WEEKEND JOURNAL. FRIDAY - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 - 30, 2011 WSJ.com/lifeandstyle

The of Life In ’s Heartland, Saffron Is as Good as Gold oto TH F ood/ kF Stoc LUXURY FASHION HOMES Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena Tina Gaudoin on stunning winter Software billionaire Larry Ellison’s has a nose for fragrance W3 coats worth the big splurge W4 obsession with trophy homes W10 W2 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 PAGE TWO WEEKEND JOURNAL.

8-9| Cover Story In Don Quixote’s legendary stomping grounds, Spanish saffron is the spice of life. 4-5 | Fashion Tina Gaudoin on the most spectacular, splurge- worthy winter coats. Plus, clashing patterns.

The field of fashionable options has never been wider or more indulgent. 10-11| Homes How American software billionaire Larry Ellison has taken serial property buying to new extremes.

3| Luxury Hermès perfumer illustration by Jean-Manuel Duvivier Jean-Claude Ellena’s fashionable fragrances. All Hallows’ Eve Is More Trick Than Treat Travel 6| [ European Life ] year-olds dressed as Chuckie, the A Rising Trend Saying ‘I don’t’ to marriage, but ‘I do’ to a honeymoon. killer doll from “Child’s Play”—if Last week, we celebrated Na- you’re charitable and assume that tional Baking Week. A new and, to BY SAM LEITH IN LONDON the dungarees and knife my mind, entirely delightful devel- Food & are some sort of fancy dress—ex- opment in our cultural life is the 7| Halloween draws torting Haribos with menaces obsession with smart . As re- ’s iconic Bistecca. Plus, wine’s dropping price. near. It brings from petrified pensioners. cently as 10 years ago, sourdough with it a frisson of These 8-year-olds, be it was regarded as exotic and suspi- fear. Up and down known, don’t have lisping voices cious—something to do with San 12| Books the country, folk and Lord Fauntleroy curls: they Francisco, probably not tasting The political rise whisper quiet have five-o’clock shadow, a strong very nice. Now, every second fridge prayers under their breath, bolt sense of their due entitlements has a rye starter bubbling away. of Marine Le Pen. the door and turn on extra lights. according to the current trick/ Artisanal are coming to These people, be advised, aren’t treat exchange rate and a lovingly occupy the same place in this de- superstitious. Their minds aren’t accumulated arsenal of eggs, fire- cade that the sun-dried tomato 13-15| Culture plagued with images of ghosts works and plastic bags full of dog did in the 1990s. The surprise hit On the ‘Moneyball’; and witches and things that shud- doo with which to play jocular of the TV schedules has been a der and creep in darkness. Their tricks on spoilsport adults who show called “The Great British the Orsay’s new vision; minds are plagued with images of Bake-Off.” Bakers such as Richard unlucky ‘13’; and more. things that shout and ring door- Bertinet, Dan Lepard and Andrew bells and ride their bicycles on To the London dweller, Whitley are media stars, while the pavements. the approach of All home bakers exchange tips on 16| Friday Night, Saturday Morning Let me paint a picture. Most poolish and post photographs of Friday nights, there tends to Hallows’ Eve isn’t one crumb structures on Twitter with Rafe Spall’s newest role. Plus, the Journal crossword. gather below my window a knot hashtags like #breadporn. Let’s of sullen teenagers debating the of suburban coziness. hope that, unlike the sun-dried to- WSJ.com/lifeandstyle ups and downs of their love lives mato, this food trend endures. in language that would make a sailor blush. On Oct. 31, thanks to won’t join in with the spirit of Like the Dickens the importation of a charming Halloween. Giving them chocolate The approach to February’s bi- tradition from small-town Amer- only encourages them. centennial of Charles Dickens’s ica, these kids are licensed to In years past, when I lived in a birth is under way. Fine new bio- ring my doorbell. frisky area of South London, I graphical studies by Claire Tomalin Halloween trick-or-treating is simply didn’t answer the doorbell (“Charles Dickens: A Life”) and another of those trans-Atlantic co- after dark on Oct. 31, and I know I Robert Douglas-Fairhurst (“Becom- productions that—like extraordi- wasn’t the only one. It’s not un- ing Dickens”) have already come nary rendition and the “missile known, indeed, for people to out, with more in the works. Dick- shield”—plays less well in the U.K. cower at home with the lights off ens-mania is expected in public than in the country that thought it and their heads below the level of spaces, museums, theaters and the up. Think of trick-or-treating in the the windows in the hopes trick-or- small screen. It makes me wonder: American context and you think of treaters will think that they’re out Is there any writer of equivalent Barbara Tina Fuhr Editor Carlos Tovar Art Director Charlie Brown and Linus, or of E.T. and be reluctant to waste a dog’s stature whose direct influence is so Beth Schepens Deputy Editor Elisabeth Limber Weekend Art Director waddling around in a sheet. egg on the letterbox. little felt in the literary culture of Brian M. Carney Books Page Editor To the London dweller, though, Heigh ho. But that’s life. As today? We have many Dickensians, the approach of All Hallows’ Eve long as they keep egging our but oddly few Dickensian writers. Questions or comments? Write to [email protected]. isn’t one of suburban coziness. It houses, we’ll keep soaking their —Next week, Please include your full name and address. heralds, rather, an epidemic of 8- Haribos in Tabasco. Francis X. Rocca in Rome Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W3 LUXURY A French Perfumer’s Seductive Sense Jean-Claude Ellena Reveals What His Nose Knows, Applying a Haiku Approach to Puzzling Out Scents

BY LANIE GOODMAN the perfumer’s own experience, fume, Mr. Ellena smiles. “Perform- which will be released in English ance,” he says, “is a very American dor is a word, perfume is next month as “Perfume: The Al- concept. If you can measure the es- “O literature,” Jean-Claude chemy of Scent” (Arcades Publish- thetic value of a product, and smell Ellena, the official in- ing), he longed to write something it from 20 meters away, then it’s a house perfumer for Hermès since “more literary,” he says. success. Another concern is a per- 2004 and possibly the most adven- Based on a year’s worth of notes fume’s tenacity, which can also be turous, unconventional nose in from the author’s notebook, his measured in time. For me, elegance France, writes in his new book. “Journal d’un Parfumeur” aims to se- is defined by discretion—not invad- “Journal d’un Parfumeur,” which duce. His goal, he says, was to con- ing the space of your neighbor.” was published in May by Sabine vey that perfume formulas aren’t like Mr. Ellena pauses, gazing at the Wespieser, explores the conundrums food recipes, measured in liters and distant Mediterranean. “There’s a of his profession with the delicacy pinches, but more like haiku. wonderful quote by Provençal writer of an olfactory poet. “In the past, perfume creators Jean Giono, who says: ‘I love to look Mr. Ellena, whose father was a didn’t communicate about what they behind the air.’ That’s what I try to perfumer in Grasse, began training were doing—it was an open secret,” do—go behind the obvious. You have as an apprentice in a local perfumer says perfume expert Jean Kerléo, to bring people’s noses a little further factory in 1964 when he was 17 years who was Patou’s chief “nose” for 35 than what they see to sense what is old. After four decades of working in years, and is now the founding presi- happening somewhere else. You enter Paris and New York with multina- dent of the perfume museum Os- the scent and follow the path.” tional companies, and creating more mothèque in Versailles. “In his book, than 100 fragrances, including Van Jean-Claude Ellena lays his cards on Cleef & Arpels’s First, Cartier’s Dec- table, and you’re sometimes sur- laration, Bulgari’s Eau Parfumée au prised. He represents a new way of Thé Vert, he is exactly where he crafting fragrances today that is wants to be: hidden away in a forest reminiscent of the early days when ) in Cabris, a tiny hilltop village in the perfumes like Shalimar, Arpège and r tranquil Riviera back-country near Joy were a luxury, made with heavy, cove k Grasse in the south of France. expensive, pure extracts, not eau de (boo He composes fragrances at his toilette. Jean-Claude is always look- r teu own pace in his private lab, housed ing for something very particular, i éd in a contemporary split-level glass- but his perfumes remain a mystery.” r ese walled villa that was custom-built Since abstract ideas are hard to i for him by Hermès. Dressed in khaki talk about (“How do you talk about e Wesp pants and a crisp white shirt, Mr. this…? he sniffs demonstratively in in

