Billionaire John Catsimatidis may have “lost enough in the market to say ouch!”, as he put it, but his support for the Police Athletic League remains undaunted. A large crowd found respite from the cold weather inside The Pierre, where the annual PAL luncheon took place. Liz Smith played emcee to guests including D.A. Robert Morgenthau, Police Commish Ray Kelly, Lesley Stahl, Dina Merrill, Tovah Feldshuh, Melania Trump, Rita Cosby, Linda Fairstein, and Ann Tisch. Margo Catsimatidis, Pamela Newman, and Amelia Bernstein co-chaired the event, and honorees included Marie Brenner, Katie Couric, Lucinda Franks, and Patricia Hynes.

The ever-darling Liz joked, “Police Commissioner Ray Kelly will wait for all of you outside and fix all your parking tickets!” If Kelly was waiting, no one could find him, as paparazzi swarmed the entrance, hoping to capture no-show Uma Thur man. Liz also shared that she and D.A. Morgenthau were on a list of the most powerful octogenarians in America. “We knew we were powerful,” she said drily, “but we hadn’t realized we were octogenarians. It was a shock to our nervous systems!”