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Frank DiGiacomo

Oscars at War: A Somber Party, A Gentler Glitz

Near midnight, Pacific time, on March 23, actor Ryan O’Neal pulled Dr. Ruth Westheimer close to him at the Vanity Fair Oscar party and began to dance. Disheveled in an earth-toned suit, Mr. O’Neal hunched over the petite sex therapist as he swept around a small dance floor of his own making that was bordered Read More

Puff Daddy’s Black and White Ball ’98

Sean (Puffy) Combs was on the phone from a yacht in the Bahamas, and he was laughing.

“When Penny Marshall comes to my joints, she gets buck wild!” Mr. Combs said with admiration in his polite voice. “Every time she comes to one of my parties, she gets … ” he paused, then continued excitedly, Read More

Puff Daddy’s Black and White Ball ’98

Sean (Puffy) Combs was on the phone from a yacht in the Bahamas, and he was laughing. “When Penny Marshall comes to my joints, she gets buck wild!” Mr. Combs said with admiration in his polite voice. “Every time she comes to one of my parties, she gets … ” he paused, then continued excitedly, Read More

New York’s Got What Johnnie Cochran Wants

Johnnie Cochran had finished his speech and returned to his seat next to the Haitian immigrant Abner Louima when the Rev. Al Sharpton began one of the call-and-response routines that he often uses to pump up a crowd. Earlier in the evening, he had trundled out a well-worn “No justice, no peace.” But this time, Read More

Harvey’s Big Gangs Bang

I’ve cringed a lot for Martin Scorsese over the last few weeks, but his March 3 appearance on The Tonight Show was particularly tough. Mr. Scorsese looked weary as he attempted to explain his epic movie to the eerily quiet California crowd. And Jay Leno’s vapid and patronizing interview only made things worse. “You feel Read More

Harvey’s Big Gangs Bang

I’ve cringed a lot for Martin Scorsese over the last few weeks, but his March 3 appearance on The Tonight Show was particularly tough. Mr. Scorsese looked weary as he attempted to explain his epic movie to the eerily quiet California crowd. And Jay Leno’s vapid and patronizing interview only made things worse. “You feel Read More

Why Have a Night Like This In times Like These?’

Just weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Friars Club warily proceeded with its planned roast of Hugh Hefner, which included a classic telling of ‘The Aristocrats’ joke. The result? As Frank DiGiacomo reported, the laughter humanized an inhuman time.

On Saturday, Sept. 29, Freddie Roman, the dean of New York’s Friars Club, Read More

Why Have a Night Like This In times Like These?’

Just weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Friars Club warily proceeded with its planned roast of Hugh Hefner, which included a classic telling of ‘The Aristocrats’ joke. The result? As Frank DiGiacomo reported, the laughter humanized an inhuman time. On Saturday, Sept. 29, Freddie Roman, the dean of New York’s Friars Read More

The Week In Music

Hear Paul Bryan , Handcuff King (The BatsIsHappy Records). The songs on this debut CD work like recombinant DNA: After just a few spins, they'll sound as if you've been playing the album for years instead of days. Mr. Bryan-a San Pedro, Calif. native who now lives in New York-is a bassist, singer and longtime Read More

Andrea Jaffe Redux

In the aftermath of Tom Cruise's decision to leave his publicist of 14 years, PMK/HBH's Pat Kingsley, some movie-industry Kremlinologists find it interesting that Andrea Jaffe is getting back into show business.

Back in the 80's and early 90's, Ms. Jaffe-the sister of producer and former Paramount Communications chief executive Stanley Jaffe and daughter of the Read More

Tom’s Risky Business

For an actor whose best performances have come from playing vulnerable men-think Jerry Maguire , Magnolia 's Frank T.J. Mackey, the dick-swinging motivational speaker with father issues, or Vanilla Sky 's disfigured playboy, David Aames-Tom Cruise has consistently presented himself on the stage of public perception as a pretty impregnable guy. Whether he was flashing Read More

Hush, Hush, Sweet Trendette

If you've endured a few rounds of the Teflon niceties that count for cocktail-party conversation these days, you might suspect that New York is moving toward a more sensual social culture where, increasingly, words don't matter. If you had attended the party that Dior Homme's chief creative director, Hedi (sounds like "Eddie") Slimane, threw in Read More

Shill Bill, Vol. 1

In terms of concrete information, Bill Clinton's memoirs are a pretty hazy subject right now. His publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, which reportedly paid between $10 million and $12 million for the book, has yet to release information about a title, a print run or even a publication date. Though a source close to the former Read More

The Bling of Comedy

In one of the backstage hospitality rooms of the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Chris Rock sat on an ass-battered couch, arms folded tightly, and talked about the ambition in his "Black Ambition" tour.

"I want to have it so tight that it works in front of every audience: rich, poor, a strip club and the Read More