Ellena leads the way past his of- the air), Mr. Ellena offers an example ;Sab x

fice—a long table with sharpened of the difficulties he sometimes en- tou r pencils where he ponders his mathe- counters. One morning, while wan- e in B t matical formulas—to an outdoor pa- dering through the stalls of fresh n

tio facing the woods pungent with produce at Rungis, the famous Que pines. At 64, he is quietly hand- wholesale food market in the sub- some, with an elegant soupçon of urbs of Paris, he had a kind of revela- Cary Grant and a ready smile. tion. “I picked up a bouquet of Does it take an innate talent to mint—it wasn’t the first time I become a nose? If Mr. Ellena takes a smelled it, of —but at that whiff of a jasmine extract, for in- moment, there was something very stance, he can tell you whether it’s green and intensely fresh about the Egyptian, Italian or plucked from the odor. I was determined to transcribe neighboring fields. But he can also that first emotion in perfume—not identify the subtlest scent of copper, the odor of mint itself, but capture tin, stainless steel or glass lurking its stimulating, vigorous quality.” Af- behind a flower’s absolute, and ter 11 tries, Mr. Ellena abandoned the knows what kind of machine was research. “No matter what I did, the used during the extraction process. result smelled like cleaning products, “You just store fragrances in your chewing gum or herbal —it was memory,” he says. “Out of the 10,000 still just mint…and nothing more.” molecules developed by the perfume Often, he says, he finds his inspi- industry, any true specialist should ration by total fluke, while traveling. be able to recognize about 1,000.” His best-selling exotic scent, A Gar- His small, white, sunlit lab is den on the Nile, for instance, began surprisingly minimalist, with only a with a chance encounter with a stainless-steel carousel filled with green mango, snapped off a tree dur- 200 tiny glass vials of synthetic and ing a stroll on the banks of the Nile. natural odors (“I make no distinc- After one deep whiff, the perfumer tion—an odor is an odor”), two knew that he was on to something. scales and one assistant. “Nature is To demonstrate how he develops complicated—500 molecules for the an idea, Mr. Ellena digs into his odor of a rose and even more for pocket and pulls out a small, curved chocolate,” he says. “With synthet- piece of wood. “Fifteen years ago, I ics, I can conjure the aroma of cocoa came across this marvelous massoia beans with two molecules—for dark wood, not well known in perfumery chocolate, I add patchouli. A per- and used in Indonesian . The fumer is, above all, an illusionist. odor is startling, unforgettable, mys- People never imagine that in one terious, a sensual riot of exotic small room, with just a few prod- , fruit and milky coconut. It’s ucts, you can make magic.” what I call a horizontal scent,” he Fréderic Malle, founder of Edi- says. “It’s round, supple, almost car- tions de Parfums, an alternative nal, lascivious—in a word, feminine.” brand of luxury scents that includes It took six years to develop Santal Villeret Collection three of Mr. Ellena’s fragrances—Co- Massoïa, Mr. Ellena’s 10th fragrance Chronographe Monopoussoir logne Bigarade, Angélique sous la in the Hermèssences collection, Complete Calendar pluie and L’Eau d’hiver, says, “Jean- which launched this week and is sold Under-lug correctors Claude has always played the fra- in Hermès boutiques. Secured calendar and grance game as high art. He’s be- Is there a downside to his hyper- moon-phases mechanism come the true descendant of his developed sense of smell? Some- Ref. 6685-3642-55B mentor, Edmond Roudnitska, who times, Mr. Ellena says, his sensitive created Eau Sauvage in the ’60s and nose reveals too much information was one of the first to develop mini- about perfect strangers. In a plane, malist formulas.” he can practically rattle off the menu After the commercial success of of a badly digested dinner that his www.blancpain.com Mr. Ellena’s first book, “Le Parfum” neighbor enjoyed the night before. BLANCPAIN BOUTIQUES ABU DHABI · BEIJING · CANNES · DUBAI · EKATERINBURG · GENEVA · HONG KONG · MACAU · MADRID · MANAMA (Editions Que-Sais-Je, PUF, 2009), a When asked about cultural differ- MOSCOW · MUMBAI · MUNICH · NEW YORK · PARIS · SHANGHAI · SINGAPORE · TAIPEI · TOKYO · ZURICH brief, straightforward layman’s guide ences between the American and to the fragrance industry, based on French corporate approach to per- W4 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 FASHION

CLASSIC SENSIBLE STATEMENT

PARKA CAPE FUR

Luxuriously Cozy Winter Coats

The Sensible Stopgap and rear section open to the ele- This season’s best is by Yves double as a super-chic daytime [ Style ] The puffa lives on and fills many ments. Try Maison Martin Mar- Salomon (£1,005), in khaki with cardigan or a night-time black-tie a practical void. Gap is best for giela’s pea coat in gray (£770), or rabbit lining (the sleeves are lined coat, thrown over a long skirt BY TINA GAUDOIN bottom-line dog walking, touch- a twist on the simple theme with with quilting). Browns in London and simple top. line spectating and school run- Cacharel’s duffle-finish in navy had such a success with this coat For the best shearling, also If you are anything ing. Try their metallic burgundy and gray wool (£695). that they’ve just restocked (and look to Miu Miu—try their cream like me, the mo- parka (£59.95). it’s only late October). blouson with removable hood and ment the clocks If you still don’t own a full- The Statement black piping (£2,100). Balenciaga change, you begin length puffa for fear it will ruin This season, there’s a lot of “rad” The Rather Irritating Cape has created the edgiest fur this to think about your body image, get over it. in the coat department—patterns, They’re back—didn’t you know? winter, with the short, black cashmere, wool There’s nothing warmer when the colors and skin effects. If you are I’m going to recommend two from baby alpaca coat (£2,645). (As and fur. There is some meteorolog- temperature dips five below zero going for somewhat outlandish, opposite ends of the spectrum: an aside, if you still don’t own ical sense to the theory that the (even fur has its limitations). Try bear in mind that once you have Lanvin’s cape in black wool, with their navy-blue biker jacket, buy shift in time and light turns our Burberry Prorsum’s long, navy made a statement with your out- silk lapels and tortoise-shell clasp it now (£1,625). You will never thoughts toward winter—and win- and black quilted satin down landish coat, it will thereafter be (£2,110) and Coach’s in navy-blue, regret it and who knows whether ter coats. Two decades ago, one puffa (£1,495), the slimming-est just another coat you have likely with gold buttons and black they will do it in the same per- owned only one winter coat. These long puffa out there. paid handsomely for and will leather trim (£475). fect navy next year.) days, clever marketing, cheaper equally as likely be truly bored I’m not keen on capes; they If you are averse to the real manufacturing and the advent of a The Classics with in a few years. limit what one can do with a thing, Emporio Armani has a fun, somewhat democratic designer cul- Surprisingly, the best this season There is an argument for buy- handbag (only a tote or short- knitted knee-length furry effect ture (think second lines and more is from Gucci. While the Italian ing cheap when it comes to a handled bag will do—there’s no cardi/coat in a deep blue/black affordable options) means that label also showed some pretty statement coat, but this piece throwing over the shoulder of (£569), which would look as good most of us own two or three coats over-the-top stuff, their wool- is about properly expensive, one’s messenger bag). I acknowl- over jeans as it would over a day or jackets for differing occasions. and-cashmere mixes, double- properly wonderful coats, so.... edge, though, that they are the dress or a pair of black pants, This season, the field of fashion- or single-breasted or funnel neck Try Azzedine Alaïa’s calf-hair answer to what one wears over towering heels and a silk shirt. able options has never been wider in navy, off-white or black with coat with the kasba print a jacket to work on bitterly The mother (or father) of fur or more indulgent. Here are my gold buttons (from around (£7,740), Marni’s multipatterned cold days. is Alexander McQueen—well, top choices for spectacular winter £1,660), are long-term invest- Mondrian collage-style with rag- this season at least. Sarah Burton coats to blow your budget on. ments that you will haul out year lan sleeves (£1,290), Céline’s Wool and Fur Fabulousness has created masterpieces in off- You’ll notice, if you are a keen after year. The other classic leopard print (£8,300) and Dries Is it a coat? Is it a cardi? Is it a white fit for a snow queen or, follower of fashion dictates, that I must-have with a modern twist is Van Noten’s tie-front, blue tweed gilet? The answer is sometimes at the very least, a chilly prin- don’t reference the recent “over- Céline’s dogtooth patchwork coat trench, with one half of the collar all three. The luxe combo of wool cess. I don’t know anyone who sized” trend, for which we have with silk lapels (£2,350). lined with fur (£1,290). and fur has long been acknowl- would choose to buy an off-white, Miu Miu to thank. That’s because Pea coats are another classic edged, but if you want to see it at full-length, silk-lined, shaved I’m not yet sure the trend is going investment. Great for weekends, The Ultimate Parka its best, take a look at Miu Miu’s mink, goat and fox fur for to translate into the mainstream so long as you don’t defeat the Parkas are still going strong, and pink or yellow coyote-and-wool £22,430. I wish I did, because I and I remain unconvinced in any purpose by buying one of the that’s because they satisfy the gilet (from £1,185). Lanvin’s would beg them to let me wear case that these coats will become shrunken versions that serves to three Fs—form, function and fash- sumptuous black cashmere cardi- it; preferably over my pajamas. classics and worthy of spending only keep the top half of your ion—though they are no longer gan, with a fox collar, zippered For my money, that’s one of the pots of money on. chest warm, leaving your midriff the hip signifier they once were. front and pockets (£3,650), will real definitions of decadence. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W5 FASHION The Clash of the Prints

