Anyone Who's Anyone
Page 14
EK:
Yes, so what are you asking me?
GW:
It seems that Ms. Kitt is almost fanatical about her jogging and her stretching.
EK:
No, I’m not fanatical about anything. I just believe in keeping myself physically fit.
GW:
Eartha Kitt can be haughty; she can be aloof, as cold as ice, and that’s when she is being pleasant. She is not an easy person to warm up to.
EK:
Yes, because I don’t like wallowing in a lot of nonsense, and people meandering up to me because of who I am.
GW:
Like it or not, Eartha Kitt will go to her grave being described as a “sex kitten.” In your new book, you say, “A great meal can bring on a desire for sex.” For Ms. Kitt, a green salad with vinegar-and-olive-oil dressing is enough to make her horny.
EK:
It’s enough to make you horny if you like what you’re eating.
GW:
She even considers a baked potato an aphrodisiac.
EK:
Did I say that?
GW:
Yes.
EK:
A baked sweet potato.
GW:
Isn’t it one of your best kept secrets that you had sex with Orson Welles circa 1950?
EK:
I never had sex with Orson Welles. I played opposite him in his production of Dr. Faustus, as Helen of Troy. It was a working situation and nothing else.
GW:
Another interesting revelation from your new book is that you like to walk around your house naked, even outdoors.
EK:
Yes, it’s true, because I like the fresh air breathing on my body. And I like the feeling of being rejuvenated through the auspices of the gods.
GW:
Tell me about January 18, 1968: the White House luncheon you probably wish you had never gone to.
EK:
I’m glad I did go to it. I was asked to give my opinions about the problems among the young people at the time, and getting involved with the Vietnam War. And when I raised my hand and was given the floor by Mrs. Johnson, that is what I told her.
GW:
You expressed your opposition to the war, which upset the FBI and CIA, and got you blacklisted for years. Where did you gather the strength and courage to move on, knowing in your heart you didn’t do anything wrong?
EK:
That I didn’t do anything wrong—that gave me the strength. Parents still thank me for helping to stop the war.
GW:
Do you ever have any regrets for not having a significant other for any lengthy period of time? You were married once, but for only five years.
EK:
Once was enough. And I have the most beautiful child from that marriage. So whatever the marriage was like, I was tremendously rewarded for that.
GW:
Of your more than thirty albums, which is the definitive Eartha Kitt?
EK:
Eartha Kitt at the Plaza—that’s my favorite.
GW:
You’ve met some remarkable minds in your time, including Albert Einstein.
EK:
I was going down a list of orphanages that I give money to. Every year I close my eyes and I go down the line with my finger, and where it stops is the one I give the money to. It happened that that year I wanted to meet Dr. Einstein. Everybody told me it was impossible. But as I was writing the check to this orphanage, I asked if there was anybody there who could introduce me to Dr. Einstein. It so happened that the mistress of the orphanage knew his secretary, and that’s how I got to meet him. And I went to see him in Princeton and had tea with him. I think it was December 11, 1954.
GW:
And what was your first impression?
EK:
It was as if I had known him all my life. We talked about American musical theater and German theater. He was wearing a gray Mickey Mouse T-shirt, and his hair was sticking out as if he had just put his finger in an electric plug. I remember he spoke German to me standing at the top of the stairs—“Why does such a young person want to meet such an old man like me?”
GW:
You have said that if someone gave you a diamond you would probably hock it.
EK:
I probably would because I like land better. To hold on to material things is an aberration.
PRINCE FEDERICO PIGNATELLI DELLA LEONESSA
JANUARY 2017
Prince Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa is one of the most important icons of the fashion industry. Most fashionistas do not realize that because he is not one to toot his own horn. But trust me when I say that he has been one of the genius visionaries of the business of fashion for twenty years and counting. He is the mastermind behind what I like to refer to as “the Paramount studios of the fashion industry”: Pier 59 Studios. It remains the best and largest fashion studio and hub of photography in the world.
Prince Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa will be the first to tell you that since he founded Pier 59 Studios in 1993, “We have housed and hosted more than 50,000 photo shoots. Designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Balmain, Valentino, and Victoria’s Secret have created their international fashion campaigns here.”
In 2016 he photographed and produced The Great Beauty, a gorgeous compilation of his own provocative photography, “to reflect my passion as an admirer and collector of the art of photography,” Pignatelli said.
GW:
Tell me about this bold, new venture for the Pier 59 brand and the model agency you are creating called Industry Management.
FP:
We feel this is a natural progression for Pier 59 Studios. The idea is to now also represent emerging photographers and discovering new model talent and have that element now part of this nexus of talent discovery.
