Jonathan Silver, Melissa Moss

Location: Melissa Moss and Jonathan Silver Residence, Georgetown

WL EXCLUSIVE- Photos by Betsy Spruill Clarke

Bountiful Fare: Investment advisor Melissa Moss and venture capitalist Jonathan Silver invited pals for margaritas, “poison apple” martinis, and other dual seasonal offerings that included Design Cuisine’s summery lobster rolls, burgers, fries and oh-so autumnal shepherd’s pies and butternut ravioli. Catch-Up Time: Guests from the political, media, and financial worlds reconnected over tales of vacations past and work projects to come. Among them: Reps. John Dingell and Henry Waxman, John Podesta, David and Katherine Bradley, and George and Liz Stevens.

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Senior editor Kevin Chaffee remembers the late Dominick Dunne

By Kevin Chaffee

Dominick Dunne, Kevin Chaffee

I was a big fan of Dominick Dunne’s right from the start of his writing career, but did not have the chance to meet him until the mid-’90s when we bumped into each other while both covering one of the Mike Tyson prize fights in Las Vegas. (It may even have been the year Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off). I told him that I had hung out with his younger son, Alex, in San Francisco some years previously, and we had a cordial chat.
We met again few years later at a Vanity Fair White House Correspondents’ Dinner after-party, but didn’t truly bond until our mutual friend, Susan Mary Alsop, invited us both to her house for drinks while Nick was in town covering the Clinton impeachment trial. I offered to drive him to his hotel afterwards, but he would have none of it. He wanted to see and be seen, take the pulse of Washington at Washington’s top celebrity watering hole.
I still remember the hubbub that ensued when he walked through the door of Cafe Milano in Georgetown. Everyone seemed to know him by sight and we spent the entire evening being interrupted by wellwishers and fans, many of whom knew him personally or had a friend who did.
Milano instantly became Nick’s Washington home-away-from-home. As our friendship grew, largely by periodic catch-up phone calls, I became his unofficial rep in the nation’s capital (despite the fact that he had far better pals here – Bill and Deeda Blair, Jane Hitchcock, and Polly Kraft among them). I took it upon myself to organize Cafe Milano parties after he published two of his books, The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of A Well Known Name-Dropper (1999) and Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments (2001).
These events required lots of work but I never minded a minute of it. Everyone wanted to be invited and both fêtes were jam-packed with grandes dames, socialites, diplomats, politicos, and journalists of every stripe. Even better than getting Nick’s list of those whom he wanted there was his list of people he didn’t want there. I may take some of those stories to the grave.
One well-known socialite actually burst into tears when she learned she was among the cordially uninvited. Others pulled every crasher’s trick in the book despite the phalanx of list-bearing gorgons at the door, including a number of people who really should have known better. In the end, Nick let them all stay. After all, they were his fans.
Both of the events were a huge success, with all the breathless press coverage and flashing cameras everywhere. I still chuckle when I recall a young photographer sheepishly asking Nick if he minded her shooting him over and over again.
“Honey,” he said with an indulgent smile, “I looove it!”
My most poignant moment with Nick came when he asked me to accompany him on a visit to the World War II Memorial. As we walked around the recently constructed monument he suddenly grew silent and I immediately sensed it would be better not to interrupt his thoughts for a while.
Later, as we sat on one of the stone benches nearby, he said he had been drafted just out of prep school at the age of 17 to fight on the European front in World War II. After a minimum of training he soon found himself armed, terrified, and charging enemy lines at the infamous Battle of the Bulge. In the midst of heavy fire he rescued a badly wounded fellow G.I. by carrying him on his back to safety. “We were both completely covered in his blood,” he said, adding somewhat sorrowfully that he was never able to find out if his comrade had survived. I was so impressed when he said that had been awarded a Bronze Star for heroism.
“You know something?” he told me in a confidential whisper. “My father never called me a sissy after that.”
Many have recounted Nick’s world-class storytelling abilities and it would be redundant to add to their efforts here. But he did recount the most amazing tales, most of which would never see print. I’ll never forget him confiding that a scion of a prominent American family wanted him dead and that he had hired private security for protection. Other asides about the peccadilloes of Hollywood stars, financial titans, and titled Eurotrash were equally astounding. I always knew a particularly juicy tidbit was on its way when he prefaced it with: “Now, this is totally off-the-record [pregnant pause with stern look] and that means NO BLABBING!”
“Of course not, Nick! You know I never repeat anything you say!”
Nick was incredibly funny and occasionally terrifying. His anger and mirth, like his loves and hates, were of equal intensity. Every moment in his company was a delight because he knew the art of making you feel as if you were the most special person he had ever met.
He was a friend of the heart, a friend of the soul. I’ll always miss him, dear, dear Nick.

