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Beauty and the billionaire - rumors of marital status of Patricia Duff and Ronald Perelman
Los Angeles Magazine, Dec, 1996 by Diane K. Shah

He is one of the richest men in America, and some say she's the most seductive woman they've ever met. Ronald Perelman and Patricia Duff may be the glamour couple on the L.A.-New York social circuit - they're certainly the hottest subjects of gossip. His public life has been carefully chronicled on the business pages, but the juiciest stories swirl around his marriages - and his very expensive divorces. Her career as a political activist has put her name on the Rolodexes of every liberal cause in the western hemisphere, but it is her beauty - and how she exploits it - that people find so riveting.

"Other than Pamela Harriman, she is the single most seductive woman around men I've ever encountered," says a politically involved L.A. woman who has known both. "Patricia completely zeroes in on the male. She makes men feel brilliant and powerful and important. She puts her face in their face and looks at them and they become idiots. It's almost hysterical. They are overwhelmed by her beauty."

This summer, both coasts were roiling with the news that their often volatile, always entertaining two-year marriage was over. Details were hard to come by, mainly because Perelman moves through life in cloud of bodyguards, cigar smoke and secrecy bordering on paranoia. No one denies that the billionaire filed a summon for divorce in New York on September 6 but he didn't take the next step - filing a complaint. The rest, it seems, were intriguing rumors - rumors that Duff had bee locked out of Perelman's town-house complex on New York's Upper East Side, or that she'd decamped to a home she owns in Connecticut or to the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan. Several New York tabloids reported that a reconciliation attempt on the night of September 1 foundered when Perelman had Duff searched and discovered she was wearing a body mike (though it had not been turned on).

By October, Perelman's publicist was issuing sunny statements declaring that the couple had kissed and made up, although some of Duff's friends remain skeptical. But no one - except, perhaps, Duff and Perelman - knows for sure because Perelman has discouraged reportage as only a billionaire can. It's the story everyone's talking about, but no one's openly talking to the press - because they're afraid of Perelman. While working on this story, I spoke to numerous people close to Duff who said that Perelman's publicist or his lawyers had called and warned them to be silent.

After interviewing more than a dozen of her friends and associates in early September, I attempted to contact Duff. One friend gave me the number for Duff's East 63rd Street town-house office and told me that someone would take a message and relay it to her. When I called, no one picked up.

A short time later, I was told that Duff was at the Carlyle. I called the front desk and was put through to her room. Nobody answered. The hotel operator later gave me a Connecticut number and assured me that Duff would be there in a couple of hours. The phone rang and rang. Then I tried the town-house number, which, I later learned, had been forwarded to Duff's house in Connecticut. No answer.

A week later, I again tried the townhouse number. A soft, indistinct voice answered. I asked for Patricia Duff. "This is Patricia," she said. I identified myself and asked if she was willing to talk with me about her life and her marriage.

"I'm afraid if I'm quoted, it could create problems for me," she replied warily. "There are things I've got to work out. I have to think about my little girl. This is not fun and games. There are things more important than putting a spin on this story. I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize my situation."

She sounded nervous and distraught. Although polite, she was firm. She would say nothing. She, too, was afraid.

The recent crisis erupted at the end of August in a blowup that was exhaustively covered by the New York tabloids. Patricia Duff's entourage - including her 2-year-old daughter Caleigh and her nanny - arrived in Chicago on Sunday, August 25, for the Democratic National Convention and checked into the Four Seasons Hotel. Ron Perelman was scheduled to arrive on Thursday, the last day of the convention.

Duff, who has devoted most of her adult life to politics, spent the next couple of days schmoozing party potentates and addressing fellow members of the New York delegation. On Wednesday, she watched the evening's activities from the convention floor, then took her daughter back to the hotel. Later, she went to a party at Michael Jordan's restaurant that was also attended by First Lady Hillary Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. From there, she and a few friends moved on to a party she was hosting at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The next day, Perelman flew to Chicago in his Gulf-stream IV and rendezvoused with Duff at the Four Seasons. Perelman, according to one member of Duff's entourage, seemed "extremely hyper and manic." At around seven p.m., Perelman, Duff, Caleigh and their entourages piled into a convoy of three limos and headed to the United Center, where President Clinton was about to close the convention with his acceptance speech.

En route, Perelman asked Duff if she'd gone to the party at Michael Jordan's restaurant the night before. Knowing that he keeps close tabs on her at all times - she reportedly cannot go anywhere without his bodyguards and her cell phone to take his calls - she admitted that she had gone to the party.

Perelman was enraged - apparently, he had not given her permission to go. He reportedly ordered their driver to pull over and, storming out of the limo, announced that their marriage was finished. He then marched back to one of the other limos, got in and sped off to the airport. From there, he jetted back to New York.

Shaken, Duff had the driver proceed to the convention. She didn't make it through the President's speech, however, returning instead to the Four Seasons to call Perelman. He reportedly hung up on her. A short time later, displaying perfect composure, she glided down to the hotel dining room for a postconvention dinner that included Duff's old boss and Clinton media adviser Bob Squier, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and their wives. Perelman was to have hosted this event, but Duff graciously covered for him, explaining that he'd been called away on a business emergency. Throughout the evening, she charmed the many politicos who stopped by her table. It was a big night for her - with or without her husband. After eight years of meeting, greeting and cajoling big checks from the right people, her reward was within sight: Once Clinton was reelected, Duff expected to be appointed to a prominent post.

The following morning, Duff reportedly learned that Perelman had canceled her Chicago car service. Duff, Caleigh and their entourage were forced to catch a commercial flight back home.

Immediately, friends of the couple began taking sides. Duff sympathizers painted Perelman as a monster. "When she married Ron," one told me, "she made a pact with the devil. Only this time, she got in way over her head." In the New York Observer, Ben Jones, who is married to Alma Viator, Duff's former publicist, called Perelman "a control freak" who "has lost perspective of normal human relationships. That's what we used to call a bully." Others pointed to Perelman's contentious relationship with his second wife, Claudia Cohen, the former New York Post gossip columnist and current Live with Regis & Kathie Lee regular, who got an $80 million divorce settlement in 1994. The New York tabloids reported that Perelman ordered his ex-wife not to go out with Senator Alfonse D'Amato, warning her it would be her "most expensive date ever." When she defied him, the settlement checks reportedly stopped until she took him to court. The Star's headline asked IS THIS THE WORST HUSBAND IN AMERICA?

Friends of Perelman fought back, telling me that Duff was the real problem. "Ron's a business genius," said one, "but he's naive, he has no street smarts. He's as sweet as can be, but he's insulated. Probably has only four or five real friends and wouldn't know who the Yankees played in the World Series. With Patricia, he ran into a buzz saw."

Patricia Orr was born in Los Angeles but spent most of her childhood in Europe, where her father worked for defense contractor Hughes Aircraft. According to a 1994 Esquire profile by Jennet Conant, "she got her looks and her politics from her mother, a homemaker, who was a Kennedy liberal and always at loggerheads with her father over his work." Duff remembered her mother as "totally committed. She believed you had to do something, whether it was civil rights or women's rights or whatever."

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Beauty and the billionaire - rumors of marital status of Patricia Duff and Ronald Perelman
Los Angeles Magazine, Dec, 1996 by Diane K. Shah

Continued from page 1.

Patricia attended the International School of Brussels, then returned to the States to enroll at Barnard College. She hoped to become a diplomat or a foreign correspondent, but during her freshman year her parents divorced and she was forced to drop out. "Patricia accused her dad of abandoning her," says one longtime friend. "Maybe that contributed to the need for security that still drives her."

Patricia sought solace with a high school boyfriend from Brussels, a Czech student named Tomas Zabrotsky, and followed him to Switzerland. There, a friend says, she found herself in a stormy relationship from which she fled one year later.

In 1976, she graduated from Georgetown University with a major in international economics. For two years she worked as a researcher for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, then held a variety of jobs in Washington - none for long - giving her a resume that sounded weighty. She worked for talk-show host John McLaughlin, the Democratic National Committee, Jimmy Carter's pollster Pat Caddell and Bob Squier, who was advising a number of Democratic candidates, including Gary Hart. When Hart decided to run for president, she left Squier and went back to work for Caddell. In 1983, her marriage - to a lawyer named Dan Duff - was ending, so when she was offered the opportunity to go to L.A. to organize Hollywood for Hart, she leapt.

By all accounts, Duff performed flawlessly in Los Angeles. Her passion for politics - as well as her beauty and charm - attracted major donations for Hart from Hollywood's young liberal set. She joined the Hollywood Women's Political Committee, a powerful, progressive group of Industry professionals that included Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand. Maybe it was jealousy - about her looks, her rapidly rising profile or her easy way with men - but Duff instantly antagonized some of her self-made "sisters."

A former member of the HWPC's inner circle spoke candidly over lunch recently. "Patricia," she recalls, "invented herself as something far more important than she was when she arrived out here. All of a sudden, there's this major Washington insider - and no one had ever heard of her. So we start making calls, and her reputation was of this seductive woman who had a good heart but was nowhere on substance. She really just uses men to get her way. But then, she's not the first woman in history to do that."

While Duff's reputation offended some HWPC members, her personal life offended others. Shortly after arriving in L.A., she began spending a lot of time with Hart's lead person in Hollywood, Mike Medavoy, then executive vice president of Orion Pictures ... and husband of HWPC member Marcia Medavoy. The former HWPC insider explains that Marcia, daughter of legendary publicist Henry Rogers (of Rogers & Cowan), was "a Hollywood child, like royalty. People knew what was going on. It was the nightmare story for women in this town - one more schmuck male interested in a younger woman."

Eventually, Medavoy walked out on his wife and, in 1986, married Patricia Duff.

Duff and Medavoy instantly became one of Hollywood's glamour couples - the powerful studio chief and his politically wired trophy wife. Through Medavoy and his circle, Duff was able to deliver people with money and stars who could dazzle at fundraisers. When Michael Dukakis ran for president in 1988, Duff offered her A-list of names to the campaign.

That same year, Duff launched her own political action group, Show Coalition. Its current president, Steve Sunshine, describes Duff as "charming, smart and very deeply committed to social justice. She wants to do the right thing. When she gets excited about something, it's infectious. She can captivate a room and make you think she's talking only to you." Friends say Duff put in long hours for Show Coalition and handled most of the group's funding.

Alma Viator met Duff in 1992 at the Golden Door spa. The two hit it off and Duff invited Viator to spend a few days with her back in L.A. "That night," she recalls, "we went to Barbra Streisand's house for dinner. There were eight of us, including Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin. The next morning, we had breakfast with Clinton. This was the world she lived in."