GW:
Whenever I meet anyone with truly exemplary and truly exquisite style, I tend to pass that off to good breeding. In this instance, GW could not be more on point.
FP:
Yes, it is a fact that my Italian family is quite old and dates back more than eleven hundred years. It is a family that has its root in the southern part of Italy, Naples, Sicily. A family very much connected to the Vatican throughout its history. Yes, one of my ancestors in 1692 became Pope Innocenzo XII. We have also had four cardinals in our family—so, a rich history with the Catholic Church.
GW:
How did a descendant of a Pope end up here, ruling New York City?
FP:
Ruling New York City?
GW:
Well, ruling the whirl of fashion and being a visionary and a maverick.
FP:
Well, I cannot say that I am ruling anything, but I try to do my best in being a part of this beautiful world of fashion and creativity in photography. I came to New York City to first pursue a career in investment banking and I left that to develop this Pier 59, which today remains the largest photo studio complex in the world here in New York City, still the capital of photography, creativity, and fashion.
GW:
I tell people that you are “the Agnelli of the fashion business”—your incredible style and rakish charm and the fact that you have created what I consider a fashion masterpiece with your Pier 59 Studios. Think of it before you had the vision to develop this part of New York City—west Chelsea was nothing but a run-down, derelict, abandoned part of town. Before there was the chic Meatpacking District, before there was any Chelsea Arts District, Pignatelli came in and resurrected an entire neighborhood.
FP:
Well, in fact I knew Gianni Agnelli, aka “The Avocato,” who was indeed a very charismatic and wonderful person with an incredible sense of humor and who was indeed extremely Italian and elegant. So that is very much a compliment. Thank you. But, it is all about having a vision and sometimes that vision may be nothing more than intuition. I knew this building, this whole complex had a lot of history. This was the passenger cruise ship termin
al in the early days for famous cruise liners crossing the Atlantic. So I decided in 1992 to revive this complex and reinvent it for a new century.
GW:
You mentioned the words intuition and instinct, which are two incredible gifts of any true visionary. So here we are twenty years later, Pier 59 Studios is still considered the premier destination for the world’s leading photographers, fashion editors, videographers, supermodels, etc.—I was just here recently having lunch with you and was just mesmerized that seemingly every current supermodel in the world was parading back and forth. For Pier 59 to continue to have that sustainability and that longevity is in itself an incredible achievement. And so we must celebrate these twenty-one years of your vision in 2017. Pier 59 Studios is where the magic happens and you ought to be very proud of this achievement.
FP:
Well, I feel honored that the important folk of fashion continue to share in this passion of mine. This is a place where I have devoted all my heart into creating a place where photographers and artists of all types can continue to express themselves.
GW:
Talk about your fabulous book: The Great Beauty.
FP:
I had the idea of taking eleven models to the former Italian villa of Paul Getty and creating this book to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the studio. I wanted that piece of Italy to be part of the celebration. We took an entire crew and spent six days there, thirty-five people in all with the view of creating something special. So the book is my celebration of beauty and architecture and art and fashion.
GW:
Would you consider Pier 59 to be the most technologically advanced photo studio in the world?
FP:
It is definitely the largest studio complex in the world and we are extremely technologically advanced, but one can never say we are the most technologically advanced because technology advances so fast that it is in continuous evolution. But we always do our very best to be at the cutting edge of that cycle—absolutely.
GW:
Recall some of the more memorable moments at Pier 59.
FP:
There have been so many moments. I can remember the volcano being built for a Britney Spears album cover shoot; or the perfect replica of the Oval Office of the White House for another shoot; or Peter Beard shooting with an elephant on another occasion. We have had many scenarios—models with tigers and all that. We constantly challenge ourselves to make sure whatever the request, whatever the imagination—that we can meet their demands.
GW:
And I consider the commissary at Pier 59 just the very best. Not even Condé Nast or Goldman Sachs has a chicer, more exclusive commissary than the one at Pier 59.
FP:
We take great pride in everything here, including the food.
JACKIE COLLINS
JULY 2008
It was the night of September 19, 2015, at precisely 11:51 p.m., when I walked into Omar’s and the boîte’s legendary maître d’ and conspiracy theorist, Clifton “Querelle” Turner, first told me that my friend Jackie Collins had died. I looked at him, as he stroked his muskrat scruff that he considers a goatee, and laughed, thinking it was another one of his conspiracy theories. But it was true. It was shocking because only twelve days before, Jackie and I emailed, and I told her I couldn’t wait for her to host my book party in Beverly Hills. She was fearless, stoic, and a woman of immense strength till the very end.