Author Dominick Dunne. Image courtesy of Vanity Fair.

One thousand mourners turn out for the funeral of America’s most celebrated society chronicler

By Kevin Chaffee

New York – Dominick Dunne was my treasured friend and confidante during the last 15 years of his life, and I knew his funeral was going to be rough going. Whirlpools of fond memories flooded my mind as I sat in Manhattan’s ornate Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer on Sept. 10 waiting for the service to begin. Not even the spectacle of the rich and famous swanning into the pews could divert my thoughts from the many wonderful moments we shared.

Nick, as he was known to his friends, had meticulously scripted every detail of the ceremony long before his death from cancer on August 26: the homily and hymns, the cordon of 14 honorary pallbearers (Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter, playwright Mart Crowley, and composer Stephen Sondheim among them), the eulogists, and, of course, the list of those he wanted invited afterwards to the reception at the Union Club.

Nick loved names, so you’ll get names (in no particular order) of a mere few notables from a crowd I estimated to be nearly 1,000 strong: William McCormick Blair Jr., Jane Stanton Hitchcock, Diane von Furstenburg, Arnold Scaasi, Carl Bernstein, Richard Gere, George Stevens, George Hamilton, Uma Thurman, Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley, Mica Ertegun, Peter Duchin, Virginia Coleman, Pat Patterson, Harry Evans, Brooke Hayward, Jean Harvey Vanderbilt, Wendy Vanderbilt Lehman, Sam Peabody, Iris Love, Mimi Van Rensselaer Strong, Nancy Biddle, Casey Ribicoff, Fernanda Niven, Jamie Niven, Mort Janklow, Charlotte Ford, Marie Brenner, Reinaldo Herrera, Steven Aronson, Melinda Blinken, Boatie Boatwright, Ann Slater, Audrey Gruss, and Karen Lerner. Read the full story

Elizabeth and George Stevens with Norah O'Donnell

Photos by Tony Powell

Elizabeth and George Stevens with Norah O’Donnell  at the launch of author Joe Scarborough’s book The Last Best Hope.

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Pamela Peabody, Sylvia Ripley, and Henry von Eichel

Location: The British Ambassador’s Residence

WL EXCLUSIVE: Photos by Kyle Samperton

“DENYCE, DINNER & DIPLOMAS”: Cocktails with le tout Washington in a sublime garden, dinner with primo wines, and mezzo soprano Denyce Graves singing works by Strauss, Saint-Saëns, and Offenbach before “Habanera” from “Carmen” and multiple encores of soulful spirituals. Who could ask for more? HERE’S MORE: Capricia Marshall taking a bow as chief of protocol-designate plus an up-from-the-depths tale by Sasha Bruce House “graduate” Anthony Ross that left nary a dry eye in sight. HATS OFF TO: Liz Stevens, who proved she’s just as much of a star wrangler and event mastermind as her husband, George.

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Entering these private havens is a privilege, enjoying them a pleasure

George Stevens (left) joins his wife Liz on one of several tranquil terraces that surround their spacious Georgetown residence.

Edenic Retreat

Hidden on a small lane in Georgetown’s “East Village,” George and Liz Stevens’ exquisite garden sanctuary bids visitors welcome to its many tranquil corners – each one perfect, or nearly, after 22 years of loving care.

“I’d rather be digging than anything else,” indefatigable cultivator Liz Stevens says on a sultry spring afternoon as she contemplates another round of planting, pruning, and plucking on a quiet terrace so near and yet so far from an adjacent swimming pool and tennis court. “Whatever is blooming now, won’t be in a month,” she notes, pointing with some satisfaction to a nearby bed of all-blue aquilegia from which all white and pink interlopers have been banished

Weeping pear, American hornbeam and other stately trees shade the site amid carefully tended boxwood and flowering plants (Chinese peonies, holly, lilacs), obelisks, statues of playful cats, and even an odd edible or two – though seasonable greens are hardly a priority here. “We used to have them, but no more,” Mrs. Stevens says with a laugh. “It turned out to be the most expensive salad in the world.”

