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WHCD 2015: The Weekend That Was, For Better and Worse

This is reprinted from New York Social Diary I didn't write a Washington Social Diary this Monday because there was no compelling reason to produce one, meaning an account of the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, and related parties, since I'd already written my thoughts – unchanged – a couple of weeks earlier. However, I'm not an ostrich and thought a few observations were appropriate:

• As for parties, the class of the field remained the Friday dinner hosted at their Embassy Row home by Atlantic Media’s David and Katherine Bradley. Year after year – it is fun, it is elegant and civilized, it is adult, it is seated, and it is soup to nuts done by 10 pm, and guests, if they choose, can zip off to the more frenzied and louder soirees.  In every way but its location it harkens to the soul of the WHCA dinners of yore, at the then-Sheraton Park, when gray-haired and well-dressed media moguls came south from New York to join their Washington reporters and editors for a night of sophisticated mingling with the government establishment. Everybody got loaded and partied … all at the hotel.

Raising at glass at the Friday night dinner hosted by David and Katherine Bradley at their Embassy Row home.

Estee Lauder model Carolyn Murphy does a selfie with a fan as, to the right, "True Detective" star Michelle Monaghan looks on.

Getting seated at the Bradley's.

Parties at the Bradley's are defined by the guest list, the food and the flowers ...

• President Obama (and Keegan-Michael Key) and Cecily Strong had great writers, understood the material, and delivered their jokes with such skill it was a pleasure to watch them enjoy hitting their marks. Now that the President has given us “bucket” as a useful euphemism, I plan to put it to work and often. Thank you, Mr. President. Cecily – you killed, even though many in the audience were clueless. That is this dinner, year after year.

• The media mistakenly identify the White House Correspondents' Association dinner as “the social event of the year,” but it is not social, at least not in the sense of attracting Washington society. It is a media event, a corporate event, a business event; in other words, a work-related schmooze-fest. It could just as easily take place in Las Vegas with all the guests/conventioneers wearing big fat badges. As a networking and marketing event, it is the biggest of the year. Without red carpets, though, the city’s lobbyists play this game more often and better. • The celebrities were irrelevant this year, for better or worse. Ditto the Vanity Fair-Bloomberg "after" party. It was basically a NY/LA affair.

• It was troubling to watch CNN (still the go-to for breaking news) focus its entire evening on the dinner – with an anchor in evening wear, no less! – while on any other day we know they’d be focused on the deadly earthquake in Kathmandu, and the violent Baltimore street protests related to the death of Freddie Gray. It was just plain weird, and only underscored the timeliness of the jokes on CNN made by President Obama and Cecily Strong. • That said, I was pleased to see that CNN booked Patrick Gavin for their live coverage. He is the director of the just-released documentary, “Nerd Prom,” that explores, debates and occasionally mocks the White House Correspondents' dinner. For stepping out of line and speaking up he is, by DC standards, a marked man. Good for CNN. • First Lady Michelle Obama had a look on and it was fun. As a mother I could almost imagine her at home before dinner, with daughters Sasha and Malia helping her dress, saying “go for it, mom,” with the hair, and the silvery Zac Posen, and her saying, “you’re right. I have to do something to stay awake on that dais.”

• This is not remotely a haute fashion event, though many women dress in long gowns, including some wearing dresses with trains, no less. Before the TV and movie stars became a staple of the occasion, and thus the need for glam loaners from designers and a red carpet extravaganza, the standard was cocktail length, good jewelry and polished hair. On that basis, the best dressed was MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. On the other hand, Jane Fonda (a saint for attending) would benefit from a fashion consultation with Helen Mirren.

Jane Fonda at the WHCA dinner. "Morning" Joe Scarborough with co-host, and "best dressed," Mika Brzezinski, in a cocktail length dress.

• At dinner at the Bradley’s I was impressed to see actress Michelle Monaghan, because I am a big fan of “True Detective.” No, I did not ask for a selfie. I was also impressed to see Google’s Eric Schmidt, mostly to be able to thank him for Waze, the app that got me through snarled rush hour traffic to the Bradley home. There was a protest outside the nearby Turkish Embassy, and it created havoc. Not for me with my Waze. Again, thank you, Eric. I did not ask him for a selfie, either.

• There will be a lot of second-guessing about the dinner, as there always is, but it can’t help itself. It is like a federal agency, meaning it will return next year without much changed. The celebrity quotient might go up because it will be President Obama’s last in office. There are those here who believe if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election, then THAT will be the WHCA dinner to beg, borrow and steal to attend. Stay tuned.

The Cherry Blossoms May Be Gone, But It's Lovely on the Mall

Here's the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin today, Sunday, with the sun out and the temps back up where they belong in the 60s. Took my new iPhone out for test drive and, as you can tell, it has skills.

My father, a pilot who dropped parachutists at Normandy on D-Day, did not live to see the WWII Memorial built. I go by from time to time, hoping he's looking at it through my eyes. He'd be pleased, of course. It's design is controversial but on a day that's a 10 for beauty the grandeur shows off.

A privilege of living in Washington is visiting The Wall to touch the names of friends who are gone but not forgotten. 

It was a sun-kissed day when Cleveland Harvey took me for a top-down drive around our suburban Virginia neighborhood. He was the older brother of a former boyfriend, but we had a friendship all our own, too. He was athletic, attractive, smart, funny. Life was simple and innocent. Parked by the river, enjoying spring weather much like today, he told me he had been drafted and was headed to Vietnam. I never saw him again; only the first of friends to go to that war and die. 

 

On NYSD Today: In Praise of Georgetown, and DC, in Spring!

There are many more photos such as this one of lilacs on New York Social Diary today. I devote my weekly column to verbal and photo praise of Georgetown and DC in the spring.  

The Ladies Who Lunch, on New York Social Diary Today

It was something out of the Smithsonian, an actual ladies luncheon, but it was also a pleasure and one of the topics of this week's New York Social Diary from Washington.