D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A a wonderful experience seeing not only what this woman was, and what she did, but who she was, a rather remarkable creature whose Self was her greatest masterpiece. After the screening, I was walking with Mary Hilliard and Kenny Lane, talking about Vreeland. Because Kenny knew her well and saw her frequently over the years, he was telling us about her tendency to “embellish” stories so that it could sometimes be hard for a biographer to learn the truth. He told us of the time when Deep Throat was the big sensation and everyone was sneaking off to see it. One day, Diana and he were discussing seeing a movie together, and she asked him if he’d seen “Sore Throat.” Recognizing her reference, he asked her if she’d like to see it? She said yes. So they went. She loved it. A few weeks later, they were invited to lunch at Kitty (Mrs.
Gilbert) Miller’s apartment. (She and Vreeland lived in the same building at 550 Park Avenue.) At the lunch, they were discussing movies and Kitty Miller asked Diana what she had seen lately. Diana responded by telling Miller that she had taken another neighbor, a very proper dowager in everybody’s eyes, Mrs. Clarkson Carr, to see Deep Throat. Miller was shocked. “Mrs. Clarkson Carr went to see…?” Vreeland was delighted. Fade Out. On a Wednesday night, midmonth, I went over to Beekman Place where Janet Ruttenberg was giving a cocktail reception in honor of Gloria Vanderbilt and her new show which was opening the following night at the 1stDibs Gallery on the 10th floor of 200 Lexington: “The World of Gloria Vanderbilt: Collages, Dream Boxes, and Recent Paintings.” The selling exhibition features more than 50 works of
Gloria. This is Gloria’s first show since 2006, running through October 24th. The living room of Mrs. Ruttenberg’s apartment overlooks the brand-new Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island, which will be officially dedicated on October 17th. At 7 p.m. one evening, the sun was setting in the west, casting a golden shadow on the river and Brooklyn to the southwest. I didn’t have much time to mingle but the hour and the clear skies gave the reception a beautiful light and the guests were feeling its glow too. This included the guest of honor, who was wearing a golden yellow and looking at magical as ever. The next night was the opening gala preview party for Gloria Vanderbilt and her selling exhibition of works. The evening benefited the Huntsville Museum of Art. Gloria is an amazing per-
son to anyone who knows her as well as to the many who’ve never met her before. I was thinking of Diana Vreeland when I saw her at Janet Ruttenberg’s reception for her. Her life, the saga, while not totally “created” by her, has been lived like a play, or a movie, and she is the leading character. And a very glamorous one, at that! She’s a literary character in that way also—an exponent of the Belle Epoque who was maybe light-years ahead in the interstellar age. I have to be mindful with my adjectives about Gloria because the pleasure of her presence invites hyperbole. That’s what I mean by amazing. Her art is herself, transferred by hand and eye, as if blazing a path that says, “Gloria’s Life.” Vreeland was like that. It was her life, an original, like nothing else. The show expresses that, so get down there and take it all in. That’s Gloria; she’ll leave you
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