BY RAY A. SMITH can’t be broken down and worn sep- dent of trend-forecasting firm Tobe. arately. At D&G’s and Miu Miu’s Also, the color-blocking trend of ho wears stripes with a women’s runway shows, for example, 2011—putting two or more large W print? Bigger question: some mismatched tops and bottoms blocks of color in an outfit, Rothko- Who wears stripes with a were stitched together and will be like—was a sort of introduction to busy print on the same garment sold as one piece, and dresses fea- clashing. Now, print-on-print is the paired with a little floral? The fash- tured at least two different patterns. advanced course. ion industry thinks you might. Designers cited street style as an Ms. Moellering says she is skep- The looks from the spring 2012 influence. Prada can also be cred- tical about the popularity of clash- runway shows hitting stores in the ited, or blamed, in part for the ing prints arriving so soon. next two to three months are a riot “There’s a huge amount of the con- of print-on-print designs, clashing suming public that is just getting stripes and wild-patterned motifs the color memo. Prints are much that boldly go to places even the more subjective than color,” she most fashionable dresser has rarely says. “It’s a harder sell.” gone before. Designer labels includ- Designers, however, are confi- ing Diane von Furstenberg for dent the public will bite. “Layering women and Alexander McQueen for [prints] is a good way to be more men encouraged such clashing daring,” says Thakoon Panichgul, styles in their collections. who has been a fan of clashing The prints party marks an in- prints for years. “Sometimes it’s creasing shift away from the pared- amazing how you think two prints back styles, heavy on neutrals, that will be overloaded or clashy, when coincided with the economic down- in fact it looks even more subtle.” turn’s more subdued mood. At Diane von Furstenberg, long- Retailers are expressing opti- known for prints, creative director mism that customers will shop for Yvan Mispelaere, says, “This season these madcap prints, since they was all about mixing [prints] with probably don’t have a lot of them in a fresh and light eccentricity that is their closets already. “We embraced still effortless” and can have a “bit

the print-on-print trend wherever it Getty Images of an edge.” looked good to us,” says Jeffrey Kal- A riot of print-on-print at Etro. For men, the runway looks go far insky, executive vice president of beyond mixing patterns between a designer merchandising for Nord- trend. Last year, in its spring 2011 tie and shirt. “They have to not be strom. He adds that prints will be a show, the influential label’s collec- afraid of trying something new,” huge part of the U.S. department tion was so ripe with banana prints says Thom Browne, whose spring store’s designer business, but ad- and monkey motifs that some blog- 2012 men’s show featured checks, mits it’s not an easy look to pull off. gers dubbed it the “Carmen pinstripes and more worn together. “Proposing print-on-print to our Miranda“ line. The house threw in Mr. Mispelaere recommends one customers will be inspirational for clashing stripes for good measure. accessory that meshes particularly them, but in reality, I think that “When Prada puts something out well with the print-on-print trend: they will be wearing the separate there, it opens the gates for more confidence. “If you are afraid you pieces on their own.” designers to jump in,” says Cathe- won’t pull it off,” he says, “you In some cases, the ensembles rine Moellering, executive vice presi- probably won’t.”

MESURE ET DÉMESURE

Opposite page, clockwise from top left, Gucci wool and cashmere-blend military coat, £2,210; Burberry Prorsum satin down coat, £1,495; kasba-print TONDA 1950 calf-hair frock coat by Azzedine Alaïa, £7,440; Miu Miu beige Rose gold Ultra-thin automatic movement wool-blend chunky-knit vest Alligator Hermès strap with pink coyote fur trim, £1,185; Lanvin black wool-fleece Made in Switzerland cape with a black satin peaked www.parmigiani.ch lapel, £2,110; khaki-green coyote- and rabbit-fur coat from Meteo by Yves Salomon, £1,005. This page, Marni navy virgin- wool coat printed with tribal motif, £1,290; ‘Rai’ bouclé wool coat with rabbit-fur lapel by Dries Van Noten, £1,290; Céline’s leopard-print skin gold sand CANNES FERRET | DÜSSELDORF HESTERMANN & SOHN | LONDON ASPREY

Left page, clockwise from top left, Net-a-Porter (2); Browns; mytheresa (2); Matches; This page, from top, Browns; Dries Van Noten; Céline Crombie coat, £8,300. MILANO PISA OROLOGERIA | MONTREUX ZBINDEN | MOSCOW LOUVRE W6 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 TRAVEL The ‘I Don’t’ Honeymoon An American Author Shares How She Called Off Her Wedding, Yet Still Met in Paris to Celebrate

BY JULIA REED

he honeymoon was to begin in T Paris because that was, more or less, where we began. When I met my fiancé, I was in my early 20s and living in Washington. He was almost twice my age and liv- ing in London, so Paris is where we got together—where he romanced me over the course of seven years. Sometimes our visits were fe- vered two-day jaunts; sometimes, when we had the use of his sister’s sprawling apartment, they’d last for more than a week. On one trip we stayed at a tiny hotel called the Sévigné. On another, it was the ul- tra-discreet San Régis, said to be a favorite of Lauren Bacall. Like a lot of Aussies I’ve known, the man in question was deter- mined to prove that he was more cultured than the Brits he lived among, and I was happy to benefit from his efforts. We ate Gilbert Le Coze’s dazzling pounded tuna at Le Bernardin before he and his sister, Maguy moved the restaurant to Manhattan; we toured the de Menil collection at the Centre Pompidou before it went off to its permanent home in Houston. I learned to enjoy a pastis before dinner, thrilled to the Jacques-Louis Davids at the Louvre, and happily drank a hell of a lot of Château Giscours, his favor- ite Bordeaux. The problem, with regards to the honeymoon, was that all that had taken place when there had been an “us”—an entity I’d rather abruptly shattered when I called off the wed-

The bill for the evening remains one of the largest of my life, but it was a small price to pay for finishing the ‘honeymoon’ off in style.

Above, Hadley Hooper for The Wall Street Journal; below, Vasser Howorth. ding a few weeks before it was sup- Madeleine Castaing and an ancient Ritz specialty that consisted of posed to happen. Still, much to the place George knew where I bought Pimm’s No. 1 topped off with cham- disbelief of my mother and a great ropes of green cut-class beads that pagne and garnished with lots of many other people who were simi- looked like emeralds. sliced fruit and potent brandied larly sane, we chose to take the trip I wore the latter with a white cherries. Somewhere around the that had been meant to celebrate silk dress to dinner à deux with my third one, it seemed like a good our union. would-be fiancé at Restaurant idea to invite my almost-groom and I thought I was doing the civi- Jamin, Joel Robuchon’s first res- his sister. By this time the room lized thing. I thought I’d be letting taurant in Paris. Tucking into had filled up with people André him down easy, that he could save Robuchon’s justifiably famous po- knew, from Alain Mikli to Donna face with friends and family (many tato puree (accompanied by lots of Karan, and they joined us too and of whom lived in Paris) if he could the aforementioned Giscours), I re- we were all very jolly. Toward the say it was the wedding and not the membered why I’d fallen in love in end of the night, I found myself marriage I feared. There was also the first place. But then the next seated between a former Los Ange- the fact that we already had first morning we were off to Lyon, a les Ram, who was one of Madonna’s class tickets (by this time we had city not nearly so romantic nor bodyguards, and actress Arlene racked up a gazillion miles), a suite containing a single soul we knew, Dahl, of all people, to whom I at L’Hotel, and, on my end, a partic- and by the end of day two we’d al- poured out my story. ularly swell trousseau. most killed each other. (I fear we The bill for the evening remains We got over the first hump, the actually might have killed the Mi- one of the largest of my life, but it bottle of champagne left in the chelin three-starred Alain was a small price to pay for finish- room to welcome the new “Mr. and Chapel—all the electricity went off ing the “honeymoon” off in style, Mrs.,” by drinking it—quickly. My in his restaurant the night we and even with a modicum of grace. jilted groom spent his days catch- dined there, and he died of a I kept it as a reminder that even ing up with fellow foreign corre- stroke less than 48 hours later). By misguided intentions sometimes end spondents; I had my own pals in that point, I’d decided to bail on up being not so crazy and that Paris the form of my then-colleague at the rest of the journey, a foray fur- can be a forgiving place—Bogart Vogue, André Leon Talley, who was ther south to Cannes, and called and Bergman are not the only ones in town with our friend George André, who told me in forceful and who will always have it, after all. A Malkemus, CEO of Manolo Blahnik colorful language to get my pale Pimm’s Royale remains one of my U.S.A. André had a new wardrobe rear end on the fast train back to very favorite cocktails. whipped up for my wedding, which Paris, where he would meet me in included a double-breasted seer- the bar at the Ritz. Ms. Reed is the author of “Queen sucker suit with matching shoes by Thus ensued one of the most en- of the Turtle Derby and Other Manolo. We dressed to the nines tertaining nights of my life. For one Southern Phenomena” and “The and lunched at Caviar Kaspia or on thing, it was the occasion of my House on First Street: My New the Ritz terrace. We shopped at discovery of the Pimm’s Royale, a Orleans Story.” Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W7 FOOD WINE The Recent Price Dip highest unit labor costs of pro- [ Wine ] duction of any Bordeaux wine and historically has sold for some of BY WILL LYONS the highest prices. It certainly has the lineage to attract the invest- It hasn’t been an ment community. The wine can Indian summer for boast a glittering array of distin- wine investment. guished collectors, including As Europe’s vign- George Washington, Thomas Jef- erons get down to ferson and Napoleon Bonaparte. a month of work In the past year, Bordeaux In- in the cellar, racking wine and dex has seen volumes of d’Yquem keeping a close eye on the freshly rise almost 100%, driven by sales picked and now fermenting from Asia. This came on the back grapes, those who track the of an extraordinary sale in July, prices of the world’s top when a 200-year-old bottle of are in some cases looking at sub- Château d’Yquem sold for £75,000, stantial declines. breaking all records and making it In September, Live-ex’s Fine the most expensive bottle of white Wine 100 Index, the London In- wine in the world. Wine brokers ternational Vintners Exchange, in Hong Kong say that whenever which tracks the price movement Château d’Yquem is served at a of the world’s 100 most sought- tasting, it is well-received. after wines, fell for the third con- “Château d’Yquem is a unique secutive month since its peak in wine,” says Joe Marchant, who June. Bordeaux’s 2008 vintage works on the investment arm of appears to be the biggest loser, Bordeaux Index. “It is really the

