One
of the pleasures of working at New
York magazine in the 1970s (and there were many) was the annual
Christmas party, held in the editorial offices on the third floor at 755 Second
Avenue. That was a comfortable setup for the edit and art departments. New York published weekly, except
for a double issue the last two weeks in December. That week without a press
deadline was liberating, and the staff reveled in the temporary stress-free
period. We could work ahead to prepare for the new year, and then willingly
stay late to enjoy the party in New York’s city
room layout.
During
the course of one of those annual late-night Christmas parties, one
booze-fueled contributing writer had a memorable close-up encounter with the magazine’s
copy machine. I wasn’t an eyewitness but I did see the evidence in the form of
a stack of black-and-white reproductions that Around Town listings editor Ruth
Gilbert kept in the bottom drawer of her desk. As it turned out, it wasn't all
that memorable for the contributing writer, who had a hazy recollection of the
party. Days later, his anxiety was not assuaged by reassurances from Ruth and her co-conspirator, Intelligencer editor Merry Clark, that nothing had happened.
I
don’t recall seeing New York contributing
editor Tom Wolfe at the party that night, but he would later rewrite the
incident in his novel The Bonfire of
the Vanities. R.I.P., Tom.