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Medavoy became a major FOB, and he made sure everybody knew it. He and Duff were regularly at Clinton's side - they were often on his campaign planes and, after he was elected, they spent one night in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House. "They were complete groupies around Clinton, and pushy," says the HWPC insider. (The overnight stay in the White House led to the most scandalous rumor involving Duff. The New York Post said she boasted to friends that Clinton was "one full-service president." Duff demanded, and received, a full retraction.)

In addition to her political activities, Patricia Duff Medavoy, as she was then known, was trying on a variety of careers, none of which seemed to fit. She wanted to act (she had a small part in About Last Night) ... or be in commercials ... or be a movie producer ... or be a newscaster. "Patricia has the gift of being absolutely breathtakingly beautiful," says the former HWPC insider. "I think that is her strength and the only thing she knows how to use. So anything she tried, she failed. I don't think it's even fair to say she wasn't good at them. I think she really didn't even muster up the discipline. She correctly understood that men have power and that her way to power was derivative of a man."

This woman adds, however, that "a level of her is so anxious to be successful and have power, she becomes paranoid. She sees enemies that aren't there." Another former colleague says: "It was amazing the things that would set Patricia off. You'd be at a meeting and she could be fantastic, warm and funny. Then you'd say something wrong, oppose her on an issue for instance, and she would become enraged. She had this amazing paranoid streak. She constantly turned on people."

Both women report that Duff's rages often led to fence-mending phone calls from Medavoy. "I know of five examples where he had to go and secretly have lunch, breakfast or dinner with people to ask them to be nice to Patricia," says the former HWPC member. "Understand - he was a studio head and some of these people needed him. They had careers in this town. And he would sort of beg them to be nice to her and, in some cases, almost threaten them. He would say, if the person wanted help from his studio for the causes they cared about, they would have to pay his wife the respect he wanted her paid." A pause. "I don't know that she knew he was doing this." (A spokesperson for Medavoy acknowledges that, "of course" he made calls asking people to be nice to his former wife but denies that he ever threatened to withhold studio money or support.)

Despite his efforts on her behalf, Duff was clearly unhappy. In the summer of '93, she walked out on Medavoy, reportedly telling him, "I want to see what's out there for me."

Maurice Tuchman, then the senior curator of twentieth-century art at the L.A. County Museum of Art, remembers having lunch with Duff at the Ivy a few months later. "She told me Mike had led her to believe they would have children, but now he didn't want to and the situation had become untenable," Tuchman recalls. "Suddenly, big tears were rolling down her cheeks. She's extremely beautiful. And she can turn on tears so fast."

Soon after the split, actress Melanie Griffith reportedly took Duff to a party and, hoping to cheer her pal up, introduced her to Perelman. With majority holdings in a variety of companies - including Revlon, Marvel Entertainment Group, Coleman (camping equipment), First Nationwide Bank and Consolidated Cigar - Perelman had built his empire with greenmail, junk bonds and flabbergasting aggressiveness. Upon meeting Duff, Perelman set out to acquire her as if she were an underleveraged Fortune 500 company. "He came out here and said, `My plane is on the tarmac at LAX, the engine is running, and it will continue to run until you join me," Tuchman recalls Duff telling him. "That's the kind of pressure he's putting on me."

Months later, Tuchman encountered Duff on the yacht of Metromedia chairman John Kluge. "So, how's it going?" he remembers asking. "She turned her head for a second, and when she looked back, the tears were welling. She said she was distraught about her estrangement from Mike, shattered to the core because he wouldn't give her kids. And now the tears were coming down. She acted completely destroyed." He pauses. "I marveled at the professionalism of it."

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Beauty and the billionaire - rumors of marital status of Patricia Duff and Ronald Perelman
Los Angeles Magazine, Dec, 1996 by Diane K. Shah

She sounded nervous and distraught. Although polite, she was firm. She would say nothing. She, too, was afraid.

The following morning, Duff reportedly learned that Perelman had canceled her Chicago car service. Duff, Caleigh and their entourage were forced to catch a commercial flight back home.

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Beauty and the billionaire - rumors of marital status of Patricia Duff and Ronald Perelman
Los Angeles Magazine, Dec, 1996 by Diane K. Shah

Continued from page 3.

At times, Duff and Perelman seemed to be deeply in love. He would often walk into her office late in the afternoon, affectionately take her arm and say, "Come on, Pat, it's time to go." Last Valentine's Day, Duff surprised Perelman by reserving a hotel suite and hiring the chef from Le Cirque to prepare a romantic dinner for two. On more than one occasion, Duff exclaimed, "I love this man! I love him, I love him, I love him!" And a friend of Perelman's notes, "He really loved her. He wanted to take care of her."

At other times, though, the tension between them was palpable. One visitor to the Creeks says, "You always felt like you were walking on eggshells. You never knew what the mood was going to be. They were polite, but tense."

The couple's relationship was followed like a soap opera by the household staff, the assistants, the drivers and the bodyguards. One member of the entourage admits that she and others often eavesdropped on Duffs calls. "She was worried he was going to leave her. She believed he would use Caleigh against her. She was afraid of his power and his wealth."

In August, the couple took a Mediterranean cruise with two other couples. (The help trailed a discreet distance behind in a second yacht.) One person who was present says of Perelman and Duff, "They really seemed happy together. Everybody felt hopeful."

The last week in August, the marriage blew up in Chicago.

As the weeks passed, the rumor mill churned. One looming question was: How would the couple handle the Fire & Ice Ball on October 17, one of the biggest events of L.A.'s charity season? Duff's name was on "save-the-date" notices sent out in August, as vice chairman of the ball. But when the invitations arrived in September, her name had been replaced by Perelman's.

Then, as the day of the ball approached, the winds shifted again. On October 11, Liz Smith reported that "Ron Perelman and Patricia Duff are off the rocky shoals of estrangement and together again in Paris ... ensconced in a two-bedroom suite at the Ritz ... displaying much togetherness and affection.... Love is a wonderful thing."

On the night of the ball, which was held on the Warner Bros. back lot, Perelman and Duff arrived together and posed side by side, smiling for the official photographer.

On November 11, Smith again reported that Duff and Perelman were "back together - I mean really back together - after a spectacular and much publicized separation."

Despite this public reconciliation, some of Duff's friends still have doubts. Weeks after the Fire & Ice Ball, Duff's New York number was still ringing through to Connecticut, and the phone message gave the number for the Regency Hotel in New York.

Says one Duff intimate: "Patricia went to the ball because she wanted to get things as calm as possible so negotiations could go on. She feels completely trapped. She fears he will use their daughter against her. All he cares about is winning. He needs to look good, and he will go to any length to make that happen."

Says another woman who worked with Duff, "This is not a woman people should be jealous of. This is a very tragic person."

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Bland Book Party for 'My Life'

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

By Roger Friedman

'My Life' Release Soirée

Bill Clinton's Buzzkill Book Party

Book-publication parties are not necessarily dreary affairs.

Last year, Hillary Rodham Clinton had hers at the Four Seasons restaurant, and it was a home run. Years ago, the head of publicity at Crown was renowned for tossing really inventive shindigs you never forgot.

But President Bill Clinton 's publisher, Knopf, is not known for its lively soirées. Last night was no exception.

The publisher of such serious stuff as John Updike and Ann Tyler chose the lobby of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as its venue. Why this spot was picked is anyone's guess. The lobby is essentially a concrete pit with no acoustics, a hard, unforgiving floor and no place to sit.

Into this space poured an eclectic and unfortunate mix of people that included actress Lauren Bacall, writer Arthur Schlesinger and his wife Alexandra, a grumpy Fran Lebowitz in sunglasses, mystery writer Walter Mosley, author Gay Talese and his famous editor wife Nan, singer Judy Collins, Ken Burns, Anna Deavere Smith, Andy Rooney, Al Sharpton, Le Cirque's Sirio Maccioni, Pete Hamill, Calvin Trillin and actress Michael Michele.

There were three guests whom I'd call oddities at this particular event: Clinton's Brutus, George Stephanopoulos; his old friend and one-time fundraiser, Patricia Duff (Medavoy Perelman); and former New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli .

Also, Chelsea Clinton's boyfriend, Ian Klaus, who looks like a young Oscar Wilde, was all over the place and seemingly had a bunch of friends in tow.

Media? After being told by a Knopf lackey that there would be little press in the party, it turns out you couldn't swing a cat without hitting some reporter or editor from a network (Don Hewitt from CBS), The Times, the Observer, the New York Post or the Daily News.

Barbara Walters was also there, albeit briefly. And lots of publishing types, such as Knopf's Sonny Mehta and Victoria Wilson. "Good Morning America" was represented by new executive producer Ben Sherwood and longtime senior producer Patty Neger. There were also two producers from the "Today" show and our very own Lisa Bernhard from Fox News.

But movie stars or even people of distinction with buzz potential were few and far between. No Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin or left-leaning celebs who usually stump for Clinton.

Where were they? Where was our beloved Moby, or even a Cuomo or Caroline Kennedy, or the as-advertised Michael Moore? (The only semi-Kennedy was Jackie's former beau Maurice Tempelsman , walking with two canes.)

Only Miramax's Harvey Weinstein had an excuse: he was in Europe with Quentin Tarantino, promoting "Kill Bill: Vol. 2."

I did get 10 seconds of face time with Clinton himself before he made his acceptance, er, uh, promotion speech. He looked tanned and rested and ready to get out there and make sure every one of the 1.5 million pre-ordered copies of "My Life" was sold.

I said, "I wonder if you were disappointed by Gore."

Clinton replied: "I'm disappointed that he lost."

"No," I added, "by the way he conducted his campaign."

Clinton's eyes narrowed. "I don't want to talk politics tonight. It's my night. It's about the book."

I did not get to ask him anything else, such as an explanation for Pardongate. On "60 Minutes" Clinton told Dan Rather that he couldn't find a reason on the "merits" not to have pardoned international oil and metal trader Marc Rich .

Rather never got to ask: How about the fact that Rich had fled the U.S. and was a fugitive who'd remained at large for 17 years and who'd done business with every country prohibited by the U.S.?

I also did not get to ask Clinton about the tax-free foundation for his Arkansas library. Last year, according to tax records, the foundation took in $25 million in donations, roughly three times the amount from the two previous years.

Ten days before the end of his second term, just before the pardon scandal, Clinton received $1 million from an unnamed donor. It remains the single largest contribution so far.

