New York's Steve Fishman casts further doubt on the rumor that Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld was punched in the face at the company gym just after the bank filed for bankruptcy. The evidence is pretty conclusive, too: The episode was supposed to have taken place on a Sunday, but Lehman's gym isn't even open on Sunday. [Daily Intel, previously]
♦ Alexis Stewart (left) has put her penthouse condo at 27 North Moore Street back on the market for $12.4 million. That's the same price she was seeking when she first put it on the market 2007 before pulling it off the market earlier this year. She's since switched brokers, though: She traded Kathy Sloane for Dolly Lenz. [NYP, Prudential Douglas Elliman]
♦ Stephen Dorff has listed his one-bedroom penthouse at 251 West 19th Street for $3 million. The 1,200-square-foot pad comes with an 800-square-foot rooftop terrace, spa shower, and wired-in surround sound system. [Real Estalker, Modlin Group]
♦ Socialite/actress/Plum TV hostess Jennifer Creel has sold her four-bedroom home on Fisher's Island for $3.05 million. [Newsday]
The innocent victims of the financial crisis just keep piling up! The latest: LeveragedSellout blogger Amit Chatwani, whose book lampooning Wall Streeters, Damn It Feels Good To Be a Banker, was published by Hyperion in August and, not surprisingly, isn't exactly flying off the shelves. "Basically, I'm making fun of a class of people who most of the world still hates," Chatwani tells the Times, "but it's just not the same to kick them when they're down..."
All those rumors that the Weinstein Company is in trouble? Not true, says Bob Weinstein, who took the stage yesterday at the "Media and Money" conference hosted by Dow Jones and Nielsen and reassured the crowd that the start-up studio was doing just fine. "We're not going anywhere—not willingly, at least," he joked, later adding that the company shouldn't have any problems remaining solvent: "We're fortified with enough cash to keep this business going." If this was just spin, props to Harvey for leaving it to his younger brother to mislead the crowd. Harvey was the one originally scheduled to give the talk, but bowed out at the last minute for "personal reasons."
Jim Cramer should really consider renegotiating his contracts with CNBC and New York magazine: If the drop in the stock market really had him worried about how he'd pay college tuition for his two daughters, perhaps he should consider approaching CNBC chief Mark Hoffman or New York editor-in-chief Adam Moss about a raise? Something tells us that no matter what happens in the markets, the former money manager and TheStreet.com co-founder won't be filling out financial aid applications in the near future. But what a clever way to relate to the middle-aged women turning into the View!
We certainly hope Anna has something special planned in the office today: Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley celebrates his 59th birthday. Also: Tim Robbins is turning 50. John Mayer is 31. Cablevision billionaire Chuck Dolan is 82. JetBlue founder David Neeleman is turning 49. Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller is 44. Art collector Donald Jonas turns 79. Flea, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is 46. Angela Lansbury turns 83. And Suzanne Somers of Three's Company fame is 62.
♦ Now that Madonna and Guy Ritchie have officially split, the focus is now on her relationship with Alex Rodriguez: Some say he knew that the separation announcement was coming, which is why he's been "lying low" in a five-star Beverly Hills hotel for the past few days. [Us, NYP, E!]
♦ How's Guy doing? Don't worry about him: He could walk away with as much as $250 mil. in a settlement since he and Madonna never had a prenup. [NYP]
♦ A sex tape starring Peter Cook and Diana Bianchi may be out there, although Cook's lawyers are still saying he has "no knowledge" it exists. [P6]
♦ David Duchovny and Tea Leoni have officially split up. We're as shocked as you are [E!]
