Joan Rivers, Tina Santi Flaherty, Susan Lucci and Oleg Cassini | Oleg Cassini, the man who dressed Jackie Kennedy | Susan Lucci with Joan Rivers | Susan’s back with Oleg Cassini | Norma Dana accepts award from Tina Santi Flaherty | WHAT JACKIE TAUGHT US Flaherty’s New Book Celebrates Elegance Story by Tim Boxer Photos by Nina Boxer AY is a memorable month in Camelot. Jack Kennedy was born on the 29th day and Jackie died on the 19th day. Is that figure 9 of significance? If so, I could go on. On the 27th day last month – 2 and 7 make 9 (there you go again) – Tina Santi Flaherty, the first woman elected a vice president of three of America’s largest companies, celebrated the publication of her book extolling Jackie’s human qualities and leadership abilities as a road map for all to emulate. Tina lived in the same 1040 Fifth Avenue building as Jackie and has been a longtime admirer of hers. The fabulous Four Seasons, in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue, was packed with Beautiful People anxious for a nostalgic taste of an era of elegance brought to an untimely end in 1963. Fabled couturier Oleg Cassini praised Tina’s book, What Jackie Taught Us (Perigee/Berkley, 237 pages, $19.95). During Jackie’s thousand days in the White House, Cassini designed three hundred outstanding outfits that enhanced her style and grace. “Jackie was a mysterious person,” Cassini said. “She knew how to keep a secret. That’s why this book is so important.” Susan Lucci, who wrote the introduction, says Jackie remains to this day a global icon. Joan Rivers cracked, “Jackie looked better coming in than I did going out!” Joan assisted Flaherty in presenting Lessons in Living Awards, inspired by the book, to Oleg Cassini (Image and Style), Susan Lucci (Men, Marriage and Motherhood), and Norma Dan of the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy (Vision). As she was leaving, Joan told me a secret: she and Jackie used to play the ponies at the Roosevelt Racetrack. “Nobody knew that. She loved the horses.” |