After Clinton made his speech, I went over to pay respects to his wife, Senator Hillary, who had introduced her husband as the "former president, future bestseller, Chelsea's father and my constituent."

Had she read the book?

"Yes, I've read all of it," she said.

Did she read it when it was done or as it was being written?

"He was showing me pieces of it all along," Hillary said.

Their house must be filled with papers, considering her book came out only last year.

"A lot of forests were felled for those books," she laughed, making small talk. (Please, ecologists, it was banter.)

On the way out, I ran into Robert Gottlieb, the famous and revered editor who was dragged over the coals in Sunday's New York Times by book reviewer Michiko Kakutani. Among Gottlieb's many famous accomplishments: editing Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" and Leon Uris's "Mila 18."

So how did Bill Clinton stack up among Gottlieb's many legendary authors?

"He did fine," said the editor. "Of course, I didn't see him that often. But he was very good at taking suggestions. And if he didn't want to do something, he'd come back with a good reason."

So does Gottlieb now know a lot of secrets that didn't make it into "My Life"?

"Yes," he said, with a polite laugh and tilt of his head, "and I can't tell you any of them!"

--------------------------------------------

Movie Exec Erases Ex-Wife from History

Monday, February 11, 2002

By Roger Friedman

Mike Medavoy and Patricia Duff | National Board of Review | Oscar Watch

Movie Exec Erases Ex-Wife from History

Grandma always said, "If you have nothing nice to say about someone, don't say anything." Movie exec and Hollywood player Mike Medavoy seems to have taken that advice. In his new book, You're Only As Good As Your Next One, written with Josh Young, the former head of Orion and Tri-Star Pictures completely obliterates ex-wife Patricia Duff from his story.

It's a neat trick.

Duff, of course, is the beautiful blonde who married Medavoy when he was the top Hollywood studio head, assisted him in his dive into Democratic politics in the late '80s, then took off with Revlon owner Ronald Perelman. They married once the Medavoys divorced, and had a child. Then Duff and Perelman divorced, provoking one of the nastiest custody battles in history.

Now Duff, who is famous for her marriages, has been erased from one of them altogether.

I like this new idea of selectively edited biography. First the film A Beautiful Mind skipped over important points of its subject's life; now this book omits Duff from Medavoy's story completely. I'm looking forward to O.J. Simpson's autobiography confining itself just to his football years.

The omission of Duff, though, can't be written off with the excuse that she was simply an ex-wife. When Duff was Patricia Medavoy, she was regularly cited in the Los Angeles Times as her husband's partner in political matters.

In 1987, she and Medavoy brought Gary Hart and his wife to an Aspen New Year's Eve party thrown by Don Henley of the Eagles. It was at that party that Hart — whom the Medavoys had backed in campaigns — met Donna Rice, the woman who catalyzed his downfall. In 1992, Duff and her husband were instrumental in wooing Hollywood backers for Bill Clinton.

But now Duff is excised from history. (So is Donna Rice, for that matter, or any mention of the Medavoys' involvement in most of the Hart stuff.)

There are lots of other people in Medavoy's book, though, to make it a compelling read. Chief among them: his former Sony studio rival, Batman/Flashdance producer Peter Guber, whom Medavoy relishes in attacking.

From page 288: "Guber did a lot of good things at Sony … like giving Mussolini credit for getting the trains to run on time…" Page 282: "By the end of 1993, the whole town knew that Guber was going to push me out…" Page 277: "If I had been half the self-promoter Peter Guber was…"

I just hope these two don't meet up at an awards ceremony anytime soon. Yikes!

Movie Prize Group's Finances: No Charity Here

The National Board of Review recently filed its year 2000 tax form. As readers of this column know, the fan-based group refers to itself as "not for profit." They file a Form 990 so they don't have to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, the group charges a $350 fee to its members and assesses their annual awards dinner tickets at $400 a pop.

Last month, when I was writing about the NBR, one of their representatives insisted to me that the group regularly helps new filmmakers.

Under their "Statement of Program Service Accomplishments" the NBR typed in the following statement on their latest filing: "Assist the development of motion pictures as an entertainment art and art form, provide a forum for the review, critique, and public opinion of motion pictures, recognize achievement in filmmaking, and sponsor films as education and community service."

The cost of this largesse? Well, the NBR claims two expenses for 2000: $70,428 to screen all the new movies for their members, and another $3,700 for student grants.

After expenses (the screenings, the student grants), the group was left with a tidy sum of $60,223. What did they do with this money? Not pay taxes on it seems to be the answer.

Otherwise, the NBR earmarked about 3 percent of its annual take from members for film students.

It's not like they don't have funds to help more filmmakers: There's the $136,151 they claim as the result of income producing activities comes from two places. Their annual dinner, according to their tax form, generates a net amount of $101,324. And their membership fees kick in another $34,827.

The group does not list compensation for employees or officers. According to the Form 990, charities are not required to list anyone who makes under $50,000 a year.

Oscar Day Is Almost Here

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 (EST) we will learn the names of this year's Oscar nominees. And then the real campaigning will begin, I suppose, to bring the gold statuette home.

There's been lots of talk lately about the amount of money being spent to woo Academy voters. I suppose soon we'll see Congressional guidelines for this, with a dollar on our tax returns earmarked for Oscar Campaign Reform.

Here's a bit of wisdom, though, from Hollywood legend Richard Widmark, who was nominated once and never campaigned for anything: "It was unseemly in our day to take out ads and have a campaign." So much for that.

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WSWS : News & Analysis : North America

A New York story: different worlds for the children of the rich and the poor

By Fred Mazelis
21 September 1999

Use this version to print

Patricia Duff and her billionaire ex-husband Ronald Perelman have been carrying out a bitter child-support and custody battle over their four-year-old daughter for the last three years. Last week Ms. Duff told State Supreme Court Justice Franklin Weissberg how much she needs in child support from Revlon owner Perelman, whose net worth is an estimated $6 billion. She presented a detailed budget which amounted to $4,400 a day for the next 14 years.

The monthly living expenses for four year-old Caleigh include $9,953 for travel for the child and her nanny, $3,175 a month for clothing, and $1,450 a month—about $50 a day—for dining out. The cost of the little girl's personal domestic employees—nannies and maids—is $30,098 a month.

Ms. Duff is also requesting that her ex-husband pay part of their daughter's housing costs. This would include such bedroom furnishings as a $19,500 antique desk and chair, $13,000 for upholstered walls, a $6,500 painted ceiling, a $6,500 bed and a $1,560 toy chest.

On the same day that the New York Times reported on Ms. Duff's child support demands, it carried a front-page report headlined, “Squeezed by Debt and Time, Mothers Ship Babies to China.” This article explained that hundreds of babies—and perhaps more—born in New York City each year to Chinese mothers are being sent back to China because their mothers have neither the money nor the time to care for them.

It tells the story of Xiu, a woman who was finally reunited with her husband eight years after he came to the US to work as a cook at a Chinese restaurant. She had been raising their daughter in southern China, but left the girl with her mother when she came to New York.

When she had a baby boy in the US, she named him Henry and nursed him for four months before finally wrapping a tiny gold bracelet around his wrist and paying $1,000 to a courier who would legally transport him back to China. For weeks after the baby was shipped off, Xiu would hear him cry at a night. “It's really killing her,” said a social worker at the Chinatown clinic of St. Vincent's Hospital. “She said no words can express her sadness.”

At the Chinatown Health Center, 10 to 20 percent of the 1,500 babies delivered last year were sent away, the Times reports. At St. Vincent's clinic, one-third to one-half of the women who seek prenatal care say they plan to send their babies to China.

Most of the mothers, who in some cases are undocumented immigrants, are married. They typically work six-day weeks in Chinatown garment sweatshops. Many owe up to $20,000 to smugglers who enabled them to get into the US. They have no other family here and cannot afford daycare costs of at least $20 a day on take-home wages of about $300 a week. So they send their newborns, who are US citizens, home to be raised by their grandparents or other relatives, hoping to be reunited when the children reach school age—a situation which, even if it comes to pass, produces new complications and emotional and psychological problems.

This tragedy facing thousands of Chinese immigrants is a direct product of current economic conditions in New York. It is part and parcel of the boom which has been based on a steady supply of cheap immigrant labor. Garment sweatshops have emerged in different parts of the city in recent years. Wages have fallen, and immigrants are crammed into overcrowded apartments and work under conditions which leave them no time for themselves or their families.

Ms. Duff's daily child support expenses for her daughter would pay for daycare for 200 of the Chinese babies being separated from their mothers. This statistic is one of countless New York stories which could be cited to illustrate contemporary social life in this capital of world capitalism.

See Also:
Social Inequality in America
[WSWS Full Coverage]

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Vanity Fair, August 1999

A profile of eccentric German animal illusionists Siegfried and Roy describes life inside their "Jungle Palace" on the fringes of Las Vegas. It is nearly impossible to convey how breathtakingly weird they are. They live with 55 white tigers, 38 servants, and 16 lions. Roy sleeps with the young tigers. Siegfried has a mural of himself naked, with cheetahs, on his bedroom walls. They greet people by saying, "Sarmoti"--an acronym for "Siegfried and Roy, Masters of the Impossible." The couple deflect the question of whether they are gay but do claim a friendship with Michael Jackson. Still, they draw 700,000 people a year to their stage show. ... A profile of Patricia Duff traces her career as a manipulative, self-destructive femme fatale. After she failed at three marriages and at attempts to leverage wealth and connections into a career as a political powerbroker, she wed Revlon CEO Ron Perelman. Now that marriage is kaput, and she has run through 16 law firms during the divorce and custody proceedings, and is now battling Perelman over issues such as whether $36,000 is an adequate annual clothing allowance for her 4-year-old. ... An article on celebrated death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal condemns his admirers for ignoring the clear evidence of his guilt.