Dario Cecchini with first growth Château Lafite only sweet Bordeaux that has the Italian butcher Dario Cecchini at his shopfront in Panzano. Rothschild off by more than 30%. potential to attract a cache as a Over the long term, prices are wine mega brand. [The château] still high and anyone who bought has the production to support a the wines when they were first re- market in Asia, but it is very leased will be sitting on a tidy early days.” Dishing on a Classic profit. Nevertheless, amid every Certainly its taste rivals any of downturn there lies an opportu- the great wines in terms of ele- nity, and already speculators are gance, concentration and complex- Trying Out Tuscany’s Iconic Bistecca alla Fiorentina looking beyond the present and ity. I have tasted through a num- asking what could be the next ber of vintages and found that, portrait of the Italian in his book T-bone from Mr. Cecchini and one wine to emulate the steep price when young, d’Yquem can appear [ Food ] “Heat,” that it is a considerable from Claudio Lunghini, a third- climbs that Bordeaux’s first somewhat reticent and closed. But task to enter his modest butcher generation butcher on the edge of growths have experienced in the with bottle age, around 10 years, BY BRUCE PALLING shop, given the likelihood of hav- Cortona, where Chianina cattle are past five years. it is transformed. The blend of ing to jostle past German camera said to have originated. “Anatomi- To answer this question, all predominantly Semillon and Sau- There are a number crews and crowds from Japan. cally, you can make it with other eyes turn to Asia, where demand vignon Blanc, affected by botrytis of great “city sig- Shortly after we were intro- beef,” Mr. Cecchini says. “There is driven by an expanding upper and aged in oak barrels, creates nature” dishes that duced, Mr. Cecchini sidled up to nolawthatsaysyouhavetohave class, coupled with the abolition of flavors of lemon, gingerbread, car- are universal and me and whispered “To beef, or not Chianina.” But he still prefers us- import taxes in Hong Kong, which amel, spice and, in some cases, an equally delicious in to beef!” He constantly quotes ing the locally bred meat. were as high as 80%, have helped inviting creaminess. destinations other from Dante and frequently blows Both butchers provided me fuel prices for fine wine. Next But like all sweet wine, than their origin—think of Spa- his own (hunting) horn from a with prime cuts, which they had week, Hong Kong hosts its own In- d’Yquem suffers from being ghetti Bolognese, Napoletana cluster of brass near his shop’s carved from the untouched sides ternational Wine & Spirits Fair, prized but rarely consumed. In or even Vienna’s Wiener Schnitzel. front door; I expected to tire of of beef; Mr. Cecchini’s Spanish complete with more than 930 ex- Asia, the market is still domi- When it comes to Tuscany’s most this peculiar showmanship, but in- had hung for 30 days, Mr. hibitors from 37 different coun- nated by dry, red wines, despite esteemed dish, Bistecca alla Fioren- stead found myself caught up in Lunghini’s Chianina, for 20. tries, underlying the region’s im- a propensity for white wines and tina, these rules don’t apply; its his enthusiasm. “The Fiorentina is I followed a traditional recipe portance to the fine-wine market. sweet wines to marry well with foreign forms rarely, if ever, come a celebration of food in Tuscany— when preparing the Bisteccas. My True to form, there is a wine- . close to the local. a noble cut—and means of sharing firsttaskwastocreateabedof investment zone where exhibitors Today, the 1996 vintage will “This dish, excellent because the very best thing, but that is not hot coals over which to grill them. will no doubt be talking up the set you back around £200 a bot- it’s wholesome, invigorating, and the dish in itself,” Mr. Cecchini Fortunately, the farmhouse I was latest opportunities in the mar- tle, compared with around £400 tasty, has not yet spread through- says. “Usually, for the cook, the staying at has a large fireplace ket. One area that has received a for the 2010. My suspicion is that out , perhaps because in many dish is the goal. But in Tuscany, it with a number of metallic grills, lot of attention recently is Bor- back vintages of d’Yquem such as provinces butchers work almost [is] the means of sharing with which rise and fall to within a deaux’s most sought-after sweet 1997, ’98, ’99 and 2004 may expe- exclusively with old and draft ani- whisker of the embers I created wine, Château d’Yquem. The châ- rience a price rise long-term and mals,” Pellegrino Artusi, the god- after burning logs for two hours. teau, under the ownership of Ber- catch up with the 2010 price, father of , wrote in ‘For the Tuscan, a banquet Mindful of the butchers’ ad- nard Arnault’s LVMH Moët Hen- while the much celebrated 2001 his masterpiece “La Scienza in vice to not season the meat be- nessy Louis Vuitton SA, has a vintage will always be in de- Cucina e l’arte di mangiare bene” of 40 people with a big fore , I simply placed meticulous attention to detail. Ac- mand. But for real gains, con- more than a century ago. That can fireplace and a grill, this them on the grill for two min- cording to fine-wine merchant sumers will have to work out hardly be the case today, yet when utes. The Spanish cut from Mr. Bordeaux Index, it still has the when to drink it. I think of the most memorable is paradise on earth.’ Cecchini was quickly engulfed in Bistecca I have eaten, they were flames, as it released fat. After invariably served in Tuscany. some anxious moments, it was There is no secret about the in- friends, which represents a very time to move the higher Drinking Now gredients or even the cooking different philosophy than simply for three more minutes before method: To be traditional, creating an individual dish. resting them for 12 minutes. Both Bistecca alla Fiorentina should be “French and bourgeois cuisine were cooked perfectly, with a Morellino di Scansano Heba made with a large (1-2 kilogram) is about the search for status— wedge of rare meat in the center. T-bone steak from a 2-year-old whoever was richer, ate better— The conclusion of all four par- Fattoria di Magliano, Tuscany, Italy Chianina cow. These beasts of but the Tuscan idea is that you ticipants in the taste test that fol- burden appeared in Etruscan eat richer when you eat together,” lowed was that the Spanish ver- Vintage: 2009 paintings more than 2,000 years he adds. “For the Tuscan, a ban- sion, with its additional fat, had ago and have hardly altered quet of 40 people with a big fire- more flavor and was more succu- Alcohol: 13% since—tall, white, slightly cavern- place and a grill, this is paradise lent. The following day, once the ous creatures with short horns on earth. It is our religion.” remnants had cooled, it was im- Price: £13 or €15 and a sweet disposition. He is quite specific about the possible to judge which was supe- To find out more about this lo- characteristics of Bistecca, too, rior—a pleasing result, as I would With the leaves turning a deep golden color across cal delicacy, I traveled to Panzano, saying “it has to be thick—the hate to think that a 2,000-year-old Europe, thoughts naturally turn to the fireside and 40 kilometers south of in best quality—from an animal that tradition could be upset merely by hearty, warming reds. This example from the southern the heart of Chianti country, to led a good life, and it has to have using a different breed of cow. coast of Tuscany, near the medieval town of Magliano, speak with Dario Cecchini, Italy’s a good death and then hang for 30 Despite the Bistecca being a is one such wine. Here, the vineyards are 120 meters most renowned (and flamboyant) days.” Despite owning a small “celebration” of local food, Mr. above sea level and benefit from being near the coast. butcher, who is on record as de- herd of Chianina on the edge of Cecchini admits it isn’t really his Ruby red in the glass, this blend of predominantly scribing the dish as “one of the the famous Fontodi Chianti estate, favorite beef dish. “Being a Sangiovese with a little Syrah, is packed with most supreme physical pleasures the beef he prefers isn’t from Tus- butcher, I never like to waste any immediate, easy-drinking appeal. On the nose, it has in this earthly life.” Such is Mr. cany, but from in Spain. cut of the animal. For me, the oodles of bright, red fruit with a luscious sweetness Cecchini’s cult status, doubtless as- To put the quality of his Span- best part is the tenerumi, or the and soft, smooth tannins. An ideal accompaniment to sisted by Bill Buford’s extravagant ish beef to the test, I purchased a knee of the cow.” a winter , game dishes or served by the glass as an aperitif with a good book in hand. W8 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 COVER STORY

The Purple Gold of La Mancha Saffron Produced in Spain’s Heartland Is One of the World’s Most Expensive and Elusive Spices

BY J. S. MARCUS saffron fans say can only be achieved here. Fernández, a plant geneticist at the Albac- Saffron cultivation in the Mediterranean “I love the crop,” says La Mancha farmer ete campus of the University of Castilla-La dates back to Minoan civilization, but it a Mancha is the Spanish heartland. Juan Antonio Ortiz, who, along with his wife Mancha. Prof. Fernández, who has made a seems to have come to Spain with the L Sprawling over a high plateau between Maria Ángeles Serrano, grow and process a study of the saffron crocus his life’s work, Moors, who not only used it as a medicine Madrid and the Mediterranean, it is small but prestigious saffron supply outside says the local habit of roasting saffron is or dye, but as an actual spice. Saffron has the birthplace of Manchego cheese and a village called Minaya, an hour’s drive north key to high quality. long been a valued commodity, and has sub- Pedro Almodóvar, and the legendary stomp- of the provincial capital Albacete. During the “There are many different ways to dry sequently “been adulterated for centuries,” ing-ground of Don Quixote himself. harvest, which peaked this past week but the stigmas,” he says. Invoking the world’s says Mr. Fernández. He adds that these Life has a harsh edge here. The weather continues on into November, the Ortiz family other major areas of saffron production, days, “Spanish” saffron is likely imported is more extreme than elsewhere in Spain, and their seasonal helpers may work in ex- he adds: “For example, in Iran and Mo- from Iran, the world’s largest producer, and and the villages have a parched, roughened cess of 20 hours a day. They need to process repackaged by unscrupulous middlemen. look. But there is gold in La Mancha’s around 200,000 individual flowers to pro- Saffron from some Asian suppliers may be fields—or rather, purple gold—in the form duce a single kilo of saffron. La Mancha’s harsh conditions adulterated with everything from turmeric of a plant called Crocus sativus, the saffron A reward for their labors is a constant to dyed poppy petals. Mr. Fernández says crocus. If handled correctly, this humble supply year round. “I put saffron in my milk may be hard on residents, but that in some instances, artificial dyes used plant, after surviving La Mancha’s icy win- every morning,” says Mr. Serrano, 61 years provide just the right situation by deceptive traders and distributors are ters and broiling summers, is responsible old, speaking in late September, when the actually carcinogenic. When in doubt, he for what many believe is the very best ex- hot La Mancha sun and the cool fall winds for the saffron crocus. says, “the best thing to do is use turmeric ample of saffron, the world’s most expen- combined for a brief period of balminess. or paprika,” which are both far preferable to sive, most elusive spice. His wife says she puts saffron in everything fake or adulterated saffron. For a few precious weeks, starting in mid- from Spanish-style tortilla omelets and rocco, they dry the stigmas in the open One way to insure that you are getting October, isolated fields throughout La Man- game courses to raisin cakes. “In traditional air.” He says the immediate roasting genuine saffron is to restrict purchases to cha sprout the lace-like purple flower. Picked La Mancha cooking,” she says, “almost all causes “a chemical reaction” that both a few European regions whose saffron has by hand each day before they have a chance dishes have some saffron.” transforms and preserves a sweeter, more received protected geographical status to open, the flowers conceal three stigmas, Using saffron is an exact science, ar- intense aroma. La Mancha’s harsh condi- from the European Union, and is marked which are removed by fingernail then quickly gues Ms. Serrano, 55. “The amount is criti- tions may be hard on residents, but pro- by a seal. These include La Mancha, L’Aq- dried over a heat source like charcoal. The cal,” she says. “If you put in too much, you vide just the right situation for the saffron uila in Italy’s Abruzzo region and around result has the same intense orange-yellow spoil the dish.” crocus. Dry, hot summers and cold winters Kozani in western Macedonia in Greece. glow of saffron produced elsewhere in the Saffron cultivation is undergoing “a re- keep fungi and other predators and pests The professor also recommends saffron world, but a uniquely sweet aroma that many vival” in La Mancha, says José Antonio at bay, explains Prof. Fernández. from new sources in Tasmania, Chile and Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W9 COVER STORY

