in the final, frantic 18 months of MM's life. The magazine stated, "Just a few weeks after Marilyn's death, she was seen smiling on a yacht in Hyannis Port." Was she supposed to mourn forever? Believe me, nobody knows what Newcomb had to endure as Marilyn slipped further into a barbiturate haze and other unfortunate habits. And Pat knew the Kennedy family long before Monroe did.
Also, a 20th Century Fox PR man, Michael Selsman, was quoted saying "how cruel and mean" Monroe could be. I don't doubt it. Who can't be? But Selsman's ire stems from an incident when he showed up at Marilyn's LA apartment house in 1961, while she was editing provocative semi-nude photos of herself with the photographer Douglas Kirkland. (Monroe was 35, and Hollywood had already told her she was slipping.) She was anxious, fearful.
Monroe answers her door to find Mr. Selsman accompanied by his then wife--the very beautiful, very young, very pregnant, very blond starlet Carol Lynley, who also worked at Fox. She represented everything Marilyn was losing and was incapable of attaining. Selsman insisted he "had no place else to bring Carol." Marilyn looked at Selsman and looked at Carol. "You come in," she said to the rep. "You stay in the car," she said to Lynley. And so Carol spent several hours, sitting in her husband's chilly auto. I believe this story, and I also believe another fearfully insecure star might actually have fired Selsman on the spot. Not to mention, what kind of a husband leaves his pregnant wife alone in a car--he couldn't stand up for her?