There were exceptions to the Siberia rule. Elaine once awarded me prime real estate, seating my party with George Plimpton at one adjacent table, and Michael Douglas and Barbara Walters dining à deux at another. My dinner date was positioned so that he never saw Douglas and Walters. Given how star struck he was simply by Plimpton, I thought it best to keep him in the dark, thereby saving him from severe neck strain and rescuing us from the wrath of Elaine.
Elaine herself was not shy about pointing out celebrities. Once, when a customer asked for directions to the men’s room, she casually replied, “Take a right at Michael Caine.”
It is easy to understand why literary types were drawn to Elaine. Not only was she kind and warm, but also she was clever. This is most evident in the “Top Ten List” writer and producer Charles Kipps prepared of the things he heard Elaine say: