COLUMNS

Latest gossip on local gossip column

  • The Washington Examiner
  • |
  • May 04, 2005

by Karen Feld

buzz

In Search Of: Someone to love a soon-to-be-forlorn gossip column, which still resides in a major metropolitan newspaper. Please call anytime, day or night … promise to keep you busy day and night. Very lonely. Ain’t got nobody.

Rich Leiby is counting the days – only three weeks left to write The Washington Post’s “Reliable Source” column, before returning to pen what he calls “more substantive” and longer pieces for the Post. His feisty and well-connected assistant Anne Schroeder, who compiles “Names & Faces,” also featured on Page 3 of the Post Style section when Leiby’s column has a day off, helped teach him the gossip ropes – she had also assisted his predecessor, Lloyd Grove (now the Lowdown Disher with the New York Daily News) – hoped the column would go to her. But Buzz around the Post is that Schroeder, age 25, is just too young for this adult playing field. So Anne is moving on too, we hear. She’s going to work for Jason Binn as the executive editor of his upcoming glossy, Capitol File. Neither Schroeder nor Binn would comment, but Leiby said of the future of the column, “It’s indispensable to have someone who is plugged in,” says Leiby. “There will be no continuity of the column, and nobody in this newsroom has asked me for any specifics on how this job is done.” Posties may have to read The Buzz to find out what’s next from the Reliable Source.

Oui! Yet another Franco-American rife right here in Rockville

The art world is buzzing. Washington area auctioneers have gotten a real coup. Hantman’s Auctioneers in Rockville will sell French impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Personal Artifacts and Family Archives Collection on May 14, live and online. Serendipity, perhaps, but Hantman’s won the consignment over larger houses in New York because a friend of the Renoir family saw Paula Hantman on NBC’s “Today Show” two years ago when they auctioned off Jackie Kennedy’s personal memorabilia, including JFK’s boxer shorts. Renoir family members felt this smaller house would put more effort into the marketing, according to Paula Hantman. The collection will be sold in its entirety for historic purposes, but whoever buys it will have reproduction rights – that means calendars, T-shirts and other cache money-makers. “It’s anybody’s guess,” Hantman said when asked what she thinks the collection will go for. “A very conservative estimate is $250,000 to $350,000, but all it takes is two interested parties to drive up the auction,” she said. Washingtonians can get a peek at Renoir’s black and white negatives, lithographic copper plates, family photo albums and letters at Hantman’s, May 8 through 11. Museums and collectors are wondering who will win out – the French, U.S. or Japanese?

05042
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld answers questions during a news conference on April 26 at the Pentagon.

Deliciously ironic with a European aftertaste

Who loves Old Europe? The last name that you would think of might be Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld, but that was exactly who was enjoying himself with a handful of friends at the Old Europe restaurant in upper Georgetown on Sunday evening. You may recall that the secretary of defense had roiled France and Germany with the now-famous phrase, “Old Europe” in January 2003, dismissing French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as they joined to lead opposition to the American-backed war in Iraq.

05041
Former Sen. John Edwards departs his Georgetown residence carrying his son Jack followed by daughter Emma-Clair and wife Elizabeth on July 6. the home just went on the market for $6.5M.

Wonkette and spouse: Back to D.C.The very witty Chris Lehmann, formerly an editor at The Washington Post’s Book World before taking on the role of features editor at New York magazine, is moving back to D.C. to join Congressional Quarterly as senior editor in charge of Vantage Point. Policy wonks know that’s the front-of-the-book section of the newly revamped CQ Weekly. Chris’ wife, Ana Marie Cox, may be best known as the blogger Wonkette. They sold their Arlington house when Chris moved to N.Y. and are planning to rent in this area now.

House hunting? Georgetown inventory loosens up, slightly

If you’re house hunting in the upper brackets, the 3300 block of P Street in Georgetown’s west village may just be the place to look. Former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife have put their 1830 Federal home at 3327 P on the market at $6.5 million. That includes private gardens of English and American boxwoods and a multi-level terrace which opens to a carriage house and two-car garage plus additional parking spaces, a must in Georgetown. If your taste is more contemporary, almost directly across the street, Richard Bernstein’s spectacular property designed by Arthur Cotton Moore is offered at $5.9 million. That includes a heated swimming pool, multiple decks and four-car garage.

Go Back to Words page