"If you don't know Patrick you should go out more"

The above is a quip by the legendary artist Andy Warhol about popular New York based social snapper Patrick McMullan. We're happy to hear Patrick has recovered from a bout of Thyroyd Cancer as reported in the New York Post..click the link. https://pagesix.com/2022/01/18/iconic-photog-patrick-mcmullan-undergoes-cancer-surgery/

Mangling the Met

Whispers has been to three Metropolitan Museum Gala Balls. It was before Vogue's Anna Wintour took over. We once accompanied artist Andy Warhol who at the time was probably the most outrageous guest. But that was a different era in New York City were we once lived and have visited many times.
The heady days of New York in the 70s and 80s have long past as the city has picked up an homogenized "Westfield" shopping centre feel to it much like most of the Mediterranean resorts including the once exotic Morocco where fascinating cities like Tangier and Marrakesh are almost indistinguishable from Manchester or Melbourne. Every bit of local 'colour' now has a forced tourist attraction feel to it especially when you see billboards advertising Gucci or Fendi near the old souks. The days when Whispers sat alone at a tiny Marrakesh coffee shop and within an hour found ourselves invited for drinks at Yves St Laurent's magnificent house and dinner with Madame De Gaulle are long past. Now St Laurent's house is a museum.
When designer Jasper Conran opens a hotel in the old city you know the good days have finally passed.

The Greek writer Taki Theodoracopulos, an admitted snob, has ripped into the Met's Gala Ball in only the way he can. But he's spot on.

"Once upon a time, the Metropolitan Museum’s gala ball was fun. Serious social-climbing multimillionaires competed openly for the best tables and for proximity to blue-blooded socialites like C.Z. Guest and her ilk. Pat Buckley, wife of William F., ran the show with military precision, allotting the best seats to those who had paid a fortune for them, but also to those who were young and handsome and whose pockets were not as deep. I used to be a regular. Then something happened. Anna Wintour took over after Pat’s death and the party turned into a freak show no self-respecting circus would allow on its premises.

Last week the uglies were out in force, the newspapers and glossies revealing themselves as fake-news purveyors by calling the show exclusive and impossible to get an invitation to. Do the people who write such crap take the rest of us for total idiots? The Met Gala is reserved for a few D-list celebrities, fashionistas, and advertisers. Proper souls wouldn’t be caught dead on the premises, especially near the Kardashian table. The ugliness of some of the attendants assaulted one’s frontal cortex, and I only saw the photos; imagine the horrors of seeing it live. Clinging like a barnacle to the Met’s hull, Anna Wintour’s horror show diminishes a great American institution. The freak show should be staged in Times Square, in the exact spot where the peep shows of old used to be."

Ouch !

You can read the rest here.

Charles & Christa for the White House?

As Whispers was being ushered home from the rather splendid Twinnings Design Challenge the other night in leather luxury via the chauffeured Bentley of the artistic duo Charles & Christa Billich, the pair told us of their plans to visit New York in the near future. It seems Charles has an exhibition lined up at the United Nations building in the Big Apple.

Christa & Charles at the Twinnings party

The pair had also just returned from Canberra where the Cuban ambassador had laid on a splendid dinner for the pair. They have just been to Havana and were somewhat of a hit among the locals. Charles is also hoping to present US president Donald Trump with a painting . Will it be one of Charles' tasteful nudes? Perhaps one of Christa. It would surely be to The Don's taste and would make a terrific talking point if it were hung in the Oval Office. Just imagine the discussions Trump could have with the Russian ambassador!

We felt we had to warn Charles of the incident when decades ago Trump commissioned a painting from the late Andy Warhol, of his splendorous Trump Tower. Warhol duly presented the portrait of three Trump Towers in typical Warhol colours. Trump was unimpressed particularly as the picture was based on a Polaroid camera snap (as were all Andy's portraits) and besides, he wanted the tower to be gold just like everything in his palace. He refused to accept the painting or pay for it. Let's hope Charles has more luck. Just to remind folks of Charles at work we present Whispers' video taken last year at the Billich Gallery.

