“I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt. It was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night.” – Ella Fitzgerald
She smoked, she drank, she sometimes dressed like a guy and romanced girls, but no one every rocked furs and jewels with more worldly allure and (‘don’t mess with me fellas, it’s not my first time at the rodeo’) authority than Marlene Dietrich. Remembering glamour when it was a weapon and s show of strength in a world gone mad on the brink of war.
“If she had nothing more than her voice she could break your heart with it. But she has that beautiful body and the timeless lovliness of her face. It makes no difference how she breaks your heart if she is there to mend it.” Ernest Hemingway
“She has the bearing of a man; the characters she plays love power and wear trousers. Marlene’s masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men.” -Kenneth Tynan
“Marlene – with the unambiguous allure of the woman of yesterday and the ambiguous charm of the woman of today who has man not only about her but also within her.”-Hanna Schygulla
“Miss Dietrich is the first female star for years with whom Paris society has fallen in love. Apparently she is also the first woman in man’s clothing since Christina of Sweden about three hundred years ago on whom the government has again cast a watchful eye.” Janet Flanner
“My favorite thing in the world is women. There have been basically only two women who interested me. One I was married to–Allegra Kent. The other was Marilyn Monroe. I had no way of knowing what her demons were.”–Bert Stern
Bert Stern, Original Madman, Trailer
It takes one to know one. Ad man George Lois, the self-proclaimed real Don Draper, and an iconc cultural force of his own, described Bert Stern as a “cultural provocateur”. And yes, it’s possible for a website to be a creative triumph with graphics. music and content almost equal to the genius of its subject, (and the subject of an acclaimed 2011 documentary),the great American photographer Bert Stern. Be sure to click on the gallery for more Stern:
Marilyn’s Last Interview. 1962, just days before her death at age 36. Note, her real voice is not the breathy, seductive MM voice that was her on-screen trademark.
998 Fifth, $27.2 Million Originally offered at $45 Million
111 East 70th, $27.2 Million. And if you need to borrow some Grey Poupon from a wealthy neighbor, Woody Allen and The Missus (Soon -Yi Previn) live next door.
15 Central Park West. $23.25 Million The owners paid $10.8 Million in 2008.
Those with lots of loot to park, are parking some of it here–as prices and marquee buildings rose to dizzying heights in 2012. The New York Observer reports:
“The beginning of 2012 started with a closing, the most spectacular closing this city had ever seen: Russian fertilizer king Dmitry Rybolovlev spent $88 million on Sandy Weill’s 15 Central Park West penthouse. Of course, the question on the real estate community’s lips back then was what Mr. Rybolovlev’s
15 Central Park West, $88 Million
buy could mean. Was it just a weird one-off—a tycoon trying to hide funds in the midst of a divorce—or something more? Did we dare to dream that it might be the opening salvo in a trophy hunt?
Indeed, it was. In the months that followed, some of the world’s wealthiest individuals made it clear that they had money to burn and wanted to spend it on New York real estate. Super sales bloomed with the spring flowers. Steve Wynn spent $70 million for a 10,882-square-foot penthouse at the Ritz Carlton
Surprise, the buyer of this understated Ritz Carlton apt is from Las Vegas. Steve Wynn paid $70 million.
Penthouse At The Plaza, $25.9 Million, Asking $33.5 Million
Co-ops also had a stunning year, setting record highs not once, but twice (for $52.5 million, then six months later for $54 million), proving that the trophy phenomenon wasn’t just running on foreign fuel. Even if co-op prices do continue to lag behind their park-side, board-less brethren. As one broker said of the 730 Park penthouse, which sold for $39 million: “If Russians could have bought the apartment, it would have sold for much, much more.”
Will the gold rush continue in 2013? Will grotesquely wealthy individuals continue to flood the city, tallying wraparound terraces and wood-burning fireplaces, touting
973 Fifth, Sandford White Gilded Age Mansion. 15,225 square ft, $42 Million
double-height living rooms and converted ballrooms, debating the merits of tony duplexes versus sprawling floor-throughs? No one knows for sure, but Extell, Macklowe and the Zeckendorfs are certainly counting on the dream that if you continue to build ultra-luxurious condos, the billionaires will continue to come.”–NY Observer
When the penthouse at 18 Gramercy closes shortly for $42 million, it will set a new condo sales record for downtown. The property, developed by the superstar dream team of Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf and Robert A. M Stern (think 15 Central Park West) is the former Evangeline Parkside residence for women built by the Salvation Army in 1927. The straight-laced former SRO is decidedly sexier now with only seventeen 4.500 sq. ft. residences (plus penthouse and maisonette). And yes, men will be allowed above the lobby floor for the first time since 1927.
