No, it wasn’t a casting call for “Grease,” but the Hamptons circuit that turned out for the Rydell High School Sock Hop, to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation, at the East Hampton Studio were channeling their inner Danny’s and Sandy’s. We even spotted an Elvis impersonator amongst the men in black jackets and women in belted black lycra milling around the 50s convertibles polished to a shine. Hall & Oates performed. Leon and Debra Black, David and Julia Koch, Richard and Karen LeFrak, Dick Merkin, Mike and Lori Milken, Glenn and Jennifer Myles hosted. Colin Cowie styled and produced. David Burke catered.
Michael Milken was in great demand on the step and repeat, hugging guests for the cameras. He started CaP Cure 20 years ago when he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. It branched into the Prostate Cancer Foundation in 1998. “We put on a march in 1998 for half a million people,” he said. “We got the support of President Clinton, the Senate and the House to double the NIH and NCI budgets. We’ve had an increase of $200 billion in financing of medical research in our country, and so we’re on the verge of eliminating a lot of diseases as a cause of death. Since we started the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the death rate has fallen by 50%.”
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Jen Gilbert (left) looked fab in spandex while former NY Governor David Patterson and producer Bonnie Comley were all smiles. (Photos: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com) |
“I’ve lost ten relatives to cancer,” Milken said, “There isn’t a family in this country that’s not affected. And when we eliminate cancer as a cause of death and it becomes a chronic disease in 2017, I’m taking a vacation.”
Taking his weekend vacation in the Hamptons, former New York Governor David Paterson, looking dapper in a sports coat, admitted, “Although I didn’t get the memo, this is my 50s ‘I’m pretending to be Benny Goodman’ look.” Paterson said he’s been doing an afternoon drive show on radio with Prostate Cancer survivor Curtis Sliwa, “so he let me cut out early from the Friday show.” Paterson stressed the importance of early detection, adding, “We’ve got to get a better protocol.”
Getting behind the message was a room filled with women, like “Fab at Any Age” Andrea Wernick and Jennifer Gilbert, showing off the fruits of their workouts in black spandex. Gilbert spent time this summer promoting the paperback edition of her book, “I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag,” and working as the in-house event planner for the East Hampton Studio. She sees it as a “hidden gem in the Hamptons” for these kinds of events. “Everyone thinks they have to have tented events in their yards,” she explained. “This is air conditioned, protected from the elements. There’s no need for a rain plan and added expenses. There are scrims and drops to create cocktail areas, and the sound is incredible.”
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Steven Schwarzman and Christine Schwarzman look like a couple of High School Sweethearts. (Photo: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com) |
