Nothing Hides

Last Saturday, I had the good fortune of attending Laura Ziskin’s Black and White Ball, which was modeled after Truman Capote’s 1966 party of the same name. All of the guests were required to wear either black and white, topped off with a mask to hide their identity. To be fair, I wasn’t actually a guest, but rather an employee, assigned the duty of manning the mask table. So I stood at the entrance to the party, handing out masks to the movie stars, agents, studio execs, and other varied celebrities.

Ziskin’s Santa Monica backyard was lavishly made up in dreamscape form, with ornate floral decorations, old Hollywood furniture that could’ve been lifted off a 1939 MGM lot, a stage for the bands, and a dance floor covering the pool. But even behind the masks, some icons were easily recognizable. Cameron Diaz arrived, friendly and literally sparkling, teetering over everybody else in attendance (she must be at least 8-feet tall). Diane Keaton was there, with Nancy Meyers, in a black tuxedo suit with a top hat to boot. Brian Grazer, Lance Armstrong, Will Ferrell, Patrick Dempsy (!), and Ron Howard, among others, were also in attendance.

Toward the end of the night, I was allowed to leave my post and mingle with the higher ups, a reward for my long hours of standing a considerable distance away from the heat lamps. I've never been much of a mingler, but I did happen to run into Tobey Maguire, who engaged with me in a ten minute conversation about the various spellings of our name. A feather in my cap for sure.