By Kevin Chaffee. Photography James R. Brantley

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Jill Biden, Judith Jamison, and Marian Robinson

Location: Kennedy Center

Photos By Kyle Samperton

MUCH TO CELEBRATE: Fifty years of the country’s pre-eminent African American dance company, another joyous performance of the classic “Revelations” by the talented troupe, and a very special new first couple in the White House. SPECIAL GUESTS: The Obamas didn’t make it into the presidential box until later in the run but Jill Biden and Marian Robinson (Michelle Obama’s mother) stayed for the show and a chat with Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison. ALSO SPOTTED: Co-chairwomen Carolyn Brody and Beatrice Welters, Michael Kahn, Polly Kraft, George and Liz Stevens, Ann Stock, Debbie Dingell, Huda and Samia Farouki, Jim Kolbe, Marc and Jacqueline Leland, John Cochran, Bill Plante, Hilary Rosen, and Sissy Yates.

Top Row: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Bob Woodward, Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry, Don Graham, Adrian and Michelle Fenty, Vice President Joseph Biden and Jill Biden. Second row: Rep. Barney Frank, Desirée Rogers, Victoria and Sen. Ted Kennedy, Valerie Jarrett, Timothy Geithner, Eric Holder and Sharon Malone, Peter Orzsag, Jane Stanton Hitchcock. Third row: Sen. Mark Warner, Alexandra Wentworth and George Stephanopolous, Justice Antonin Scalia, Elizabeth and George Stevens, Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Queen Noor, Robert Duvall, Roger Sant. Fourth row: Katharine Weymouth, Justice Stephen Breyer, Sheila Johnson, Plácido Domingo, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Amb. Pierre Vimont, Ted and Annette Lerner, Sen. Harry Reid.

Big changes are always in store when a new president takes office. The “out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new” transition of power is even more historic when a change of party occurs (check) and especially when a two-term presidency ends (double check). Barack and Michelle Obama are also younger than their predecessors (they were born at the end of the Baby Boom era; the Bushes at its very beginning), and, most relevant of all, are the first African-Americans to occupy the White House.

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President and Mrs. Obama headline an ‘Enchanted Evening’ of festivities honoring Senator Ted Kennedy

By Kevin Chaffee

Michelle Obama leads the applause for Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Sen. Ted Kennedy didn’t need a cake blazing with 77 candles to illuminate his belated birthday celebration Sunday night. There was enough electricity in the house to make the Kennedy Center visible from Mars.

The ailing Massachusetts senator and Kennedy clan patriarch got a roaring welcome and numerous ovations from his congressional colleagues, friends and family members who turned out for the star-studded “Some Enchanted Evening” musical salute in his honor. Adding further oomph was the presence of First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden alongside Kennedy and his wife, Victoria, in the Concert Hall’s presidential box.

“I’ve never seen a birthday party like this,” host Bill Cosby told the crowd after the lights dimmed. “I’ve never had this kind of money.”

The aging comedian’s vintage dental office shtick (novocaine! numbness! drills!) might or not have been just what the doctor ordered to lift spirits, but there was plenty more in store for the 2,400-strong crowd who gathered to cheer the “Lion of the Senate” on as he battles brain cancer.

Boldfaced names from the entertainment world who lauded the senior solon for his commitment to children and education included Lauren Bacall, Phyllis Newman and Frederika von Stade. Playwright Hal Prince spoke of Kennedy’s devotion to the arts and James Taylor played “Belfast to Boston” to commemorate his “doing so much to solve the problems in Ireland.” John Williams and Joseph Thalken conducted the Kennedy Center Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s “Overture” from Candide; a tap-danced version of “I’ve Got Rhythm” from Girl Crazy; “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” sung by opera star Denyce Graves; and “America the Beautiful” by jazz singer Lizz Wright.

President Barack Obama leads the cast in singing "Happy Birthday" to Sen. Kennedy. From left: Bill Cosby, Lizz Wright, Denyce Graves, and James Taylor.

Big-time Show-Stoppers of the Night: Brian Stokes Mitchell’s goose-bump-inducing “Some Enchanted Evening” and “The Impossible Dream” – said to be among the guest of honor’s favorite hits, and a supremely slinky “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” by the pulchritudinous Bernadette Peters that reminded more than one gawker of Marilyn Monroe notorious rendition of “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1963.

Biggest Laugh of the Night: Caroline Kennedy telling the audience that “I never thought I’d be in a room with so many senators” before presenting her uncle with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s “Profiles in Courage” Award.

