Copyright New York Daily News
Taylor Swift is considering switching gears and going all out with a huge wedding so fiancé Travis Kelce can invite all of his childhood friends from Cleveland and his teammates on the Kansas City Chiefs. The original plan was a small ceremony at her mansion in Rhode Island, said a source, “but now she’s considering an island like Necker (Sir Richard Branson’s private paradise in the British Virgin Islands) or Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.” Swift said on “The Graham Norton Show” last month that small weddings can be stressful because inevitably people end up “on the bubble.” “You have to evaluate or assess your relationship with them to see if they should be there. I’m not going to do that,” she said. Norton was invited. Now we just need to know the time and place. **** Where else would you expect to meet the Queen of Versailles than at High Tea in the Plaza Hotel? This queen is Jackie Siegel and she got the title from a 2012 documentary that has since inspired a Broadway musical starring Kristin Chenoweth. “I adore her,” Siegel said over mint tea and pinot grigio. It’s been a whirlwind for the former beauty queen-turned-philanthropist who, along with her now-late husband, tried to build a 90,000-square-foot French chateau outside Orlando, as a camera crew watched their dreams begin to crumble amid the Great Recession. Spoiler alert: The mansion is still not done. “We’re hoping next year,” she said. Losing her husband and stepson to cancer, and a daughter and sister to drugs, has taken an emotional toll. Still, Siegel is focused on others. “The house isn’t for gluttony, it’s for giving back,” she said. “All the tragedy was a wake-up call. I want to open it up to fundraising for worthy causes … I want to help everybody.” She’s also adamant that even though she and her husband — played by F. Murray Abraham — take some comedic jabs in the Broadway show, the roles were “inspired by us but not exactly who we are.” Songmeister Stephen Schwartz credits Siegel for being in on the joke. “He told me I was strong to let them have creative control,” she said. And if she finally does get to move into that dream home? “I want a sequel to the documentary; everyone wants to see the house. But I am concerned about the utility bill. I better do another reality show.” Then she put on a sash and tiara and was off to a costume party where everyone had to come as a celebrity. She was going as herself. “The Queen of Versailles” is currently in previews at the St. James Theatre and opens Nov. 9. **** Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, the first pilot to complete a trans-Pacific flight, disappeared Nov. 8, 1935, while trying to break the flight speed record from England to Australia. That was two years before Amelia Earhart vanished flying over the Pacific. But Earhart, a native of Kansas, is much more famous than Kingsford Smith, an Australian. Filmmaker Damien Lay has spent decades and made 18 trips to Myanmar (Burma) searching for the remains of Kingsford Smith, his co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge and their Lockheed Altair 8D aircraft, the Lady Southern Cross. Now an author, Lay’s book “Of Air and Men” will be published on the 90th anniversary of their disappearance. “Kingsford Smith was the most famous man in the world,” Lay said. “He was invited to the White House by FDR. He was given a huge ticker-tape parade in New York.” The hero’s son, Charles Kingsford Smith Jr., 92, said, “I have only a few snatches of memory of my father and I would have greatly enjoyed his love and fellowship growing up, but his disappearance just before my third birthday sadly ended that possibility.” Lay is already working on a screenplay about the Aussie aviator, and said he would cast Daniel Craig in the starring role. **** Comedy writer Alan Zweibel tells dirty jokes — and “Saturday Night Live” used to let him. But a lot of material that would get people canceled today was one of the things the now-defunct Friars Club was all about. Tuesday night, over 100 past members gathered in Patsy’s upstairs Sinatra room for chef and owner Sal Scognamillo‘s pasta