TO VICTOR GO THE SPOILS
Feditor couldn’t please everyone. In her timely new book, “The Vanity Fair Diaries,” she recalls a runin with gossip legend Liz Smith, who died over the weekend at 94. According to Brown, Smith’s girlfriend
submitted a story about her trip up the Nile to Vanity Fair in 1985, shortly after Brown had started her new job. “Trouble is, picture’s great, copy not,” Brown recalled. According to Brown (photo inset), 31 at the time, she decided to run the piece anyway, but only after a heavy edit that she knew would not go over well with Smith. As expected, Smith “got on the horn to give me the full Texan bawl-out.”
The British journalist also writes that in her early days at Vanity Fair, she managed to offend celebs by simply not knowing who they were. At a party hosted by New York magazine founder Clay Felker in 1983, she said that she asked
“What do you do?” She said that MacLaine, who won an Oscar for that year’s “Terms of Endearment,” gave her “a manic, hostile stare,” then turned to investigative reporter and Harvard Prof.
to try and convince him to write a book about flying saucers. Brown also recalls a close encounter with
In 1987, she commissioned a profile on The Donald’s first wife, and recalls Trump relentlessly trying to “charm” her into a positive piece. Brown called his approach “direct and candid” and said it was “refreshing.” Later that year, she saw The Donald again at a book launch party for his tome “The Art of the Deal.” The crowd, she recalled, consisted of “every gold digger who ever got into spaghetti straps.” But according to Brown, Trump thought it was a success.
“Can you believe this party!” she remembers him repeating. “No, seriously, can you believe it?”
On Monday, Vanity Fair announced that New York Times books editor would take over the gig that Brown left in 1992.
who retired in September, held the job for the 25 years in-between. “The Vanity Fair Diaries” hits bookstores Tuesday. Former Giants receiver is known for Salsa dancing, but he celebrated his 31st birthday with Asian flavor. We’re told that the former Big Blue star (inset) “looked handsome” in offwhite at a birthday bash catered by Jue Lan Club inside a sprawling Tribeca loft. It was a busy night for the Chelsea eatery that catered the party. The Cleveland Cavaliers, in town to play the Knicks, sat down for dinner at the Jue Lan Club’s newly minted Andy Warhol Room on Sunday. The eatery is located inside the former Limelight nightclub.