Bill Cunningham: New York Page #6

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[Armitage] You have to come

take pictures of my gala.

We need you.

[Laughs]

Remind me. Have someone at your place

send a postcard. Okay, I will.

No formality.

Just send me something in the mail.

These are all the ones

I couldn't get to last week.

You know, you simply can't get involved

in all of these things. It's...

I used to try.

This one I might go to, but I just don't know.

The security could be so awful.

First, I select a charity

that will do the most good.

Never looking at a guest list. As a

matter of fact, people call up and say,

"Well, this one's coming or that one.

" I say, "Don't bother even telling me,

and don't bother sending a guest list

'cause I'm not interested. "

"The Queen of Sweden,

the Queen of Jordan,

their Royal Highnesses"...

and, uh, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I'm interested in what the charity does,

and that's why the Times is there.

It really is that way.

People find it hard to believe. They

think it's a society column. [Chuckles]

It's not at all.

It never was meant to be.

[Man] There was a magazine.

It's now deceased.

They had a headline...

The best magazine

title I've ever seen.

"You went out last night.

Nobody wrote about it.

Do you exist?"

[Chuckling]

Now that's...

That's the frame of mind that

a lot of people got caught up in.

You kids print your names for me.

Where's it gonna be? Where's our picture gonna be?

He's New York Times.

Oh.

The Times have a little benefit page.

It's small stuff.

We gotta be in it.

Unimportant.

We're pretty

good-looking people.

[Laughs]

Yeah. That's what I thought.

New York is about status.

That's all it's about.

There is...

This is not a pleasant city to live in,

aside from the fact that there are a lot

of people, uh, here who are ambitious.

People are very pushy

socially in New York,

but they don't wave a flag.

[Chuckles]

They just move in the

right direction.

The right direction is toward

Bill Cunningham's camera.

I don't think that Bill

considers himself a social arbiter.

I really don't consider him as being someone who

gets a lift out of being with these people.

Yeah, that's it! Yeah.

That's... That's the way.

Yeah, it's a nice expression.

None of this stiff stuff.

[Laughs]

You caught us napping.

I get that with the benefactors up there.

How you doing today there?

Okay, kid.

[Woman]

There's a little fish in the back.

Would they bring you some fish

over to the other side?

Oh, no. I don't want anything.

Are you sure?

Oh, yeah. I eat with my eyes.

Yeah, I know, but you need

to keep your body up too.

Hmm? You won't let me

get you a little plate?

Oh, no. No, thank you, Mary.

Nobody would see you.

No. Thank you, child.

[Laughs] Okay.

[Bill] A lot of people

think it's a little peculiar...

that I never have a drink

or something like that,

but I made up my mind...

Oh, at Women's Wear.

People were always wining

and dining you,

and I thought,

"Well, I'm not into that."

I'm there just to

report for the Times.

I'm not there to be wined and dined,

and I certainly wouldn't compromise

the Times,

so I made up my mind

at that point...

I wouldn't take even

a glass of water.

I have something to eat

before I go to work, and that's it.

Period.

It's keeping a distance from what you're

doing, so you can be more objective.

Objective over what, I don't know,

but, uh, it works for me.

New York society

becomes harder and harder to define.

The latest definition...

is everything from the girls

who smile for party pictures...

to the old WASPs.

He loves, like, an old, stylish gal.

[Chuckling] Come on.

He loves an old, stylish gal.

And they all love him.

That's why I think...

I don't know the history of Bill,

but we suspected that there was some

kind of society connection with Bill,

because he also felt as comfortable

with Lady Astor,

and he knew all those people.

I'm David Rockefeller.

William Astor.

You look marvelous indeed.

Isn't that nice? When you think of all

that's going on, that they came tonight?

Why are you not making peace?

Hello, Bill.

Come with me. [Laughs]

[Bill] Brooke Astor...

Someone like that is a rarity.

She had such a human touch,

a correctness, about her,

but not in a stuffed-shirt way.

She immediately

made people feel at ease.

She believed not in exclusion,

but inclusion.

We're all the same.

We all have the same problems.

We all have family members

that are whatever the hell it is.

I've loved and admired

my mother...

for more than

three-quarters of a century.

Let's all toast to my mother,

who was born,

not only on the 30th of March,

but in 1902,

the 30th of March was Easter Day.

Mrs. Astor represented some timeless

sense of style and elegance...

and philanthropy...

and doing the right thing.

I really am not so extraordinary.

I'm just an ordinary person

who has had a very good life...

and is very near...

and it is getting very near to the end.

And I've had a wonderful time.

You've all really been so sweet.

[De la Renta] I think it was

impossible not to admire her.

They became really very close friends.

And he did chronicle

her every single move.

It was with a genuine kindness and

affection, and he protected her.

To the very end

they were great friends.

I'm guessing...

that he might actually have come

from a wealthy family because of that,

and because only people who come from

wealth can live the way he lives.

So that's always been my assumption,

but I've actually never discussed it

with him.

[McDonald] About ten years ago

, I was sitting outside...

downtown at a restaurant,

and it must have been 11 o'clock at night.

And all of a sudden,

there goes Bill Cunningham on his bike.

I thought, "Oh, I want to say hello,"

but he was gone in a fleeting moment.

And all I could see was his blue coat

and the bike go by.

And I knew where he was headed.

He goes to many events

in one evening.

He's in one event uptown,

and he's downtown at another event.

It's rigorous work.

[Horn Honks]

This is too early to be

at one of these downtown parties.

We're the only ones here. [Man] Bill's

gonna be here for five minutes and leave.

Big smiles.

Come on, Annie!

[Laughing]

[Bill]

Beautiful, guys.

[Man]

That's a classic Schwinn.

Someone gave it to me.

That's my 29th.

Wonderful.

I've had 28 stolen.

28 stolen bikes?

Yeah. That's the 29th.

Oh, my goodness, the kids are all here.

The kids are here.

I came out from L.A. With Annie.

Oh, how wonderful.

She's ensconced down there.

Oh, aren't you kids beautiful?

Look at you.

"You kids." Never changes.

Look at you two kids.

You gonna take?

Yes.

Of us?

Yes. In basic black? Are you kidding?

A very special one too. Yes.

[Koda]

Bill is a true egalitarian.

However, that doesn't mean

he isn't aware of the nuances...

of cultural division and hierarchies.

He just treats it all the same.

He really is the person who,

whether you're a bicycle messenger,

a woman who's breaking

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