NYO – The Transom – Ms. Hedberg Presents
Ms. Bush ascended the stage on the arm of her brother, with the diligent Mr. Wolk trailing close behind carrying the American flag. She then let go of her brother’s arm and proceeded to “Texas dip.”
First she spread her gloved arms out to the sides, plié-style, then slowly bent all the way down, transitioning further into an almost seated position on the floor. Then she touched her nose to her toes. And then slowly all the way back up, with the gentle assistance of Pierce’s hand. And all without breaking wind. She smiled.
UPDATE: Link to original article in the New York Observer fixed. Hilariously, the organizer of this biennial meat market merely updated her “some people would rather buy a watch” joke to 2008’s prices. Here’s the joke from the previous ball, in 2006:
Individual tickets to all this splendor cost $750 apiece. Debutantes pay $12,000, which includes 12 tickets. “Not everybody has the $12,000,†said Margaret Stewart Hedberg, who has run the International since 1983. (Her aunt, Beatrice Dinsmore Joyce, founded it in 1954.) “A lot of people would rather buy a watch.â€
Here’s this year’s joke, adjusted for inflation:
But the experienced hands, including mothers like the duchesse who made their own debuts in society in this very ballroom, could see the subtle difference in the layout of the hall. And there were fewer debutantes, 47 this year rather than the 58 at the last biennial ball in 2006, and far fewer guests — 662 instead of 976.
The director of the ball, Margaret Hedberg, brushed off the $14,000 cost of a table — “Watches cost more,†she said — although she acknowledged that perhaps the deepening recession accounted for the smaller crowd.
Heh!! The rich are very different from you and me, aside from recycling jokes.
