Hours before Westminster’s Best of Show I can’t predict but only hope the champion who wins best dog is that gorgeous insanely delicious Pekingese.
Iris Love I know forever through her friend Liz Smith. Iris told me: “Malachy, pronounced Malakye not Malakee, is from Scotland. I’ve owned him two years. My parents met on a slow boat to China, so I love Chinese dogs.
“David Fitzpatrick, who trains Pekes, had Damien, whom I adored and gave me Damien’s framed photo. It’s on my night table so last I see and first in the morning is Damien’s face.
“Then came Malachy, whom I can’t even hug. David says: ‘Stop, you’re making him too happy . . . Don’t touch, don’t play with him for fear a hair goes out of place.’ Truth is, who can care for a coat like his?
“I sneaked him some apple. With a distant look in his eye, he hid it under his bib. When David disappeared, he retrieved it, but a piece remained. Time for the ring, but he wouldn’t budge without that apple. Everyone laughed while this great trainer turned red because his dog refused to move until he got his apple.
“I love toy dogs. My dachshunds look at that face and believe he’s had some terrible car accident. They think I should have Dr. Dan Baker fix his nose.”
EVERYONE wish happy 70th to Hizzoner the Bloomberg yesterday, the day of his nativity? . . . In ’71, “Jesus Christ Superstar” opened. Handling p.r. was David Salidor. It reopens next month. On duty opening night is David’s son . . . And when seeing it or any other show, do the Theater District’s A-1 Dopo Teatro restaurant on West 44th. Food’s bellissima. So’s the service . . . Eli Manning’s one word on how the Giants won? “Confidence.”
TYPES like Edward Albee, Laura Linney, Kevin Spacey lined up to adore Edward Norton. Good. Nice. So, why?
“It’s Signature Theatre Center’s gala opening,” he said. “Frank Gehry designed our new West 42nd Street home, with café, bar, stage, bookstore, rehearsal space. Signature was my first acting group in ’94. I did Albee’s play ‘Fragments.’
“I tend to work on specific things. A cultural center’s a draw. I can’t do anything in a half-assed way. I worked on this for years. Like Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Met to see Degas’ career, a film festival for Scorsese, this art form reveres playwriting.”
“A history major, I always wanted to be a spy. So I’m an actor who’s an activist. My interest is the environment. I was a board member championing the High Line. I’m into affordable housing. For two years, I’ve been UN Ambassador in Central Africa highlighting issues, translating data and threats of ecosystem collapse into succinct narratives. Help’s needed in telling such harsh stories well.”
And what about earning a living?
“My Wes Anderson movie ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ with Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman is out May 25. I play a Scoutmaster. Having been a Cub Scout, I know about that. And I just finished the next chapter of that ongoing ‘Bourne Legacy’ story.”
SO, anyone hear about the dyslexic rabbi who stubbed his toe and shouted, “Yo vey!”?
HOLLYWOOD keeps moving east. So many stars living here, filming here, that we’re out of facilities to feed the need. Kaufman, Silvercup, Steiner, Chelsea Piers, etc., fill up.
Other cities offer tax breaks so a few piddling movies shoot there, but Toronto can’t sub for any Bronx back lot. Doesn’t even sniff like the Grand Concourse. Everyone wants here because nothing cuts New York’s locations, urbanity, faces, rhythm. Even funeral homes are renting their chapels for parties.
HBO’s “The Corrections” with Anthony Hopkins and Ewan McGregor, filming on West 16th between Sixth and Seventh, disturbed residents because heavy rain was created for a scene. Craft services eased the situation with invitations to their lunch of coconut shrimp, kale salad, couscous and veggie wraps.
Now, as the limo flies, Brooklyn’s old historic Navy Yard with 100,000-square-foot, five full-service, state of the art sound stages, 15 acres, 1,000 parking spaces right over the Williamsburg Bridge with catering and commissaries — which even does weddings and bar mitzvahs, which has green rooms, dressing rooms, wardrobe rooms, screening rooms — is expanding. Steiner Studios, largest facility outside Hollywood, is building two more sound stages.
WALDORF’s men’s room. Bruce Littlefield tells of a user who accidentally dropped a dollar in the toilet. The dropper then asked a nearby user to borrow a $10 bill because “I’m ashamed to say I’d stoop so low to retrieve a dollar. Sounds better if it’s 10 bucks.” The askee refused, saying, “I don’t even know you.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.