What do Elizabeth Taylor and Jim Ferguson have in common? It’s not our eyes…mine are green.
See the top floor, the penthouse if you will, of the red brick building. That was Ms. Taylors first apartment in NYC, which was purchased for her by Michael Todd. I lived there too! Not with Ms. Taylor, but about 40 years after she moved out! Yes, I lived in Elizabeth Taylor’s penthouse apartment on Park Avenue for three years!
The doorman, Manny, told me great stories about Ms. Taylor. How she used to blare Christmas carols from the roof garden down Park Avenue. How she could avoid the press by exiting through the laundry room and out the backdoor into the ally.
It was a great apartment. When Ms. Taylor owned it, it took up the entire 19th floor. Somewhere along the way, it was split into two apartments. I lived in the one that overlooked Park Avenue. Once a person from Architectural Digest asked if he could see it. Of course! He had an old photo of Ms. Taylor leaning over the edge of the terrace, dressed a beautiful gown, looking down Park Avenue. My friend Steve Horn wanted to re-create the shot, with me in the exact gown, and put the photo on a Christmas card. We never got around to doing that. That woulda been something!