Brooke Shields and her daughter Grier Henchy didn’t let the threat of rain keep them from finishing Audrey Gruss’s Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s 5k race in Southampton last weekend.
Also on hand were several billionaires, including composer Karen LeFrak and her husband Richard LeFrak and John Paulson with his fiancée Alina de Almeida, plus Social Life magazine’s editor in chief Devorah Rose.
Over 1,000 people showed up with dogs and babies in carriages to walk around the town.
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Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
Debbie Harry and Andy Warhol in New York in 1986. (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)
Jeff Bruette had never heard of Andy Warhol in 1985 when he was sent to New York to teach the pop artist how to use a computer.
Bruette was a product manager at Commodore, headquartered in Pennsylvania.
“I said, ‘Why don’t you get someone who knows computers.’ They said, ‘We have Andy Warhol. He did the Campbell’s Soup cans.’ I thought he was a label designer.”
Bruette was soon at The Factory, Warhol’s studio, hanging with Ric Ocasek of The Cars, and Debbie Harry of Blondie.
Bruette taught Warhol how to use the new Amiga computer to make an image of Harry at a press conference.
“Andy was a really nice guy,” Bruette told me. “So down to earth.”
Harry sat next to Bruette at rehearsal in a sequined Steven Sprouse minidress.
“Aren’t those sequins scratchy,” Bruette asked the blonde.
“Actually it’s very smooth inside. Want to feel?” Harry replied.
“I turned the brightest red,” Bruette said.
Warhol’s demonstration at Lincoln Center that evening is recounted on page 196 of Debbie Harry’s memoir “Face It” where she writes, “I hammed it up some… asking in a suggestive Marilyn voice, ‘Are you ready to paint me?’”
Harry has one image from the event, while Bruette has the other.
“I had mine rolled up in the closet. I put it out of my mind,” Bruette said. “But it’s the first real piece of digital art.”
The Blondie portrait, and some other Warhol works Bruette acquired, are now in the hands of private art dealer Kenneth Mitchell who is selling them for a cool $26 million.
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Freeway Rick Ross had never met Harlem “cannabis pioneer” Branson before.
These two prolific drug dealers — now completely legit running massive legal cannabis businesses — got the chance to kick it, face to face, at Dazed Cannabis on Union Square West.
The two were brought together by marijuana advocate and Dazed co-founder Keshawn Warner.
Ross was signing copies of his autobiography, “Success,” which tells of his humble beginnings in South Central LA and his success in the illicit drug trade .
Like Branson — whose weed shop in Harlem led to shout-outs from The Notorious B.I.G., The LOX, Nas, and Redman — Ross is viewed as a pioneer who underwent a compelling transformation and redemption.
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Getty
Peter Sarsgaard attends the New York Special Screening of “COUP!” at Crosby Street Hotel on August 01. (Getty)
Chris Cuomo might want to see “Coup,” since the filmmakers say he inspired the movie starring Peter Sarsgaard.
Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman, who co-wrote and co-directed the comedic thriller, told me the tale about the Spanish flu epidemic was sparked by Cuomo’s coverage of COVID on CNN.
A week after reporting on CNN that he’d tested positive for the virus, Cuomo was allegedly confronted by a local cyclist on the street a week after and asked him why he wasn’t wearing a mask.
The cyclist, who spoke with Inside Edition, says Cuomo replied, “Who the hell are you?” adding, “What do you know about the rules?”
In “Coup!” newspaper columnist J.C. Horton (Billy Magnusson) is holed up on his country estate in 1919 while writing breathless accounts of urban riots he pretends to have witnessed.
Sarsgaard, who plays the wealthy family’s chef, leads a rebellion at the seaside retreat. “It’s one man destroying another man’s kingdom,” Stark told me.
Stark and Schuman, friends since they were 6 years old at Horace Mann school in The Bronx, wrote the screenplay during COVID.
“We had all the time in the world. The wealthy flew off to their country houses. Everyone else was stuck in the city,” Schuman said.
The most harrowing day of filming was a scene in a luxurious swimming pool. “The heater was broken. We had to film for 12 hours. They froze,” said Stark.
The film, playing in theaters nationwide, screened at the Crosby Hotel for a crowd that included Julia Stiles, Vincent Piazza and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The crowd appreciated the “humor from our dark and twisted minds,” Stark said.
“Coup!” was produced by Molly Conners and Jane Sinisi of Phiphen Studios.
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Like TV shows and streaming series, podcasts have finales too.
For the last of “Who The F*** Is Roger Smit” the raconteur and former Time Warner honcho imagines his own wrap party at Elaine’s.
The guests? His podcast population from the last three years of episodes.
Does Robert Altman get along with the Menendez brothers? Will Grace Kelly get royally annoyed at Sylvester Stallone? And will Mel Gibson get along with anyone? Maybe Schwarzenegger flies in on the plane Roger got him.
It’s all here including sage advice from Elaine Kaufman herself who once told Smith this cold truth when he wandered in one Saturday night.
Roger was unimpressed with the weekend crowd and Kaufman cracked, “‘Roger, don’t you know what every madam knows? Saturday is Schmuck Night.’” Smith learned the hard way.
More final finale thoughts on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie might want to check out Jeremy Murphy’s new book “Too Good to Fact Check: Flying the Skies with Stars, Scotch and Scandal.”
They’ll be be glad they weren’t included.
The tome, out on Amazon on Aug. 27, includes stories about LL Cool J in Paris, Neil Patrick Harris in Rome, and Celine Dion and Harrison Ford in LA.
But Brangelina didn’t make the cut. “I didn’t want to go to war with them; they have attorneys and I have a pen pal relationship with the IRS; bless their hearts, they write every month.” laughed Murphy.
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Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Philippe Petit walks a tightrope inside the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to mark the 50th anniversary of his World Trade Center Twin Towers high-wire walk on Wednesday. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Sting premiered an original song about his pal, Philippe Petit, as the hire-wire artist celebrated the 50th anniversary of his iconic walk between the World Trade Center towers at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
Five decades to the day after his daring feat, which took place on August 7, 1974, Philippe, now 74, recreated his triumph as guests below sipped Aprodise, the new bubbly rosé.
Other talents on the roster including Grammy-award nominated jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen and whistler Molly Lewis, who is featured on the “Barbie” soundtrack.
Leading the applause were Patti LuPone, Tony Danza, comedian D’Yan Forest, director Darren Aronofsky, designer Helen Yarmak, Carol Kane, attorney Dan Stock, NY Dolls’ David Johansen, Judy Collins, and Park Avenue cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Howard Sobel.
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Out & About: Billionaire Chris Burch had fun at Calissa in Water Mill. During a concert by Wyclef Jean, the musician asked people to get on stage and dance. The ex-husband of designer Tory Burch jumped up, along with a bevy of beauties, and boogied in front of a sold-out crowd at the Greek hotspot …Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater is calling in the big guns. Susie Essman, Tovah Feldshuh and Sherri Shepherd will all perform with Joy Behar Aug. 26 in Behar’s play “My First Ex-Husband” … Jimmy Fallon trying out the burgers at the new Smokey Buns in East Hampton.