Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly in High Society (1956) DALLAS, TEXAS: In October of 1986, there was a huge event at the Hilton Anatole Hotel (which was then called the Loews Anatole). It was the Princess Grace Foundation, and it would become the biggest event in the history of this hotel. Several days prior to this event, all waiters who were scheduled to be working this function underwent background checks. Though we weren’t told of any specifics, there were a lot of suits walking around and we suspected they were federal agents. In the afternoon, as we were setting up the banquet tables with wine glasses and silverware, numerous celebrities were rehearsing their presentations for the event later that evening. As I was wiping and placing the dinner knives around the table, Diane Warwick was sound-checking the microphone from different locations in the back of the Pavilion room. As a teenager in Holland I often played her LPs on my record player to the extent that my mother o
A blog by Theo Bruinsma about memoirs and meditations: Brishon driving a Citroën SM in San Francisco; Christine disappearing behind the curtains of The Stark Club in Dallas; Angelique meeting me at the train station in Brunnik via Utrecht; Franeker, Friesland. And Dutch politics featuring Thierry Baudet, Geert Wilders, Pim Fortuyn and the shady Beatrix Dutch monarchy. "The age of the skyscraper is gone. This is the age of the housing project" -- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, De Eeuwige Bron