Patrick McMullan

Patrick McMullan is New York's, and probably the USA's most celebrated social snapper and we at the Shuttle are proud to call him a  good pal. In fact he visited Sydney to attend an exhibition organised by us a few years ago. He is a contributing editor on Vanity Fair as well as a contributor to numerous US magazines like Ocean Drive, Allure and Andy Warhol's Interview. Here he talks on Morning TV about his new exhibition of fashion personalities that has just opened at the Hearst building in Manhattan. Check out his website at www.patrickmcmullan.com

Bad News for Baz

Jay McInerney is one of America's most celebrated writers having published many best sellers including the legendary Bright Lights Big City and The Last of The Savages. Bright Lights was made into a movie in 1998 and starred Michael J.Fox. A re-make of the film is underway.

Amy Fay Collins & Jay McInerney in New York

McInerney contributes to prestigious publications like Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and does book reviews for The New York Times and the Times Literary Supplement. He's the sort of hip writer that defines the new American urbane author- sophisticated, connected, knowledgeable and in demand.

He's just contributed a piece to the UK Guardian titled : "why Gatsby is so great". It's an ode to the great F.Scott Fitzgerald and his brilliant novel The Great Gatsby. McInerney is clearly a Fitzgerald fan and enthuses over the book and the extraordinary eight hour West End play Gatz which is receiving rave reviews. He likes Gatz because it presents the book in it's entirety and he clearly loves the poetry and mastery of Fitzgerald's writings.
It seems then he would be looking forward to the upcoming Baz Luhrmann production The Great Gatsby (in glorious 3D) to be released in early 2013.
Alas, no. As Jay says:

This is just one reason why I avoided the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, with a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola. And why I will almost certainly be skipping Baz Luhrmann's film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, much as I would love to see Isla Fisher in the role of Myrtle Wilson, the floozy mistress of Gatsby'

 Read more at The Guardian here  and see Jay McInerney's website here
                                      ***************************** 

Andy Warhol once famously said of New York photographer Patrick McMullan " If you don't know Patrick you should go out more".

McMullan at work

Along with 81 year old Bill Cunningham he is a regular fixtures on the New York social, party and fashion scene. McMullan even has his own TV show and online magazine PMc Magazine. If you have party in New York and Patrick isn't there (or at least one of his snappers) it's a dud!

Sydney publicists could probably learn a few things from a night out with Patrick. There are probably three of the old guard snappers left in Sydney (Melbourne prs are far more civilised) who really know what it's all about, know the new and old faces and aren't bedazzled by the latest X Factor contestant.
The above snap of Jay McInerney is by McMullan who has worked on projects with the writer- here are a few of his latest pics from New York:

Anne Hathaway & Jim Carrey at Stella McCartney's fashion show.

Dita Von Teese

Bill Cuningham

Operation Hardcore Pawn

Les Gold

It's nearly 20 years since the joint ABC / BBC innovative production Sylvannia Waters burst onto our tele sets and the era of reality television was upon us. Week after week viewers were transfixed by the middle class Donaher family as cameras followed their every move. Surely no-one could have predicted what was to follow-from Big Brother, Survivor, Wife Swap, Changing Rooms to X-Factor-the public was hooked on cheap to make, but high rating entertainment.

Now the Shuttle hears of the latest cult hits that are screened on the new channel 7mate on Thursday evenings-Hardcore Pawn about a barn sized hock shop in a run down area of  Detroit and Operation Repo which follows the adventures of a group of Puerto Rican / Mexican auto repossession agents who ply their trade around Los Angeles.

repo gal Sonia Pizarro

Even odder, word comes that a group of well heeled Eastern Suburbs ladies are hosting weekly parties on Thursday evenings in a Point Piper mansion to watch the shows on a giant flat screen telly with waiters, catering and French champagne as up to 30 ladies thrill to the exploits of a world they know little about.

Apparently the tattooed Matt Burch (left) is a favourite along with the Pawnbroker Les Gold  and his endlessly feuding children Ashley & Seth, who deal every day with a bizarre range of clients hocking everything from a lap dancing pole, a live horse or a yellow taxi.

Last night's Repo was a gem with the no-nonsense and amply built repo agent Sonia Pizarro encountering a dominatrix and her slave who was behind in his Toyota payments. As Madam handcuffed the chap to a staircase she ordered him to hand over the car keys to Sonia who was then invited in for a bit of nookie and perhaps a light lashing. She declined.

Andy Warhol, eat your heart our or perhaps as Dame Edna Everage once said :"laugh at other's troubles and it helps to bear your own"
None of this has escaped the attention of the Double Bay society mag Latte Life which has an interview with Les Gold in it's current issue .here.

