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Richard Johnson: An Ode to Marilyn exhibit celebrates sex symbol's legacy

Richard Johnson, New York Daily News on

Published in Entertainment News

NEW YORK — Images of Marilyn Monroe continue to be among the highest-selling celebrity portraits of all time.

In 2022, Andy Warhol’s “Turquoise Marilyn” sold for $195 million. Warhol once said, “As for whether it’s symbolic to paint Monroe in such vibrant colors: it’s beauty, and she’s beautiful, and if something’s beautiful it’s pretty colors, that’s all.”

To celebrate the sex symbol’s legacy, Charles Saffati of Carlton Fine Arts is presenting An Ode to Marilyn, an exhibition featuring works by Warhol and fellow pop artists DeVon, Mr. Brainwash, Romero Britto and Patrick Rubenstein.

The show, which runs until the end of June, is spread out over two floors and features 24 portraits of the star by 10 artists.

“Over the last 40 years, the images of Marilyn Monroe have consistently been our biggest seller, with numerous pop artists painting her in their own unique way,” Saffati said.

Last month, Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody’s painting of Monroe sold at the AmfAR Gala in Cannes for $425,000.

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Alison Kosik was CNN’s business correspondent, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange, when, heading for divorce, the mother of two realized she was clueless about her family’s finances.

“I didn’t manage my own finances — I let my husband handle it all. And that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life, because when the marriage went bad, I felt stuck,” Kosik told me.

Kosik figured it out and wrote a book, “What’s Up with Women and Money?: How To Do All the Financial Stuff You’ve Been Avoiding.”

Kosik interviewed Sheryl Sandberg, Jessica Alba, Barbara Corcoran, Rebecca Minkoff, and Deepica Mutyala, who share their inspirational stories about money in the book published by Harriman House, a division of U.K.-based Pan Macmillan.

“I wrote this book to help women not make the same mistakes I made,” Kosik said. “There’s a lot of shame, confusion and even trauma around money for many women. Financial empowerment isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about being willing to start.”

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Helping her mother, Rita Hayworth, as she struggled with Alzheimer’s disease inspired Princess Yasmin Aga Khan to raise money to help other victims.

The princess has been busy the past 41 years raising $90 million for Alzheimer’s research.

To promote the Imagine Benefit on Oct. 22 at the Plaza, where tables are going for as much as $100,000 apiece, a kickoff party was held Wednesday at the East Side home of skin care mogul Peter Thomas Roth.

Roth had 180 guests, including Nabila Khashoggi, Christopher Getty and Meredith Marks of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”

Roth’s mother is 102 and sharp as a tack, but he’s been fearful of Alzheimer’s ever since Marjoe Gortner, conducting a benefit auction, said, “Look around your table. One of you will get Alzheimer’s.’ I looked around the table and it freaked me out. I don’t want to play Russian roulette.”

Princess Yasmin, who moved her mother from L.A. to an adjoining apartment at the San Remo, said, “At one point, near the end, she didn’t know who I was.”

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Paul Shaffer, who led the band on David Letterman’s show, proved his musical chops at a party for Judy Collins and her new book, “Sometimes It’s Heaven: Poems of Love, Loss and Redemption.”

The launch party, hosted by Paige Peterson, was attended by Marlo Thomas, Russ Titelman, Molly Jong Fast, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Susan Cheever.

Following a reading and a performance at the piano by Collins, she stood up and asked her guests to join her as she sang “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” “Danny Boy” and “This Land Is Your Land.”

Shaffer provided an extra bonus when he walked over to the piano, sat down and surprised Collins by accompanying her and her guests.

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Suzanne Somers’ widower, producer Alan Hamel, is finally sharing his famous Big Al’s rib recipe with the couple’s Instagram fans from the house in Palm Springs that he shared with the late “Three’s Company” star.

“My ribs are legendary. When I throw a party, my ribs are the crown jewel,” Hamel said. “It is akin to a religious experience.”

Somers wrote 10 bestselling cookbooks, including “Eat Great, Lose Weight,” which focused on healthy and organic living. These books are available online at suzannesomers.com.

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TV legend Susan Lucci, who starred in “All My Children” for 41 years, donned a straw fedora with a red ribbon and a rose-bedecked dress for the Belmont Child Care Association’s Spring Fling Hat Luncheon last week in Garden City on Long Island.

The benefit honored author and TV host Jean Shafiroff, who said, “The support they provide for working women who otherwise couldn’t afford child care is both necessary and admirable.”

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Two survivors of the Israeli music festival that was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, headlined the inaugural benefit in Midtown for the Tribe of Nova Foundation.

Ofir Amir was shot in both legs and survived, as 411 others were murdered and 47 taken hostage. He was joined by Mia Schem, who was held for 55 days in Gaza.

“Telling this story is partly for my own healing,” Schem said in a rousing speech. “I will only truly begin to recover once (the remaining hostages) are all back.”

Co-hosted by Nate Buzz, the event included DJ Sasi, Noah Tepperberg, Jason Pomeranc, Montana Tucker, Scooter Braun, Jane Oster Sinisi and Rep. Ritchie Torres.

The foundation has been helping survivors and is building a center in Israel dedicated to a better tomorrow.

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Justice for Women International is holding an event Sunday at the Jack Warner Estate in Beverly Hills.

Actress and comic Tiffany Haddish is headlining along with model and standup comic Eugenia Kuzmina.

Haddish founded the She Ready Foundation to help L.A. foster kids like herself.

The foundation’s website states, “Tiffany Haddish knows all too well what it’s like to move from home to home in the middle of the night with all of her belongings packed in garbage bags feeling like the world has forgotten about her.”

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Noel Ashman, the nightclub promoter-turned-movie producer, will celebrate his birthday June 30 with some help from his friends.

The party at Dom, at 22nd St. and Park Ave. South, will be hosted by Ice T, Bo Dietl, Frederick Anderson, Federico Castelluccio, George Wayne, Fredo Starr and Mark Minevich, an expert in artificial intelligence.

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With public broadcasting facing cutbacks of government funding, singer Suzanne Vega stepped up to raise money for radio station WFUV’s NPR fundraiser by hosting a dinner for five people donated by Shelly Fireman’s Trattoria Dell ‘Arte.

Vega is celebrating the release of her first album in 11 years, “Flying With Angels,” with a concert at Town Hall on June 14.

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©2025 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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