Vanity Fair articles from October 2008

Vanity Fair archives from October 2008

From The Jazz Age To Our Age.(Editorial)
October 1, 2008... Byline: --GRAYDON CARTER In that fertile first quarter of the last century, when the old was not yet old, and the new was not yet new, the incubator for what would become the modern age was stirring with activity. For starters, there were...

A Question Of Torture.
October 1, 2008... Hitchens's heroics; a layman's guide to the Bear Stearns debacle; sad for Hillary; missed photo op; Donald Duck becomes her; and more Here's the thing: Christopher Hitchens did not submit to a brutal waterboarding session ["Believe Me,...

More From The V.F. Mailbag.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2008... 'It never ceases to amaze me just how out of touch with reality you are." That got our attention--it's the same earful we get almost daily from Mrs. Mailbag. The letter, from Michael V. Marinello in Seattle, takes V.F. to task for running...

Postscript.(Daniel Wildenstein's family and art collections )
October 1, 2008... Byline: --JESSICA FLINT In March 1998, VANITY FAIR contributing editor Suzanna Andrews reported on Daniel Wildenstein, arguably the richest and most powerful art dealer in the world ("Bitter Spoils"). The obsessively secretive 80-year-old,...

Fanfair.(Brief article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON BELL OCTOBER 2008 31 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF THE CULTURE WAITING IN THE WINGS Billy Elliot: The Musical opens October 16 at the Imperial Theatre, on Broadway. Pictured here, Billy (Trent Kowalik) and...

October: The Cultural Divide.(Brief article)(Calendar)
October 1, 2008... Peyton Place The "Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton" exhibition opens at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art, presenting the first American survey of her vivid portraits. (10/8-1/11) 9 The inaugural New York City Wine and Food...

Hot Type: Elissa Schappell.(book titles)
October 1, 2008... Cast back to the fall of Rome: a political dynasty pillages the economy, enslaves the common folk, and plays "war" with real soldiers. Don't times like these, Cintra Wilson hilariously asks, demand a leader like Caligula for President?...

Poet's Corner.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --ELISSA SCHAPPELL Edmund White--celebrated critic, novelist, and biographer of Jean Genet and Marcel Proust--now turns his considerable talents toward Arthur Rimbaud (Atlas), the literary enfant terrible who, at a mere 17, became...

Leaps And Bounds.(Billy Elliot: The Musical )
October 1, 2008... Byline: --A. M. HOMES BILLY ELLIOT'S BROADWAY DEBUT When Billy Elliot: The Musical opens on Broadway this month, three young actors, David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish, will make their debuts (in rotation) in the title...

Cast Of Characters.(Waverly Inn & Garden)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: --JONATHAN KELLY ED SOREL'S GREENWICH VILLAGE BOHEMIANS The Waverly Inn & Garden's nightly guest list of Hollywood stars, prominent authors and editors, and muckety-mucks has made reservations as difficult to come by as...

Flying Aces.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --EDWARD HELMORE ROCKET RACING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY The decal on the wing says, ROCKET FUEL ONLY; the pilot has ridden the space shuttle into orbit three times; and when this vehicle flies, a brilliant plume of flame flares out...

Visual Vortex.(coffee table books)
October 1, 2008... GLOSSY IMAGES FROM ROCK 'N' ROLL, FASHION, AND CELEBRITY, BOUND FOR YOUR COFFEE TABLE CAPTION(S): Robert Downey Jr., Little Devil I, by Matthew Rolston. MATTHEW ROLSTON The retro glamour of Warhol protege Matthew Rolston's images of...

My Stuff.
October 1, 2008... Byline: Stacey Bendet Eisner In just five years, sassy 29-year-old fashion designer Stacey Bendet Eisner has earned a legion of fans with her Alice & Olivia label, which has grossed more than $50 million. With multiple stores in L.A.,...

Pimping Mao's Ride.
October 1, 2008... Byline: TEXT AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRUCE McCALL CHINESE CARS: NO LONGER A JOKE Isn't there something, well, oxymoronic about the phrase "Chinese cars"? O.K., gunpowder; but technology and China haven't exactly been synonymous since...