Chef Mathias Dahlgren’s Recipe For Swedish Saffron Buns

INGREDIENTS (Makes 25 buns) 3 grams saffron threads 50 grams yeast 200 grams sugar 300 milliliters milk 1 egg 150–200 grams butter 1 teaspoon salt 750 grams flour 100 grams raisins Glaze: 1 egg ) 2 tablespoons water bottom left PREPARATION ( es To make “Lucia cats” (Lussekatter), grind the g Ima

saffron along with a cube of sugar, using a y

mortar and pestle. (For those who think ahead: Gett ; drip a little cognac on top, and let stand a few Clockwise from far left: Harvesting the saffron crocus in Minaya, Spain; chef Quique Dacosta’s days.) Place the yeast in a bowl and stir in a Mark Rothko-inspired saffron dish; the Rose Saffron Festival in Consuegra; few tablespoons of milk. Melt the butter and extracting saffron crocus stigmas in La Mancha; and Spanish . pour over the milk. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the raisins, and knead the

in a dough mixer for 10 minutes. Teubner Foodfoto GmbH Carefully mix in most of the raisins, cover the / dough and let it rise for 30 minutes at room

temperature. Divide the dough into 25 pieces StockFood and roll the buns in an oblong shape, about 10 y; Alam centimeters long. Cover them and let rest for 10 / es Argentina. “Saffron is in fashion in the “It’s in the experimental phase,” Ms. Serrano iards associate with Valencia but also treat minutes, then roll them twice as long and twist g southern hemisphere,” he says. says of the newfangled orange cheese. as something of a . the ends of each bun in opposite directions to Dean & Deluca, the American Saffron can now retail for nearly €20 a “Paella is the dish most representative form a sort of figure 8. Put one raisin in the grocery chain, currently distributes several gram, and as its price rises, it has become a of Valencian cuisine,” he says. “And in this middle of each half figure 8. Place on a greased Jam World Ima varieties, including organic Greek and Ital- symbol of luxurious experimentation for recipe, saffron is a main product—paella baking sheet and let rise under a towel for ; ian Abruzzi saffron. “We buy directly from some of Europe’s top chefs. Pierre Gagnaire, without saffron is like paella without .” about 90 minutes, or until the buns have andarosa

vendors,” says Maria Roemer, Dean & De- whose three-star Michelin restaurant in Unlike many of the spice’s aficionados, doubled in size. Bake in the oven at 220 p

luca’s New York-based merchandise man- Paris is the flagship of a world-wide culinary degrees Celsius for five minutes. Beat together the

Mr. Dacosta doesn’t assign superlatives to /

ager, when asked how the firm insures the empire, created a sweet red-pepper dessert La Mancha saffron. (He himself relies on a the egg and water, brush the mixture on the son p quality of its saffron. called “Hell,” featuring , candied toma- producer in the neighboring re- buns. Allow to cool on the baking sheet. Observers have high hopes for this year’s toes, Peruvian peppers and ewe’s milk yo- gion.) “I do not know if there is a ‘best’ saf-

La Mancha crop; 2011 is turning into “a very gurt, generously dosed with saffron. First in- fron,” he says. “But I know the one from La John Thom ; remarkable harvest,” says Prof. Fernández, troduced five years ago, the dish is now Mancha is very impressive.” who keeps in close touch with local growers. made upon special request. Mr. Gagnaire In Sweden, saffron is associated with He says both the quality and the quantity of also uses saffron to flavor orange and grape- Christmastime, and with a sweet neon-col- the crocus blooms are unusually high. fruit sorbets, and a special custard tart. ored yellow bun called a Lussekatt, named In La Mancha itself, saffron has become In Denia, an hour’s drive south of Valen- in honor of St. Lucy and traditionally

a tourist attraction. This weekend, Consue- cia, innovative Spanish chef Quique Dacosta served on Dec. 13, or St. Lucy’s Day. “Every- ue Dacosta Restaurante q gra, a small town near Toledo in the north- uses saffron, blood oranges and red mullet body relates to this bun,” says Swedish chef ui ;Q a west of the region, holds its annual saffron- to create a dish named in honor of painter Mathias Dahlgren, who doesn’t currently y themed extravaganza, the Saffron Rose Mark Rothko, who himself once named a use saffron in dishes at his celebrated Festival. Taking advantage of nearby wind- red-hued abstract painting after the spice. Stockholm restaurant, but makes his family mills made famous in Cervantes’s “Don “I love saffron,” says Mr. Dacosta, a na- recipe for Lussekatter at home every year.

Quixote,” the festival is a celebration of La tive of Spain’s Extremadura region who Valued chiefly for its intense color and Azafran de Mina Mancha customs and includes events like , moved to Valencia when he was a teen- heady aroma, saffron also has a strong left competitive stigma separating. ager. Mr. Dacosta, who is known for find- taste, but one that is hard to describe, says p Elsewhere in La Mancha, some enterpris- ing radical culinary solutions lurking be- Mr. Dahlgren. He considers the possibilities ing foodies are trying to produce saffron-fla- hind local Valencian customs, is a fan of when asked to do just that, and then an- vored Manchego cheese, thereby combining saffron’s most famous application in swers the question with a question. “How

two of the region’s most celebrated products. Spain—paella, the rice mélange that Span- do you describe the taste of honey?” Clockwise from to W10 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 HOMES The Most Avid Trophy-Home Buyer? How Software Billionaire Larry Ellison Has Taken Serial Property Buying to New Extremes