Vanity Fair 1990-1999 Price List

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Issue Date:	Cover/Issue Description	Condition:	Price Ea.:
January, 1990	Daryl Hannah. Deborah Norville, Herbert von Karajan, Julio Iglesias, Morgan Freeman, Masters of Covert Operations – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
February, 1990	Mikhail Gorbachev – Red Star. Ellen Barkin, Sony/Hollywood, Joan Chen, Dennis Hopper, Ross Bleckner, Kyra Sedgwick – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
March, 1990	Kathleen Turner. Chris Whittle, Drug War Bush Won’t Fight, Cindy Adams, Lorraine Bracco, Irving Penn, John Waters, Death of Europower – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1990	Madonna: White Heat. Judith Exner’s Lost Son, Prince Sihanouk, Paul Taylor, Robert Caro, Pedro Almodovar, Merv Griffin & Donald Trump in Atlantic City	G/VG	$17.50
May, 1990	Richard Gere. Linda Robinson, the Executioner’s Song, Margot Fonteyn, Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer, Dorothy Thompson, John Gotti – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
June, 1990	Arnold Schwarzenegger. Andrew Dice Clay, Elizabeth Morgan case, On the Set of Godfather III, Helen Gurley Brown, Slim Keith Memoirs	G/VG	$17.50
July, 1990	Anjelica Huston. Secret Power of Warren Beatty, Children of the Reich, Leonard Stern, Andy Warhol, Julia Roberts, Kathleen Sullivan, William Wegman’s Dogs, Nicole Kidman – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
August, 1990	Harrison Ford. The Brando Shooting, Social Death in Venice, Cardinal O’Connor, Joel Silver & “Die Hard 2”, Ian Schrager, Virginia Madsen, Carrie Fisher – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
September, 1990	Sylvester Stallone. Henry Lee Lucas, Babe Paley, Jesse Helms, Donald Trump Inside Out, Harold Pinter, Dwight Yoakum. 318 pages. – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
October, 1990	Debra Winger. Winnie Mandela, Joan Rivers, Ralph Nader, Neil Bush, Menendez Murders, The Kray Twins, Robin Wright. 292 pages – 3 copies.	G/VG	$15.00
November, 1990	Cher. Hidden Life of Mitch Snyder, Marla Maples, Inside San Quentin Death Row, Kuwait Inc., Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bulow, Art Critic Robert Hughes, Maria Felix	G/VG	$15.00
December, 1990	Roseanne on Top. The Fonda Furies, Visit with Rushdie by Martin Amis, Hall of Fame 1990, Helmut Kohl, Reflections of Horst, Naomi Campbell – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00

January, 1991	Bruce Willis. Queen Noor, Mayor David Dinkins, George Hamilton, Gunning for the NRA, Architect Peter Eisenman, James Brady, Sophia Loren – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
February, 1991	Farrah (Fawcett) and Ryan (O’Neal). Divorced From the Mob, MCA’s Power Shift, Melina Mercouri, Picasso and Me, Andie MacDowell, Anthony Hopkins – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
March, 1991	Shirley MacLaine. Norman Mailer on “American Psycho”, David Geffen, My Life in the Slammer by Taki, Anthony Haden-Guest, Paula Abdul – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1991	Madonna. Death in Tunis, Saddam Hussein’s Texan Connection, New Power at CNN, New York Drug Lord Lorenzo Nichols, Jean Howard’s Photographs, Ali McGraw – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
May, 1991	Audrey Hepburn. Trial of Suicide Doctor, Dalai Lama’s Mission, Man Who Kept Marilyn Monroe’s Secrets, Norman Mailer on the Gulf War, Tommy Tune – 4 copies	G/VG	$17.50
June, 1991	Dolly Parton & Desert Storm Soldiers. Robert Maxwell, Margaret Thatcher, Ocsar de la Renta, Rebecca De Mornay, Dovima – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
July, 1991	Mickey Rourke. Patti Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, Gianni Agnelli, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Priscilla Presley, MCA Heiress Jean Stein	Not Available	NA
August, 1991	More Demi Moore (Pregnant nude cover). Daryl Gates, How Saddam Survived, Showdown at the Barnes Collection, Vaclav Havel, Joe Eszterhas, Agnes de Mille on Martha Graham – 2 copies	G/VG	$20.00
September, 1991	Barbra Streisand Now. Ben Bradlee Bows Out, Halston, Jon Peters, Patsy Kensit, Michael Holroyd, Sharon Stone – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
	Same	Good, cover stains	$12.50
October, 1991	Jessica Lange in Love. Boris Yeltsin, Gail Sheehy, Kosinski’s Secret, Palm Beach Scandal, David Hockney’s Aids ABC, The Addams Family, Ann-Margret	G/VG	$15.00
	Same	Good – back cover torn, taped	$10.00
November, 1991	Warren Beatty by Norman Mailer. Jeffrey Dahmer, Sally Quinn, Mike Wallace, Jeff Koons, Willie Nelson & the IRS, Mengistu’s Fall – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
December, 1991	Bette Midler. Marietta Tree, Gorbachev, Leibovitz Photos of the Gulf War Heads, The Church and Sexual Abuse, Last Days of Madame Mao, Seamus Heaney. 304 pages – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00

January, 1992	Kevin Costner. Bob Kerry, Gloria Steinem, Nina Totenberg, Steve Ross, Lili Zanuck, Rene Russo – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
February, 1992	Mick Jagger. Sununu, Norman Mailer on “JFK” Movie, Karl Lagerfeld, Gay Talese, Michael Jordan Belinda Carlisle, Tony Richardson – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
March, 1992	Goldie Hawn. Patricia Bowman, Fall of the House of Robert Maxwell, Mike Tyson, John Singer Sargent, Phoenix House, Palm Beach Trial – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1992	Jack Nicholson. BCCI Bank, Women Who Shock by Annie Leibovitz, Emma Thompson, Cindy Crawford, Hitler’s Doomed Angel, Sharon Stone, LBJ & Earl Warren, Paul Mellon – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
	Same – UK Edition	G/VG	$15.00
May, 1992	Ivana Trump. Rush Limbaugh, Imelda Marcos, Hillary Clinton, Richard Branson, Gregory Hines, Carol Matthau, Juliette Binoche, “Batman Returns” – 4 copies	G/VG	$15.00
June, 1992	Annette Bening. The Faces of Watergate by Annie Leibovitz, Nixon, Diane Sawyer, Clinton’s Enemies, Jann Wenner, Wilson Phillips – 4 copies	G/VG	$15.00
July, 1992	Luke Perry. Rodney King, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Milken, Little Columbia, Jesse Kornbluth, Jane March, Russell Simmons	VG – in unopened plastic	$17.50
	Same – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
August, 1992	Demi’s (Moore) Birthday Suit (painted nude cover). Barbara Bush, Stavros Niarchos, The Reign in Spain, Sandra Bernhard, Chris Whittle, Sherilyn Fenn – 5 copies	G/VG	$17.50
September, 1992	Geena Davis. Dan Quayle, Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, Kissinger’s Webb, Gore Vidal, Courtney Love, Donna Tartt, Robert Graham, Susan Sontag. 308 pages	G/VG	$15.00
October, 1992	Madonna. James Baker, Elizabeth II – Queen and Mother, Inside the Perot Fiasco, Diane Lane & Christopher Lambert, “A River Runs Through It”, Larry Kramer. 308 pages – 3 copies	G/VG	$20.00
November, 1992	Liz Taylor & Aids. William Safire, Curse of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Tokyo’s High Society, Case Against Woody Allen, Conrad Black, Whitney Houston, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X”. 304 pages – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
December, 1992	Candice Bergen. Annie Leibovitz Hall of Fame 1992, Michael Caine, Exeter Blues, Disney & “Aladdin”, Keith Richards, Susan Rothenberg, Diamond Auction, Gardiners Island – 4 copies	G/VG	$15.00

January, 1993	Claudia Schiffer, Last Czar’s Bones Mystery, NY’s Russian Mob, David Hockney, Ivan Boesky, Sotheby’s Auction House, Marcia Gay Harden – 5 copies	G/VG	$15.00
February, 1993	Princess Diana. Scandal in Brazil, Clinton’s A-List, Joe Roth, Emma Thompson, Sadie Frost, Katherine Graham – 3 copies	G/VG	$17.50
March, 1993	Andie MacDowell. Nureyev’s Last Days, Vernon Jordan, Death of Yugoslavia, J.Edgar Hoover’s Secrets, P.D. James, NY Newspaper Battle – 4 copies	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1993	Sharon Stone. Male Menopause, Du Pont vs. Du Pont, Saint Laurent’s Sale of a Lifetime, Maureen Dowd – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
May, 1993	Tina Turner. Lord Lucan Mystery, Gay Power Elite, Crime in Today’s Germany, Woody Harrelson, Hollywood Wives – 4 copies	G/VG	$15.00
June, 1993	Sean Connery. Hillary Clinton’s First 100 Days, Philip Johnson, Courtship of Japan’s Reluctant Princess, Bob Mackie, Sarah Jessica Parker – 2 copies	VG – unopened plastic	$17.50
	Same – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
July, 1993	Harrison Ford. Sudan’s Quiet Death, Francesca Thyssen, Conan O’Brien, Rose Kennedy at 103, Jennifer Jason Leigh – 4 copies	G/VG	$15.00
August, 1993	K.D. Lang. War Over Warhol, Nike’s Might, David Gergen, Anna Nicole Smith, Roy Lichtenstein, Bill Cosby & NBC – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
September, 1993	Michelle Pfeiffer. Clinton vs. Press Corps, Joan Miro, Hollywood’s New Power Pack, Jerry Lewis, Pope’s US Mission, Chappaquiddick, Charlie Rose – 3 copies	G/VG	$17.50
October, 1993	Julia Roberts. Special 10^th Anniversary Issue. Leibovitz in Sarajevo photos, Tabloid Warriors, Dominick Dunne’s Courtroom Notebook, Women Making 50. 320 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
November, 1993	Sylvester Stallone’s Body of Art. Castro’s Mistress, Diana Vreeland, Shannen Doherty, Jerry Jones, Rudolph Giuliani, Lucian Freud – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
December, 1993	Demi (Moore)’s Big Wish. Yeltsin on the Brink, Haft Family War, Sinatra’s New Masterpiece, Picasso Possessed, 1993 All-Star Hall of Fame by Annie Leibovitz	G/VG	$20.00