Wesleyan's Entertaining Class.(Wesleyan University)
October 1, 2008... THIS TINY CONNECTICUT UNIVERSITY, WITH A TOTAL ENROLLMENT OF 2,700, HAS TURNED OUT A SHOCKINGLY DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF HOLLYWOOD MOVERS AND SHAKERS. HEREWITH, SOME OF THE MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED . . . RICK NICITA, '67 MOST LIKELY TO...

Keira's Royal Pain.(Keira Knightley )(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: --BRUCE HANDY YOU THINK IT'S EASY BEING A DUCHESS? Like any first-rank movie star--and she's becoming one-- Keira Knightley keeps a toe or two in the present even when she's lacing up the bodices. Her contemporary shimmer, that...

Night-Table Reading.
October 1, 2008... Kelly Ripa CO-HOST, LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY*****The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan (Voice) "I just started reading this book, which is about being a parent, yet a child at the same time. Corrigan's memoir focuses on the complexity of...

Nothing Sacred.(Bill Maher's Religulous)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: --GRAHAM FULLER BILL MAHER'S PASSION PROJECT B ill Maher has frequently criticized organized religion as a source of social ills. Now, in the documentary Religulous, the arch-provocateur travels to the capitals of the world's...

Boucheron Bouquet.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --SUNHEE GRINNELL AN EXQUISITE ANNIVERSARY FRAGRANCE Frederic Boucheron and his craftsmen arrived at 26 Place Vendome in 1893, and the luxury-jewelry purveyor has been skillfully setting rare gems into precious metal ever...

Wardrobe Of Scents.(Lisa Hoffman Variations Fragrance Collection)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: --JESSICA FLINT L isa Hoffman has always loved fragrances, but, like most of us, she could never find a scent that transitioned well from morning to night. About two years ago, she explains, "I came up with this idea for a...

Hot Looks.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --LAURA KATZENBERG Shiseido The Makeup Perfect Smoothing Compact Foundation will keep your skin moist, protected, and flawless for hours.... Chanel introduces Beige, created by master perfumer Jacques Polge with Christopher...

Fair Ground.
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY HANNAH THOMSON OCTOBER 2008 AROUND THE WORLD, ONE PARTY AT A TIME MOSCOW MOMENT, PAGE 190. Dasha Zhukova welcomes guests to a private soire in honor of her new exhibition space, the Garage Center for...

Gallery Of Guests.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHNNIE SHAND KYDD For the pre-opening of Dasha Zhukova's new art space, drawings by Konstantin Melnikov and Vladimir Shukhov were on display, as was Pulse Spiral, an installation by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. A...

Rooftop Rendezvous.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... OTHER GUESTS INCLUDED Eva Amurri, Rashida Jones, Ludacris, Paula Patton, Jennifer Todd, and Emma Roberts. CAPTION(S): Emmanuelle Chriqui, Malin Akerman, and Marley Shelton Katherine Ross and Michael Govan Amy Adams Angie...

Bridgehampton Benefit.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... OTHER GUESTS INCLUDED Peter Morton, Daphne Guinness, Sam Shahid, Isabel Rattazzi, and Paul Wilmot. CAPTION(S): Meredith Ostrom and Chiara Trento Dr. Anna Chapman Francisco Costa and Astrid Muoz Bruce Weber Ross Bleckner...

Little Big Screen.
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JACQUES DEL CONTE Across the board--from The Sopranos and Weeds to Bones and the C.S.I. franchise--television is eating the movies' lunch: Dialogue that's fast, mordant, and elliptical. Data-rich, layered,...

Tuesdays With Rupert.
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY ANNIE LEIBOVITZ Since buying The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch has talked freely with the author about his business, his family, and the future. (There was serious gossip, too.) It's an unparalleled look at the...

Return To The Valley Of Death.
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY SEBASTIAN JUNGER PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM HETHERINGTON With the Pentagon requesting $20 billion more for Afghanistan, and American casualties mounting there, the author rejoins the men of Battle Company at their Korengal Valley...

