Remembrance of Parties Past
A social columnist reflects on two decades of black ties, canapes and Afflecks.
Photos by Eric Antoniou
Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Damon and Casey and Ben Affleck at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston for the American Repertory Theater’s Spring Gala.
This was shortly after Good Will Hunting, when Affleck (or was it Damon?) was dating Gwyneth Paltrow. We’re still years away from Gigli and “Bennifer.” Gladiator, for which Phoenix earned an Oscar nomination, was released the day after these photos
were taken.
Credit: courtesy of the American Repertory Theater
Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the American Heart Association’s annual Boston Heart Ball. Everyone involved was thrilled to have him there, except me. A few days before the event, I was informed that he’d be starting the evening’s program, and I would speak immediately after. Not exactly the guy you want to follow. It required a stiff bourbon and several Xanax.
Back in the early 1990s, Bryan Rafanelli was just the local go-to guy for glam events. Now he’s done Chelsea Clinton’s wedding and the Obamas’ first state dinner.
Mark Wahlberg was still Marky Mark to most of his fans when he hosted the premiere of his Planet of the Apes reboot at a local club. I seem to recall someone asking him about his underwear ads. Certainly no one who saw the movie that night though, “Oscar-potential.”
Yolanda Cellucci demonstrates the flamboyant hats that are de rigeur at two enduring and visually stunning parties: the Party in the Park and the Rose Garden Party. They’re also, for practical purposes, the two parties where it’s physically impossible to do anything but air-kiss.
Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s first home run was Dumb & Dumber, and by the time they premiered There’s Something About Mary, they’d begun to bring some of the biggest names in Hollywood to their native Providence. Here at the Woonsocket premiere is Woody Harrelson (Bobby Farrelly’s roommate in the days before they made it big).
Also there: a pre-Fockers Ben Stiller and his father, Jerry.
Not pictured: Providence mayor-turned-inmate Buddy Cianci.
Bobby Farrelly with Matt Dillon at the after-party held at the Providence Biltmore Hotel.
Doctor and reverend Gloria White-Hammond, and her husband, the reverend Ray Hammond, at Steppin’ Out, the fund-raiser for the Dimock Community Health Center that’s attracted headliners like Natalie Cole and Roberta Flack.
Guests proceed through the cloisters at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Gala, one of the only social events in Boston considered important enough by The New York Times to merit coverage in its Society column.
The New Kids on the Block, reunited last year at a benefit for Mass. Eye and Ear. Shortly after, they went on tour with the Backstreet Boys and scored the merit badge of a lifetime by playing a sold-out show at Fenway Park.
Billionaire financial types like Jim Pallotta assure that Big Night, the annual fund-raiser for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mass. Bay, is one of Boston’s most over-the-top parties. Entertainers have included everyone from Blondie to Ziggy Marley, and everyone wears a costume. It’s the closest Boston’s social scene gets to a true bacchanal.
The Institute of Contemporary Art has thrown some of Boston’s funkiest parties. At left, a getup from the short-lived trend of serving food on the skirts of costumed waitstaff.
Here’s ex-president of the Boston Public Library Bernie Margolis standing in front of one of its fund-raisers in Copley Square. Guests, including Mayor Menino, got an unpleasant shock later that evening when a shooting took place just outside the tent. Most black-ties are a good deal more civilized, although you never know when violence will erupt. On Opening Night of Boston Pops in 2007, a brawl broke out in the balcony.
Museum of Fine Arts director Malcolm Rogers has taken flack for mounting exhibits like the one of classic cars belonging to Ralph Lauren, pictured here with Rogers at the opening. But give the man credit, museum attendance is up.
Steppin’ Out’s only real rival for live music has been the RoxComp Gala, and both attract big names like Jesse Jackson.
Maestro James Levine, pictured on his inaugural Opening Night as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, took over for the BSO’s longest-serving maestro, Seiji Ozawa. The search committee’s still looking for someone to pass the baton to.
Actor/comedian Lenny Clark donates his time to any charity event that asks, but the one nearest to his heart is also among the city’s most star-studded. Hosted by Bruins legend Cam Neely and Clarke’s BFFs, Michael J. Fox and Denis Leary, Betting on a Cause and a Cure attracts famous friends like Dan Aykroyd and was a big enough deal to make Peter Wolf reunite the J. Geil’s Band for a private performance.
All the members of Aerosmith have lent their wattage to local causes. Pictured here (left) is axe man Tom Hamilton with author’s Sebastian Stuart and Stephen McCauley at Urban Improv’s annual fund-raiser, Banned in Boston, an original parody performed by the city’s top movers and shakers.
Before the sex abuse scandal cast a pall over the archdiocese, the Cardinal’s Garden Party to raise money for catholic charities was a major event on the spring calendar. Here, Cardinal Law poses with ambassador to the Vatican and former Boston mayor Ray Flynn.
Two of the most theatrical fund-raisers are the Storybook Ball to benefit Mass General Hospital for Children Boston and the Ballet Ball, which includes original choreography by members of Boston Ballet.
New York might have Iris Apfel, but Boston has two fashion icons—Doris Yaffe, former fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue, and Marilyn Riseman, the ubiquitous kabuki socialite. An added bonus: both frequently offer an excuse to use the joke: “How many Muppets died to make that outfit?”
Marilyn Riseman
A few social RIPs: Yvonne’s, the private nightclub inside Locke-Ober, Opening Night at the New England Flower Show, and the granddaddy of all food events—the Anthony Spinazzola Foundation Gala. It spawned such feeding frenzies as Community Serving’s LifeSavor, Friends of Boston’s Homeless’ Beyond Shelter and the various “Tastes” of every neighborhood in town.
