Archive for the ‘Faces in the Crowd’ Category

Michael Phillips, director of merchandising and advertising at Phillips Furniture, married Erin Sasherre, local marketing manager for Panera Bread, on Saturday in Clarksville, MO. But, that’s not the item.  The rehearsal dinner took place at Mudd’s Grove in Kirkwood (the Kirkwood Historical Society).  The cicadas were so loud, they had to move the dinner indoors. . . .An area real estate investor who buys and flips financially troubled property is getting thumbs down by the Better Business Bureau. Customers have lodged complaints against Jack L. Roddy, JMZ Homes, JMZ Investment Group or Bagwell Group Management Corp. for allegedly costing customers thousands of dollars or severely damaged credit when home deals went sour. Roddy offices in New Athens, Ill., but also lists an address in St. Charles, MO. One complaint came from a sergeant in the National Guard who is slated to deploy to oversees shoon and said Roddy cosst his family more than $15k and “nearly ruined his life when Roddy stopped making mortgage payments,” according to the BBB. . .On the heels of her rave thesping in the plays “it Had to be You” and “The Lady With All the Answers,” Stellie Siteman will hit the boards again in “Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story,” skeded for Aug. 4-14 at The Gaslight Theater in the CWE. Opening night will benefit Max & Louie Productions.

The computer screen lit up angrily this morning. It seemed hungry for copy.  Swallowing a yawn, the columnist began feeding snappy three-dot items. A copy of a message sent to the staff at the Post-Dispatch by Adam Goodman announced the retirement of reporter Phil Sutin, a quaint, colorful and skilled reporter for 45 years at the daily.  Goodman rambled on about Sutin’s achievements and his plans to assist his wife, Kathie, with a website she has started. Goodman also wrote of Sutin, “No one – and I mean no one – can navigate the St. Louis area and its bloated bureaucracies. . .the way Phil can”.  Phil, if you’re out of a job. . .Let’s hear it for Giuseppe’s Restaurant on south Grand Boulevard and now in its 40th year. Veteran chefs Carlos Chirco and Jerry Mohr continue to serve the public during daily lunch hours, while turning out premiere catering for denizens of corporate and private parties. That’s where retired attorney Phil Newmark regaled his wife, Barbara,and pals Joe and Mary Marino of his run as a state Department of Revenue employee conducting hearings for license suspensions.  Deb Kotraba, server there for 25 years, recalled with other diners some of the most popular, long-gone nearby haunts. There were: Nettie’s Florist; the Ritz Theater; the aged Sears store; Grandview Cafeteria; Pelicans Restaurant; Al Smith’s; Velvet Freeze; Kroger’s; Shenberg’s Open-Air Market; Zenthoffer Furs and, an eerie replay of the 905 Liquor Store where a triple murder took place in its basement. There was also Betty’s Bar that catered to gay women.  In those days, gay bars were frequently raided by the police. By her own account, Betty once was arrested for impersonating a man. Staying contemporary is a hard role to play in a neighborhood with a magnificent past. . . Tonight a caravan of St. Louis County police will head to Joplin and will report to the city’s command staff, according to Police Chief Tim Fitch. . .It was a great week any way you look at it. Mary Hedger has been dubbed on-site communications mgr. for the upcoming Body Worlds & Brain Exhibition at the Science Center. The fugitive task force of St. Louis County Police, city police and U.S. Marshalls arrested Johnnie Brown of Hazelwood, who was recently featured on “America’s Most Wanted” for felony allegations of rape of a child, domestic violence and incest. The Memphis Commercial Appeal profiled a story on the “largely untold story” of how a Normandy-based African-American order of nuns broke racial barriers to public education by quietly desegregating Catholic colleges, universities and normal schools. The group, the Oblate Sisters of Providence, strategies helped open doors by helping turn Catholic elementary and secondary schools into havens of quality education for black children. Among those interviewed for the doctoral dissertation was former St. Louis Bishop Terry Steib, now bishop of the Diocese of Memphis. . .Bosnian and do-gooder Alen Hadziahmetovic was flanked by Judge Terry Adelman and guest speaker Fibbens Korateng while among the 66 sworn in as U.S. citizens at Soldan International Studies High. . .In his 13th year as owner of Creve Coeur Camera, Stephen Weiss has begun conducting workshops on flash photography and studio lighting techniques for outdoors and indoors. Said Weiss: “I now understand they are starving for information. We really don’t sell merchandise in the classes.  We just show the students what they need to produce a specific image and they realize what they’re missing from their cameras”. . . Jack Martorelli and Steve Holley are coordinating the June 20 amateur boxing event, “The First to Fight,” at Scottrade in which St. Louis marines are pitted against St. Louis police officers and firefighters to benefit Backstoppers and the Semper Fi Society.

Hubert “HUB” Schlafly, an inventor of the Teleprompter, whose obit appeared here, just happened to be a second cousin to Phyllis Schlafly’s late husband.  Phyllis told bergersbeat, “We knew him well.  He was a talented and creative engineer and inventor, a wonderful friend, and a friend of Eagle Forum.  He demonstrated the Teleprompter to me during the 1956 Republican National Convention in San Francisco.”

Social architects, sassiety types, execs, deep-pocket types and homemakers – 400 in all – stormed the ballroom at the Frontenac Hilton to buy in a silent auction designer handbags and enjoy a buffet, albeit some hors d’oeuvres that seemed to taste like Alpo.  There were well-meaning cliches distorted and lost in the sighs of women ogling hundreds of bags and plunking down big bucks for them.  The event, “Old Bags,” was a benefit for Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition.”  “The Greatest Girls Night out in town” was the theme with only one male on hand – emcee Adam Goldberg, offensive tackle with the Rams who is now a free agent. Everyone got into the act with great good nature and among them were those who had Friday’s Royal Wedding on their minds. Here are some reactions: MELISSA PONCE-TERAN: “It’s not me so what do I care?”;KAREN SHAUGHNESSY: “is it tonight? I’ve got better things to do.”; JACKIE KNOLHOSS: “i have a baby and of course I’ll watch it”; ANNETTE EADE: “I have a ring, that resembles Princess Diana’s.”; ALYSSA EADE: “i want to see her dress.”;MARLYN BUSH: “I’m going to a party at Katie Fisher’s house.”; MISTY WATSON: “i don’t get up that early.”; DIANE MILBURN: “Some women are coming in pajamas to my house to watch it.”; REGINA DeLUCA-IMRAL: “I don’t need another wedding. I have to go to one the next day.”; PAT LONG: “i don’t care about it. I have to get ready for work.”; ULLA NOLAN:“i’m in love with him (Prince William). Did you notice my floozie shoes?”; KATE DOLNICK: “I’m not as enraptured as I was with Diana.  She had Will a month after I had my child.”; MICHALENE ARTZ: “I told everyone I was going to the wedding, but I’ll be on a flight to Paris for our 40th wedding anniversary.”; NiCKI STEINHOFF: “I’ll probably want to go to bed. But, it may probably be the last royal wedding in the waning popularity of the monarchy.” While there was a handbag priced at $2,000 and a Gucci generously contributed by Neiman Marcus, the one given by Susan Lucci drew the most attention. On the sidelines, N-M’s handbag manager sniffed and snooted, “Sorry, at Neiman Marcus we don’t give out our names.” That’s Jody Jones all over!

Parkway Central High grad Luis Benitez has the distinction of having climbed Mt. Everest five times.  “A number of affluent people have hired hm to take them for a climb there,” offered his rep Daniel Friedman, an attorney who specializes in entertainment and sports.  Among Friedman’s other clients are Jeremiah, Ludo, Mick Schultz and Nelly producer Jimmy Hargrove. Over lunch at St. Louis Rotisserie with famed oral and plastic surgeon Dr. Ken Rotskoff, medical director of Renees Cosmetic Spa in Clayton. Friedman discussed monetary rewards for clients. He said, “A band needs to sell 500,000 albums to make money; if a book has pop culture appeal, it does really well.  However, book sales have dwindled except those online.”

Kie, Fortunado, Tony and Kathy Pietoso

Dishes of all the opulence possible, pampering by hotel execs Jason Ramshaw and James Cole and a buffet that illustrated the creative flair of exec chef Azhar Mohammad were in abundance Sunday at The Restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Cole, who came here from the Palace Hotel in NYC, recalled how he had occupied Leona (“The Queen of Mean”} Helmsley’s office, while Kathy and Tony Pietoso and their son Kie revealed to Ramshaw and Cole, that their Cafe Napoli Restaurants in Clayton and Town & Country are now offering spring salads: one with seafood; the other with steak. Scattered around the sold-out brunch were as many prima donnas as there are at our Gland Opera Theatre.

Interrupting his negotiations for screen rights for a film based upon Microsoft’s Halo series, producer-director-screenwriter Steven Spielberg and his wife/actress and Hazelwood Central grad Kate Capshaw popped into town yesterday, while visiting her family on the famous couple’s almost 20th wedding anniversary. They flew into Spirit Airport in a private Boeing 737.  They ordered about $1,500 worth of organic veggie food for their trip back from the Spirit Pilot Shop (the owners do catering for jets from their nearby dinery, says eagle-eyed Rich Hehmann).  Meditation on Spielberg’s career: his films have hit the $9 billion mark worldwide and his worth, according to Forbes, is $3 billion.

Associate prof of finance for WashU’s Olin School of Business Armando Gomes and Dr. Ruth Gomes are heading this week to the county court of Judge Tom Prebl for divorce settlement proceedings.  They own VivaSmiles Advanced Dentistry in Clayton and recently purchased the Frontenac Maryvilla Lane manse from Sprint marketer Tom Tirjan for $865k.