VANITY FAIR

N° 436

December 1996

Features

THE 1996 HALL OF FAME From Savion Glover and the cast of Rent, who injected Broadway with hip, to Muhammad Ali and Christopher Reeve, who proved that superheroes really do exist, power emerged from the most unexpected places in 1996. Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, and Robert Risko present Vanity Fair's annual Hall of Fame, and David Kamp's year-in-review rhyming proves he's good—but he's no Angell.245

THE MOUSETRAP It's been 15 months since Michael Ovitz joined his longtime chum Michael Eisner at Disney, and so far the former superagent once hailed as the most powerful man in Hollywood has accomplished little. As Ovitz founders, Kim Masters and Bryan Burrough get an earful from inside the Magic Kingdom.266

ROWLANDS'ROLL Actress Gena Rowlands poses for Bruce Weber, while Krista Smith spotlights her next role—in son Nick Cassavetes's Unhook the Stars.272

HEARTTHROB HOTEL Jennet Conant enters ER star George Clooney's Hollywood Hills frat-house hideaway to find him warily facing the leading-man limelight in three major new films— One Fine Day, Batman and Robin, and The Peacemaker. Photographs by Annie Leibovitz.274

REGARDING HENRY As Time editor emeritus Henry Grunwald makes the political personal with his eloquent memoir, One Man's America, David Kamp and Jonathan Becker spotlight a publishing legend.280

LADIES, START YOUR ENGINES Karl Lagerfeld and Andre Leon Talley zoom in on car coats by the top designers in Italy's fashion fast lane.282

TOMMY BOY Sony Music Entertainment C.E.O. Tommy Mottola Jr. has pop princess Mariah Carey as a wife, Ralph Lauren as a neighbor, and a nine-mm. Glock tucked away in his briefcase. Robert Sam Anson takes a look at how the former Bronx bad boy won his $5.9 billion empire—and why he keeps his shades drawn. Portrait by Nigel Parry.288

KAY AND ELOISE In 1955, America went wild for a six-year-old snob named Eloise, and for her creator, Kay Thompson. Tracing Thompson's bizarre career, Marie Brenner discovers why the flamboyant performer fled to Rome at the height of her fame and took her Plaza-dwelling alter ego with her. Illustrations by Hilary Knight.296

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Columns

THEY WHO SERVE AND SUFFER Working for the president should be a call to glory. But after interviewing shell-shocked White House aides from three administrations, Judy Bachrach warns that serving your country can leave you tarnished and debt-ridden. Photographs by Dan Winters.128

HOOKED ON GLAMOUR His romantic chiffons and daring snakeskins made designer Ossie Clark the darling of everyone from Mick and Marianne to Twiggy. In London, Judy Bachrach recalls Clark's Swinging 60s reign and reports on his recent brutal murder . . . 158

MASTERS OF THE LINE With a second blockbuster exhibition of Stalin's WW II booty, the Hermitage unveils watercolors and drawings by such masters as Delacroix, Goya, and Ingres. Amy Fine Collins gets the First look at these astonishing Finds.172

MURDOCH AND ME In an excerpt from his new book, Andrew Neil, for 11 years the editor of Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times, provides an indelible close-up of the mercurial, all-powerful media tycoon.180

SIMPLY GERSHWIN George and Ira get their due from E. E. Osborne, while Carnegie Hall mounts a two-year celebration of the brothers Gershwin.208

HEROINE CHIC As The Portrait of a Lady hits the screen, Howard Feinstein proFiles director Jane Campion, a woman who might have sprung from the imagination of Henry James himself.210

Vanities

LOOKING FOR JUDITH GODRECHE The repossession of Alex Cox; Bruce Weber's home run; Geoffrey Rush, Shine-ing star; Jackie Chan rumbles with George Wayne.233

Et Cetera

EDITOR'S LETTER: Two is the loneliest number.46

CONTRIBUTORS.60

LETTERS: To sir with love.112

CREDITS.329

PLANETARIUM: Still in the dark, Sagittarius?. 330

SOCIAL STUDY: When Nora Ephron met the Proust Questionnaire. . . . 332

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