January, 1994	Richard Gere. Armani’s Hide-away, Ted Koppel, Fellini & His Women, Michael Jackson Scandal – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
February, 1994	Oh, Roseanne (Barr)! The Paramount War, Confessions of Ed Rollins, Haiti’s Dance of Death, Garbo’s Secret Life, Heidi Fleiss, Egon Schiele	G/VG	$15.00
March, 1994	Trump Family Values. Fidel Castro Interview, Menendez Justice, George Stephanopoulos, Doris Duke’s Final Mystery, Aretha Franklin – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1994	Jack (Nicholson) the Wolf. Trials of Janet Reno, Menendez Machine, Sony’s Hollywood Headache, Swifty Lazar, The Young Salvador Dali – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
May, 1994	Jodie Foster Rules. Yassar Arafat in the Storm, Willem De Kooning, Merry Wife of Jack Kent Cooke, Jerry Seinfeld, Pat Monynihan, Helen Mirren, Redskins Owner Jack Kent Cooke, Stephen Sondheim	G/VG	$20.00
June, 1994	Tom Hanks. California’s Kathleen Brown, Hillary Clinton, Serbia’s Dreaded First Couple, Coco Chanel, Bill Koch’s Grand Designs	G/VG	$17.50
July, 1994	Forever Jackie (Kennedy) by Dominick Dunne. Also: Carville & Matalin, Quentin Tarantino, CIA Mole, Melanie Griffith, Penelope Ann Miller	G/VG	$17.50
August, 1994	Cindy Crawford Inc. Bennett Boys, Paul Getty’s New Life, Evening Divas, Bret Easton Ellis, George and Alana Hamilton, Dennis Potter – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
September, 1994	True Loves – Warren Beatty & Annette Bening. Zhirinovsky’s Hair Trigger, Anna Quindlen, Marlon Brando Bio, Robert Evans, Strobe Talbot, Marianne Faithfull, Molly Ringwald	G/VG	$15.00
October, 1994	Tom Cruise Opens Up. Grace Kelly, Special Report – The New Establishment w/19 Portraits by Annie Leibovitz, Heather Locklear, Richard Holbrooke, Debbie Reynolds in the Desert	G/VG	$20.00
November, 1994	Barbra Streisand – The Way She Is. Africa Without Pity, Robert Altman, Drama on Disney Drive – Jeffrey Katzenberg, Maureen Orth, Tim Burton, Michael Huffington, Walter Winchell	G/VG	$20.00
December, 1994	Liam Neeson. 1994 Hall of Fame, JFK Case Reopened, Designing Women – Decorating’s Last Great Dames, Chris Whittle, Inside the Capture of Carlos the Jackal, Brooke Shields, Rwanda, Houghton Hall	G/VG	$20.00

January, 1995	Michael Douglas. Pamela Harriman, Twilight of the Vanderbilts, Heiress and the Horse Murders, Berlusconi’s Fine Italian Wine, Heather Watt’s, Polanski’s New Maiden, Nigel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Hurley, LI Railroad Gunman, Ty Cobb	G/VG	$17.50
February, 1995	Brad Pitt. Texas’s Brutal Gay Killings, Warner Music, Charles Barkley, LA and the OJ Obsession, Murder in Gstaad, Evangeline Bruce, Opera’s New Sensations,	G/VG	$20.00
March, 1995	Jessica Lange. Hermitage’s Lost Masterpieces, Kate Hepburn and Her Men, Senator George Mitchell’s Great Romance, Annie Lennox, Hamlet Epidemic, Mary Wesley	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1995	Special Hollywood Issue (fold-out cover). Portfolio of 150 Stars by Annie Liebovitz, Art of the Deal, Sunset Strip Memories, Marion Davies, Val Kilmer in Batman Forever, Apollo 13, Memories of the Rat Pack by Shirley MacLaine	G/VG	$20.00
May, 1995	Meg Ryan. Battle for the Empire State Building, Marin Amis, Oscar Wilde, The Anti-Clinton – Phil Graham, In the Eye of the O.J. Storm, Brooke Astor	G/VG	$17.50
June, 1995	Courtney Love. O.J.’s Vanished Lady, Maurice Saatchi’s Revenge, Rita Hayworth & Aly Khan’s Romance, Miami Refab, Robert Wilson, Edward Hopper, Qubilah Shabazz	G/VG	$15.00
July, 1995	La Femme Nicole Kidman. Edward Bronfman Jr. Storms Hollywood, Robert Mapplethorpe, Murder Among the Guccis, The O.J. Trial, Pat Conroy’s New Epic Saga, Exiled King Constantine, Bianca Jagger, Claude Monet	G/VG	$15.00
August, 1995	The Wild One – Keanu Reeves. Carly Simon, Kevin Costner & “Waterworld”, Chaos in Women’s Tennis, Malibu East, Marylou Whitney, Alicia Silverstone, Woodward & Walsh	Not Available	NA
September, 1995	Golden Girl Sandra Bullock. Unmasking Michael Jackson, Becoming Barbra Streisand, Roseanne’s New Look, Tim Roth, Ben Bradlee, Frida Kahlo’s Mad Diary, Case Against O.J., Holy War at Harrods, Oliver Stone’s “Nixon”, Tim Roth, Newt Gingrich	G/VG	$15.00
October, 1995	Denzel Washington. Time/Warner, Colin Powell, New Couture, Kim Novak, Julie Andrews, Carol Channing, Burma’s Saint Joan, Greg Kinnear, The New Establishment 50. 304 pages – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
November, 1995	Ralph Fiennes. The Private Jackie Onassis, Britain’s Theater Royals – 38 pages of Photos by Snowdon, The Boys of Saigon, David Begelman, Michael Ovitz, Mark Fuhrman, Elsa Schiaparelli, Buster Keaton, Diane Keaton,	Not Available	NA
December, 1995	Special Issue: The All-Star, All-Time TV Hall of Fame (Fold-out cover). 42 page portfolio by Annie Leibovitz & others, 1995 Hall of Fame, Audrey Hepburn, Martin Scorsese, Lady Astor, Private Jets, O.J. Simpson	G/VG	$20.00

January, 1996	Uma Thurman. Was Doris Duke Murdered?, Christie’s-Sotheby’s War, David Reichmann, Jane Austin Goes Hollywood, Bruce Weber’s Ballet Boys, Karl Lagerfeld on Galliano’s Designs, Fabulous Miller Wedding, Steve Forbes	Good	$15.00
February, 1996	Queen Emma Thompson. Vegas Tycoon Kirk Kerkorian, Macualay Culkin’s Bitter Family War, Unlikely Friendship of JFK & Nixon, Tommy Hilfiger, Bill Clinton on Reagan at 85, Bill Bradley, Nathan Lane, Madame Gres	G/VG	$15.00
March, 1996	Sharon Stone Wants It All. Inside Bosnia’s Death Camps, Cezanne’s Secrets, Studio 54, Michael Korda, Fugitive Robert Vesdco, Hollywood Agnostics, Lincoln Kirstein, Photographer Louis Stettner	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1996	Special Issue: Hollywood ’96 (Fold-out cover). Portfolio of 55 Stars, Lew Wasserman, Glen Close, Hollywood 1937, Howard Hughes Joe Eszterhas, Clifford Odets, Roger Corman, Memory of Gene Kelly, Stanley Kubrick, Richard E. Grant. 316 pages	G/VG	$20.00
May, 1996	The New Olympians (Fold-out cover). Searching For the Olympic Ideal, Helen Hunt & “Twister”, Gloria Vanderbilt on her Son’s Suicide, Tobacco’s War Against Jeffrey Wigand, New Olympians Portfolio by Annie Leibovitz, Bob Dole, Stephen Ambrose & David McCullough, The Murrow Boys	G/VG	$17.50
June, 1996	Tom Cruise. L.A. Law, Living to 100, Peter Gruber & Jon Peters, Bosnia’s American Angels, Peter Duchin Autobiography, Rene Russo, Lawyer Susan Thomases, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Phillip’s Photographic Memoir, Hitler’s Ghost	G/VG	$17.50
July, 1996	The Black & White Issue – Nicolas Cage cover. Truman Capote’s 1966 Black and White Ball, William Styron on JFK, John Grisham vs. Oliver Stone, Princess of Wales, Pat Robertson, Manhattan 1937, Robin Wright & Sean Penn, Charlie Watts	G/VG	$17.50
August, 1996	Alone Star – Matthew McConaughey. Tibet’s Lost Lama, America’s Golden Postwar Age, Schnabel’s “Basquiat”, Socialite & Everest, Helmut Newton Shoots Cannes, Kyra Sedgwick, Horst P. Horst 90^th, Camille Corot, Hardy Amies, “New Republic” Battle	G/VG	$15.00
September, 1996	Alicia Silverstone Comes of Age. Robert & Liddy Dole’s Marriage, Wallis Montana’s Fatal Choice, Christiane Amanpour, Jack & Jackie – Their Love Story, Los Angeles Times Battle, Robert McNamara, Roger Straus, Jasper Johns, Mensa, Lisa Fonssagrives. 358 pages.	G/VG	$17.50
October, 1996	Anthony Hopkins. Pamela Harriman’s Wartime Adventures, New Establishment 1996, Leno-Letterman Feud, College Football Lineup, Scott Turow’s Real-Life Courtroom Thriller, John Kerry, Fleur Cowles, Helmut Newton Shoots Couture, Orwell’s Secret List, Kirstin Scot Thomas, Yul Brynner Photos. 310 pages	G/VG	$20.00
November, 1996	The Madonna Diaries. James P Hoffa, Courney Ross & Her Girl School, Natalie Portman, Tim Burton & “Mars Attacks!”, Peter Beard, Clinton Strategist Dick Morris, Christian Dior, Orson Welles Children’s Book, Claire Bloom on Philip Roth, Larry Flynt	Not Available	NA
December, 1996	George Clooney. 1996 Hall of Fame, Secret Murdoch, White House Survivors, Michael Ovitz, Tommy Mottolo, Kay Thompson & Eloise, Hermitage WWII Finds, George & Ira Gershwin, Gena Rowlands, Henry Grunwald	Good, cover tear	$15.00

