THE huge Irish flag was visible as soon as we rounded the corner from Grand Central Station, as more than 1,000 wellheeled New Yorkers arrived at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel bin Park Avenue on Thursday night for the American Ireland Fund's (AIF) annual bash. Up the gilded 1930s lifts, first to the Balivor Room for a boisterous hour of cocktails - tall heels and transparent wraps in starched voile the order of the night - and then into the enormous ball room with two tiered balconies all round.
Tables cost from $5,000 to £25,000 - those who paid the latter sum were naturally invited to take the Waterford Crystal and Wedgwood service home with them. Young associate" members - many of them recently arrived immigrants - could buy tickets for $200 and they, needless to say, occupied the balconies. There was also an assortment of tickets ranging from $600 to $1,500 and the evening raised $1.6 million, the highest takings to date. And we've only scratched the surface," said Kingsley Aikens, the executive director not lacking in confidence.
Felice and Al Lippert, who founded Weightwatchers International before selling it to Heinz in the late 1970s, were honoured for their contribution to the AIF's campaign to establish a Chair of Jewish Studies at Trinity College, Dublin.
Felice Lippert, noted for having been the successful bidder on behalf of Tony O'Reilly for the Onassis ring given to Chryss Goulandris O'Reilly, explained that when she first met Ireland Fund (IF) chairman Tony O'Reilly she said: "You have got to get a Jew on your committee." She has been involved ever since. Shalom agus beannachtai.
Just over $1 million has been raised for the Jewish Chair with $600,000 still to be found. Undaunted, Sean Freyne, Professor of Theology at TCD, is delighted by the initiative and is now ready to conquer the Middle East, he said, to fund a Chair in Islamic Studies. And why not? Indeed, Trinity was the main beneficiary of the evening and as a rabbi delivered a Hebrew blessing to the assembled Irish, Trinity Provost Tom Mitchell looked a happy man, as did Ralph Mitchell, a TCD graduate and now Professor of Microbiology at Harvard, who said the chair would mean a great deal to Irish Jews.
Riverdance composer Bill Whelan was next to be honoured and he pledged his $10,000 Performing Arts Award to Father Peter McVerry for his work with the homeless in Dublin. Pulitzer prizewinner Frank McCourt also spoke he was there with his wife Diana and brother Malachy, along with his mentor, writer Mary Breasted, and her husband, Ted Smyth. McCourt is currently raising money for the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York.
Maurice Hayes, who chairs the IF advisory committee (which decides who gets the money), was there having given a reading from his recent book at the American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Avenue on Wednesday.
Phil Coulter attended the ball; Jim Flannery of Emery University, who directed a series of Yeats plays at the Peacock, was there to lend Bill Whelan support. Robert Scally, director of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, was there, as was lawyer Cormac O'Malley, son of the late Ernie O'Malley. Tributes were paid to Ambassador Dermot Gallagher, and his wife Maeve as they prepare to leave his US post.
"Charity is business," more than one person was heard to say. While the annual AIF dinner in Washington represents political interests, the New York gala amasses corporate muscle. It is organised by Tom Kennedy, formerly of Aer Lingus, aided and abetted by his wife Val. Patrons include Brian and Eileen Burns of BE Enterprises; Louis Glucksman of Smith Barney; the towering Gene McGovern of Crow/Jones Construction; Tom Moran of Mutual America; Dean O'Hare of the Chubb Corporation; John Sharkey of MCI Communications; Dan Tully of Merrill Lynch; Gerry, Robert and John Dunfey and scores of others who have become regular visitors to Ireland.
The young came down from the balconies and danced the night away while the organisers retired to yet another party in the Upper East Side apartment of Sheila O'Malley and her husband Joe Fuchs, complete with sunken living room and a wonderful staircase reminiscent of the set for All About Eve. All that was missing was Bette Davis, alas. Fruit band pastries were served in the silk lined dining room, filled with paintings. Another Pulitzer prize winning Irish New Yorker, William Kennedy, appeared with his wife Dana, having just dined with John Kennedy Jnr where they discussed editorial features for George magazine. "He is a handsome guy, what can I say?" William said of John.
High heels were by now becoming impossible as another tearaway gang headed for Fitzpatricks Hotel and last night there was also the US Trinity Ball at the Yale Club followed by another ball tonight at Iona University honouring Albert Reynolds. And there's a reading by Edna O'Brien at Ireland House.
Greetings from the city that never sleeps.