………………….Days before the event I received a large packet in the mail with all of the information in it that I would need. The invitation to dinner and the card showing my table number was included.
………………………I had the great honor of sitting at Nancy Reagan’s table along with the President of Ecuador, who sat beside her. I remember the head of the NY Times was at the table as well as Nancy’s very wealthy girlfriend Anne Getty. Sitting at my left was the prima ballerina, Heather Watts who danced for the New York City Ballet Company. There were about 20 tables of 10 people in the Lincoln Room….I think that is what the room is called. There is a huge portrait of Lincoln above the fireplace…….Someone had the idea of passing our menus around so everyone could sign it. Unfortunately, not everyone signed mine. As coffee was being served Heather leaned over to me and whispered “I’m desperate for a cigarette”. I noticed there were ashtrays on the table so I said I thought it would be OK to smoke, because why else would ashtrays be there. Remember in 1986 there were no limitations to where you could smoke. She said she didn’t have any, but I did! So sheepishly I gave her a cigarette and I lit hers and mine at the same time….waiting to see what reaction we would get!…..The President of Ecuador said in a booming voice “Thank God people smoke here and proceeded to light up a cigarette! Then others started to smoke too….Not Nancy…..Actually, I was surprised a ballerina smoked!
…………………After Dinner we moved to the main hall where Jessye Norman preformed……..I had never seen her in real life, and she was FANTASTIC. Afterwards there was dancing. The Reagans started the first dance, but soon left to go to their private quarters. Eventually the crowd thinned out as people were leaving…..I went back to the hotel where Jac was waiting. I told her every detail of the evening…..She wanted to know what Mrs, Reagan was wearing….I explained she was in a long forest green silk cloque gown that skimmed her slender body….It had a jewel neckline, and at the bottom was a shirred tier about two feet wide. She wore emerald and diamond earrings, and around her neck was a torsade of cabochon emeralds….It was magnificent!! I told her every room we entered was still decorated for Christmas. They were serving cocktails in two or three of the rooms so it gave the guests a chance to look at all of the beautiful rooms and decorations…. When it started to snow outside and you could see it through the windows from each room it was absolutely like a fairytale……It was a wonderful evening……An evening I will never forget. I am so glad I kept these momentos to remember the evening by!
………………….On January 14th, 1986 I was invited to a black tie State Dinner at the White House….It was in honor of President Cordero of the Republic of Ecuardor…..I had known Betsy Bloomingdale who was best friends with Nancy Reagan. Nancy was introduced to the Anne Klein Collection through Betsy, and they were both customers. I was thrilled to get this invitation and had great anticipation of what the evening would be like……Jac and I went to Washington DC and stayed across the street from the White House at the beautiful Blair House Hotel. The view of the White house from our room war beautiful!…. Unfortunately, Jac wasn’t invited to the events because we weren’t married, and they didn’t invite someone’s fiance or “girlfriend”…….so I had to tell Jac in great detail everything that happened……I was also invited in the late morning to the White House to greet the President of Ecuador. If memory serves there were about 40 or 50 people there. I had hired a limo for the day so it took me to the White house where I had to go through the gates and be checked in. Then I was greeted at the front door and escorted to a large room on the main floor called the “China Room”, where coffee was served. It was January and it was very cold. Snow was predicted! The group was led out through the back doors of the W.H to the back lawn at the appropriate time, and stood behind velvet ropes. I remember walking out behind Doris Duke, the billionaire tobacco heiress. She was friends with Nancy Reagan……I really had to restrain myself from laughing, because she was wearing a cheetah coat with a hood She was wearing the hood up, and the hood still had the ears sticking up!……We stood outside in the cold until the helicopter arrived, landed and the President came out to greet the President of Ecuador……When the men went inside we were again escorted inside for more coffee and then escorted out of the White House…..The entire event was very coordinated from the time I entered the gates until I left…..Back to the hotel I went to give a full report to Jac. We spent the day at the Smithsonian Museum. You could spend a month there and still not see everything……We had lunch and then we went back to the hotel so I could rest and prepare for the evening ahead…….More on the State Dinner!
…………………….As I was looking through draws and boxes of old photos……I came across this European agency card of Jac’s …….Jac had two “model cards” or “head shots”….one for the US, and one for Europe. She was with the Ellen Harth Inc. agency which had a division in Europe. She looks 6 feet tall in the photo with beautiful legs that go on and on. She did both the Ready To Wear shows and the Couture in Europe.