January, 1997	Goldie Hawn. Code of the Rothschilds, Education of Jerry Adams, Versace’s East Side Story, Judith Exner’s Final Revelation About JFK, New York Collections, Murdoch-Turner War, “Lolita”	G/VG	$17.50
February, 1997	Johnny Depp. Richard Jewell’s Own Story, Bogie & Bacall, The Clinton’s and the White House Counsel, Bad Girls – Women Writers, Katharine Graham, Hollywood’s Big-League Feuds – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
March, 1997	That “Seinfeld” Girl – Julia Louise-Dreyfus. Mystery of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Dangerous Ride of Tupac Shakur, US Way of Death by Jessica Mitford, Edgar Bronfman Sr.’s Hunt for Nazi Gold, Swinging London (25 pages)	G/VG	$17.50
April, 1997	Hollywood 1997 Special Issue – fold-out cover . The Legends, Lauren Bacall, Eddie Murphy, Diane Keaton, Nicole Kidman, 1940s Gossip Columnists. 384 pages	G/VG	$20.00
	Same	Good – torn cover	$15.00
May, 1997	Liv Tyler. Patricia Cornwell’s Real Life Villains, Clare Boothe Luce, Baseball’s Best Rookies, The Rat Pack, David Hockney, Robert Hughes, Vienna Opera Ball – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
June, 1997	Arnold Scharzenegger. ABC News, Joni Mitchell, Donatella Versace, Larry Ellison & Microsoft, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet of “Titanic” – 3 copies	G/VG	$17.50
July, 1997	Princess Diana – New Look. Murdoch’s Heirs, Fran Lebowitz on Money, Fred Thompson, Ed Sullivan, Keith Haring, the Naked City, Dominic Dunne’s Hollywood Scrapbook	G/VG	$20.00
August, 1997	Mel Gibson on Wheels. Mobuto’s Final Days, Inside the Kennedy Clan, Evalyn Walsh McLean and the Hope Diamond, Miuccia Prada, Steve Brill, India, War Within the Wall Street Journal – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
September, 1997	Rising Star – Renee Zellweger. Marlene Dietrich’s Apartment – As She Left It, Larry King & Marriage, The Versace Murder, Gay Serial Killer, Maria Callas, Harold Ickes, Rudy Giuliani’s Double Life, Don DeLillo’s Big Book. 340 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
October, 1997	Portrait Of An Actress – Nicole Kidman. Who Killed Jonbenet Ramsey?, The Last Harrer – Author of “Seven Years in Tibet” Confronts His Nazi Past, Pol Pot’s Poison Legacy, 1905 Assassination That Shook America, Who’s Who in Washington. 382 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
November, 1997	Bill Clinton & Al Gore. The 65 Leaders Who Shape the World Today. Elton John, Athina Anassis Roussel, Seymour Hersh, America – the Last Empire by Gore Vidal. 294 pages – 3 copies	G/VG	$17.50
December, 1997	1997 Hall of Fame: Matt Damon cover. NYPD Blues – Brutality Case, Balthus and Beauty, Internet on Trial, Zippo War, Truman Capote, Chinese Gunrunners, Wall Street’s Gold Rush, Princess Diana’s Last Love. 340 pages – 3 copies	G/VG	$17.50

January, 1998	Leonardo’s Masterpiece – Leonardo DiCaprio & “Titanic”. LBJ’s War At Home, Travolta & Company in “Primary Colors”, Claudette Colbert, Ahmet Ertegun, The Death Penalty, CNN’s Tower of Power, Europe’s $2 Million Wedding	G/VG	$17.50
February, 1998	Great (Claire) Danes. Sonny Liston, The Times, Prisoner of Pennsylvania Avenue – Al Gore, Jet-Set Ivy – Brown University, Search for Holy Treasures, Spirit of the Boy Scouts, Dubious Oscar Campaigns – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
March, 1998	Madonna & Child. Special Hockey Portfolio – NHL Stars Suit Up for the Olympics, Tommy Boggs, Garner Museum Heist, Tom Ford’s Design for Living, Edith Head, David Halberstam, Secrets of the Wildensteins – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1998	Hollywood 1998 Special Issue – fold-out cover. Oscar Favorites, Living Legends, David Hockney, Louise Brooks, When Liz Taylor Met Dick Burton, The MGM Girls, Ciro’s, 1970s Films. 408 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$20.00
May, 1998	Jerry Seinfeld – Last Stand. Paris Couture, Bonnard, All the President’s Women, When Ida Tarbell Took on John D Rockefeller, Hunt for the Killer Gypsies – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
June, 1998	Lord of the Files – David Duchovny. 1968, Merv Griffin, German Assault on US Publishing, Von Trapp Family Fortune Battle, Cabaret Legends	G/VG	$17.50
	Same	Good, ex-Library	$12.50
July, 1998	Ronnie and Nancy Reagan. Monica in Malibu, Kosovo, William Shawn, Ludwig Bemelmans, Bruce Weber’s Giants of Jazz, Frank Sinatra – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
August, 1998	Chris Rock. The Wyeth Album, Ronnie and Nancy Part 2, The HMO Mess, Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan”, The House That Ate the Hamptons – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
September, 1998	Gretchen Mol. Clinton’s Private Eye, Princess Diana and the Press, Tome Wolfe Interview, j.D. Salinger’s Lolita, Laura Schlessinger, Australia, Billie Holiday, Bill Mauldin, Andre Previn. 346 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
October, 1998	Mike on Mike (Jordan). The 1998 New Establishment, Crime of the Century – The Lindbergh Kidnapping, Picasso in Vegas, My First Gulfstream, Portfolio of Space Pioneers. 352 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$20.00
November, 1998	Brad Pitt. Ken Burns on Frank Lloyd Wright, 200 Most Influential Women, Aboard Russia’s Mir Space Station, Couturier Charles James. 324 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$17.50
December, 1998	Ewan McGregor. 1998 Hall of Fame Issue. Roddy McDowall, Woody Allen, Case Against Kenneth Starr, Case Against Clinton, 50 Years of George Balanchine, Salvador Dali’s Demon Muse, Return of Terrence Malick, Brassai’s Paris Nights. 304 pages	G/VG	$17.50

January, 1999	White Hot Venus – Charlize Theron. Secrets of Susan McDougal, White House at War, Approaching Y2K Disaster, Improbably Reign of “PM” Tabloid, Havana in 1952, Café Nicholson, Joseph Fiennes, Young Guitarists	G/VG	$17.50
	Same	Good, scuffed cover	$12.50
February, 1999	Star Wars – The Force Is Back At Last – “The Phantom Menace” cast. The Clintons, George Lucas Interview, NY Village Becoming America’s Billionaire Boys Club, Deconstructing Hitler, Livent Theater Fiasco, Tabloid Decade – 2 copies	G/VG	$20.00
March, 1999	Cate Blanchett. Matthew Shepard, Bill Clinton’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, Barbara Walters, Maria Callas, 85^th Anniversary Section, NBA Style, Broadway’s X-Rated Dramas	G/VG	$15.00
April, 1999	Hollywood Issue – fold-out cover. 81 Stars, “All About Eve”, Sammy Cohn, Romanoff’s, Michael Ovitz, Modernism’s Master Builders, George Barris, Beverly Hills, Lana Turner’s Gangster Lover, Alfred Hitchcock, Hollywood’s Golden Age of Scandal. 400 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$20.00
May, 1999	Charmed Life of Natalie Portman. Impeachment Trial, Pentagon’s Dirty Secret, Death at Sea, Eudora Welty, “Sleepy Hollow”, Dick Snyder, Duke Ellington – 3 copies	G/VG	$15.00
June, 1999	Julia Roberts. Jordan’s Royal Widow, Why Palm Springs is Hot, The Monty Python Years, Brooke Astor on Modern Manners, Teen Executions, Artie Shaw, The Pinochet Affair, TheStreet.com	G/VG	$20.00
July, 1999	Will Smith’s Wild Ride. Kosovo Diary, battle for the Gucci Empire, Hemingway’s Girl, Legends of Golf – 10 Portraits, Gettysburg, Katzenberg-Eisner Trial	G/VG	$17.50
	Same	Good, cover tear	$12.50
August, 1999	Edward Norton. The Real Stanley Kubrick, Brill’s Content, Murdered Yale Coed, Inside the World of Siegfried and Roy, Patricia Duff, Four Seasons at 40, Abu-Jamal Controversy	Not Available	NA
September, 1999	Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. JFK Jr. Remembered. Du Pont Murder, Ghost of Everest, Pee-Wee Herman, Vince Lombardi. 358 pages	G/VG	$17.50
October, 1999	Ben Affleck. Billy Wilder, 1999 New Establishment, Jack Kerouac, Dorothy Parker, Hitler’s Pope, Murdoch and the Mrs., Kosovo’s Graves. 330 pages – 2 copies	G/VG	$15.00
November, 1999	Jim Carrey – The Naked Truth. Sumner Redstoone, Tom Hanks on Gary Cooper, Picasso, Norman Rockwell, Montenegro – The Next Kosovo, Sex and Fishing, Orson Welles, Ray Davies, Four Decades of Bond Girls	G/VG	$17.50
December, 1999	Meg Ryan. Hall of Fame 1999 Issue. John McCain, Rudy and Hillary, Civil War at the New York Times, Microsoft Cash-Outs, Louis Prima, WWF Stars, Hugh Hefner, Jacqueline Susann, Larry Burrows Death in Vietnam, Pauline Trigere, Miranda	G/VG	$17.50

Denzel Praises Gwyneth's Dad

Thursday, October 17, 2002

By Roger Friedman

Denzel Washington | Martha Stewart | South Park | Pinocchio

Denzel Praises Gwyneth's Dad

Oscar-winner Denzel Washington had nothing but praise last night for his old friend, Bruce Paltrow.

Paltrow, the director/writer/producer who was also the father of Gwyneth and Jake, and husband of actress Blythe Danner, succumbed to cancer two weeks ago.

But Washington, who was in New York for the GQ Awards, couldn't get over that Paltrow was gone.

"He was my producer on St. Elsewhere, and he is responsible for letting my movie career start," Washington recalled. "He let me out to do movies. I would come back to the show, but he was very good about letting me go do other projects."

Washington told me that without Paltrow's encouragement he would not have been able to make either A Soldier's Story or Cry Freedom, the mid-1980s films that established him in the business. Three years later, in 1989, he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Glory.

Paltrow's death definitely moved him. "He was a sweet guy," Denzel said.

I suppose the same could be said for Washington. He brought a table of people from his new movie, Antwone Fisher, to the elegant GQ Awards. (The proceedings were taped for NBC.) This is the movie about a man with a tortuous childhood who finally finds his way with the help of a psychiatrist. The real Antwone Fisher wrote the script that became the movie about his life. He was there last night, sitting alongside the actor who plays him in the film (Derek Luke) and the actress who is his onscreen girlfriend (the absolutely stunning Joy Bryant).

When Washington met Fisher, he was a security guard on the Sony lot. The latter told the former his story, and with the help of producer Todd Black, they worked for nine years to bring the movie to fruition. When Black looked for an unknown to play the title role, he found Luke working in the Sony gift shop.

I mean, it's a story for Hedda Hopper!

Now, Washington has directed his first feature, and the advance buzz is off the charts. Luke -- who's already picked up two new jobs as a result of Fisher -- is 28, married and about to become the most talked about breakthrough star in Hollywood. Bryant, a model with few acting credits, is so uncommonly beautiful that we should soon be seeing her in every magazine (with the exception, of course, of Vanity Fair).

The whole Antwone Fisher gang is headed to the Oscars, captained by the inimitable Denzel. Stay tuned...

Martha Stewart May Be In Good Company

Everyone wants to know who the two unnamed people were who got tipped off in the Sam Waksal/Martha Stewart case?

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Michael Schacter referred to two more people that ImClone founder Sam Waksal might have warned in advance of his company's financial problems. One of these people made $30 million by knowing that the FDA was not going to approve Waksal's cancer drug Erbitux -- and sold the stock in advance of the notice.

