June 21, 2007
The Three Tomatoes meet the Red
Carpet
We know there are some of you who do not live in New York City, who think those of
us who do, have these glamour-filled evenings of art, museum, theater, and new restaurant openings. And we’re sure
there are those among us who do have those glam evenings routinely, but a typical week night for The Three Tomatoes will often find us ordering up dinner from our favorite Chinese or other neighborhood food establishment,
watching a little Law & Order, and asleep by 10 PM. But not last week! Thanks to a tomato
with lots of juice, The Three
Tomatoes attended the red carpet premier of A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie and produced by Brad Pitt. And we attended the star-studded
after party too! So, for those of you who aren’t routinely hanging out on the red carpet, here’s the inside scoop
which we’re bursting to share.
The Red Carpet and Brad’s Mom
We arrived at the magnificent Ziegfield Theater last Wednesday evening to a paparazzi and
fan frenzy with police barricades everywhere. But our magic tickets got us through the police barricades and into the action
where celebrities and such (we would be “the such”), were walking the red carpet, congratulating Brad and Angie and moving on into the
theater. Now The Three Tomatoes were totally ready to strut our stuff down the red carpet,
but our tomato pal with juice, was somewhat reticent (next time we’ll ply her with martinis first) . So we entered at the
end of the red carpet where we stood trying to get a glimpse of “Brangelina”, but there was a woman blocking our view.
She turned slightly, which was when we realized it was Brad’s Mom, (don’t ask us how we know this stuff, we
just do), which was confirmed a few minutes later when Brad approached to give Mom a big hug and we found ourselves two feet from Adonis
himself. It should be illegal to be that good looking. And unlike a lot of these great looking
screen idols who are short in real life, Brad is not one of them. He is 6’ of total, take your breath away good
looks. (Yes, we know we’re sounding like teenage girls, but we can’t help it.) Then we moved into
the lobby where we waited to see Brad and Angie come through, and then out of the range of photographers they took each others hands and walked into
the theater. (Everybody say ah!) Yes, she is painfully thin (we didn’t have arms that small when we were
five), but she is ethereally beautiful. We then preceded upstairs to get our popcorn, finding ourselves right behind
Brad’s Mom once again. She is very attractive (Brad looks like her), but not in an LA way, but in an attractive mid-west
“tomato” way, dressed inconspicuously in black slacks (a double digit size), low heels, and a silk patterned
jacket. Which brings us to what we wore that night, which was of course, your basic black, wear it anywhere
dress. But as we said to everyone else who asked, trust us, no one was looking at us!
The Movie
Yes we know the evening was supposed to be all about the movie, A Mighty Heart, which is based on
the book of the kidnapping and murder of Wall St. Journal Reporter Daniel Pearl by his wife, Mariane Pearl, but in terms of the entire evening, it was kind of the appetizer. That said,
it is actually a very gripping movie. Angelina literally morphed herself into Mariane Pearl and you live through her terror of the
five days starting with her husband’s kidnapping. And in spite of knowing the outcome, you find yourself wishing for his
safe return. It’s high suspense, but at times moves so quickly that it’s difficult to follow, but then we
might have been a tad distracted. Powerful movie, powerful message. But enough about the movie, onto the
after party.
We’re just so uncool
Okay, so on our way out of the theater, we paused to gawk at Edie Falco who was
waiting for her limo in the front of the theater. She’s smaller, and much younger looking in person.
And no, we didn’t discuss the Soparanos’ ending with her, but we were tempted to tell her most tomatoes picked her character to
share a pasta dinner. But instead we went onto the fabulous Metropolitan Club on 60th and Fifth, a premiere New
York City landmark. Commissioned by JP Morgan and designed by Stanford White, it was built in 1894 when Fifth Avenue was populated
with enormous private mansions. It was built at a cost of almost $2 million on property purchased from an American Duchess of
Marlborough. In today’s dollars that translates to about $40 million, assuming you could find artisan’s to replicate
it. The perfect venue for Hollywood’s hottest couple.
So, in we waltzed (or should we say floated nearly) into the marbled main foyer
where ever third or fourth person was a face you know from the big screen or the TV screen. We made our way into the main dining
room, which had tables reserved for the super VIP’s, although everyone could stroll through and help themselves to the bars and
buffets. And there at a large reserved table in the center of the room, all alone, was Brad’s Mom, yet
again. We resisted the urge to ask her about all those grand kids and sign her up for The Three Tomatoes (too few martinis, at least at that point). Which by the way were great, as we assume was
the food, but we were just too busy star gazing to eat. And then we roamed into the third room that had red velvet couches,
draped with starlets and aging actors, more bars, and more food and then back to the center foyer. And there, standing in
the middle of the grand staircase was Brad, in all his Adonis- ness. And Angie was surrounded in the main foyer by crowds of well
wishers.
So we strolled from room to room, trying to act oh so cool, while whispering and
nudging each other every time we saw a new sighting - like, oh my gosh, it’s Ed Norton, it’s Brian Williams,
oh there’s Judd Hirsch, and that Jeremy guy from Entourage, oh and what’s her name. We were definitely 16 all
over again until the next morning when we were reminded by our foggy brains, and slow moving bodies how late 1PM and late night martinis really feel
at this age.
So, tomatoes that was our little Cinderella moment.
We’re back to Chinese take out, Law & Order reruns, and 10 PM bedtimes, at least for this week.
‘til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
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