“Remember fun? That’s the burning question we ask on our cover, and we keep stoking the flame throughout the issue. Because the best parties, the ones we can’t wait to get back to when it’s safe to do so, are the ones where you go not knowing who will be there, and then the guest list exceeds your wildest dreams.” – Stellene Volandes, EIC, Town & Country
Humans have indulged and celebrated since the beginning of time and those not on the guest list have looked on with as much enthusiasm as the partygoers themselves. Perhaps now more than ever, we are experiencing a collective famine of fun – from the festivities to enjoy and the ensuing gossip to read about the next day. T&C’s April issue is dedicated to history’s most spectacular fêtes, as well as those we’re hoping to celebrate as soon as we’re able. The longing for parties to come, once it is safe to gather in groups again, inspired T&C’s cover story “Remember Fun?”, a look back at legendary parties and hosts, from Caligula’s deviant gatherings in Ancient Rome to today’s TikTok mansion residencies.
Throughout the pages you’ll find tributes of all sorts: flip through photos and stories of the greatest party houses of all time—like Halston’s townhouse on East 63rd Street or Sue Mengers’s place in L.A.—by David Netto; peruse an oral history of great times with the best parties in recent-ish memory (with quotes from Andy Warhol, Bevy Smith, Maureen Dowd and other party-going greats); experience the reopening of history’s original animal house, Casa Caligula (which was recently discovered after almost a decade long excavation), and see where the TikTok-cracy holds court today. In addition, going with the great tradition of Town & Country’s history of covers by artists, the brand commissioned an original illustration from Ruben Toledo, one of the great working masters of the form, for one of the four covers for this issue.
QUOTES
Andy Warhol, From The Andy Warhol Diaries: “Wednesday, April 13, 1977: I was going up for cocktails and then dinner for Jean Stein at her sister Susan Shiva’s apartment in the Dakota. I thought it couldn’t be anything great, so I was 45 minutes late. The first person I saw when I walked in the door was Jackie O., looking beautiful. Then Norman Mailer…
Sue Mengers was there, and she came over to me and said her knees were buckling, that she’d never been to a party like this. Babe Paley and her chairman-of-CBS husband went by, and later when I saw Sue and Paley sitting together I remembered that Sue had told me in California that the only job she ever wanted was Paley’s…
Renata Adler, who writes for the New Yorker, was there with Avedon. She said she’s going to law school now at Yale, but she thinks she’ll maybe drop out. She says it’s so hard, and that she can’t remember anything. I had the first really nice talk with Jackie O., but I don’t remember too much what it was about. Dennis Hopper told me he’s directing Junkie, the William Burroughs bio, and I made a faux pas by telling him he should use Mick for the star because then Dennis said that he was the star.”
Bevy Smith, Radio Host: “In 2012, I threw a dinner for Pharrell in the biggest bungalow at Château Marmont. It was the year he was doing the music for the Oscars, and the guest list was awesome: Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Usher, Ellen Pompeo. During Oscar season there are so many parties, and there were even other parties happening at the Château that night. Chanel had a party that night, and there was another one for The Artist. André Balazs and Chelsea Handler came in and said, “This party is fun, we’re going to stay!” I told them they couldn’t, and Chelsea said, “He owns the joint,” and I had to tell her that he might, but it was rented to us for the night. They ended up coming in, but I didn’t have a seat for them at the table. What made it really beautiful was that people didn’t want to leave. Everyone came saying they’d probably have to go early, but they didn’t. It was such a great night.”
Nell Campbell, Actress and Club Owner: “The Nell’s years—so ripe with adventure. Stars were careful about behaving wickedly in public, so all that was reserved for my office. Stevie Wonder drank Dom with orange juice, and Peter Beard was surrounded by young women.”
Maureen Dowd, Columnist: “Sue Mengers was a portal back to the fun, sexy, glamorous Hollywood I loved. She would pull one of her ‘funny cigarettes’ from a silver box and give a hilarious, sultry, vulgar, extremely un-PC performance for the ‘twinklies’ she had gathered. The first woman to become the Man among Hollywood super-agents was a genie who could summon up a breathtaking cascade of stars: Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Angie Dickinson, Lorne Michaels, Tim Robbins, Tina Fey, Tom Ford. She often started with tales of stars she had slept with, just to get the ball rolling.”
Geordon Nicol and Leigh Lezark, DJs: “When you’re in the business of parties, it’s difficult to choose just one, but one of the greatest of all time was when Madonna stopped by our party, the MisShapes at Luke & Leroy in the West Village [since closed]. It was 2005, smartphones weren’t everywhere, social media hadn’t ruined nightlife, and Madonna’s appearance was unannounced. She performed ‘Burning Up’ and “Into the Groove” and DJ’d with her producer Stuart Price for a club with a capacity of less than 300. It was very personal, very old New York, and probably the closest we’ll ever get to Studio 54. Spontaneous moments like that are few and far between.”
Rick Miramontez, Broadway Ringmaster: “In the early years our after-hours Tony parties were confined to one glamorously large suite at the Carlyle Hotel. When we outgrew it, we started taking over the hotel’s public spaces, like Bemelmans Bar and the Café Carlyle. Every year the challenge is how to make the downstairs spaces as exciting and sexy as the suite. Sowhen we were planning our 2018 party, I asked Andrew Lloyd Webber (a Tony recipient that night) if he’d be willing to DJ the Café. Andrew sometimes hosts these legendary music nights at his country estate, Sydmonton, for everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Dame Shirley Bassey. On wilder nights he’ll get behind the turntables and spin until all hours, so I knew he wasn’t a novice. He graciously agreed, and people went nuts for it! At one point he started playing the old Brian Hyland tune ‘Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini,’ and I saw Nathan Lane grab his Tony and Glenda Jackson by the arm and rush her to the dance floor, and I remember thinking, This is the greatest party ever!”
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/the-scene/parties/a35821291/famous-parties-history/
Remember Fun?/An Oral History of Great Parties: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/the-scene/parties/a35821291/famous-parties-history/
Gather Around Now/Party Houses: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a35842080/party-houses-mansions/
Cocktails at Caligula’s!: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a35800671/caligula-museum-horti-lamiani-rome/
Where the TikTok-cracy Holds Court: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a35800405/tiktok-houses-mansions-controversy/