Another stage for Barry
After working on this project two decades Barry Manilow’s finally getting his show on Broadway. “Harmony.” Barrymore Theatre.
At the box office periodically the cast sings and Manilow himself is behind the window hustling tickets. One Boston lady waited on line two days. Previews are coming soon. Opening night — Nov. 13.
Our city of crime & grime
THE daily lousy news. Last week, 2 p.m., gray-haired lady walking alone east side of Madison, between 72nd and 71st, past Ralph Lauren’s and a long-standing church.
Right in front, broad daylight, she was mugged. Passersby ran after him. Caught, grabbed him. This is what NYC lives have become? Gun targets? Robbery targets? Knife-wielding targets? Tax targets? Rat targets?
Once Mayor Koch declared NYC a “sanctuary.” Mayor Giuliani, who enlivened Koch’s invitation, now claims Democrats have made NYC hospitable to immigrants. Koch and Giuliani set this pattern.
Solution: Remember DeSantis saying he’s humane and taking immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard? Winter’s coming. Cruel to send immigrants to the frozen north. He could fund a bus cavalcade to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida. Costs less than housing and feeding them shipped in from Texas — and spares them sleeping on New York’s freezing streets.
More in the peelitical world. I don’t know NJ’s Sen. Menendez personally. I only know the wife has custom shmattas, professionally blonded hair, good manicures, expensive necklaces, bracelets, earrings, nice purses. It’s all I know.
Appealing celebs
LAWYER Mark Geragos — clients include Winona Ryder, Michael Jackson, Colin Kaepernick, Jussie Smollett, Clinton’s brother Roger. I asked why many attorneys are now in the can.
MG: “When the feds set sights on you, the conviction rate is astronomical. High 90s. Few withstand such scrutiny.”
He believe all a client tells him? “No. Round 3 they touch the truth. Too embarrassing or mortifying earlier so they shade things until a third round.”
Jussie Smollett? “Nothing was compelling in their evidence against him.” Winona Ryder? “The supposed shoplifting case of the century. Some minor charge.” Kaepernick? “A lightning rod. I couldn’t be more impressed with him.” Michael Jackson? “I told him straight out pay me full freight, tax and service charge. Then you’ll cry only once. I did that with Michael and he paid me.”
One thing with Geragos. Absolutely no client was ever guilty.
Calling to mind
REMEMBER when life was easier, before area codes like 212, 718, 646, when phone numbers had names like: Plaza, Gramercy, Columbus, Beekman, Ludlow, Melrose, Endicott, Trafalgar, Murray Hill, and we actually had an operator?
And when we could squeeze into restaurants like Tudor City Steakhouse who this week fed Slovenia’s and Bosnia’s presidents plus Bahamas’ prime minister, while uptown Elvis Sumberac of Canaletto’s fed such a load of UN VIPs that cars had to park blocks away?
WHILE the UN cluttered the city, this ambassador asked where his wife, who came home late, had gone. She said: “I was with my secretary.” He said: “Not possible. Because I was with your secretary.”
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.