For those who were too young to enjoy the exploits of Noeline Donaher in her waterfront house at Sylvannia Waters-here is a musical interlude from the lady with her version of No Regrets:

exclusive : The Guggenheim Aussie Connection !



Peggy in Venice



Currently on show at the Art Gallery of Western Australia is A Collection In Venice-the fantastic art collection of famed US art patron Peggy Guggenheim. It's been ignored by most media except for an ABC TV story this week.

Amongst the extraordinary works that were owned by Peggy Guggenheim are pieces by Mondrian, Rothko, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollack and Marcel Duchamp.

Max Ernst

 Guggenheim inherited around $US2.5M from her grandfather Benjamin Guggenheim who died in the Titanic disaster in 1912.

After working for a time in a New York book store she moved to Paris and immersed herself in the Bohemian world of art, having numerous affairs with now famous names of the art world.

She married Max Ernst in 1941 and became pals and the patron of artists like Duchamp and Man Ray. With her wealth she promoted artists who today are legendary.

 Older Shuttler's may remember the controversial 1973 purchase of Jackson Pollack's Blue Poles . Pollack owed his reputation in the USA to Guggenheim's relentless promotion.

The newly elected Labour government of Gough Whitlam  paid $1.3M for the painting-the then highest ever price for a modern work of art. Scathing criticism lasted for years although the work, now at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra is estimated at being worth $180M .

Peggy Guggenheim eventually settled in Venice on the Grand Canal at the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1949 after divorcing Ernst where she continued her love of art collecting and along the way, indulging in love affairs with artists.

But there is one love affair that has never been written about before.

Kit Lambert with Pete Townshend from The Who

In the 1970's,  rock band manager Kit Lambert who  discovered the legendary The Who arrived in Venice to purchase his dream home. Lambert had always believed he had been conceived in Venice during a  night of passion between his mother and famous father, the English classical composer Constant Lambert.

He found his villa, ironically named Villa Lamberti next door to Guggenheim's Palazzo Venier dei Leoni . Within a year the two had become close friends and were having a torrid love affair. It lasted on  and off for over 3 years.

However Lambert  was addicted to heroin and had a fierce cocaine habit which Peggy, despite her bohemian aspirations, abhorred. Lambert was also having financial problems due to his drug intake. Peggy ended the affair one morning when she visited Lambert in his villa for breakfast.

As Lambert would later re-call, Guggenheim's parting words to Kit were-"Quite frankly, Kit, I simply cannot afford you !".

Christopher 'Kit' Lambert  who died in 1983 after a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs was the grandson of one of Australia's first and most famous artists-George Washington Lambert.

Along side Blue Poles in Canberra can be found several G.W.Lambert works and beside the driveway to Mrs Macquarie's Chair in Sydney there is a statue dedicated to him.

Peggy Guggenheim ; A Collection In Venice is at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from the 9th October 2010 to 31st January 2011

## Coming soon-the woman who turned down Andy Warhol's offer of marriage !

 *************************

Uber fashion designers and the darlings of the pop set Dolce and Gabana have been accused of a massive tax evasion scam in Italy.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, along with five other people, are accused of channeling profits through Luxembourg, paying just three per cent tax on sales royalties instead of much higher Italian taxes. As a result, the Italian treasury has allegedly been defrauded of an estimated €420m.

Read more at The First Post.

that publicist guide in full...an occasional series

Cracking the so-called social scene isn't as easy as it seems. Talent and beauty is all very well but why not take the fast track and hire a publicist. But not just any PR will do. As one of the richest woman in Australia, Lady Mary Fairfax (right) found when she bought the most expensive apartment in New York in 1990-the penthouse of the Pierre Hotel which came complete with it's own ballroom and 4 amazing terraces overlooking Central Park and the NY skyline.

Lady Mary's Sydney parties were legendary-US presidents and the British Royal family members were regulars. Lady Fairfax is the Honoury Consul for Monaco and her palatial harbourside mansion Fairwater the Consulate with Prince Rainier and Prince Albert dropping in as household guests.

She had all the qualities to crack the New York scene-she is mega-rich, a noted philanthropist, has impeccable credentials and top-notch connections and was a regular guest at the Ronald Reagan White House. But did Lady Mary hire the right PR firm ?. An expensive publicist isn't always the best and in the end you are only as good as your publicist's connections.

