FRENCH KISS “I love French clothes, French food, French wine, and French cinema,” said devoted Francophile Elaine Sargent at a party at Doubles, held as a preview for a French Institute/Alliance Francaise fund-raiser, which will be held March 10.

The ex-wife of President Bush’s brother Neil and mother of model Lauren Bush, Sharon Bush, said, “Just as Condoleezza Rice called on France and Europe to put aside differences with the United States, I’m here tonight to help this cause. I love the United States and France, and I play tennis with Condoleezza Rice, who, by the way, is a very good tennis player.”

Aside from a shared love of France, the most popular topic at the party was Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates,” which is scheduled to open in Central Park Saturday. The director of the Marlborough Gallery, Janis Gardner Cecil, said, “Many of our clients are coming in from all over the United States to view this spectacular sight.”

Also attending were Allison Weiss and her mother Diane Weiss, Maggie Norris, Lisa Jackson, Wendy Carduner,WB11’s Jim and Lauren Thierry Watkins, Joan Lacey, and Melissa Berkelhammer.

Scheduled to stop by the main event at Daniel next month are the star of the new French film “La Nuit des Etoiles,” Catherine Deneuve, co-star Isild Le Besco, and director Benoit Jacquot. Michele Gerber Klein, Valesca Guerrand-Hermes, and Ruth Stanton will co-host. The dinner coincides with the opening of the 10th annual French Film Festival at Lincoln Center, which runs March 11 through March 20 at the Walter Reade Theater.

At Doubles, Ms. Klein spoke in French to several guests. “My father was French and my mother was American. So I have the best of both worlds.” Ms. Klein is a trustee of the French Institute/Alliance Francaise. “I’m thrilled that Catherine Deneuve will be with us on March 10 at Daniel’s. What do I think about her? She is the embodiment of comfort, glamour, and fun. It will be thrilling to meet her.”

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LIGHT(HOUSE) MOMENT The Bryant Park Restoration Corporation hosted Sam Roberts, author of “Who We Are Now: The Changing Face of America in the Twenty-First Century,” and William Baker, who wrote “Lighthouse Island,” at a breakfast yesterday morning at HBO. The president of the 34th Street Partnership, Daniel Biederman, moderated.

In addition to his writing credits, Mr. Baker is the chief executive of New York Public Television’s Thirteen/WNET. His interests are diverse: During the meal, he mentioned the 150-acre island off Nova Scotia that he bought, and its century-old lighthouse, which he restored. The island has no electricity, and while there, Mr. Baker studies astronomy, horology, and polar science.

A former parks commissioner, Henry Stern, asked whether the island has a name. The audience roared when Mr. Baker said, yes, in fact it does – Henry Island. “That was almost a setup,” Mr. Baker exclaimed.

A newspaperman who hosts the cable talk show “New York Close-Up,” Mr. Roberts, entertained the audience with demographic facts and anecdotes. On the topic of America’s high divorce rate, Mr. Roberts retold an anecdote that Reverend Calvin Butts had imparted to him. A prospective bride asked Mr. Butts, “Can’t we get rid of the “til death do us part?'” in the wedding vow and replace it with “as long as our love shall last?” Mr. Roberts said of the reverend’s reply, “His advice was, ‘Find another minister.'”

Attendees included Ben Butler of the National Lighthouse Museum; an editor from Random House, Bob Loomis; the chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Robert Tierney; literary agent John McGregor; Mayor Lindsay’s pressman, Tom Morgan; the director of the American-Scottish Foundation, Heather Bain, and the New-York Historical Society’s public historian, Kathleen Hulser.

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NEWSPAPER NOTES Jose Marti was a legendary Cuban political leader and literary figure. In the late 19th century, he spent about 15 years in New York, during which time he contributed to the original New York Sun among other publications. In a phone conversation this week, a professor from Florida International University, Lisandro Perez, told the Knickerbocker that many Cubans attended the funeral of the Sun’s former editor, Charles Dana.

Earlier this winter, Mr. Perez spoke at a panel sponsored by the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, where he is a fellow.

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RURAL READING The director of collections of the Long Island Museum at Stony Brook, Anna Glen Vietor, and the Acorn Foundation hosted a lunchtime talk recently. William Ayres spoke on artist and genre painter William Sidney Mount (1807-68), who was born in Setauket on Long Island.

Mr. Ayres, who edits the magazine of the Victorian Society of America, 19th Century, showed a slide of Mount’s painting “The Herald in the Country” (1853). The artwork depicts a broken fence, and one man appears to trespass on another’s country property. As a gun is laid down and confrontation avoided, the trespasser shows the landowner an article in the Herald newspaper.

The painting can be interpreted from a political vantage point. The artist originally titled his painting “The Politics of 1852, or Who Let Down the Bars?” In the presidential race of 1852, Mount’s preferred political party, the conservative Democrats, joined with the conservative Whigs to help elect Franklin Pierce. The Herald was a Whig paper, and that year, two parties had crossed a boundary like the bars of a fence.

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FACTS AND FAITH A former New York Times reporter, John McCandlish Phillips, co-founded the New Testament Missionary Fellowship Church. He was known to keep a Bible on or around his desk at work. That alone would make him a rarity in New York journalistic circles. A North Carolina-based organization that trains Christian journalists, the World Journalism Institute, has founded a chair named in his honor. The Knickerbocker talked this week to a representative at WJI, who said the chair has not yet been filled.