We seem to have precipitated an avalanche of [Conde Nast publisher] Si Newhouse sightings:
· "This was back in the mid-'90s, in my freelance days, when I could take off in the afternoon to see a movie. (Come to think of it, I can still do that, only I don't actually choose which movie I see.) Anyway, I'm at Film Forum
during their Samuel Fuller retrospective checking out a double feature of 'The Steel Helmet' and 'Fixed Bayonets.' There's this little dude in a Lacoste shirt in the row behind me talking to a taller, rather brassy woman of a certain age. He's bemoaning to her the fact that the costs at his business are too high. It's kind of funny, so I look closer and realize that the guy is in fact Si Newhouse. I'm thinking, what the fuck is Si Newhouse doing here? Is he an auteurist? Did he serve in the Korean war? (Both of the films that afternoon were set therein.) Anyway, the woman starts giving him money-saving advice. 'Why don't you just get rid of messenger service? I mean why do you need it anyway? What with fax and e-mail there's just no point.' Si mulls this over for a little bit, thinking that maybe the broad's on to something. But no.. A few seconds of chewing on the idea and he shakes his head, saying, 'No, you still need messenger, for when you've got to send out tchochkes and all that...' At which point the lights went down. "

· "I freelanced at several different Conde magazines over a two-year period, and a friend who was on staff once ran into Si in the elevators. My friend had NO idea who Si was. He looked like a marginally-employed at best messenger, dressed in baggy pants and a ratty old sweater. Si asked my friend 'So what magazine do you work for?'. My friend, thinking he was talking to a kindly but dottery old man told him, then asked to be polite 'Do you work in the building?'. Si didn't miss a beat, chuckled and said 'Yes. I own the building.'
My friend came back from lunch convinced a call was going to come in demanding he be fired immediately."
· "In regards to people not knowing what SI looks like, I don't think that's true. I work here at Conde Nast and everyone knows he has his own table right in the cafeteria where I've seen him eat nearly every day w/
various editors. Anyone can sit right next to his booth, I've sat there a few times - once when he was lunching w/ Anna and a few times when he was lunching w/ Graydon (who he seems to have lunch w/ a lot). They do have their own inconspicuous waitstaff that sets the table and tries to anticipate their every move. But SI gets his own food, and stands in line to pay for it like the rest of us. He seems like a nice man and since his booth is near a window I'd have to say he is not in fact a vampire. "