♦ Raffaello Follieri didn't just swindle adults. He also tricked a 15-year-old girl by promising to get her Anne Hathaway's autograph and then never coming though. Now she's suing him. [NYDN]
Mathias Guerrand-Hermès, an heir to the French fashion house (and the ex-husband of the socialite Valesca Guerrand-Hermès), was arraigned today on charges he assaulted an Air France captain on a flight from Paris on Tuesday and then tried to grab the pilot's crotch and punch him. It took four people to subdue him and he spent the rest of the trip shackled to a seat in the first-class compartment. The polo-playing real estate investor could face a 20-year prison sentence if he's convicted, although given he has no criminal record, he isn't expected to do much hard time. Consider this a reminder not to mix your prescription medication with alcohol at 30,000 feet. [NYT/City Room]
♦ Diane von Furstenberg's comic book is now on sale. She launched it last night with a party at her meatpacking district boutique, where guests (like Lindsay Price, left) had their names checked off at the door by Whitney Port and Olivia Palermo, and everyone was warned they might be taped. We look forward to seeing the relevant scene on The City. [Racked]
♦ Pat Field's line for British chain Marks and Spencer had shoppers lining up in their hundreds today, but an unimpressed reporter says she "can't imagine any woman with a stylish bone in her body being seen dead in these get-ups." [Daily Mail]
Feeling a little poor now that your 401K is in ruins? How about a change in scenery? US News helpfully has done the math and calculated just how much money you have to make to be considered rich in various cities across the country. As you probably suspected, New Yorkers need a good deal more to keep up: A family of four in Manhattan has to bring in $718,989 to be considered in the top five percent. The good news is that for a lot less you can be a big fish in just about every other city in the country. Like, say, El Paso, where you only need to make $350,321 a year to be considered wealthy. No, you won't have access to all the fabulous cultural institutions that New York has to offer, but we all know you haven't been to a museum in about five years (and we're pretty sure Project Runway airs in El Paso). And we hear the Mexican food down there is delicious!
♦ New York has a roundup of bars and restaurants where you can catch the debate tonight. [Daily Intel]
♦ How are restaurateurs coping with the recession? They're opening for breakfast and staying open later. [NYT]
♦ Frank Bruni checks out the UES vegan restaurant Candle 79 this week and gives it one star for its "top-notch produce." [NYT]
♦ Chef Charlie Palmer opened Aureole during the stock market crash of 1987, so it only makes sense that he's in the process of moving the eatery to a bigger venue right now. [NYO]
Just because the stock market is continuing to flail around, that doesn't mean people should forget this month's primary issue of national import: Who's going as what for Halloween? The Transom has helpfully surveyed the city's glitterati in order to discover what costumes we'll see at the Central Park Conservancy Halloween Ball, Allison Sarofim's party, and Susanne Bartsch's bash. While some people are as yet undecided—poor Fabiola Beracasa's been so rushed off her feet, she hasn't even had time to think, and Charlotte Ronson hasn't made up her mind either—others are all set.
Tina Brown launched The Daily Beast last Monday, a fact you're undoubtedly aware of by now thanks to Tina's unrivaled talent for drumming up media attention. The Barry Diller-backed site is a news aggregator—or as Brown prefers to describe it, a site that "sifts, sorts and curates" the web—a concept that isn't all that original considering there are half a dozen sites that do precisely the same thing, most notably Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post, which was widely described as Tina's primary competitor last week. But it isn't Huffington who is most concerned with Brown's arrival on the new media scene. That distinction goes to Michael Wolff, the Vanity Fair contributing editor and author who founded the buzz-less aggregation site called Newser.com a year ago.
♦ Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson says the paper's newsstand sales have risen 20 percent in the last few weeks. [Portfolio]
♦ Fox Business is keeping up its attack on CNBC's Jim Cramer. [NYP]
♦ Comedian D.L. Hughley has signed on to host a show on CNN. [Variety]
♦ Colin Callender, the president of HBO Films, is leaving by the end of the year to start his own entertainment production company. [NYT]
♦ The Atlantic has launched a redesign and a new ad campaign. [AdFreak]
♦ Indian author Aravind Adiga won the 2008 Man Booker Prize for The White Tiger. [Time]
♦ The National Book Award nominees for fiction and non-fiction are in. [NYO, NYO]
John McCain and Barack Obama will face off in their third and final debate at Hofstra in a few hours. But as bad as McCain's prospects were at the start of the day, they're now getting worse by the minute. Today's plunge in the Dow—it's been down several hundred points for most of the afternoon—has led to a new low for him on InTrade, which now estimates his chances of winning the election at 1-in-5. [Clusterstock]
