Posts Tagged ‘Michael Douglas’

Michael Douglas

Celebrated actor and producer Michael Douglas has agreed to appear Sept. 17 at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark Hotel to benefit The National Children’s Cancer Society. The 67 year-old son of Kirk Douglas will focus on his own bout with cancer by way of an interview and a slide presentation of his career. Last August he was diagnosed with advanced stage IV throat cancer and underwent aggressive treatment. According to the Cancer Society’s Donna Wilkinson, Douglas will discuss “beyond the cure and what children with cancer should know about the long-term effects.” It is yet unknown whether his wife-actress Catherine Zeta-Jones will accompany him to our town. For those who came in late, Douglas’ prolific film career included “Fatal Attraction”, ”Wall Street”, “War of the Roses”, “Basic Instinct” and “The American President.”

While he cooked with vim, vigor and vitality, esteemed Chef Marc Felix said he looks beyond American accents for his dishes and finds that spices from the south of France are the signature of his offerings.  And so, with perfect mastery of his own gifts, he has settled into the kitchen at Bistro 1130 in Ted Levis’ Town & Country Commons in Chesterfield.  Mikki Jones-Miranne and her husband, Eric, launched the intimate (only 55 seats) French restaurant with a preview Friday evening, that attracted a crowd-cruncher, including staunch Tea Party member Ann Wallace, who said, “Politicians haven’t listened to the people.  There are fiscal conservatives who have found the administration to be anti-business.”  Wallace, who owns FOB St. Louis home furnishings, is a yesteryear colleague of former Cong. Jack Buechner, whom she said is now a D.C. lobbyist.  Joe and Ann Lemons Pollack were back–patted on their return to print with St. Louis magazine’s November issue in which they will continue critiquing food and wine, which Joe did for decades at the Post-Dispatch. On the patio, Mikki said she met her husband at the Red Hook in Hilton Head after he came here from his native Avignon, France.  And, Lisa Felix noted she met Chef Marc when he first came here from Lyon, France and they were both working at the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey “where he was peeling potatoes,” she giggled.  Marc added, “I didn’t speak a word of English in those days.” Years later, Felix got hosanahs for his preparation of the wedding supper in honor of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones at Gotham’s Plaza Hotel. Paying rapt attention to the musical ensemble, that drew kudos from the guests, were B.G. and and insurance czar Norbert Siegfried, who gushed, “We were married, divorced and now dating again.” The ensemble was headlined by two 19 year-olds: soprano Mahdia Atkins and violinist Mario Turnage.

It was sort of a kitschy-koo Labor Day weekend, which marked the first anniversary of this online column, with toasts offered at Annie Gunn’s. where a sign near the bar reads, “Beware of pickpockets and loose women.”  Thom Sehnert‘s tavern seemed a million miles away from the Convention & Visitors Bureau, which hardly ever grasps Chesterfield in its promotional blurbs.  There was reliable mixologist Eve Perlmutter mixing drinks and gossip with the regulars.  Then, I wondered if she and other bartenders in our town could mix buttered martinis, Americanos or Zombies, which were popular in the days of barflies, lounge lizards and loose women.  Back home,  to surf the channels only to see some old movies – one of which had Jack Nicholson in “Chinatown”, seated in a barber’s chair and saying to a banker, “But, I don’t kick people out of their homes like you do!” Then to “The American President” in which Annette Bening asks Michael Douglas (in the title role), “How do you have patience for Americans who love America less?”  “The nation’s gonna keep flyin’” says Douglas.  Then, a flip to Alfred Hitchcock‘s masterpiece, “Rear Window,” in which James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr give bravura performances.  Finally, “E.T.” in which youngsters display extraordinary virtuosity in Spielberg’s classic.

Sex and the City

Jack Dorsey, the hometown inventor of Twitter and new resident of a trendy NYC nabe, left our town last week with a Key to the City, a bag full of Cardinal gear, and a nifty award from Webster U’s media savvy Dr. Benjamin Akande. Dorsey left behind a couple of gold nuggets: a tip-off to Mayor Slay, that Dorsey’s next business venture would be here in St. Louis and a “verified account” emblem for Slay’s personal Twitter page (@MayorSlay). The emblem protects Slay and other high-profile Twitters like Oprah (@Oprah) and Mayors Mike Bloomberg (@Mike Bloomberg) and Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) – from impersonators. . .The Big Apple was approaching gridlock as the columnist left it late last week. Streets were closed, claques of amateur photographers were blocking sidewalks, and some hotels were booked solid. A Joyce Meyer convention? Nope. Staging for near-simultaneous visits by Oprah, Libyan honcho Moammar Gadhafi and Prez Obama: local shootings for sequels to “Wall Street”, with Michael Douglas and Javier Bardem and “Sex in the City” with Kim Cattrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis were taxing even Manhattan’s aplomb. Not playing along: the posh Pierre Hotel, which nixed a stay by Gadhafi, and the mayor’s office, which politely discouraged an alternative plan for Gadhafi to pitch a tent. (Gadhafi will be staying at the Libyan mission while he preps for an address at the United Nations.)