Lucky Strikes Again!
Every time Selwa "Lucky " Roosevelt chairs a huge benefit, she swears she's never doing it again. The Reagan White House protocol chief said the Folger's 60th-anniversary party in 1992 was her last. Then there was the party 10 years ago welcoming Placido Domingo to Washington. Then the Domingo Millennium in 2000. And now Sunday's Washington National Opera 50th Anniversary "Golden Gala" -- really, really her last bash.
"This is it!" Roosevelt declared yesterday. "I won't have a friend left. They know every time I phone it's going to cost a lot of money."
 Lucky Roosevelt with Placido Domingo at Sunday's "Golden Gala." "This is it!" she said, claiming that she's not throwing any more parties. We'll see. (Washington National Opera) |
Roosevelt coaxed more than $4 million from pals in the "Fifty for Fifty Club" ($50,000 each) who supped at embassies Saturday night and brunched at the White House yesterday with Laura Bush. But Lucky's centerpiece was the Sunday post-concert dinner at the Kennedy Center, full of neck-craning ("Isn't that a Rothschild ?" -- don't know, too busy gawking at rarely-seen-here Patricia Kluge, Mercedes Bass and Jacqueline Mars ); jewels (newlywed Betty Scripps Harvey sporting massive diamonds); live wires (a beaming Donald Rumsfeld and Ross Perot, glued to his cellphone); fashion police (thumbs up for golden gowns on Hilda Brillembourg and Mary Ourisman ); and endless millionaires, ambassadors and tenors.
Bookies are already setting odds on Roosevelt's next last party. "Absolutely zero!" she said. "I want to write a book." We've got $5 on 2010.
Dana Buchman's Special-Ed Twin Set
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| Charlotte Farber and mom Dana Buchman did a little signing and shopping at Saks yesterday.(Roxanne Roberts - The Washington Post) |
HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?
· Attorney General Alberto Gonzales picking up lunch Sunday at the Leesburg Pike Taco Bell in Falls Church, wearing a dark suit and accompanied by a Secret Service detail. A Justice source says the trip was "at the request of his 10- and 13-year-olds."
· Wizards Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels celebrating their birthdays (26 and 31, respectively) by. . . bowling? Presumably it's cool again, if young millionaires are doing it. The players had a few lanes at D.C.'s Lucky Strike curtained off for a private party Saturday.
LOVE, ETC.
· Eloped : Actor Richard Dreyfuss , 58, and his Russian-born girlfriend, Svetlana Erokhin , 46, at the Rockingham County Courthouse in Harrisonburg, Va., Thursday, while the Oscar winner was in town to speak at JMU. Third marriage for him, second for her. The couple called ahead earlier that day to set up their afternoon nuptials, said Clerk of the Court Bonnie Simmons : "Very sweet, very personal, very quiet."
· Born: A son to Donald Tr ump and his model-turned-wife, Melania Knauss . The not-so-little guy, Barron William Trump, came into the world yesterday morning at 8 1/2 pounds, and just in time for the proud father to announce the news in calls to both the Don Imus radio show and "Live With Regis and Kelly." The Donald has four other children by his two previous wives.
THIS JUST IN . . .
· Kevin Spacey has been announced as this year's recipient of the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Will Award, to be presented at a fundraising gala in May. The award is given annually to a person who has championed classical theater. The Oscar winner, who in 1981 made his New York debut in "Henry IV, Part 1," is artistic director of London's historic Old Vic theater.
