For the third year in a row, the heavens
attempted to wash away the guests of the Brooklyn Hospital Center’s
annual gala fundraiser, and for the third year in a row, the
guests in their finery laughed in the face of thunder, lightening
and sheets of rain.
At the hospital’s "Midsummer Nights Dream" gala in
2000, honoring Pete Hamill, the dinner tent came crashing down
– miraculously before the guests were seated. (No one was injured.)
After the rain abated, guests laid their tablecloths on the grass
of Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park and had their dinners picnic-style
with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge.
In 2001, the gala was moved to the awe-inspiring Ellis Island
museum, where torrential rain lashed at the guests who rode the
ferry to and from the island.
On May 31, the party tent – pitched near second base in the middle
of Keyspan Park on Surf Avenue in Coney Island – stayed securely
anchored while the rain and wind did its worst.
"They have spunk," guest MaryAnn Rago said of the gala
organizers, "because they still aren’t inside."
This year’s Founders Ball, held in the home of the minor-league
Brooklyn Cyclones, was chaired by Robin Maddalena.
Maddalena, who proudly told us she’s ridden the Cyclone roller
coaster, created a "Dreams of Summer" theme party with
all the trappings of a Gatsby-esque soiree. The 800 guests were
instructed to leave their black tie at home and come in "summer
elegant" attire instead. Guests arrived in everything from
suits to floral dresses to straw hats, with hospital president
Frederick Alley sporting an ascot.
The cocktail hour was held in the open-air stands of the ballpark,
with salty ocean breezes blowing over the guests, as they sampled
delicious h’ors deouvres from the sea – oyster shooters with
sauce mignonette, fried clam rolls and coconut shrimp. For dinner,
catered flawlessly by Manhattan’s Great Performances, guests
filed into the enormous tent on the field, to delight in seemingly
bottomless baskets of Wellfleet seafood salad, braised short
ribs of beef over risotto and for dessert, strawberry shortcake.
Spectacular table centerpieces of turf with wicker picnic baskets
and floral arrangements evoked a bucolic mood, but the clouds
rolled in anyway.
Plans for the promised fireworks by Grucci were washed away by
the inclement weather, but the fearless guests danced the night
away to the sounds of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"
and many other tunes performed by the inexhaustible Peter Duchin
orchestra.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and his wife, Jamie,
looking glamorous in her vintage Kenneth J. Lane chandelier earrings,
took a moment to chitter chatter with us.
"We’re here to celebrate Brooklyn Hospital, which does superb
work delivering the best medical service," said Markowitz
over the sound of rain beating on the tent walls. "And they
help our water problem, too!" he added, alluding to the
city’s drought and the rain dance-like effect of the Founders
Ball.
(Markowitz said that although he’s got that new job in Borough
Hall, he’s still going to produce his star-studded Coney Island
concert series, which will begin in July.)
The 2002 Founders Medals were bestowed upon Richard Hayden, managing
partner at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, who has served as
trustee of the Brooklyn Hospital Center for 19 years, and to
the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. The award was accepted by
Philharmonic board member Joseph Rosalie.
The center bestowed Walter Reed Medals to the chairman of Brooklyn
Hospital Center’s department of ophthalmology, Rory Dolan, to
Peter Sherman, chairman of the dentistry department and to Chennareddy
Swaminathan, the director of internal medicine at the center’s
Caledonian Campus.
The event raised $700,000 earmarked for the Diagnostic Cardiology
Center program of the 157-year-old Fort Greene-based hospital.
Individual tickets to the ball began at $500.
Hollywood legend
Renowned stage and film actress Celeste Holm received the first
annual Alfred Drake Award presented by Brooklyn College’s theater
department chairman Sam Leiter on May 14 at the Gershwin Theater.
Holm played Ado Annie opposite Alfred Drake as Curley in the
1943 Broadway production of "Oklahoma." (At the tribute,
the irrepressible Holm lip synced along with a recording of her
"Oklahoma" showstopper, "I Cain’t Say No.")
The 83-years-young actress is no stranger to accolades having
received a best supporting actress Academy Award for her performance
as Annie Dettrey in "Gentleman’s Agreement" (1947)
and Oscar nominations for her roles in "All About Eve"
(1950) and "Come to the Stable" (1949).
