Jingle Hell

Back when he headed Saloman Brothers in the ’80s, John Gutfreund and his wife, Susan, battled often with their neighbors at the ritzy River House. One of the most colorful rows, as Page Six reported in December 1982, involved the 22-foot, 500-pound Douglas fir that was the centerpiece of the couple’s holiday party. The tree, too big for the service elevator, was hoisted up the side of the building, a procedure that involved hauling it across the rooftop terrace of Joan and Robert Postel who, Page Six noted, weren’t on the Gutfreunds’ guest list. So began a s er i es of s ui t s and countersuits. The Page reported that after a process server left papers with the Gutfreunds’ maid, someone yelled, “I told you not to answer the door!”

Peace returned two Christmases later, Page Six acknowledged, when the Gutfreunds decamped from Sutton Place to Park Avenue.

The couple also had a place in Paris. En route one day in January 1988, Susan was spotted about to board the Concord e wit h her e nto ura ge : baby son, his nanny, a private secretary and a personal travel agent, who held their tickets. Air France gave her a private waiting room, Page Six reported, “so she wouldn’t have to mix with the hoi polloi that usually rides the Concorde.”

By 1991, John was swept up in a major f inancial scandal and forced to resign. He passed away in 2016.