The other insider made $600,000.

Now Waksal-watchers are wondering who the people are, and if their names will ever surface. In court they were identified as "good friends."

Yesterday these so-called experts zeroed in on some likely suspects. Among them: New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman; Planet Hollywood founder Keith Barish and, most likely, financier Carl Icahn. It was Icahn who tried to bail ImClone out earlier this year. He is said to be the odds on favorite for the $30 million man.

Zuckerman, who attended Waksal's Christmas party last December and invited him to spend Christmas with him in Aspen before the scandal broke, has kept his distance so far from the story. Before this column called the Daily News back on June 11, the paper barely even mentioned ImClone or Stewart in its coverage. At the time, the business editor told me he didn't think ImClone was much of a story. The next day the Daily News ran a front page four color of Stewart. Since then, their coverage has dwarfed that of all other local papers.

Barish, according to his friends, "didn't think Sam knew what he was doing" and had no stock. That's the same line used by many, although Waksal's sometime date, Patricia Duff Medavoy Perelman, is said to have lost perhaps millions on ImClone stock because Waksal didn't bother to call her when he got the advance bad news. It was Duff, who's also dated Zuckerman and former New Jersey Senator Bob Torricelli, whose name was on Waksal's call logs last December 27. She was inviting him to lunch with her and her toddler daughter.

South Park Creators Pull the Strings

South Park's madcap creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have signed to do their next movie.

I must confess, when Matt told me about it the other night, I was thrilled.

"It's going to be marionettes," he said. In fact, the Paramount feature will be an ode to the great work of British puppeteer and filmmaker Gerry Anderson, the brilliant inventor of Thunderbirds, Fireball XL-5 and Supercar in the early sixties.

"The only difference of course is that it's going to be R-rated, very over the top, and no holds barred," Matt said.

Coincidentally, Stone figures in a current release right now, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. As it happens, Stone is from Littleton, Colorado.

"When we were watching everything on TV, there was one kid who ran back into the school. Of course, he was wearing a South Park T-shirt. It used to be I had to explain where I was from. Now when you say Littleton, everyone knows."

Stone is basically a fan of Moore's and likes the movie, but has problems with "the last 20 minutes."

"I thought he ruined his argument that it wasn't about guns by going to Kmart and getting the bullets taken off the shelves," he said. "I also didn't like the visit with Charlton Heston. It's hard to make Heston look sympathetic, but Moore did it. You can't help but think this is an 80-year-old man with Alzheimer's. And he looked so frail."

Pinocchio Gets His Queen

Academy Award winner Roberto Benigni's update of Pinocchio, already a smash hit in Italy, will be dubbed into English for American release.

And the first two actors who've signed up are Queen Latifah and King of Queens star Kevin James.

Miramax is planning to dub all the voices, with the exception of Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi, the director's wife and an Oscar nominee for Life is Beautiful.

The movie, which looks like it's going to be aimed at the children's market here, broke box office records in Italy when it opened last week.

Latifah, sources say, will be cast as the narrator. Other actors are being cast now. Expect other actors from the Miramax extended family to be drafted for the project.

The recordings, according to insiders, should take no more than a couple of weeks. Pinocchio opens here in December.

SEARCH

The Word

Calvin Klein

Calvin's latest controversy

Phillips-Van Heusen, the shirt-making giant that bought Calvin Klein's company two days before his fashion show in February, is putting the best face possible on yesterday's announcement that Klein is seeking treatment for substance abuse 15 years after he first underwent rehab for what he said at the time was a problem with alcohol and Valium.

Just after selling the company for $400 million — nearly $600 million less than he and partner Barry Schwartz were offered when they first tried to sell — Klein seemed to be enjoying his freedom, appearing regularly with young men in trendy restaurants like Lucky Strike and Florent. But his bizarre performance at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago, when he tried to chat up Latrell Sprewell in midgame, not only indicated he's been having a little too much fun, but stirred up old stories about his sexual and pharmaceutical proclivities.

Worse for PVH are reports that its execs were blindsided by Klein's announcement at that February show that it would be his last. "There's huge discontent on both sides," says someone privy to internal conversations at PVH. "Calvin hasn't been seen in the office in a month. They're barely talking. If he'd walked away quietly, they wouldn't have cared; it absolutely can succeed without him. But they feel he's severely compromised the trademark. I wouldn't be surprised if they seek financial redress for the damage he's caused."

Yesterday, PVH chairman Bruce Klatsky expressed sorrow over Klein's troubles, and denied both the published reports that the designer has said he was finished and the tales of a ruptured relationship. "In fact, Calvin has been more involved than I suspected he would be," Klatsky told The Word. "Everything is going better than we expected. As recently as last week, he was giving direction to the design team."

When you hit Latrell Sprewell, turn left?

Nobody's business book

Heads up, Ronald O. Perelman, you're about to get a book thrown at you. James F. Haggerty's "In the Court of Public Opinion," published this week, is a serious text on public-relations tactics by a lawyer-turned-flack who represented Patricia Duff in her child-custody fight with Revlon's pint-size potentate. Haggerty's account of that battle royal takes lots of shots at Ron the Rich.

"His daughter was no different to him than any other asset," Haggerty writes. "He wanted control."

The flack recalls Perelman arriving in court to testify with "an array of bodyguards, investigators, security personnel, and assorted hangers-on … like a visiting head of state." Then he bashes Perelman as "a paranoid, controlling dictator" out to destroy his ex with "egregious — sometimes borderline maniacal — behavior." Perelman declined comment.

Duff takes some hits, too. Haggerty says that in January 1999, the brainy blond had the billionaire suing for peace after Perelman's clumsy claim in court that he didn't need to pay more child support because he'd managed to feed their daughter — on hot dogs and chicken fingers — for a mere $3 a day.

The next day, Haggerty claims, Duff and her lawyer William Beslow came out of a meeting in the judge's chambers arguing furiously, her finger in his face. Duff had just refused a settlement Beslow had crafted that would have given her custody of her daughter and almost $30,000 a month, one of the highest support awards in history.

Duff ended up losing custody. "That she had a temper and could shoot herself in the foot wasn't news to anyone," Haggerty says. "The law was finally on her side. Unfortunately, it was alone there."

From: Nora Ephron
Subject: Fly Me to the Moon
Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999, at 9:40 AM PT

One of my thousands of favorite things about New York is how weather-proof it mostly is. How it takes a three-foot snowstorm to shut it down, and even then the subways work. But all this changed a couple of weeks ago, when there was a flash flood that shut down the city completely. Absolutely flooded the subway system. Do you know why? I do. Because they're not spending enough money keeping the drains clean. This was in the newspapers, I think, but it's one of the nice side-effects of living with a former political journalist who is an expert on all sorts of things like tertiary sewage-treatment facilities. I just heard from New York that everyone is being sent home from work at 1 o'clock today; that would never have happened but for the incident a couple of weeks ago.

So you are thinking of canceling a book signing just because no one will come? You must go. I insist.

Yesterday you wrote that the '90s don't exist as a culturally distinct decade. You are so wrong. The '90s began in around 1985, when the '70s ended. The '60s were about sex, the '70s were about drugs, and the '90s are about money. There were no '80s. They never happened. I know this: I am about to make a movie that takes place in the '80s, and when you make a list of what the '80s were, you come down to a list of what they weren't: no cell phones, no color computers, no SUVs, no botox, no Starbucks, no Web sites, no *69, etc. For the purposes of the movie, I think of the '80s as the moment just before everything that is currently happening happened.

This brings me to a thing I love to think about, especially when I fly to Los Angeles: the private plane. I didn't fly on one, I hasten to say. But I did read Vanity Fair on the plane, and if you look at their list of the New Establishment, 45 out of 50 of them have private planes or access to them. I'm sure the other five think of nothing but how to get them. There are people in Hollywood who would truly rather die than be seen flying commercial. In fact, last year one of my Hollywood friends was visiting New York and said he was going back to Los Angeles the next day. The next day I saw him and said, "I thought you were going home." "We couldn't get out," he said. Now, what he meant was not that he couldn't get a flight home--there are, as you know, dozens of flights to L.A. every day--but that he couldn't get the Warner jet. He actually stayed an extra day in New York rather than submit to the humiliation of American Airlines.

And guess what! This brings me to Ron Perelman. Yay. Or the Ron Perelmans of the world. Because if you really want to know how these guys get beautiful women to sleep with them, I'll tell you: They take them on their jets. The jet is a powerful aphrodisiac. The jet is the thing that causes the Patricia Duffs of the world to lose their minds. The jet is the thing that makes them all do the I'll-never-go-hungry-again thing. (Back to Gone With the Wind, so maybe it belongs on that list of the century's 10 best after all.) In fact, when Ron Perelman and Patricia Duff broke up, at the 1996 Democratic convention in Chicago, her friends told everyone (without irony) that one of the injustices of the breakup event was that Patricia was forced to fly commercial back to New York.

I wish you would write about private planes. Really. I could go on forever.

My ghastliest show-business moments were spent with Dustin Hoffman, but bad as they were, there were nowhere near as bad as being told you've flunked an exam you haven't flunked and being forced to go to summer school (and, as the Times notes today, being punished by your parents for flunking said exam). The story in today's paper is truly horrible: These are kids with serious self-esteem issues anyway.

By the way, in today's Los Angeles Times is an article about Kenneth Starr, who gave a speech here in which he admitted to some qualms about his career as a special prosecutor. The man is clearly looking for a job.

I have a rule about who wins the presidency, too. Mine is the person with 1) the most authenticity and 2) the biggest balls. This is why W. is so dangerous. And your remark about Jesse Ventura truly strikes fear into my heart. Although someone gave me his autobiography for my birthday, and I feel you could not possibly have read it if you believe you could pull even the smallest lever for him.

PATRICIADUFF.NET

"After Jane Fonda, who was in the 70s and early 80s actively political for her then husband Tom Hayden's career, Patricia Duff was the most high profile entertainment industry-related female political figure in Los Angeles. It was she who was instrumental in the mid-1980s in introducing Governor Bill Clinton to L. A. Democratic Party supporters and contributors ... She used her position as "Hollywood Wife" uniquely, gaining accessibility to national political, feminist and environmental figures ..."

Over the course of her career, Patricia Duff has played a vital and active role in many of the nation's most prominent organizations and political campaigns. Her work has spanned the worlds of entertainment and politics, taking her from civic and community action to the national stage. A respected activist and media consultant, Ms. Duff has lent her expertise to dozens of political races, including Mayoral, Gubernatorial and Senatorial campaigns across the country, as well as to two presidential re-election efforts.