Not for the shy or anyone seriously worried about fiscal cliffs, Chanel’s Boy Collection Bags are as embellished as it gets.
British polo player Arthur Boy Capel was Coco’s lover and first fashion muse, and she famously stole the best of his dashing Aristo-Brit Boy Capel style for the girls she would dress on her way to inventing modern fashion.
How Karl Lagerfeld gets from Boy’s impeccable country Downton Abbey-era tweeds to the most conspicuously Chanel bags ever, is a mystery. (Ornate country house, perhaps?) But that’s why he’s Karl Lagerfeld and I’m not.
Mrs. Harris with Annette Bening, Phillip Kingsley HBO 2005 (VIDEO):
Jean Harris, 89, died yesterday at an assisted living facility in Conn. The posh private school headmistress with a swanky pedigree became a feminist icon and the subject of forensic speculation (and two movies) after shooting her lover, Westchester diet doctor Herman Tarnower in a jealous rage. She claimed to have planned suicide, not murder, and Gov. Cuomo’s dad Mario commuted her sentence in 1992.
From NY Magazine, 1980… “And add to Agatha Christie pinches of Cheever and John O’Hara. Consider the venues: Shaker Heights, Cleveland; Grosse Point, Michigan; Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia; a smart girls’ schools in Virginia; and Westchester County. Was ever a crime of passion more fashionably suburban than this?”…NY Magazine, 1980
During the co-op blitz of the 1980’s, one bedroom apts. were offered to insiders (tenants in residence) for about $40,000 in postwar white brick buildings. Market value was about $80.000 even then.
Cover notes: 1980 was also the year that NYC landlords starting rocking the town with co-op conversions or, as NY mag put it, The Co-Oping Blitz: A 16 Page Survival Guide. It’s hard to fathom now, but not every rent regulated insider wanted to buy their apartment. The average discounted price for a “luxury” White Brick Building one bedroom then was $40,000 ( market value $80,000), so landlords had to give substantial price incentives (and often financing) to successfully convert.
It was also the year that Richard Gere’s American Gigolo style put Giorgio Armani on America’s fashion radar. Yes, we’ve all gotten older but Gere is still gorgeous. Can’t say the same about the good doctor. Oy! But gotta ask…who’s Gere’s plastic surgeon? Thirty three years after Gigolo, Gere is still a major hunk and dressing Italian. This time it’s Brioni.
French cops seize counterfeit bags. In France, it is not only illegal to sell the bags, it is illegal to buy or wear them.
New York’s Chinatown Counterfeit Bag Display
ICE.gov press release December 14, 201
“WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), law enforcement agencies from Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania and the United Kingdom, and the European Police Office (Europol) seized 132 domain names today that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online to unsuspecting consumers.
The 132 domain names seized are part of Project Cyber Monday 3 and Project Transatlantic. These websites were set up to dupe consumers into unknowingly buying counterfeit goods as part of the holiday shopping season. The operation was coordinated by the ICE HSI-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) in Washington, D.C.
This is the third year that the IPR Center has targeted websites selling counterfeit products online in conjunction with Cyber Monday. An iteration of Operation In Our Sites (IOS), Cyber Monday 3 seized 101 websites and yielded one arrest. Additionally, recognizing the global nature of Internet crime, this year the IPR Center partnered with Europol, who, through its member countries, executed coordinated seizures of foreign-based top-level domains such as .eu, .be, .dk, .fr, .ro and .uk. This effort is titled Project Transatlantic and resulted in 31 domain name seizures.
“This operation is a great example of the tremendous cooperation between ICE and our international partners at the IPR Center,” said ICE Director John Morton. “Our partnerships enable us to go after criminals who are duping unsuspecting shoppers all over the world. This is not an American problem, it is a global one and it is a fight we must win.”
The IPR Center and Europol received leads from various trademark holders regarding the infringing websites. Those leads were disseminated to eight investigating HSI field offices in Baltimore, Buffalo, Denver, El Paso, Newark, San Antonio, San Diego and Ventura (Calif.) and to the investigating Europol member countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania and the United Kingdom.