Biggest Birthday Surprise: President Barack Obama’s 90-second cameo appearance to greet the cast and wave to the man who did so much to help him win the highest office in the land. His equally brief appearance in the presidential box included the usual smiles and handshakes plus a truly special treat when he briefly boogied in place to the gospel sounds of the NEWorks Tribute Choir.

The several hundred guests who attended the reception on the box-tier level of the Concert Hall were mostly disappointed if they hoped to greet Sen. Kennedy after the show. He remained sequestered in the presidential box alongside family and close friends with a velvet rope drawn across the closed door. “You know it’s a Kennedy party if there’s a VIP event within the VIP event,” one guest noted.

Among those spotted in the crowd were about 30 members of the U.S. Senate, two of whom were event sponsors along with their spouses (Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blum and Sen. John Kerry and Teresa Heinz) plus Sens. John McCain, Harry Reid, Christopher Dodd, Thad Cochran, Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka, Pat Roberts, Orrin Hatch, Olympia Snowe, Herb Kohl, Max Baucus, Susan Collins, Carl Levin, Frank Lautenberg, Lindsay Graham, Benjamin Cardin, Barbara Mikulski, Mark Warner, Kent Conrad, Tim Johnson, Mary Landrieu, Patrick Leahy, Joe Lieberman, and Claire McCaskill. Former Senate colleagues included James Sasser, Tom Daschle, Tom Harkin, Pete Domenici, and John Culver.

The Obama Administration was represented by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Senior Advisors David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, Budget Director Peter Orczag, White House Communications Director Ellen Moran, Domestic Policy Council chief Melody Barnes, and White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers.

Media guests included Mark Shields, Al Hunt, Chris Matthews, Christopher Wallace, Cokie Roberts, Eleanor Clift, and Wolf Blitzer.

Among the Kennedy family members present were the senator’s sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, and sister-in-law, Ethel Kennedy (both in the presidential box); his children Kara Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy Jr., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy; nieces and nephews Christopher and Victoria Lawford; Timothy, Mark, and Maria Shriver; and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Douglas Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Kennedy, Matthew Kennedy, Courtney Kennedy, and Christopher Kennedy.

Other guests included Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Adm. Michael Mullen, Gen. Colin Powell, Rep. John D. Dingell and Deborah Dingell; Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Kennedy Center Chairman Steve Schwartzman, former Kennedy Center Chairmen James Wolfensohn and James Johnson, Richard Holbrooke, Nina Auchincloss Straight, George and Liz Stevens, and William vanden Heuvel.

A Look Back at this Year’s Kennedy Center Honors Gala

By Janet Donovan

Beyoncé Knowles on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. Photo by Kyle Samperton

Ribbons, Priceless

Guests attending the glamorous 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors on December 7th may have arrived camera-ready in emeralds and diamonds, but the best decorations were worn by honorees Morgan Freeman, George Jones, Barbra Streisand, Twyla Tharp, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. Bestowed upon them the previous evening at a lavish State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the medals displayed by the six pack on the red carpet gratified the crowd of onlookers to say nothing of the celeb-starved photographers.

Four of the six honorees were sighted at George and Liz Stevens’ lavish brunch earlier that day (Streisand and Freeman passed) when a jubilant VIP crowd packed Café MoZU at the Mandarin Oriental. Ethel Kennedy, in a jovial mood, said she had every reason to be happy before pointing out that her niece, Caroline, who now emcees the Honors, would have been a good choice for the New York Senate seat once occupied by her late husband, Robert F. Kennedy, from 1965 to 1968.

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MAXINE ISAACS
The press secretary for the Mondale campaign (where she met husband Jim Johnson, who served as campaign chairman) Isaacs is still very much involved in politics and political giving. The Harvard Kennedy School lecturer wrote her dissertation on the relationship between elite and mass opinion on American foreign policy.


JIM JOHNSON
The prominent Washingtonian and former chairman of Fannie Mae, was an Obama bundler, and was involved in the VP selection process. He stepped down after questions were raised about favoritism he may have received from Countrywide Financial Corporation, though the Obama campaign staunchly defended him.


KEVIN DOWNEY
The Williams & Connolly partner with a focus on criminal and civil litigations was, like Obama, an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Previously a professor at George Washington and Georgetown law schools, Downey clerked for Judge Edward Becker, and the United States Court of Appeals before going into private practice.


SCOTT HARRIS
Managing partner of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis, Harris withdrew as a lobbyist for Microsoft and Cisco in June, but his partners still lobby. The former chief counsel for export administration at the Department of Commerce, he represents clients before the FCC, the courts, the Executive Branch, and foreign regulatory agencies.


GEORGE STEVENS
Co-Chairman of the Obama arts policy committee, the award-winning writer, director, producer and founder of the American Film Institute, has received 11 Emmys, two Peabody Awards and eight Writers Guild of America Awards for his television productions, including the Kennedy Center Honors.


ROBERT & SARAH NIXON
Bob Nixon and his wife Sarah moved to Washington from Los Angeles in 1992 to found Earth Conservation Corps, a non-profit devoted to engaging the city’s youth in efforts to cleanup the Anacostia River. Nixon has won five Emmy Awards, and was a strong supporter of Barack Obama’s throughout the campaign.


ANN JORDAN
Co-chairman of the 1996 Clinton inauguration and the first African-American to ever chair an inauguration, Ann and her husband Vernon are a formidable duo in Washington politics. Formerly a professor and social worker, Jordan is a civic leader, who champions women and minorities across the nation.


WILLIAM EACHO
Eacho made a fortune in the food distribution business in the 1990’s, and along with his wife, Donna, has been an active fundraiser in Democratic circles, bundling more than half a million dollars for Obama. Eacho is currently the CEO of Carlton Capital Group, a private wealtht management fund in the Washington area.


SUSAN EISENHOWER
Ike’s grand-daughter is an international security expert and frequent political commentator,  but the lifelong Republican recently switched her party affiliation to Independent, and passionately endorsed Obama in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.


SPENCER OVERTON
This law school prof is one of the nation’s leading experts on election law, and a frequent commentator on issues of voting rights, voter suppression, and campaign law. Overton was two classes behind Obama at Harvard Law, and has worked for the DNC, NAACP, and a few prestigious “white shoe” law firms during his career.


HOWARD GUTMAN
An original member of Obama’s national finance committee, this Williams & Connolly partner has advised Democratic candidates for president, Congress, and governor. He also went K Street on the HBO series of the same name, playing (what else?) a well-connected  Washington attorney.


WILLIAM KENNARD
This managing director at the Carlyle Group and former FCC chairman was a tech advisor to Obama’s campaign, working alongside such fellow techies as Julius Genachowski and Google’s Eric Schmidt. Obama has promised to appoint the first ever chief technology officer, part of a broader initiative to create a more efficient, transparent government.


STEWART BAINUM JR.
A former Maryland state senator and chairman of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (Comfort Inn and EconoLodge), Bainum’s father was a former plumber who opened a nursing home business and took it public in 1969. Partly, as a result, Bainum Jr. has twice made the Forbes “400” list.


TIM BROAS
This Winston & Strawn securities litigation attorney co-hosted one of the first D.C. fundraisers for Obama with fellow inner-circle allies Greg Craig and Kevin Downey. A veteran of both the Kerry and Bradley campaigns, Broas, an avid marathon runner, said recently that his claim to fame is, “that I’ve been to 74 Bruce Springsteen concerts.”


SHEILA JOHNSON
Black Entertainment Television co-founder and billionaire Sheila Johnson was one of Obama’s earliest backers, and continued hosting fundraisers for him throughout the campaign. Already a global ambassador for the non-profit CARE, there is speculation that she may be offered one of a handful of prestigious diplomatic posts in the Obama administration.


JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
A friend of Obama’s since their days at Harvard Law, this tech guru who will serve as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has Washington pundits speculating about the larger role technology will play in the new administration. Genachowski has  also served on the boards of Expedia, Hotels.com, and Ticketmaster.


Next up: Champions of the Campaign

Buffy and Bill Cafritz

Location: Fairfax Embassy Row Hotel

WL EXCLUSIVE – Photos by James R. Brantley

WELCOME HOME: “We missed it when it was gone, but now its back,” said Vernon Jordan, waxing rhapsodic about a long-missed haunt as he, his wife, Ann, and co-hosts Bill and Buffy Cafritz welcomed guests to dinner at the Jockey Club. Re-opened after 10 years with a chef poached from New York’s 21, “The Jockey” is back with soft lighting, the old red-and-white-checked tablecloths, and all the social set’s fattening favorites: crab cakes, puff potatoes, Dover sole, rack of lamb, and dessert soufflés.

THE GANG’S ALL THERE: Polly Kraft, Ben Bradlee, George and Liz Stevens, Molly Raiser, James Billington, Debbie Dingell, and Gahl Burt.

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