New do: Kurland…Yetta Kurland, I presume. … Cue the James Bond theme music for this Scoopy item about Yetta Kurland’s new hairdo. … Well, she conducted a poll, via Facebook (how else?) on whether she should change her look. Some of her friends and supporters were aghast that Kurland would think of changing her signature funky-punky spiky hairstyle. Others told her to boldly take the plunge and go for it. Well, she did, and now is sporting what looks to be a long pompadour. Though — who knows? — maybe it will in time come to be known simply as “The Yetta.” We don’t really remember her rocking the bowtie before, either. Rather, we recall open-collared button-down shirts, with a white undershirt underneath poking out at the neck. Of course, we assume the suits are still custom-made by Luigi’s, in Chelsea. The new 007 look becomes her, we think. All we can say is…shaken — not stirred.
Give him a hand(print): A theater revival, complete with stars’ handprints in concrete, is turning St. Mark’s Place into Hollywood East. On the evening of Mon., May 5, no less a luminary than actor Alan Cumming arrived at Theatre 80 St. Mark’s to have his hands and signature memorialized in mortar as part of the New York Walk of Fame. “I hope I have bigger hands than Joan Crawford,” Cumming told The Villager before a ceremony on the theater stage. “I live in the East Village and always pass here with my dogs,” the film and TV star said. “He’s at the point in his career as an actor that his place in the history of theater is secure,” said Lorcan Otway, owner of the theater as well as the adjoining Museum of the American Gangster and the William Barnacle Tavern. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the New York version, gracing the ground at the theater’s entrance, boasts the handprints and signatures of Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Myrna Loy and Joan Rivers, to name a few. Before immortalizing his palm prints on a concrete block, the Scottish actor shared a few thoughts on the city. “I find Mayor Bill de Blasio to be really dynamic,” said Cumming, an early supporter, adding that, “The incentives for film production and Broadway have been amazing.” Like a true East Villager, Cumming also offered some keen observations of his home turf. “Everybody wanted to come to the city because it was diverse and exciting,” he said. “Now a lot of them can’t afford it. Let’s make sure New York is not just a playground for the rich.” Cumming’s concrete “handiwork” will be installed on the street in a few months.
Community board (and marionette) report:“I took another fall,” Doris Diether told us when we called her on Monday. “I landed on my rear end. I was walking with the puppet and I fell background. I’m O.K., I have some bumps and bruises.” Of course, Diether, 85, is referring to “Little Doris,” the marionette Ricky Syers made of her. Earlier on Monday she had been interviewed by a Wall Street Journal reporter for an article on community boards. “They asked me what I thought about term limits for community boards,” she said. “I said I supported them for board chairperson but not for board members — because when you get someone on the board that wants to stay, you got to keep ’em!” The journo, she said, “was looking for the longest-serving community board members. I’ve been on since ’64. There’s one person who has served longer than me. She was put on in ’62, she’s from the Bronx.” Apparently, fueling the discussion is a bill by Councilmember Ben Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side, that would institute 10-year terms for community board members. Another Council resolution — apparently separate from the Kallos term-limit bill — supports allowing people as young as 16 and 17 years old to serve on the volunteer boards. David Gruber, C.B. 2 chairperson, said he testified against Kallos’s bill on terms limits because he feels that having “institutional knowledge” on the boards is important. He cited the late Ed Gold, who always provided a wealth of information about past issues and precedents — especially concerning N.Y.U.’s doings over the years — for his fellow board members. Also, Gruber feels that having younger teens on the board isn’t the best idea, either, and suggested they could just as well serve as public members on committees, meaning not actually appointed to the board. But Borough President Gale Brewer, for one, does support lowering board members’ minimum age requirement, feeling this injection of youth and fresh ideas would be a good thing. City Councilmember Rosie Mendez is also a sponsor of the resolution to allow younger members to serve. Approval from Albany and the governor would also be needed.
Park notes:We checked out the new Washington Square Park restrooms on Saturday, and the reports that they have too few facilities seem to be accurate. There was actually a line several persons long in the men’s room, as folks waited to use one of the three urinals or the one toilet. At least there will probably be less loitering in there now, as there is simply no space for it. It could have smelled a bit better, too. Unfortunately, it clearly appears that public restroom space in the park has been reduced while office space (remember those ridiculously tiny park office “huts”?) in the new building has been increased. … Meanwhile, there don’t seem to be any complaints about the new cable-rope play structure nearby. The kids really love it, and it was jam-packed with them and their parents — who were helping lift the kids up to reach the rope-ladder bridge and so forth — last Saturday. Kids also enjoy scampering on the new lawn around the play structure, which used to be where the dog run was located.
Don’t be a heel! Evelyn’s Playground in Union Square Park reopened last week after its shock-absorbing play surface got a major repair job. The main culprit behind all the punctures in the former surface? High heels, according to the Union Square Partnership. Moms and caregivers are being asked to wear flats to the playground or to take off their high heels when entering. It’s unclear if actual “No High Heels” signage, like the one above, will be installed, but Jenn Falk, the Partnership’s executive director, told us that discussions about new signage are currently ongoing with the Parks Department.
Correction: The photo caption for Otis Kidwell Burger’s talking point last week about her stolen Bethune St. iron coal chute cover incorrectly stated that the photo was of a cover that was on W. 11th St. but resembled hers. In fact, the address on the cover, 369 W. 11th St., referred not to where it was located on the sidewalk, but to the foundry at which it was forged, the Hudson River Iron Works. The “Chas. H. Fox” across the cover’s middle referred to a partner in the foundry, Charles H. Fox.
