Three cheers for my friend and former Esquire colleague Michael Gross for his new book Rogues’ Gallery, a smashing expose of all the secrets that reside behind the masterpieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the fascinating swells Michael’s very entertaining expose brings back are General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, the first director of the Met, who was apparently a colorful rascal who had amazing taste, director Thomas Hoving, who brought a 
sense of show business to the world of fine art, and the collector and board memner Jane Reiss Mannheimer Engelhard, whose daughter Annette de la Renta, also a board member, has all but put a contract out on Michael. Too bad–the Met doesn’t have to pretend that it shits marble. I saw Michael at his a book party last night at Kieselstein-Cord, a posh boutique at 80th and Madison (at 80th and Madison, is there any other kind?), where what seems to have been the most attractive crowd in the history of book parties was on hand to cheer him and drink free Bellinis. Way to go, Michael!
