St. Patrick’s face-lift’s coming out party December 2015 may go doublequick since His Holiness could do a New York drop-in next year.
Says spokeslady Kate Monaghan:
“Couldn’t begin restoration — despite rocks falling — until 2012 because of funding. It’s costing $180 million. The bronze altar’s cleaned, repolished. A crane removed each 9,200-pound door late one night, restored the broken pieces in Long Island City, replaced temporary doors, and they’re now back in place.
“It’s cleaning, repairing cracks, reglazing pollution-eroded outside protection of 75 stained glass windows. Retuning the organ’s 10,000 pipes. Removing inside dirt and grime. Several hundred pipes — 32 feet long, some small as your pinky — hand-carried and trucked to a New Jersey factory. Panels were placed on light tables to detect fissures.
“The cathedral cornerstone, laid 1858, finished 1879. The spires completed 1888. Sunlight once glanced through the now dirty, dark ceiling. Dust was vacuumed off before it could be cleaned. Aged pews once bright, turned dark green, were taken upstate section by section. Wood was stripped, stained, repolished.
“Condensations in cracks atop the cathedral got facials. Scrubbed with granite granules, which pull out the bad stuff, then resealed with located pieces of New York State Tuckahoe marble. They’d gotten gray. They’re now bright.
“We pray for the construction workers daily. Altar scaffolding’s down next August. People are patient about the noise. At mass time the crew stops. The Cardinal wanted no pauses in the seven daily, eight Sunday masses, not including special ones.”
Be patient
Mike Nichols, when one dress rehearsal wasn’t working: “We’ve had kinks. A turntable went wrong. The set got stuck. Things had to be hand-pulled. It took 25 minutes. A thousand people waited, but only eight left. Eventually, it’ll be brilliant. Work with nice people and things will work.”
Turkey Day tasts & traditions
Bernadette Peters specialty, ricotta cheesecake . . . Veggielover Diane von Furstenberg mainstay, sweet potato . . . Liam Neeson’s duty? Dishwashing and potato peeling . . . Aidan Quinn: “Every half hour I ask, ‘Can I help?’ then run to the TV football game and stay out of earshot” . . . LaurenceFishburne: “Once my turkey was stuffed with chestnuts. I’m allergic. I broke out in hives.”
Seen & heard
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor — no aides, no airs — lunched in the Met Museum’s Trustees Dining Room . . . AND Friday at Park Avenue Synagogue’s Sabbath services, His Eminence Cardinal Dolan. Introduced by the rabbi, he stood and spoke 10 minutes about the horrors happening in Israel and the killing of the rabbis in Jerusalem.
Bits & pieces
Auditioning for “The Homesman” film, Rick Irwin heard no parts were available to him. Seeing his tape, Tommy Lee Jones requested him for the dealer role . . . Another Le Cirque opened this week in Dubai. Sirio Maccioni and the missus went for the festivity . . . Months ago, I reported Queen Latifah abdicates TV soon. LA dummkopfs said I’m misinformed. This week they stayed mum. This week the show announced its shutdown.
Mayoral yuks
We lost DC’s one-time party animal mayor Marion Barry. Arrested for substance abuse. In rehab. I knew him and his now ex-wife well. He joked to me: “Drugs make me a crack politician.” Forgetting his ethnicity, boy, was he colorful. His other memorable line? “Outside [of] the killings, we have the lowest crime rate.”
A professor skirting Columbus Avenue’s bike lane, bus lane, car lane slowly headed for his car. A delivery boy whizzing by on a Citi Bike, which provides no helmet, slammed him. The professor hit concrete hard. Badly hurt, bleeding profusely, he ended up with a concussion specialist. The biker continued delivery.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.