Dorothy Draper Decorates with Flair

Dorothy Draper was born into an aristocratic family in Tuxedo Park in New York. Although Draper had no formal education, she was “constantly in touch with surroundings of pleasant good taste.” Her family traveled extensively throughout Europe, further enhancing Draper’s understanding of her surroundings. After marrying Dr. George Draper, Dorothy redecorated their home with such flair that her high society friends were asking her to do the same for their homes.

Draper created her own style, which is known as Modern Baroque today, taking classic styling and adding a modern flair. Ornate moldings and plaster designs combined with exuberant combinations of color are the signature of a Dorothy Draper design. She was famous for her use of cabbage rose chintz upholstery.

Her first big break in interior design came in 1930 when she was asked to redecorate the Carlyle Hotel on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. In the early 1950s, Draper was asked to design auto interiors for Kaiser-Frazer Corporation and Packard Motor Car Company. The latter collaboration resulted in a pink polka dotted truck. Draper is also credited with professionalizing the interior design industry in the U.S.

Draper designed interiors for The Essex House in New York, the Beverly Hills Hotel and The Fairmont in San Francisco, along with the Drake Hotel In Chicago and The Plaza in New York. In addition, she designed a variety of hotels, hospitals, department stores, airplanes, theatres and residences around the world. Draper also designed furniture lines for Heritage and Ficks Reed Co. along with a fabric line for F. Schumacher. Many of her pieces survive today and can be seen in hotel and apartment building lobbies. Several museum displays of her work have been put together and shown across the country as well. Well-known interior designer Carleton Varney penned her biography, titled, “The Draper Touch.”

Tim Tebow Joins the N.Y. Jets

Tim Tebow will soon become a New Yorker following his trade to the New York Jets. This trade occurred just one day after Tebow’s current team, the Denver Broncos, signed Peyton Manning as their starting quarterback. Tebow will be the backup quarterback for the Jets, filling in for starting quarterback Mark Sanchez.

Tebow won two national championships for the University of Florida before being a first round draft pick for the Denver Broncos. He is known for kneeling to pray after victories, a pose that has become known as Tebowing. He’s outspoken in his Christian beliefs and even painted a Bible verse on the black streaks beneath his eyes until the NFL banned the practice.

The Jets, who finished last season 8-8, are hoping for a shot at the Super Bowl this year, however, oddsmakers believe Tebow will neither help nor hurt the Jets’ chances. Their odds at a Super Bowl win still stand at 25 to 1.

Leah Remini Tweets About Being Fired from The Talk

Brooklyn-born Leah Marie Remini is known for her role as Carrie Heffernan on “The King of Queens," a CBS sitcom that ran for nine seasons. Remini also appeared as a co-host on the CBS talk show “The Talk,” until she was fired from the show last summer. Remini made headlines this week because of the posts she’s made on Twitter, blaming Sharon Osborne, another co-host on “The Talk,” for getting her and Holly Robinson Peete fired from the show. Remini tweeted that Osborne thought she and Robinson Peete were ghetto, as well as awkward and not funny. She states that Osborne’s interview on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show in December tipped her off about who was behind the firing.

Osborne responded to Remini’s claims on Twitter earlier this week, stating that she had nothing to do with Remini or Robinson Peete’s departures from the show. Remini countered Osborne’s comment by stating that Osborne has her phone number and if she wants to clear up the situation she could call her. Remini is currently filming a pilot for an ABC television show.

Basketball's MVP: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Since we’re in the midst of March Madness, let’s take a look at a famous basketball player who was born in New York City in 1947. Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr., Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was raised in a Catholic home and attended a Catholic school in Manhattan.

Alcindor played for the UCLA Bruins for three years and was one of the major contributors to the team’s 88 wins and only two losses in that time. He was named Player of the Year twice during his college basketball career, along with being a First Team All-American three times. He refused to join the U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball team in 1968 to boycott the unfair treatment of African-Americans in the U.S.