and past memories. “I had a blast,” Zweibel said. He told two unprintable “Weekend Update” zingers that got by the censors in the 1970s. Singers Tony Babino, Jenna Esposito, George Pettignano and Sal Viviano warbled ring-a-ding favorites. “This is the real Friars Club, this room, here and now,” said emcee Bill McCuddy, who also noted, “I can’t believe this many old people are missing ‘Jeopardy.’” **** Michael’s — the West 55th Street restaurant where TV talking heads gather for breakfast and lunch — is now doing a brisk dinner business. NBC’s Chuck Todd was at one table recently. Rosie Perez at another. “We’re rockin’ it,” said owner Michael McCarty. “The reaction has been way more than we expected,” added general manager Steve Millington. “It’s a younger crowd.” The draw is a happy hour that makes the swanky priced menu almost reasonable. The dinner crowd has been a surprise to midday stalwarts. “Some of our lunch clientele ask if we even serve dinner,” Millington said. “And we have to spank them.” Hmmm. That’s not on the menu. **** Japanese rock star Yoshiki and artist Yoshitomo Nara, both listed on Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2025,” have announced a collaboration with winemaker Robert Mondavi Jr. Nara, whose artwork is in MoMA’s permanent collection, will design the bottles’ labels. They include a painting of a puppy playing imaginary drums with dog bones and a mischievous kitty sitting on a duck. “I am overwhelmed with emotion to be able to work with Nara,” Yoshiki said. “It feels like a dream.” **** Audra McDonald, the six-time Tony Award winner, will be honored at Audrey Gruss’ Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s 19th annual luncheon seminar at the Plaza Hotel on Nov. 12. “I realize I’m someone who suffers from depression,” McDonald said. “But I learned to realize that, like alcoholism, it’s something you wake up every day and say, ‘Yeah, that’s still something that I have to deal with,’ as opposed to saying, ‘Oh, I’m not depressed anymore.’” Of her art, McDonald said it “gives me a lot of joy and keeps me strong.” **** Tony-winning Broadway producer Jamie deRoy celebrated her 80th birthday with family, friends and celebrities at Shelly Fireman’s Redeye Grill. Guests included Susan Stroman, Robert Klein, Tovah Feldshuh, Steven Garrin, Lee Roy Reams, Billy Stritch and Rolonda Watts, to name a few. **** At Sardi’s, Ed Gaynes, Ken Waissman, Rob Schneider, Charles Busch and Josh Ellis all held up bananas in honor of Jeff Ross, who recently wowed audiences with his one-man show and Broadway debut, “Take a Banana for the Ride.” **** Margo Velvet Events — known for throwing elaborate parties with wild entertainment — celebrated 12 years in business by throwing jamborees first in Miami at a downtown art space with Brazilian artist Romero Britto, then at a private venue in New York with former Real Housewife Ramona Singer. **** Jackie Weld Drake, Mary Snow, Muffie Potter Aston, Jean Shafiroff, Yanna Avis, Tony-winning costume designer William Ivey Long and NYC mayoral candidate Joseph Hernandez all led a parade of philanthropists to the Plaza Hotel for the Casita Maria Center’s 91st Annual Fiesta Gala, celebrating the legacy of New York City’s oldest Latino charity dedicated to the arts. This year’s event honored health visionary Tina Vidal-Duart, philanthropist Kamie Lightburn and longtime arts patron Barbara Tober, who received the Jacqueline Weld Drake Living Legend Award. **** Out & About: Director John Waters and comedian Heidi Gardner both hit the stage in Brooklyn at The Red Pavilion for a sold-out night of erotic storytelling called “Eros Unbound,” hosted by intimacy coordinator Laura Desiree … Jets quarterback Justin Fields carbo-loaded before his big win at Carnegie Diner & Cafe in Secaucus … Artist Mark Kostabi and collaborator O. Stillman Rockefeller lunched together at the Frick Collection … Paul Shaffer and record producer Russ Titelman cheered on Jefferson Starship at the Rockers on Broadway charity concert at Sony Hall … Jenna Bush Hager and comedian Michelle Buteau donned scary costumes at BloodManor in Tribeca to frighten patrons for the “Today” show.
