CHRISTIE’S AUCTION ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN

A well-known New York jeweler who had put up jewels as collateral for a $178 million loan from Merrill Lynch has declared bankruptcy in an effort to block Christie’s “Rare Jewels & Gemstones” auction from going forward.

When the jeweler, Ralph O. Esmerian, defaulted on that loan, the financial services firm attempted to force the sale of the items at Christie’s. The jewelry auction, which was slated to take place yesterday evening, has been postponed. A bankruptcy court hearing has been set for today, and a spokeswoman for the auction house said Christie’s is “very optimistic” that the auction will be held tonight at 6 p.m. If the auction does take place, its 115 lots will include a 14-carat pink diamond ring, estimated at between $10 million and $15 million.

The latest development comes on the heels of an appellate court ruling allowing the auction to proceed. In court papers, Mr. Esmerian has contended that the items would bring in much more money at a private sale than they would at the auction, which he has called “commercially reckless.”

Staff Reporter of the Sun

WARNER BROS. ABSORBS NEW LINE CINEMA

Time Warner has announced it is cutting 450 jobs as part of its plan to absorb an independent film studio, New Line Cinema, into Warner Bros.

Under the arrangement, New Line will keep between 40 and 50 employees, and about 40 others are being offered jobs within Warner Bros., Variety.com reported.

The layoffs began this week. Under the new agreement, New Line will maintain its own development, creative, and production teams, as well as its own marketing, publicity, and business affairs staff. New Line will continue making between six and eight movies every year. Warner Bros. will distribute the films.

Staff Reporter of the Sun

UNPLEASANT FALLOUT FROM THE WATERFALLS?

Being misted with spray from a waterfall might be some people’s image of paradise. But the owner of the River Café, Michael “Buzzy” O’Keeffe, is not one of those people.

Mr. O’Keeffe is concerned that saltwater mist from “The New York City Waterfalls” — a project commissioned by the Public Art Fund from the artist Olafur Eliasson — will cloud the café’s windows and possibly kill the plants in the restaurant’s landscaping. The Public Art Fund is building four waterfalls, each between 90 and 120 feet high, at sites in the East River. One of the falls will be located very close to the River Café, at the Brooklyn anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The waterfalls will be turned on from mid-July to mid-October. “They said [the wind] was going to blow to the north, but 90 feet is pretty high,” Mr. O’Keeffe said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Mr. O’Keeffe drew a comparison to the controversy that forced another waterways spectacle, the Delacorte Fountain, to turn off the spigot. For almost two decades, the fountain shot a geyser of water several hundred feet into the air just off the tip of Roosevelt Island. But residents of Sutton Place, across the river, complained about river water, which can contain sewage, being blown into their eyes. Later, after the fountain was chlorinated, it destroyed a grove of trees that a charity group had planted on the tip of the island. (The trees were either killed by the chlorine or simply washed away, according to different accounts.)

A spokeswoman for the Public Art Fund, Stacy Bolton, said the group had studied the question of which way the water would blow with the help of engineers and environmental consultants. “[W] e expect that the spray will not reach any private property under normal conditions,” Ms. Bolton said in an e-mail. “Further, we have developed a plan whereby we will temporarily suspend the Waterfalls if the wind exceeds anticipated thresholds to ensure that surrounding buildings are not affected.”

Kate Taylor

NEW YORKER’S SCHJELDAHL WINS CRITICISM PRIZE

New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl will receive the 2008 Clark Prize for Excellence in Art Writing, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute announced yesterday.

The award, which was established in 2006 and carries a $25,000 honorarium, is designed to celebrate writing that “bridges scholarly and popular interest in the arts.” Mr. Schjeldahl, who has been a writer at the New Yorker since 1998, has previously received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Staff Reporter of the Sun