Although Alcindor was offered  $1 million to play for the Harlem Globetrotters, the seven-foot, two-inch athlete declined and was selected first in the 1969 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He was also chosen first by the New York Nets, but the Nets bid too low, so Alcindor ended up playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. Alcindor was named the NBA Rookie of the Year and helped get the team to the playoffs in the 1970-71 season. After the Bucks won the championship, Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Muslim name that translates from Arab as generous servant of God.

Abdul-Jabbar continued to play for Milwaukee until 1974 when he stated that the Midwest did not suit his cultural needs. He requested a transfer to either Los Angeles or New York and was acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975. He continued to play for the L.A. Lakers until 1989 when he announced his retirement after 20 seasons of professional basketball.

After his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar turned his sights on coaching. He worked as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers as well as the Seattle SuperSonics. He was also the head coach of the Oklahoma Storm basketball team in 2002. He led the team to a championship, but his coaching contract was not renewed the following year. He worked as a scout for the New York Knicks before returning to Los Angeles in 2005 to serve as a special assistant coach.

Jesse Eisenberg Dazzles the Silver Screen

Screen actor Jesse Eisenberg was born in Queens in 1983. His father was a college professor and his mother a professional clown who performed at birthday parties. Eisenberg loved acting and began performing in children's theatre when he was 10. He performed in an off-Broadway play as well as a short-lived television series before landing his first feature film role his senior year in high school. He received the Most Promising New Actor award at the San Diego Film Festival for his role in that film, titled "Roger Dodger."

Although Eisenberg has more than a dozen feature films to his name, the role that catapulted him into the limelight was that of Mark Zuckerberg in the movie, "The Social Network." Eisenberg even received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for the role. The film star shows no sign of slowing down. He's got several new movies due out in 2012 as well as a few in pre and post-production.

Duncan Phyfe: Master Furniture Maker

Scottish native Duncan Phyfe was the preeminent furniture of the nineteenth century. After apprenticing with a cabinetmaker, Phyfe, a poor immigrant, relocated to New York City in 1792 and opened his furniture making business two years later. Through hard work and determination, along with his exceptional talent, Phyfe acquired wealth and fame. He created beautifully crafted pieces and sold them at low prices, making him one of the leading furniture makers of his time.

During his early years, Phyfe produced neoclassical furnishings that was sold to the elite in New York, Philadelphia and in the South. Later in his career, Phyfe moved into the antique style of the 1820s, characterized by an archaeological look, as well ash the Grecian style popular during the French Restoration period. Throughout his life, Phyfe incorporated a wide range of classical styles into his work, including Empire, Federal, French Classical, Regency and Sheraton, but he is famous for the simple style of his pieces. He typically used mahogany wood for his pieces, staining them with rich colors and finishing them with a high sheen.

In addition to his impeccable furniture styling, Phyfe was a shrewd businessman with strong commercial instincts. His competitive pricing resulted in a very successful business enterprise. He rarely signed or marked his pieces in any way and his designs were often shamelessly imitated by other furniture makers of the time, so it is difficult to determine which pieces are actually his without bills of receipt and other paperwork.

Phyfe's pieces were in high demand between 1805 and 1820 and he was a prominent figure in the furniture industry until his retirement at the age of 77 in 1847. His pieces are still coveted by collectors, though most collectors are only interested in signed pieces or pieces that have been proven authentic.

David Baltimore's Nobel Prize for the Discovery of Reverse Transcriptase

New York is one of the few cities that can claim it is the birthplace of a Nobel prize winner in every category. While some Nobel categories only boast one native New Yorker as a winner, others, such as chemistry, physics, economics and medicine, have had several New Yorkers as winners over the years.

David Baltimore, who was born in New York in 1938, was awarded a Nobel Prize in the physiology or medicine category in 1975. He shared the award with Howard Temin and Renato Dulbecco for their discovery of how tumor viruses interact with cells in the human body. Baltimore discovered an enzyme called reverse transcriptase (RTase), which is required for a certain class of viruses, called retroviruses, to reproduce. His research was crucial to learning how retroviruses, such as the HIV virus, infect cells and reproduce within the human body. Baltimore also discovered the NF-kB protein complex, which controls transcription, as well as the recombination activating genes RAG-1 and RAG-2, which help with the rearrangement and recombination of genes.