BY SARAH TILTON AND JULIET CHUNG

ne of America’s most vora- O cious consumers of trophy real estate is back on the hunt. Since the mid-1990s, software billionaire Larry Ellison has accumu- lated hundreds of millions of dollars worth of top-shelf properties around the world. The portfolio of Oracle Corp.’s co-founder includes five adjacent lots in Malibu, Calif.; a Newport, R.I., mansion formerly owned by the Astor family; a his- toric garden property in Kyoto and an estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., with a private, 19-hole golf course. The list of serial buyers of tro- phy properties, while thinning in re- cent years, includes Paul Allen along with Roman Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs. Mr. Ellison has a distinctive buying pattern: When he finds an area he likes, he takes a flood-the-zone approach. He often buys several adjacent properties to combine into a single sprawling compound. At the same time, he ac- quires other noncontiguous proper- ties nearby, increasing his overall holdings in a desirable area. Mr. Ellison has been applying this approach to a new location: Lake Tahoe, the resort area strad- dling the California-Nevada border. Records show Mr. Ellison has spent $102 million (€73.3 million) in the past several years buying property, Roslyn Banish/Zen Architecture: The Building Process as Practice by Paul Discoe with Alexandra Quinn/Gibbs Smith both on and off the market, to as- a net worth of $33 billion, according Mr. Ellison sometimes sends an Italianate-style mansion previously Mr. Ellison created three noncon- semble three different parcels front- to Forbes, he was close to fellow associate to scout out a property owned by the Astor family and pur- tiguous lakefront parcels in eight ing the 495-square-kilometer lake. tech-company founder Steve Jobs. before he visits, according to people chased in January 2010 for $10.5 separate deals, sometimes without On one of them, purchased more Mr. Ellison spoke at Mr. Jobs’s me- who have been involved in his real- million. Mr. Ellison said earlier this sellers realizing he had bought adja- than three years for a total of $58 morial service. He has two grown estate transactions. Mr. Ellison can year in a deposition related to his cent property. He assembled the million, Mr. Ellison is constructing a children, Megan and David, both in be quick to act, sometimes making a San Francisco tree lawsuit that he Glenbrook-adjacent property, a for- compound with more than 1,670 the movie business, and is recently decision after a single walk-through. had bought a Newport mansion ested, five-hectare parcel with a peb- square meters of living space, as divorced from his most recent wife, “He was very much, ‘I want it, here’s sight-unseen and planned to turn it bly beach and several cabins built by well as a pond with an island, wa- romance novelist Melanie Craft. the check, OK, move,’ ” says Chris- into a museum. previous owners, in three separate terfalls and a tennis court with a pa- Real-estate observers say Mr. El- tine Mitchell, whose husband sold Lake Tahoe, with its pristine wa- deals in 2006, 2007 and 2009 for vilion, according to plans submitted lison is known for getting what he Mr. Ellison a 0.64 hectare lot on the ters and world-class skiing, has long $29 million. He put together the to Washoe County, Nev. wants, pursuing properties he’s in- eastern shore of Lake Tahoe for been a seductive draw for Bay Area Snug Harbor property—a 0.84 hect- Mr. Ellison declined to comment. terested in regardless of whether or $11.7 million in 2006. residents. Incline Village, the town are parcel which has a sandy beach An examination of public records and not they are on the market. “Larry’s Mr. Ellison’s other holdings in- on the Nevada side of the lake and, at the time of purchase, a 929- interviews shows that the billionaire philosophy has always been, ‘Buy clude two properties in Woodside, where Mr. Ellison has made a num- square-meter home, a beach house, a sportsman acquires properties in the the best, without compromise,’ ” Calif., a wealthy Silicon Valley com- ber of his buys, bears the nickname guest house and other buildings—in same determined way he goes about says Kurt Rappaport, co-founder of munity. One, a 9.2-hectare estate “Income Village” for its wealthy res- 2006 and 2009 for a total of $15 mil- his other business, whether it’s his the Westside Estate Agency, who modeled on a 16th-century Japanese idents and its reputation as a tax lion. Plans show he wanted to re- hostile acquisition of rival PeopleSoft represented Mr. Ellison in several of emperor’s residence, was designed haven (Nevada has no personal in- model one of the houses and install in 2005 or his successful bid to win the Malibu deals. Mr. Rappaport de- and built over nine years and com- come tax). For years Michael a heated driveway. the America’s Cup sailing competi- clines to address specific deals but pleted in 2004, according to San Milken, the philanthropist and for- Mark Sweetland, 55, who was one tion last year, an effort on which he says that Mr. Ellison views prime Mateo County. In 2011, the county mer junk-bond king, put on an an- of several inheritors of 1.64 hectares reportedly spent $100 million. real estate as a scarce commodity assessed it at $70.4 million. The nual fireworks display on July near Glenbrook, says there were no The third-richest American, with that cannot easily be replicated. other was purchased for $23 million Fourth from a barge near his Incline immediate plans to sell until Mr. El- in 2005 and is now for sale, asking lison’s offer came in. “I think Mr. El- $19 million. lison just decided he was going to In Malibu, according to records Mr. Ellison is known for own the thing so he made a signifi- and city officials, Mr. Ellison owns a cantly higher offer than we’d had be- hotel and two restaurants, the five getting what he wants, fore, and he ended up owning the adjacent lots on Carbon Beach that pursuing properties he’s property,” says Mr. Sweetland, a cost a reported $65 million and at beneficiary of the trust that sold the least two other homes. In Rancho interested in regardless of land in 2007 for $12 million. He says Mirage, near Palm Springs, Calif., he whether or not they are on he wasn’t aware Mr. Ellison was bought a 100-hectare estate earlier buying up adjacent property, but this year for $49 million. the market, observers say. says the price was fair regardless. In Kyoto, Japan, he owns a gar- It’s Mr. Ellison’s three-hectare den property with a home, pavilion property on the north shore of the and gardens fed by the freshwater Village home. Now local residents lake, in affluent Incline Village, Lake Biwa, according to a person fa- and businesses donate to pay for a where owners include PeopleSoft miliar with the deal. With an asking show, says Jim Smith of Red, White founder David Duffield, that has gen- price of about $86 million, it was & Tahoe Blue, the local nonprofit erated the most interest. There, on a purchased in the last several years that puts on the festivities. wide, leafy street, where gated en- after a representative of Mr. Elli- At Tahoe, Mr. Ellison struck in trances and security cameras son’s learned of the property while 2006, according to public records abound, Mr. Ellison is building a rus- attending an art auction. and individuals familiar with some tic-style lakefront compound on In San Francisco’s tony Pacific of the deals. Through his limited-lia- property he bought in three separate     Heights neighborhood, he owns a bility company Tahoe Estates, he deals. Real-estate developer and                  five-bedroom, four-level home, pur- bought parcels along three different rancher Les Busick, who used to live !"  !  !   #  !     chased in 1998 for $3.8 million. Last areas of the lake that year. He spent on one of the properties where Mr. ! $% & '!  ' !        !       (     ' ! ! % June, Mr. Ellison sued his neighbors $14 million on 0.88 hectares in In- Ellison is now building, says he went alleging that trees on their property cline Village, $12 million on 2.28 out on the lake in his boat to watch (    were obstructing his views of San hectares near the gated community his old house being torn down. “I ) $%% $*+   Francisco Bay and harming his of Glenbrook on the east shore of watched the whole thing,” Mr.  % !!" ,$ $%     property values; the suit was settled the lake and $11.7 million on 0.64 Busick says. “I got a tear in my eye.” out of court in May. hectares near Snug Harbor, a few The property has about 130 -. +//0/1 In Newport, Mr. Ellison owns an miles south. meters of lake frontage, according Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W11 HOMES

Clockwise from opposite page, Larry Ellison’s Woodside, Calif., property, modeled on a Japanese emperor’s 16th-century residence; his 100-hectareestatein Rancho Mirage, Calif., includes a 19-hole golf course; his 0.84-hectare parcel with a sandy beach near Snug Harbor, Lake Tahoe; a five-bedroom, four-level home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood; his Newport, R.I., mansion, previously owned by the Astor family; and Mr. Ellison.

