Photos: The Mabel Mercer Foundation Hosts A Swell Party at The Pierre

The Mabel Mercer Foundation’s invitation predicted“A Swell Party” and last night certainly was!  KT Sullivan artistic director of the foundation hosted an elegant evening to celebrate the legacy of Charles S Bullock, Chairman Emeritus, Board of Trustees, and his favorite composer Cole Porter at the legendary Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. The Pierre, has been the scene of many notable events in the social history of New York City and this evening was unquestionably one of them.

Also predictably, the program consisted of some of the finest Cabaret performers in the country and best beloved favorites of the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s sophisticated and knowledgeable audiences … On the stage of the Cotillion Room at The Pierre were: Christine Andreas, Anna Bergman, Eric Comstock, Natalie Douglas, Elsa Dungan-Hawks, Barbara Fasano, Liam Forde, Eric Yves Garcia, Jeff Harnamr, Mark Nadler, Catherine Russell, and of course KT Sullivan.  John Weber (piano) and Steve Doyle (bass) supplied the musical accompaniment.

Cole Porter’s piano may still reside in the Waldorf Astoria, but his words and music were alive and well in The Pierre and were superbly performed in honor of Charles Bullock by this esteemed gathering of concert/cabaret artists. 

From the Mabel Mercer Foundation newsletter  (written by Eric Comstock) 

Charles Bullock started early as an alumnus of Cole Porter’s alma mater (Yale’54). He was the closest anyone has come in my experience to the Noel/Cole ideal: the dressing gowns, the monogrammed Stubbs & Wootton slippers, the cigarettes with the Dunhill lighter, the cocktails and laughter around the grand piano (or even two nested grand pianos). Dorothy Kilgallen called it “the sound of attractive people being happy”.

There was a lot of that sound as Charles & Susanne (whom he called “the enchanting redhead”) ricocheted glamorously from New York to Paris, London, San Francisco, East Hampton, Palm Beach, and, early in their married life, just for some workaday spice, Fort Sill, OK. 

I was lucky to have been a houseguest many times at their chic yet comfortable home on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton. At around 5pm, Charles would get a twinkle in his eye, bring a drink to one of the pianos and play his favorites (key of C a specialty) while Sue dressed, then he’d sneak off for a quick smoke, which he fondly imagined Sue never knew about. They were terrific party hosts and, on one memorable night, I accompanied both Richard Adler and Russell Nype in the Bullock living room! 

I met Sue and Charles in 1994, far from New York: they were cruising toward Australia to visit daughter Lisa on the Holland-American line, and I was leading a Peter Duchin Orchestra on board. Charles came into the bar for an aperitif and heard me sing a less-than- universally-known Porter song (I’ll guess it was “Dream Dancing”). He promptly picked up the bar phone and summoned Sue (“I think I found some talent!”). Reader, we all fell in love, and I learned, as so many have, of their appreciation and generosity to artists, and the sheer fun of being with them. 

By Memorial Day weekend of that year, I was working at a restaurant called The Station
in Southampton, in a caboose (!) next to a  railroad car in the former Water Mill station. It was quite chilly for late May, and the Bullocks came in with Colette and Charles Russell and sat shivering, and seeing their breath. That loyalty never stopped. 

Their son Tony once saluted Charles by saying that the greatest lesson a father can teach his son is to love his mother. Sue and Chuck’s nearly 67 years of marriage raise that bar very high. And as elegant as he was, it was never all about style for Chuck: he radiated loving warmth. When I fell in love with Barbara, the Bullocks embraced her & even co-hosted our engagement party on the roof of their building. We also spent three election nights at their apartment - two celebratory, and one funereal (I’ll leave it to you to guess ...). 

Sue and Chuck didn’t just live well and with joy - they shared it too: as active members of Guild Hall and the New York State Garden Clubs, and later, of course, as a transformative Chairman of the Board of the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Chuck cared deeply about the art of cabaret and lavished love and support on performers. There was nothing so affectionate as the phone call you’d get in the morning after an opening night, when Sue and Chuck would rave, and you’d feel at least ten feet tall. 

Among the many tragedies of these last two years is that Sue and Chuck were forced to stay at their home in Palm Beach. They missed the New York scene, and how we’ve missed them back. 

Two of Charles’s favorite songs to sing at those nested grand pianos were “If Love Were All” (Noel, of course) and “After You, Who?” (Cole, of course). 

Now I’m afraid it’s our turn, to sing for Charles:
“I could search years / but who else could change my tears into laughter / After you?” 

~Eric Comstock, February 7, 2022 

Photo Credit: Stephen Sorokoff 

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