Gossip Central

The Doctor is In: Three on a Couch, Caroline's, 21, Gonzo 7

“3 on a Couch,” Carl Djerassi's comedy now in production at SoHo Playhouse, could be presented heavily philosophical, or light and slapstick. At a recent pre play dinner at Ama, Djerassi-who is Viennese and who in a previous life as a chemist invented the pill, (yes, that pill)-- told me, his theatrical work is influenced by Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter, so he would have liked to see his play of ideas performed with a pinch of gravitas. He finds it mildly irksome that the director went more for the funny bone. As a result of Elena Araoz's efforts, though, sight gags and pratfalls convey the hilarious illogic of a man who fakes his own suicide, the brilliance of a woman who insists upon the uses of the mango fork, and the elastic Bill Irwin-type body of the doctor who treats them. I hope Dr. Djerassi won't mind my critique: his play best brings to mind Beckett's tragicomedy, “Waiting for Godot.”
     And speaking of laughs there were quite a few at Caroline's Comedy Club for the annual benefit for Autism Research when Audrey Flack and her Art Officials took the stage singing and strumming an original composition on the lives of Jackson Pollock and Caravaggio accompanied by banjos. Flack, a New York artist famous for her painting and sculpture knows from whence she speaks and it helped that she had a straight man (as in foil), a suit from the Smithsonian, Charles Duncan, to play off her smart lyrics.
    21 hosted a breakfast in celebration of a new book on the subject of men's aging. How timely! The early diners, many of them over sixty, definitely sexy, smartly dressed, and decidedly successful feasted on superb scrambled eggs and bacon-although some cautiously opted for granola-- while Dr. Robert Schwalbe explained his reasons for writing “Sixty, Sexy, and Successful: A Guide for Aging Male Baby Boomers.” He was noticing certain trends in men coming into his psychoanalytic practice. A handsome 64, he was also seeing some signs in himself. The smart crowd did not miss the nuance, as the doctor limned symptoms reminiscent of the bewildering case of our former governor Eliot Spitzer. The diagnosis: He could have used this book.
    And finally, in this election frenzy, a documentary on the life and times of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson will be released on the 4th of July. “Gonzo,” directed by Alex Gibney, this year's Oscar winner for “Taxi to the Dark Side,” arrives just in time to remind us what real American patriotism is all about. The provocative film, narrated by Johnny Depp who starred in the movie of Thompson's “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” on the writer and inventor of Gonzo journalism who committed suicide in 2005, will inspire some thought about how Dr. Thompson might now be kicking butt with his in your face writing, that is, if he were in

Dr.Regina Weinreich 

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The invitation to the special screening of a new documentary about Roman Polanski had the imprimatur of 20 directors in solidarity with the exiled Oscar winning director, and then a disclaimer, that the filmmakers, on location, would not be on hand at the Paris Theater. Nevertheless, I spotted Sidney Lumet, Julian Schnabel, Alex Gibney, Taylor Hackford, Barry Levinson, Bennett Miller, Bob Balaban, Lasse Hallstrom, and a slew of actors: Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Emmy Rossum, Leelee Sobieski, Gretchen Mol, Julianna Margulies, Lena Olin, for the screening, some staying on for the buffet supper at the newly refurbished Plaza Hotel. It was like the old days, when the Plaza was a haven for fictitious little girls like Eloise, and for movie premieres of the most lavish sort: beef, bass, grilled chicken and veggies fit for kings. Carlos, my waiter, who had worked there for 25 years seemed pleased with lobby level luxury shops, saying that during the renovation, new rooms had been created, pockets of space no one had thought about now gave way to conference rooms on the 4th floor. But I digress.
     Marina Zenovich's  riveting “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" will air on HBO on June 9, and will be shown in theaters thereafter distributed by Mark Urman's ThinkFilm. Reading the papers, Zenovich came upon a story about Polanski's trial for raping a 13 year old in 1977, and thereafter fleeing the country. What is wrong with this picture, she thought and set about finding out. The resulting film uses provocative archival footage and interviews to trace Polanski's life in Hollywood, his unabashed obsession with young girls, the tragic circumstances of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate's murder by the Manson clan, the eerie echoes in his films, his Holocaust back story-mostly investigating the legal matters surrounding the trial, marked by a tricky judge who was out to get the infamous director. The result fascinates, not only in illuminating Polanski as a brilliant and charismatic character but as a revelation of our justice system. Polanski remains wanted in America, and desired in Pariswhere he resides with Emmanuelle Seigner, his wife for 18 years, and two children. Seigner starred most recently in Schnabel's “Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and in “Lou Reed's Berlin,” a hit at the recent Tribeca Film Festival. Though some of the hosting directors were not feasting at the Plaza, the girl in question was, her mother and husband in tow. Now Samantha Geimer (45) lives happily in Hawaii, having settled with Polanski out of court. Her mother Susan, conspicuously not in the film, was the proverbial elephant in the room dwarfing even the grandeur of the Plaza; you wanted to shake her while she glowingly invited everyone to visit in Kuaui.  How she could leave a 13 year old child alone with Polanski remains a mystery, leaving all the celebrity and media moms at the premiere asking, what is wrong with this picture?

Regina Weinreich            

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura