Parties

"¢  Actress Carole Lombard once gave a large party for her friends at Fun House at Ocean Park, giving permission for only two photographers to be present. Both photographers were from Paramount, and they took photographs with the firm understanding that Ms. Lombard could stop the use of any photographs that she found objectionable.

Many press photographers showed up without invitations although they knew that she didn't want press photographers present, and they were prevented from entering the party.

The press photographers took a form of revenge the next time that Ms. Lombard and her husband, Clark Gable, appeared at a Hollywood premiere. They laid down their cameras, refusing to take any photographs that would result in publicity for the famous couple.

Of course, that didn't last long, and the press photographers soon started taking their photographs again "“ after all, photographs of the famous couple sold many copies of newspapers and magazines. (The famous couple were usually on very good terms with press photographers, and Ms. Lombard had a very good reason for not wanting press photographers present at her parties: When inviting celebrity photographer John Engstead to one of her parties, she would always say, "Come to my party, but don't bring a camera. I want everyone to come to my house and enjoy themselves and not worry about how he or she will photograph.")

"¢ Graça Simbine Machel wanted her native country, Mozambique, to be free of Portuguese rule, so she met with other leaders of the group called FRELIMO to figure out how to accomplish their goal. Because FRELIMO was fighting the Portuguese, its members had to be very careful not to get caught plotting the overthrow of the government. Therefore, FRELIMO members pretended to have parties at Lisbon University and played music very loudly. However, instead of partying, everyone was discussing politics.

"¢ Caroline Otéro and Liane de Pougy were members of the 19th-century French glitterati. Their rivalry was on display at a great ball they were both invited to attend in Paris. Ms. Otéro arrived wearing a beautiful black dress and every piece of jewelry she owned. Arriving a few minutes later was Ms. de Pougy, who wore the same style of dress "“ but in white "“ and no jewelry. Trailing Ms. de Pougy was her maid "“ who was wearing every piece of jewelry that Ms. de Pougy owned.

"¢ Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock calls himself a frustrated techie because he loves to fix things. While he was attending a late-night party, he noticed that a telephone socket was broken, so he crawled under a table and fixed it.

Puzzled, a guest asked, "Why is the telephone man here in the middle of the night?" Another guest replied, "That's not the telephone man; that's Herbie Hancock."

"¢ Moritz Rosenthal was both an excellent teller of anecdotes and an excellent pianist. Once, he told several anecdotes at a party, and one of the other guests invited him to another party the following week. Mr. Rosenthal arrived, told several anecdotes, then sat at a piano and played an hour of Chopin. His host told him, "Why, that was absolutely marvelous, Mr. Rosenthal. I had no idea you could play the piano, too."

"¢ After a Led Zeppelin party in which 30 televisions were thrown out of hotel windows, the band's lawyer, Danny Goldberg, counted out $9,000 in cash and handed it to the hotel manager, who said, "No hard feelings. I'd kind of like to throw a TV out of the window, myself." Mr. Goldberg counted out another $300, handed it to the hotel manager, and said, "Be our guest."

"¢ Babe Ruth was known as much for his devotion to nightlife as for his devotion to hitting home runs-a fact that Ping Bodie, his roommate on New York Yankee field trips, well knew. Asked what Babe Ruth was like as a roommate, Mr. Bodie said he didn't know "“ he shared a room not with Babe Ruth, but with Babe Ruth's suitcase.

"¢ Impressionist painter Edgar Degas regarded gold frames as garish and in bad taste. At a dinner party, he discovered one of his paintings in a gold frame. He waited until he was alone, then he took his painting out of the frame, rolled up the canvas, put it under his arm, and left the party, carrying away the painting.

"¢ Triathlete Heather Hedrick takes her sport seriously, and so do the other athletes she hangs out with. One advantage of having fellow athletes as her friends is that everyone is training. According to Ms. Hedrick, "I'm never the party pooper. Everyone else goes home at 10 p.m., too."

"¢ Soprano Renata Tebaldi didn't let fame go to her head. At some dinner parties, the guest of honor sat next to her, and sitting next to the guest of honor was her chauffeur.