The New Establishment 2008: The VANITY FAIR 100: Leaders Of The Information Age.
October 1, 2008... CONTENTS THE NEW ESTABLISHMENT: Our annual power ranking P. 248 THE NEXT ESTABLISHMENT: 47 on the verge P. 254 THE GO-TO GANG: Advisers, agents, lawyers, and studio heads P. 264 LIFE MEMBERSHIP: Moguls with permanent status P....

The Next Establishment.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --JESSICA FLINT AND MATT PRESSMAN The likely heirs--in some cases, literally--to New Establishment power, the Nexters are working their generation's hot spots, from music sharing to fashion to eco-ventures ROBERT ALLBRITTON...

The Go-To Gang.
October 1, 2008... The must-see lawyers, agents, and studio heads for any deal worth doing, whether big-time merger, big-budget movie, or big-bucks divorce AGENCIES CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY STAR AGENTS: Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd, Richard Lovett. STAR...

Life Membership.
October 1, 2008... Some power is permanent. The first to be inducted into the New Establishment Hall of Fame, these 18 players have changed the game CHRIS BLACKWELL Island Outpost The Island Records founder is re-deploying his music millions to build a...

Five Degrees Of Jean Pigozzi.
October 1, 2008... Byline: COMPILED BY CAITLIN McNARY AND ADRIENNE GAFFNEY Different as they are, every member in the New Establishment has one thing in common with one another: a connection to Jean Pigozzi. Here's the ubiquitous art collector's network,...

The Pit Stop.
October 1, 2008... Even the most talented operators are subject to the whims of popular taste and angry bosses. We expect these moguls to remain forces into the future EDGAR BRONFMAN JR. (last year: not included) His Warner Music Group managed to grab an...

The V.F. Century.(Vanity Fair)
October 1, 2008... With the publication of VANITY FAIR, The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images, and a touring show that opens this month at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS charts the magazine's omnivorous yet discriminating...

All Is Vanities . . . Nothing Is Fair: Vanities.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: KRISTA SMITH PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHEW ROLSTON OCTOBER 2008 Mila Kunis AGE: 25. PROVENANCE: The former Soviet Union, from which her family relocated in 1991 to a quiet little town in California called Hollywood. BECAME...

Rock Journalist Hero.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --DAVE ITZKOFF THE VIDEO GAME for Transmogrify inarticulate responses from lithe idiot savants into passably meaningful comments! Compress your think piece into a 25-word capsule review for an ever shrinking print...

That Was Then And This Is Now.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Ovoid tissue boxes*****GREAT LEAP FORWARD FOR HUMANKIND*****Concentrated "2x" liquid laundry detergent Turtle*****ADORABLE ENTOURAGE MEMBER*****"Body man" Reggie Love Showgirls*****NEO-KITSCH CLASSIC*****W. The big heirloom...

In Character... Starring David Schwimmer.(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: WRITTEN, DIRECTED, AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY HOWARD SCHATZ You're the last New England Patriot left in the locker room on February 3, 2008, knowing that the chance of a lifetime has been missed. You're a young entomologist on a...

The Coaster Correspondence.
October 1, 2008... MORE OF THE VERY EXPENSIVE WORDS OF Edwin John Coaster, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR VANITY FAIR EDWARD J. MENICHESCHI VICE PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER August 12, 2008 Graydon: As you know, I live my life in pursuit of two major...

Richbook.
October 1, 2008... Byline: --ANDREW HEARST View Photos of Rupert (113) Networks: Oxford Alum '53 Order of St. Gregory the Great The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Relationship Status: Sharing Bank Accounts with Wendi Deng Birthday: ...

Frontispiece.(current events)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL ROBERTS O is for October, back on a roll. O is for openings and orchestra seats--and outfits to die for. O is for early Oscar buzz, often unwarranted. O is for Obama and McCain going mano a mano, and for Jim...