I will never forget the first time I met her. It was over lunch at Le Cirque. We sat at the best table in the restaurant and spent the next three hours having the most fun-filled tête-à-tête ever! I remember, too, that the scent she wore that day was as intoxicating as she was, this real housewife of Hollywood. “It is a mishmash of Christian Dior’s Poison” were her precise words to me. And what a career! The prolific novelist has penned more than thirty books that have sold in excess of five hundred million copies. Lunch at Le Cirque was a rollicking affair filled with great mirth and gossip—quite unforgettable. The notoriously private queen of raunch fiction had no choice but to rip aside the veil covering her private life—but only for GW!
GW:
Hi, darling!
JC:
How are you, my sweetheart? We should be sitting in some fabulous restaurant having a highly expensive lunch. Discussing everybody and everything.
GW:
I tell everyone that the most memorable lunch I’ve ever had was in the company of Jackie Collins. We had the most rollicking time. Have you been thinking about me?
JC:
I think about you every morning.
GW:
Yeah, right. You are on your toes, honey. In the morning you think of me as you slab a pound of La Mer wrinkle cream all over your haggard face.
JC:
I don’t like La Mer. The other one, the Swiss one—what’s it called? It’s in a blue pot.
GW:
Is it true you write all of your books in longhand?
JC:
I do, sweetheart, and I still do, and then I have them all leather-bound at the end, which I love.
GW:
How many months does it usually take to tap out one of these steamy Jackie Collins novels?
JC:
It takes me about nine months. It’s like having a baby. Then you want to go out and give it a good start in life.
GW:
I read a chapter of your new one and I wanted to have an angina. The book opens as the character looks at her nude image in a full-length mirror—readying herself for a $30,000-an-hour sexual encounter with a fifty-year-old.
JC:
It’s totally based on truth.
GW:
A Jackie Collins novel knows no bounds.
JC:
Then the character of Caroline came to mind because of what goes on in Washington with the politicians, who are actually more randy than actors. I remember being at a dinner before Clinton was elected and one of his aides was there and he said to me, “He’s going to be a great president, but we have one problem.” I said, “What problem is that?” He said, “The zipper problem.” I couldn’t make that up. And it turned out to be the zipper problem.
GW:
You’re now almost seventy-two years old. Are you still fucking?
JC:
Whenever I want to.
GW:
Men are always fucking, so I assume you still are.
JC:
Well, of course, aren’t you?
GW:
Honey, I haven’t got laid in so long, I need to go back to Russia. I heard you were giving head to the boys’ wrestling coach in his office.
JC:
I didn’t have any boys at school, unfortunately. I wish I had. I should have gone to school in America. It was an all-girls school.
GW:
Any bouts of lesbiana in your past? Can you give me a little hint, if it’s going to be in your memoir?
JC:
Well, I did go to an all-girls school. Need I say more?
GW:
Well, all of her stories are about the incredible, edible labia. So I assume now that Jackie Collins has dabbled in forbidden fruit!
JC:
Honey, I’ve dabbled in everything. Are you on Twitter?
GW:
Nope. Twitter’s like Clint Eastwood—it’s for twits. Why does GW have the distinct feel that you and your sister, Joan Collins, are hardly close?
JC:
That is so ridiculous. She was just here. She buys the English papers when she’s here and sends them over to me every day. That’s how close we are. She’s great. I love my sister. When you have two powerful women and they’re both successful, the media love the fact that they can create some kind of controversy between them. But she’s coming to me for Christmas. I shall cook Christmas lunch for twenty-three people. When I built my house, I built a huge kitchen just for Christmas lunch.
GW:
Who would have thought that Jackie Collins is the moth
er of three kids? That in itself is shocking. What do they do?
JC:
One of them is a writer. She writes children’s books. The other two work with children. They like to stay out of the limelight. They’re not Hollywood kids. They’re never those kids who are, “Here’s a photo session of me and Mummy,” forget about that. They have their own personalities.
GW:
The first time I met your sister, Joan, she insisted I meet her at a Starbucks on Fifty-seventh Street.
JC:
That doesn’t sound like her at all!
GW:
I couldn’t believe it! Sure enough, she strolled into that Starbucks in a slate-gray Giorgio Armani suit that afternoon and no one batted an eye.
JC:
I love it. That’s New York. You know I wrote the original book The Stud, and she starred in the movie playing Fontaine. She was amazing in the movie. Naked on a swing!
GW:
How do you keep writer’s block at bay?
JC:
I don’t ever have writer’s block—I have “getting to the desk block,” which is a whole different thing. You get up in the morning and you think, I really should get to my desk immediately. But first I shall walk the dog, I shall go to the fridge, I shall make eggs for breakfast—not that I eat breakfast, I don’t—do this, that, and the other, make ten phone calls, and then once I’m at my desk I just start writing and it flows. I love creating characters. I grew up reading Dickens and Harold Robbins.