Celebrating with the rich and famous over a 1993 Dom Perignon

Strip away the context, and the list could pass as some sort of blue-sky social experiment: How would Donald Trump and Henry Kissinger get along? How about fashion luminary Oscar de la Renta and billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg?

If you were one of the 86 people invited to Barbara Amiel's 60th birthday bash in December of 2000, you may have had a chance to find out. The party's guest list was presented as evidence in a Chicago court yesterday:

Table 1: New York Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is at the table. Leading fashion designer Oscar de la Renta is also listed.

Table 2: Author and founder of National Review magazine William F. Buckley, Jr., is seated alongside conservative political adviser Richard Perle. Billionaire magazine publisher and native Canadian Mort Zuckerman is also seated at the table.

Table 3: Right-wing journalist Taki Theodoracopulos -- who once spent four months in a British prison for cocaine possession -- is seated alongside Slovenian model and Donald Trump's wife, Melania Knauss. The table also features a CEO, a politician and the head of a multibillion-dollar fund management firm.

Table 4/5: At what could be described as the "better times" table, Hollinger insider and former CEO of London's Telegraph newspapers Dan Colson is seated, as is onetime Black friend turned plea-bargain witness David Radler.

Table 6: Pulitzer prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger was seated alongside former Time magazine head and U.S. ambassador to Austria Henry Grunwald. Another noted journalist, former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans, joins them.

Table 7: Former Hollinger executive Peter Atkinson was at the table; he now stands accused alongside Conrad Black.

Table 8: The hostess, Barbara Amiel, had a billionaire real-estate tycoon and a Nobel prize winner for company. Donald Trump and Henry Kissinger are seated at Table 8, as is former ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings.

Table 9: Conrad Black's table is an eccentric mix. He is seated alongside "Dame Edna" comedian Barry Humphries and American diplomat Richard Holbrooke. Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue and the inspiration for the movie The Devil Wears Prada, is also at the table.

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Dinner details

Cocktails will be served at 8:00 p.m. and dinner will follow at 9:00 p.m.

Cocktails:

Amuse bouches

Céviche de Homard au Concombre

Carpaccio de Boeuf au Raifort

Caviar Beluga sur Gaufrettes

"Gougères" aux Deux Fromages

Will be served with Moët et

Chandon Dom Perignon 1993.

Dinner

Your dinner menu selection is as follows:

Raviolis de Homard et Crabe au Basilic

Chassagne Montrachet

"Les Cheneyottes" Prosper

Maufoux 1998 (#54)

Le Carre de Veau Enrobé aux Fine Herbes et Gnocchis Caramélisés

au Jus

Clos Vougeot Prosper

Maufoux 1993 (#322)

Le Coppelia au Chocolat; Petits Fours; Café; Truffes au Chocolat

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La Grenouille details

The tables will be numbered from 1-10 and there will be three menus on each table written in fine calligraphy.

The birthday cake will have six candles with "Happy Birthday Barbara" written on top and will be presented in the dining room on a tray.

A pianist and singer will perform during the evening.

An upright piano with matching bench has been ordered for the evening.

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Anatomy of a party

Just before David Radler took the witness stand in the Conrad Black trial yesterday, jurors heard details about a 60th birthday party Lord Black hosted for his wife Barbara Amiel Black on Dec. 4, 2000, at La Grenouille in New York City. The information came from Janice Akerhielm, Lord Black's former assistant.

-Ms. Akerhielm testified that Lord Black wanted her to keep the arrangements confidential because he wanted to surprise his wife. "I kept it secret from everybody in the office," she said.

-$17,000.00 worth of food

-$14,000.00 worth of wine...

-...for a total restaurant bill of $54,000.00

-...plus $569 for calligraphy.

-In the end, Hollinger picked up $42,000 of the tab.

-Lord Black covered the remainder, plus $569 for calligraphy.

Prosecutors allege Lord Black should have paid the full cost for the party.

-Ms. Akerhielm said that the total cost was around $62,000 and that Lord Black sent her a note that said: "Let's call it 1/3 personal and 2/3 corporate".

SOURCE: COURT DOCUMENTS