Lunch at Michael's: Italian 'Royalty' plus TV All Stars

Those crazy kids were back at it at Michael's today. The energy frenzy was almost up to its pre-holiday peak. The room was filled with TV folks, from Barry Diller to Henry Schleiff to Paula Z to Tucker C. Read on to find out whose table was hopped the most: Table 1: A very attractive bronzed gent, who we didn't recognize at first waited patiently for a fashionably late Barry Diller. When Diller arrived, the deeply tanned commercial manager of Fiat, Lapo Elkan (practically Italian royalty!), rose from his seat as any well-bred Euro-scion should. Before joining his guest, Diller padded over to hail Paula Zahn and Joe Armstrong, as well as John Huey. 2: Time's editor in chief John Huey with a guy who looked like John Waters. (Incidentally, Huey has named Martha Nelson editor of the PEOPLE Group and Larry Hackett managing editor of PEOPLE. So, everyone's happy!) 3: Paula Zahn and Joe Armstrong, the "Mayor of Michael's." 5: Stan Jaffe, who produced Kramer v. Kramer and has done other amazing things too numerous to go into right now. 6: Dominick ("Nick" to his friends) Dunne in a pin-stripe suit, with Konrad Kessee (sp?) and Cathy? Liz Smith made a point of hugging Dunne when she arrived. So did Schleiff, who said "We should catch up." 7: David Granger, looking empirial, and dining with a very fetching Kim Vernon (former evp at Calvin Klein). Someone snap that woman up! She's a marketing djinni who deserves a new bottle. 8: New York Social Diary's genteel David Patrick Columbia at his regular table, with the executive editor of Quest Magazine, Sian Ballen. David Patrick Columbia is the Editor in Chief of same. 9: Fooled you. This table number doesn't exist! 10: Neither does this one. What does Michael have against 9, 10 and 13? 11: Gerry Byrne, a former publisher of Variety, with someone. Who?? Do tell us. [Update: a birdie writes that he was with Jane Hanson] 12: We were at Table 12 with the hilarious Michael Gross, author of 740 Park, or was it 450 Park? Well, it was Park, that's for sure. We like him very much. He's got a quip for everything and everyone. We want to stay on his good side, that's for sure. Many people came to our table to say hello to Michael. 12a: Not thirteen. Never thirteen. This is the table that appears whenever Michael's is really hopping. At this table sat Amy Fine Collins, a contributing "fabulosity" at Vanity Fair, as Gross likes to call her. Sleek and stylish indeed, she was lunching with legendary book editor Larry Ashmead. 14: Simon & Schuster's Alice Mayhew, one of the very few regulars who has never acknowledged our existence. Give a shout out some time, Alice! She was with author James Stewart. 15: David Hirshey's regular table. Where were YOU today, David? Well, we must admit, hot-shot Henry Schleiff certainly filled in quite nicely. He dined with Gil Schwartz. 16: A bunch of New Yorker people? One of them was publisher Lou Cona, who looked as though he had been burning the midnight oil. He was surrounded by very attractive women.... 17: NATAS' Peter O. Price, with former Business Weeker/New York Times editor turned TV rock star Judy Dobrzynski (in a red riding hood red jacket). Where will she end up next? 18: Liz Smith, Good Housekeeping's e-i-c Ellen Levine (also in a red red jacket) and Kate Coyne, formerly of Page Six and now an editor at Good Housekeeping. (FYI -- Zahn came over to pay her respects to Liz, or was it Ellen?) 19: Couldn't see you. Do tell. 20: BizBash.com's David Adler, with PR-queen Maury Rogoff. 21: Dapper Jonathan Wald, of MSNBC, former executive producer at the Today Show. 22: You tell us. 23: Albie Hecht, formerly of Spike TV, with Tim Arango of the Post and two other guys. What were they meeting about? Did anyone happen to overhear? 24: Please let us know if you were there. 25: Some VERY heavy hitters, who we don't know. But Paula Zahn made it a point to cross the room to say hello. 26: Don't know. 27: Tucker Carlson in a cute bowtie, with Marion Maneker, editorial director of HarperBusiness Books. 28: Don't know. 29: American Media's Stuart Zakim, who just left to become VP Corporate PR for Showtime. Congrats, Stuart! He dined with Men's Fitness Neal Boulton. Back room WWD's Ed Nardoza, David Moyers, anyone else? IF you were at Michael's today (or any day) and would like to report in, or correct the record, please email LaurelT AT mediabistro.com Map of Michael's

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Lunch at Michael's: Italian 'Royalty' plus TV All Stars

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