Birthday-Party Politics

This past winter, while the rest of the country was marking off the troubled months with an inauguration, POW returns, and sky-rocketing food prices, adult New York, or a part of it, was occupying its days with a fornicating Marlon Brando, a million-dollar vase, and a birthday party for Norman Mailer—a movie, a pot, and a soiree. Each of these events involved names, money, promotion, “importance.” That is, prestigious stars whose names lent to the events a status that in turn en...