Whilst New York's social media was intrigued by the media mogulette from Down Under, she really needed 3 of the most connected PRs in town to infiltrate New York's snooty upper class. The Pierre apartment remained largely empty for years except for the occasional visit from Lady Mary's loyal chauffeur and his wife who acted as a part-time caretakers. In 1999, she sold it for the knock-down price of $21M to a hedge fund manager. She was asking $35M.

             *******************

Lady Mary may have done better with New York public relation's expert R.Couri Hay.

 Couri Hay is one of Andy Warhol's Factory survivors and a refugee from the legendary nightclub Studio 54 for which he was the publicist and has an amazing handle on the local media from  alternative publications to direct lines to the all-powerful Cindy Adams, Richard Johnson, and Michael Musto. Hay is an often featured commentator on diverse TV shows from Geraldo At Large to Larry King Live.

And he has the Hamptons wrapped up. If you can't make it in the Hamptons-forget New York.

clients: the Ritz Carlton Hotel, British Airways, department store Bergdof Goodman, fashion label Fendi, private eye Frank Monte, jewelers Bulgari & Harry Winston, magazine Ocean Drive and the American Ballet Theater.

coming to the screen..

The extraordinary life of the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin is to be examined in the film Model Daughter: The Caroline Byrne Story, nearing completion and due for broadcasting this year.

The telemovie concentrates on the arrest and trial of Rivkin's chauffeur and confidante, Gordon Wood who was convicted of throwing his model girlfriend Caroline Byrne over The Gap, the infamous suicide spot near the heads of Sydney Harbour in 1995.

It took investigating police over 10 years to finally charge Wood who was jailed for 17 years last December. He was arrested in Switzerland after fleeing from London where he had built up a chain of successful exercise gyms. Wood has lodged an appeal and proclaims his innocence.

Rivkin's life was highly controversial at the best of times. Born in Shanghai China, his Georgian family migrated to Sydney where Rivkin built up a $50M fortune as a financial advisor to film stars like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe and was the youngest ever member of the stock exchange.

His life began to fall apart in 2003 when he was convicted for insider trading after making a paltry $2300 profit on some Qantas shares. Friends scoffed at the time that Rivkin could easily spend that much over lunch. Many spoke of how the "establishment" was out to get Rivkin over his presumed flashy lifestyle. A gold Bentley convertible with matching worry beads, huge cigars and tendency to love appearing in gossip columns. In 2000 Rivkin hosted the media aboard his huge new cruiser with it's helicopter pad that was to be loaned to visiting stars for harbour cruises. In 1999, he played himself in the last of the US hit TV series Baywatch when 4 episodes were filmed on the northern beaches.

Gordon Wood & Carolyn Byrne

Rivkin received a 9 month periodic weekend detention sentence. His first appearance at Silverwater Correctional Centre was accompanied by a fleet of media crews as Rikvin arrived in a limousine. Despite saying after the first 2 days that he was enjoying teaching fellow inmates stock investing skills, Rivkin collapsed as he was about to leave on Monday morning. Outrage followed when it was revealed a Murdoch newspaper had supplied a mobile phone to a fellow inmate to snap Rivkin in jail with the photo splashed across front pages.

Doctors diagnosed a brain tumour and Rivkin's lawyers negotiated a deal with authorities where Rivkin would spend his entire sentence in one stretch at the Long Bay Jail psychiatric ward after an operation to remove the growth.

But Rivkin's life was about to unravel further as he heard he was being investigated over secret Swiss bank accounts. Living in his mother's Point Piper apartment, the day Rivkin's wife Gayle announced she was to divorce him, Rene killed himself with an overdose of pills in 2007. He was bankrupt-his fortune had seemingly vanished.

Finance journalist Andrew Main's bestseller Rivkin, Unauthorised: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of an Unorthodox, revealed that Rivkin had skirted on the edge of legality from the very early days of the heady 1980's when insider trading was the norm. It was inevitable that a crash was to come. Some speculated that Rene had a built-in self destructive streak, haunted by the suicide of his loved older brother.

In 1987 as Rivkin flew out from Sydney to New York to seal a deal with artist Andy Warhol to launch Rivkin's new art investment company, a message was delivered to him in first class that Warhol had died suddenly. Rivkin collapsed and had to be medicated to return home.

The film is based on Sydney Morning Herald journalist Robert Wainwright's book The Killing Of Caroline Byrne: A Journey To Justice and stars David Lyons as Wood, Tiriel Mora as Rivkin and Cariba Heine as Caroline Byrne.