“Europol became a member of the IPR Center this year and I am glad to be able to announce these operational successes,” said Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol. “IPR theft is not a harmless and victimless crime. It can cause serious health and safety risks and it undermines our economy.”
The domain names seized are now in the custody of the governments involved in these operations. Visitors typing those domain names into their Web browsers will now find a banner that notifies them of the seizure and educates them about the federal crime of willful copyright infringement.
In addition to the domain name seizures, officials identified PayPal accounts utilized by the infringing websites. Proceeds received through the identified PayPal accounts, in excess of $175,000, are currently being targeted for seizure by the investigating HSI field offices.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the opportunity to work closely with HSI to shut down criminals targeting our customers and our brand just as the holiday season takes off,” said Tod Cohen, vice president and deputy general counsel of Government Relations for eBay Inc. “PayPal and eBay Inc. pride ourselves in going above and beyond in the fight against the illegal online trafficking of counterfeit goods by partnering with law enforcement and rights owners globally, and we hope that this is fair warning to criminals that the Internet is not a safe place to try and sell fake goods.”
During this operation, federal law enforcement officers made undercover purchases of a host of products; including professional sports jerseys, DVD sets, and a variety of clothing, jewelry and luxury goods from online retailers who were suspected of selling counterfeit products. If the copyright holders confirmed that the purchased products were counterfeit or otherwise illegal, seizure orders for the domain names of the websites that sold these goods were obtained from federal magistrate judges.
IOS is a sustained law enforcement initiative that began more than two years ago to protect consumers by targeting the sale of counterfeit merchandise on the Internet. The 101 domain names seized under Project Cyber Monday 3 bring the total number of IOS domain names seized to 1,630 since the operation began in June 2010. Since that time, the seizure banner has received more than 110 million individual views.
Of the 1,529 previous domain names seized, 684 have now been forfeited to the U.S. government. The federal forfeiture process affords individuals who have an interest in seized domain names a period of time after a “Notice of Seizure” to file a petition with a federal court and additional time after a “Notice of Forfeiture” to contest the forfeiture. If no petitions or claims are filed, the domain names become the property of the U.S. government. Additionally, a public service announcement, launched in April 2011, is linked from the seizure banner on each of the 684 forfeited websites.
The banner and video educate the public about the criminal consequences of trafficking in counterfeit goods and the economic impact that crime has on the U.S. and global economies.
U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Districts of Maryland, Colorado, New Jersey, Southern District of California, Central District of California, Western District of New York and the Western District of Texas issued the warrants for the seizures. Significant assistance was provided by the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
The IPR Center is one of the U.S. government’s key weapons in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy. Working in close coordination with the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property, the IPR Center uses the expertise of its 21 member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions, and conduct investigations related to IP theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public’s health and safety, the U.S. economy and the war fighters.
To report IP theft or to learn more about the IPR Center, visit www.IPRCenter.gov..
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423 or complete our tip form.”–ICE (U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement)
Earlier this month, Coach shut down 600 websites selling fake Coach bags and other accessories and was awarded $257 million in an online counterfeiting case–the largest amount of money to be won in a counterfeit lawsuit.
One of the lead fighters in the war against counterfeits, Comite Colbert, is starting a poster campaign in French airports aimed at dissuading travelers from purchasing fake goods
Anti-Counterfeiting Poster Warning Displayed in Airports
. Comite Colbert groups together 75 French luxury creators, including Dior, Cartier, and Remy Martin.
“You can call your lawyer with this telephone,” reads one of the posters, above a picture of a counterfeit Chanel mobile phone.
France’s anti-counterfeit legislation is the strictest in the world, with severe laws and severe punishments to match. Even owning a counterfeit product has been considered a crime in France since 1994.
Another poster warns travelers of the consequences of owning fake goods: “In France you can be fined up to 300,000 euros and jailed for three years.”
Cult status aside, at the fin de la jour, an Hermes Birkin is an expensive, ladylike tote with little flash factor other than the cash required to buy it. Yes, it’s a great work bag and travel bag, but so are these at an average of 1/5 of the $10,000 Birkin price tag for most of the leather totes. Exotic skins obviously cost more.
front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night.” – Ella Fitzgerald
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