Ms. Duff began her work in the political arena in Washington, D.C. as a staff member of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations, which was charged with re-examining the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King. During her years in the nation's capital, Ms. Duff also helped to produce a radio show for political commentator John McLaughlin, as well as coordinate Mr. McLaughlin's television appearances on Washington's WRC, the NBC-TV affiliate.

An avid interest in the political process ultimately led Ms. Duff to the insular world of campaign planning, and it wasn't long before she was sought by some of Washington's most prestigious consulting firms. She served as vice president for both Squier Eskew and Associates, and Patrick Caddell Associates, whose clients included President Jimmy Carter and Senate candidates Gary Hart, Bob Graham and Frank Lautenberg, among others. In the ensuing years, Ms. Duff would play roles in the presidential campaigns of Colorado Senator Gary Hart (1984), Vice President Walter Mondale (1984), Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis (1988) and Governor Bill Clinton (1992). She also worked for President Jimmy Carter's campaign during his bid for re-election in 1980; as well as with President Clinton, during his successful campaign for a second term in 1996.

In the 1980s, Ms. Duff moved to California and, in one of the most exciting periods of her career, was instrumental in building political activism within the entertainment industry, bridging the nation's political community with the influential power-brokers of Hollywood. She founded Show Coalition, a non-profit organization that paved the way for the entertainment community to become more involved in the political issues of the day. Ms Duff was chair of Show Coalition for nearly a decade, and a also a member of the Hollywood Women's Political Committee, which similarly helped members of the entertainment community navigate the complex landscape of the political process. By the 1992 presidential year, Show Coalition had become a fixture in Hollywood power and political circles — as well as in the nation's capital — raising awareness and fomenting action on electoral politics and a host of societal problems and political issues.

During her years in Los Angeles, Ms. Duff also served as an advocate for inner-city youth. She spearheaded the growth of Living Literature Colors United (LLCU), an organization based in Watts and South Central Los Angeles, and comprised of at-risk and disadvantaged teens. The group was established to encourage learning, responsibility and good citizenship in youngsters, through exposure to the written works of great leaders, thinkers and authors. (Director Michèle Ohayon's documentary about LLCU, "Colors Straight Up," was nominated for an Academy Award in 1998.)

Ms. Duff was selected to be Associate Producer of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, where she was involved in on-air portions of that event and other out-reach duties. Her experience and out-reach activism would lead to a variety of other activities within the party, and after moving to New York in the 1990's, these included serving on the Executive Board of the Women's Leadership Forum of Democratic National Committee, and as Finance Co-Chair for the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign in 1996. She also served as Chair of WomenVote!, a get-out-the-vote arm of the political action committee, Emily's List. WomenVote! was of critical importance in the election outcome through its groundbreaking effort to motivate women voters to the polls.

In addition to her political work, Ms. Duff is involved in a variety of public service activities. She is an active and committed Trustee for Save the Children, the 68-year-old international development and relief organization that provides basic services and care for millions of mothers and children whose lives have been upended by poverty or conflict. Ms. Duff initiated and chairs the National Women's Leadership Council, and was founding Co-Chair of Kids Helping Kids. She continues to serve on the Board of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, her alma mater.

Over the years, Ms. Duff has frequently been recognized and awarded for her outstanding contributions to civic and national concerns: She was appointed by Republican Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan to serve as Commissioner for the Los Angeles Commission for Women, and also served as Chair of the Teen Age Pregnancy Task Force under New York Governor Mario Cuomo. In 1995, President Clinton awarded her a Presidential Commission to the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board.

Ms. Duff's other titles and awards include: her selection as a "Woman of Vision" by the Women in Film organization; a Golden Bear award from the Los Angeles County Democratic Party; "Democrat of the Year" by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party; the "Citizen's Achievement Award" from New Democratic Dimensions in New York City (along with union leader Dennis Rivera); and as one of Esquire magazine's "Women We Love," for her activist work in the Hollywood community.

Other boards and councils on which Ms. Duff has served: the Library of Congress James Madison Council, National Public Radio, People for the American Way(New York), Women in Film, NARAL, Planned Parenthood and Lincoln Center Film Society. She is listed in "Who's Who in the World," "Who's Who in America" and "Who's Who in American Women."

Ms. Duff currently lives in New York with her daughter, Caleigh Sophia Perelman.

July 11, 1988, Los Angeles Herald Examiner -

The First Ladies of Hollywood

" She is at first glance, the picture of a Hollywood Wife … groomed carefully to a casual elegance … Had we found the last of a dying breed? Was this a Hollywood wife? 'I'm leaving for Atlanta…There's a lot to do.' She is the associate producer of next week's Democratic National Convention, working with the Smith-Hemion production group. She is beyond busy … This First Lady of Hollywood will be one of the most powerful women in Tinseltown if Dukakis is elected. She is major in the Hollywood Women's Political Caucus and SHOW (Coalition), political groups which have showcased the presidential hopefuls here in Southern California. She is not in Atlanta to ensure that everyone has a good time…'I won't have time to go to any of the parties.' …'Politics has been passion of mine all my life. I got it from my mother. She was a serious Kennedy Democrat.'… Medavoy, a native Californian, went to high school in Brussels at the International School. Her father, an executive with an American company, moved the family to Europe and Medavoy grew up in Bonn, Brussels and Switzerland … She has a remarkable successful home life. And she does it all with almost no assistance – no private secretary … What doe she think of the fulltime social animals in Hollywood? "Well, they may exist, those Hollywood wives.' She laughs. 'I never met one. I think now that sort of woman, an appendage of her husband, is an anachronism.' 'I honestly believe in the democratic process … You know, we really can make things happen as individuals'…"

January 1989, Self -

The Real Life of A Hollywood Wife

"Even in the late Eighties, Hollywood is a man's town… Where do the women come in? Mostly, with difficulty. Some of the most intriguing, in fact, are Hollywood wives. And wife hardly means "little woman." Witness Pat Medavoy…wife of Mike Medavoy, Orion Pictures's executive vice president… She wrote Jimmy Carter position papers… she associate-produced the Democratic National Convention…From Georgetown University she went to a job at a Congressional committee reinvestigating John F. Kennedy's death. Then to a great-American women series. On to working for pollster Pat Caddell…"

April 1989, Harper's Bazaar -

West Coast Wonder Woman

"Medavoy recently founded Show Coalition, a national political education network of entertainment industry leaders featuring policy discussions with candidates, seminars and forums on current issues. 'We're organizing the new generation of Hollywood leadership,' she says."

July 1989, Los Angeles Times Magazine Cover Story –

89 for 89 - During the Coming Year These are the Rising Young Stars to Watch in Southern California

"The editors and writers of The Times have chosen some of the brightest of Southern California's rising stars to showcase …The people profiled in the following pages already have achieved a measure of greatness in the respective fields.. but were picked because of their potential to achieve even greater fame and recognition…Patricia Duff Medavoy …the Georgetown University graduate first came west with the Hart campaign in 1984, rallying support from Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams and Rob Lowe, among others. Her work on U.S. Senate and congressional races continued to mesh Hollywood and politics. But having been associate producer of last summer's Democratic convention…"

1989, "Power Bloc" by Robert Sheer –

"… Politics in Hollywood these days is two great-looking women and one rumpled guy huddled in the corner of Hamburger Hamlet on Century Park East…plotting who deserves to become the next president of the United States…"

"… Patricia Duff Medavoy … Betsy Kenny … and Danny Goldberg … They are the driving force behind the Show Coalition, one of the star-studded liberal groups that are putting new-age politics on the national stag. Only a year old, the Show Coalition now includes Richard Dreyfuss. Robert Foxworth of Falcon Crest, Donna Mills of Knots Landing, Ed Begley, Jr. of St. Elsewhere, and directors such as Sydney Pollack and Phil Alden Robinson ... "

"' There are a lot of people whose first political involvement was the '84 Hart campaign,' says Betsy Kenny, Princeton '83, an always collected brunette …'For the people in California,' she adds, 'the Hart experience was very happy. He won the state. So this was a group that was very eager to be with Hart in '88. Once they had gotten a taste of activism, it was something they continued to do, and I think that Show Coalition came out of that.' …"

" But these leaders of Show Coalition are determined to build something more …They are serious about using their Hollywood power base, which translates into media skills as well as money and celebrity contacts. …At the moment, HWPC and Show Coalition are at the center of this new movement that aims to secure a leading role in the national liberal scene – defining and pushing such issues as peace, the environment, and women's rights rather than just rolling over for visiting west coast heavies…"

" Betsy ... 'I'm here because there's an openness to ideas and people and an intellectual ferment that's accessible to newcomers.'"

August 1990, Esquire –

Cover Story, "Women We Love," "Political Hotshot - Patricia Medavoy," "As a mogul's wife, she could just as easily take lunch at Le Dome and perfect her workout. Instead, she hot-wires L.A. to Washington, driving the entertainment community to support the homeless, the hungry, and the environment. If Hollywood has a conscience, she's it."

April 1996, Vogue

A Room of One's Own

April 13, 2003, New York Daily News –

Michael Gross' column, The Word

"A source close to Patricia Duff… takes issue with the account of the 1999 custody battle over their daughter in Duff's former PR adviser James F. Haggerty's new book ... The source points out that Haggerty describes Duff as a good person who loves her daughter and deserved custody, and denies Haggerty's claim that Duff refused a settlement proposal or an offer of custody from Perelman ... "

NewYorkSocialDiary.com -

"I was first aware of her in Los Angeles when she was married to Mike Medavoy and an activist in Democratic Party politics as well as other environmental and political issues. After Jane Fonda, who was in the 70s and early 80s actively political for her then husband Tom Hayden's career, Duff was the most high profile entertainment industry-related female political figure in Los Angeles. It was she who was instrumental in the mid-1980s in introducing Governor Bill Clinton to L. A. Democratic Party supporters and contributors. Clinton was relatively unknown in national party politics and was only one of many potential candidates and party leaders whom Duff presented to Southern California Democrats .... She quickly established herself as an independent and forceful individual in the forums she participated in. "

click here for full article

	About Last Night (1986)
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	Adventure of the Action Hunters
	Limit Up (1989)

Patricia Duff

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A New York story: different worlds for the children of the rich and the poor

By Fred Mazelis
21 September 1999

Patricia Duff

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Update information:

A New York story: different worlds for the children of the rich and the poor

By Fred Mazelis 21 September 1999

By Fred Mazelis
21 September 1999