Whining And Dining

By Barbara Guggenheim

There’s almost nothing I like more than a good meal with friends. I may not be legendary Washington hostess Pearl Mesta , but I’ve thrown my share of luncheons, dinner parties, and cocktail soirees. Over the years I’ve noticed changes in friends’ eating habits – first it was guests waving off a warm bread basket, then eschewing rich desserts in favor of fresh fruit. I’ve always tolerated it with equanimity and maybe a twinge of pity.

But the dietary restrictions of partygoers are growing extreme.

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On Books I’ve Never Read

Everyone claims to be perusing Proust, but who are they kidding? Confessions of a literary faker.

By Barbara Guggenheim

It’s a recurring nightmare. Dewar’s calls. They’re interviewing me for a whiskey ad and everything’s going well until the final question: “What’s the last book you’ve read?” If I were telling the truth, I’d have to mention Jackie Collins. But I’m ready with a list: Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past and Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore’s The Medium is the Massage.

Have I read any of these? Absolutely not. Faking what you’ve read is a widespread offense, and I’m a serial offender.

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Musical Chairs

Where do you rank in the social pecking order? The answer depends on where you sit.

By Barbara Guggenheim

My last dinner party had barely begun, and my actor friend (let’s call him Sam) was already unhappy. “I’m out of here right now if you don’t change my seat,” he threatened as the cocktail hour got underway. My husband, Bert, had carefully seated Sam who, God knows, needs a new film, next to a key director who might just do him some good But, no, Sam insisted on being seated next to his wife, violating age-old rules of placement, or the art of table seating. While it’s become quite common at Hollywood dinner parties to seat husbands and wives together, I find the resulting flirting deficit usually makes for dull events.

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Adventures on eBay

Art Consultant Barbara Guggenheim Takes on the Challenge of Furnishing a House Online

Just when I’d finished constructing and redecorating our house in Los Angeles, my husband, Bert, came home with the news that he’d bought the Malibu beach house we’d been coveting for years. Another year of antiques shops and fabric stores and searching for bath fixtures was more than I could bear. With a full-time job and family responsibilities, I’d run out of steam, not to mention time. No antiques shop, flea market or even Bloomingdale’s is open at 10 at night, when I was available. Then I thought, What about eBay? As an art consultant, I’d long been pessimistic about the prospects of buying serious art online. But I wasn’t looking for serious art, and, desperate, I was ready to try.

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