Out & About
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‘Bedtime’ Helps Mothers Sleep
Baby Buggy, a nonprofit founded by Jessica Seinfeld, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, held a “Bedtime Bash” on Tuesday to support its Project Safe Sleep Program.
The project distributes cribs and bassinets to new mothers through the Harlem Hospital Center in Manhattan and the Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn. “I am critically aware that there are way too many tragedies that are totally preventable by giving women safe places for their children to sleep,” Mrs. Seinfeld said.
At the Seinfeld household, where the couple’s three children are 6, 4, and 21 months, bedtime is a “pretty disciplined, scheduled” time, Mrs. Seinfeld said: “Bath, bed, and three stories.”
The Seinfeld’s eldest child is starting chapter books. All three children “get one story that has to do with science — we’re on a huge dolphin and whale kick — and one that’s more creative,” Mrs. Seinfeld said.
Mr. Seinfeld excels at reading stories aloud, something the public will get to see when he plays a bee in the upcoming movie, “Bee Movie.” He promoted the film last week in Cannes by dressing up as a bee and “flying” around the Carlton Hotel attached to a cable.
All that Cannes excitement is not typical fare for the children. Including naps, Mrs. Seinfeld likes them to get 15 hours of sleep each day.
A Cacophony for Public Arts
Mayor Bloomberg opens a film made for the Public Art Fund’s 30th anniversary, which had its debut Tuesday at the fund’s annual gala.
“One great thing about New York City is that simply walking down the street can be an adventure,” Mr. Bloomberg says. “You never know when you’re going to see something strange, funny, beautiful, or all of the above.”
The Public Art Fund has indeed provided New Yorkers with all of the above, including Jeff Koons’s giant puppy in Rockefeller Center, Alex Katz’s vertical billboard in Times Square, and Julian Opie’s sheep and cars in City Hall Park.
At the gala, artist Dave Muller created another all-of-the-above moment by instructing the 330 guests to turn on record players at their tables, which were loaded with an album featuring his original music and a reading of the names of the 500 artists who have created art for the fund.
The resulting cacophony was a fitting tribute to the late founder of the fund, Doris Freedman, who liked art that made noise.
“We know how the public can be angry at art, ” Freedman once said, “which I think is fantastic.”
