| It was a normal day in the life of the
American Red Cross in Greater New York. First, part of a building on West 140th
Street, in Harlem, fell down. Beds tumbled through the air, people slid out of
their apartments and onto the ground, three people died, and the Red Cross was
there, helping shocked residents find temporary shelter, and food and clothing.
Then it was back downtown for that evening's big fund-raiser, the Eleventh
Annual Red Cross Award Dinner Dance, at the Pierre. "That's why I have bad hair
tonight," Said Christopher Peake, a Red Cross spokesman who had spent much of
the day at the Harlem scene, in the drizzling rain. He was now in a tuxedo, and
actually his hair didn't look so bad, framed by a centerpiece of tulips and
jonquils, and perhaps improved by subdued lighting from eight crystal
chandeliers. Definitely not having a bad-hair night was Elizabeth Dole, the wife of Senator Robert Dole and the president of the American Red Cross. President Dole has chestnut-colored Republican hair, which was softly coifed, and she was wearing a fitted burgundy velvet evening suit ("Someone made it for me! I love velvet, she exclaimed, in her enthusiastic, Northern Carolina hostess voice) and sparkling drop earrings. Of course, she hadn't been standing in the rain in Harlem; she had just flown up on the three-o'clock shuttle from Washington. Dole is extremely pretty, with round green eyes and a full mouth and a direct personality. She tilts her head attentively when she listens. She was the recipient of the evening's award; previous award winners have included Alice Tully, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, ...and, most recently, Brooke Astor. Not exactly a sequence at the end of which you would expect to find Elizabeth Dole, but award givers are famous for having political instincts as well as philanthropic ones. Surrounded by the deep-blue swags and golden draperies of the ballroom were more than thirty-five dinner tables set with groupings of candles and floral centerpieces and Royal Doulton china, American Express was there. So were Bristol-Myers Squibb; Coopers & Lybrand; the New York Life; ...and Price Waterhouse. The actress Arlene Dahl, with her rather red hair and her bearded husband, presided over one table. Otherwise, it was a typical, faceless, captain-of-industry fund raiser (No models! No stars!), of which there seems to be at least one every night in New York City. It was not a society night, 'but still the evening raised four hundred and thirty thousand dollars. |