CARTOON CROWD

The vice president and publisher of the New Yorker, David Carey, and Turning Leaf Vineyards’ marketing director, Stephanie Gallo, joined the cartoon editor of the New Yorker, Robert Mankoff, to celebrate the publication of “The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker” (Black Dog & Leventhal).The weighty book includes two CDs with all 68,647 cartoons ever published in the magazine.

With hair that touched his shoulders, Mr. Mankoff coursed through the Leaf Lounge greeting guests.

He told the Knickerbocker that “a complete American voice” came through in the cartoons of the New Yorker.

The crowd laughed when Mr. Mankoff said, “I will give $10 to anyone who can find a cartoon we missed in the book, or $20 to just shut up about it.”

Lillian Ross, wearing red sneakers and accompanied by her son Eric Ross pored over the book. Also on hand were cartoon contributors George Booth, J.C. Duffy (“The Fusco Brothers”),and Leo Cullum. Mr. Mankoff’s assistant, Marshall Hopkins, and Keith Bendis also put in appearances.

Kvelling over the thousands of cartoons, Mr. Mankoff said he has received cartoons from author Norman Mailer and dramatist David Mamet.

Affer a pause, he asked quizzically, “Should I send Mamet a play?”

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HONORING HAMILTON

Distinguished alumni of the City University of New York appeared at a New-York Historical Society panel entitled “Hamilton’s Innovations: Today’s Success Stories.”

A partner at Sage Capital Management Partner, Robert Friedman, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Companies, Charlotte Frank, and the director and vice chairman of Alliance Capital Management, Roger Hertog, addressed Alexander Hamilton’s impact on their own lives. The president of the New York Historical Society, Louise Mirrer, introduced award-winning journalist Linda Prout, and noted her connections to Hamilton’s birthplace – the Caribbean – an area along with Latin America that Ms. Prout has covered for Newsweek and Newsday.

Ms. Frank, who was previously executive director of the Division of Curriculum and Instruction for the New York City Board of Education, spoke about the challenges growing up and being a woman interested in math and engineering.

She stressed Hamilton’s commitment to ending slavery, and drew parallels to the importance of inclusion in society.

Mr. Hertog, who is an investor in The New York Sun, spoke about Hamilton’s founding role in American free enterprise. Hamilton’s legacy in finance and publishing, he said, laid the groundwork for these areas today. Mr. Hertog also described the founding father’s role in helping to begin the New York Post.

Asked about overall themes of the evening, Ms. Prout told the Knickerbocker that immigration was a major thread among the speakers. The panelists also discussed their shared connection to the Bronx.

Among those in the audience was Susan Gitelson, who this past June received an honorary degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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LITERARY GATHERING

A party at a private club followed a memorial for publisher Roger Straus. Seen were Susannah Heschel talking with attorney Leon Friedman; Edith Kurzweil of the late-lamented Partisan Review; the publisher and editorial directorat the Nation magazine, Victor Navasky, talking with author Sidney Offit; Tom Wolfe, wearing white; the co-founder of the New York Review of Books, Robert Silvers; cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner, who spoke at a conference on storytelling at New York University on Friday; Berkeley based editor of the Threepenny Review, Wendy Lesser, who was going to hear Stephen Greenblatt; Michael MacDonald, whose father was critic Dwight MacDonald, and many others.

At the memorial at the 92nd Street Y, author John McPhee said of Straus, “I once asked him how much money I was losing by not having an agent.” Straus’s reply: “Oh, not a whole hell of a lot.”

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BOOK COUNTRY

Around Washington Square, New York Is Book Country was celebrated. Seen was Unterberg Poetry director David Yezzi talking with Herbert Leibowitz of Parnassus magazine. Malachy McCourt strolled along Sullivan Street. Various groups such as WNET/Channel 13 and Ayn Rand followers had booths.

The publisher Kodansha International had a small child’s wading pool containing goldfish. Customers could scoop one up and take it home in a plastic bag.

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TALENTED TWO

Two foreign honorary members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters are currently in the Big Apple. Zhang Jie, the novelist from China, has been visiting her daughter, Tang Di, in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. Irish fiction writer, Edna O’Brien is in town to see her new play into production at the Irish Arts Center.

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ALGONQUIN AFLOAT

Pearls, flapper dresses, and even two Zoot suits were in evidence as the Dorothy Parker Society of New York sponsored a cruise on Friday aboard the Diplomat, which was built for the president of Standard Oil. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and financier Bernard Baruch both once rode aboard the boat.

Their ghosts mingled with present-day revelers, including British cartoonist Dez Taylor and singer Cindy Ball. Sara Jangfeldt traveled from Sweden to New York. She has a CD called “Enough Rope,” featuring the words of Parker. Ms. Jangfeldt’s father, Bengt, was also present. He works at the Center for History of Science at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Near the deck were Rick Morrison, a travel writer who is active in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, and Linda Amiel Burns, who is president of the Sheet Music Society. Mr. Morrison said a biennial conference on Fitzgerald is being planned at Hofstra University.

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AROUND TOWN

A young man is celebrating his birthday on October 10 in Madison Square Park at 3 p.m. He has posted fliers cordially inviting people to RSVP to his party…Another unusual sign spotted on telephone poles around town announces a missing sock has been found, and asks that its owner call 212-502-7997.