The Things She Left Behind.
October 1, 2008... The tragic 1962 overdose . . . two filing cabinets holding many of her secrets: keys to the mystery that was Marilyn Monroe. As her estate battles for control of her image, SAM KASHNER describes the cache's revelations--papers, furs, jewelry,...

Dead Soul.
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY ST�%PHANE LAVOU�% Chosen as Russia's next leader by Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, in 1999, Vladimir Putin appeared to be a blank slate on which his supporters, his country, and the world could write their...

Letting Herself Go.(Selma Blair)(Interview)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: PHOTOGRAPH BY NORMAN JEAN ROY JIM WINDOLF After a topsy-turvy decade in film that started with a lesbian kiss in the sharp teen comedy Cruel Intentions, Selma Blair had some big-time success this past summer with Hellboy II: The...

The Battle For Mrs. Astor.
October 1, 2008... From being queen of New York society and one of her century's great philanthropists, Brooke Astor became America's most prominent case of alleged elder abuse. With her son, Anthony Marshall, expected to stand trial this winter on financial...

The Follieri Charade.
October 1, 2008... Raffaello Follieri had the love of Hollywood princess Anne Hathaway, the illusion of a Vatican imprimatur, an investment partnership with billionaire Ron Burkle, and entree to Bill Clinton's inner circle. It wasn't enough for him. Now that the...

If You Liked Nixon . . .(Richard Nixon)('W.')(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: TODD S. PURDUM PHOTOGRAPH BY NIGEL PARRY He has taken on the darkest aspects of American politics in JFK and Nixon, and plumbed the horrors of war in Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon. So Oliver Stone may be just the director...

Credits.
October 1, 2008... ON THE COVER Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Bert Stern at the Hotel Bel-Air, in Los Angeles. Known as the "last sitting," the historic shoot took place just weeks before her tragic death, in 1962. This month, V.F. uncovers an extensive...

Michael Bloomberg.(Interview)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: ILLUSTRATION BY RISKO The 108th mayor of New York City has never shied from controversy--banning smoking from restaurants and bars, switching his political affiliation, and re-awakening City Hall. Here, the self-made mogul and...

I'll Take Manhattan.(New York)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY PUNCH HUTTON, with contributions by Lindsey Keenan. ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN HESHKA From SOHO SHOPPING and CENTRAL PARK STROLLS to CHELSEA GALLERIES and BROADWAY SHOWS-- a delightful mix of CULTURE, DINING, INDULGING, and LATE-NIGHT...

Checking In.
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY PUNCH HUTTON, with contributions by Lindsey Keenan. Our Favorite Boutique Hotels The Mark Hotel, on East 77th Street, is also on our list, but it doesn't open until November. Hotel***** The MERCER 147 Mercer St....

Where To Get Pampered.(Directory)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY PUNCH HUTTON, with contributions by Lindsey Keenan. From re-sculpting facials and detox body wraps to blissful foot rubs and Turkish baths HAIR and GROOMING BLOW Uptown: 843 Lexington Ave., 212-452-0246; Downtown: 342 W....

Restaurants.(Directory)(Brief article)
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY PUNCH HUTTON, with contributions by Lindsey Keenan. Our favorite new-ish Restaurants with a few classics peppered in STEAK STRIP HOUSE 13 E. 12th St., 212-328-0000. GASTROPUB THE SPOTTED PIG 314 W. 11th St.,...

Museums, Broadway, Ballet, And All That Jazz.(Calendar)
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY PUNCH HUTTON, with contributions by Lindsey Keenan. BROADWAY BILLY ELLIOT IMPERIAL THEATRE 249 W. 45th St., opens November 13. EQUUS BROADHURST THEATRE 235 W. 44th St., opens September 25. THE SEAGULL WALTER KERR...

Time And Money: How To Spend It.(Directory)
October 1, 2008... Byline: BY PUNCH HUTTON, with contributions by Lindsey Keenan. DOWNTOWN You can get a haircut at the old-fashioned barbershop and get fitted for a hand-tailored suit at FREEMANS SPORTING CLUB. Afterward, tuck into a corner table for...