Clockwise from top left, Carl A. Eklund, Trustee of BLX Group; Kenny Blum for The Wall Street Journal; Lori Eanes for the Wall Street Journal; Photolibrary; AP Photo to public records, as well as two pri- pavilion—with a lounge, fireplace, from its original 2007 asking price side Estate Agency broker Mr. Rap- son has done a meticulous job of vate piers and a private beach. Plans fold-down bed and powder room— of $65 million. paport, who has worked with Mr. El- making sure the house fits into the filed with Washoe County show occupy the middle of the property. Mr. Ellison has worked with lison in Malibu, has represented his surroundings. “It’s in keeping with more than eight separate structures Closer to the street are another cot- some brokers, architects and build- daughter, Megan, a film producer the rustic atmosphere of the moun- totaling more than 1,670 square tage and a caretaker’s cottage. A ers repeatedly. He’s using the same whose credits include “True Grit” tain community,” says Mr. Busick, meters, including a main house with guard house is at the entrance. contractor, Bruce Olson, on his In- and who herself is known as a buyer who has since downsized to a con- a pool and spa overlooking the lake, The compound is scheduled to be cline Village property that he used of real estate in Los Angeles. Ms. El- dominium a few doors away from a beach house, a cottage and a completed next fall, according to a for renovations on his property lison has three homes in the Holly- Mr. Ellison. writer’s cabin. A building permit has construction schedule filed with the near Snug Harbor. Malibu architec- wood Hills and currently has in es- Some say projects such as Mr. been issued for a lakeside gazebo Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. ture firm Studio PCH drew up plans crow a 4.2 hectare estate in Ellison’s help keep people employed with a stone fireplace. Robb Olson, a principal at Olson-Ol- for a luxurious house for Mr. Elli- Topanga, near Malibu, that she had in tough times and that his invest- From the street, passersby can son Architects, the Tahoe City, Ca- son’s Carbon Beach lots but the ap- listed for nearly $4 million with an- ment is a sign of confidence in the peek beyond a stone wall with log lif., firm that was named on the plication was withdrawn; according other agent, Scott Prather of Nour- local real-estate market. Resident accents to log-sided buildings with plans filed with the county, cited a to Malibu’s planning department, mand & Associates. Chuck Weinberger says conversation stone chimneys. A “living roof,” a confidentiality agreement and de- the firm designed and is overseeing Despite his significant holdings— among locals revolves around the roof planted like a garden, was re- clined to comment on the project. the construction of his two restau- and sometimes-public legal wran- scope or specific details of the proj- cently abloom with yellow flowers. Mr. Ellison’s investments aside, rants there. Studio PCH declined to glings—Mr. Ellison usually keeps a ect, such as the time flatbed truck In addition to the extensive use of Tahoe’s real-estate market has been comment, citing a confidentiality low profile when he’s around, say after flatbed truck ferried to Mr. El- granite and cedar on the exteriors struggling in recent years, with the agreement. some locals who live in towns where lison’s construction site boulders so of buildings, the plans also call for median value for single-family He’s worked with Christie’s In- he has bought. “One or the other of large the trucks could accommodate the use of rocks for landscaping and homes in Incline Village down ternational Real Estate repeatedly in his yachts shows up here about four only two or three at a time. the planting of aspen and maple 31.8% since the peak of the market the past several years, buying the times a year, right off shore. Other Mr. Weinberger says a live-and- trees and currant, dogwood or other nationally in June 2006, according Kyoto, Rancho Mirage and Newport than that, we don’t see him around let-live philosophy largely prevails. native shrubs. to real-estate firm Zillow.com. On properties through its affiliates. town very much,” says Malibu “His property is in a row of five According to the plans, the main the eastern end of the street, near Christie’s spokeswoman Lisa Bes- Mayor John Sibert. or six very large, very impressive house, three-bedroom beach house where Mr. Ellison’s compound is lo- sone declined to comment. He’s also In Incline Village, locals say Mr. houses,” he says. “And it’s just an- and “West House” are located on cated, Tom Gonzales, co-founder of worked with Mary Gullixson of Alain Ellison’s presence has been rela- other large, impressive house on the side of the property closest to software company Commerce One, Pinel Realtors to sell property in the tively free of controversy. Neigh- the lake.” Lake Tahoe. The writer’s cottage is asking $49.9 million for a 1.74 Bay Area. bors say his compound evokes the —Jim Oberman and a clay tennis court and tennis hectare lakefront property, down Los Angeles brokers say West- feel of old Tahoe and that Mr. Elli- contributed to this article. W12 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 BOOKS In the Name The Beginnings Of the Father Of World War II Hitler Strikes Poland [FiveBest] By Alexander Rossino (2003) Alexander Rossino’s grim Marine Le Pen BY RICHARD OVERY account of the German invasion of By Caroline Fourest Poland and of the horrors perpe- and Fiammetta Venner The Life of Neville trated almost immediately by the Grasset & Fasquelle, 430 pages, €20.00 Chamberlain German armed forces and security By Keith Feiling (1946) units shows how fully Hitler’s war, BY EMMA-KATE SYMONS Since the late 1930s, Neville even in its earliest days in 1939, dif- Chamberlain has had a bad press fered from previous European wars. Marine Le Pen, the heir to as the man whose misjudgment of Brutal ethnic tension in the Polish- France’s far-right National Front Hitler and hesitation to re-arm German borderlands created a fe- (FN) party, has long suffered for be- hastened the outbreak of World brile atmosphere in the months be- ing her father’s daughter. Jean-Marie War II. Yet Keith Feiling, the first fore the war. Poles reacted to Le Pen is France’s most notorious to write a full biography of Cham- German invasion by perpetrating right-wing extremist, an unrepentant berlain after the war, painted a atrocities of their own against Pol- Holocaust denier and an alleged tor- more sympathetic and realistic ish Germans, and the German turer in the Algerian war. His daugh- portrait of a British prime minis- invaders were no less savage. ter, the future poster girl of the ter who hated war and had a Rossino offers a detailed, blow-by- French far right, was bullied at single-minded belief that he was blow account of how resentful Ger- school and spat at in the street. the man who could save the peace. man nationalism was used to justify When she was eight, the family home Ironically, Chamberlain’s sudden the slaughter of Polish intellectuals, was gutted by a bomb planted by decision in March 1939 to guaran- the Polish national elite and Polish suspected political opponents (the tee Polish sovereignty created Jews, well before the death camps

culprits were never arrested). Sygma/Corbis conditions that made war more were established. Much of the work Life inside the Le Pen home was POSTER GIRL Marine Le Pen (center) with her father, Jean-Marie, in 1988. likely than ever. Feiling shows a was done by Hitler’s Einsatzgrup- no less fractious. Ms. Le Pen's man tortured by a situation from pen, security squads assigned not to mother, Pierrette, left the family fluence was not lost: She joined the France after May 1968: An unmar- which he could not escape; Cham- fight but to murder suspected ene- when Marine was 14, declaring in a FN at 18 and was an extreme-right ried mother of three, she has, like berlain resigned in May 1940 and mies of the new German Reich. series of interviews that her hus- activist at Paris II University. President Sarkozy, been twice di- died six months later. The last Within days of the invasion, the band was laundering campaign Like papa, she studied law. After vorced. She describes herself as a years of his life were ones of high Germans were already engaged in funds through Swiss bank accounts. joining the Paris bar she started “non-practicing Catholic” and es- drama for a most undramatic man. what came to be known in 1945 as Pierrette told the media that the work at a firm that often repre- chews the anti-abortion stance of crimes against humanity. three Le Pen girls were being raised sented her father’s party, and soon her father’s earlier career. Ms. Le The Origins of the Second in an environment of “primary anti- returned to run the FN legal depart- Pen happily defended Sandra Kaz, World War Berlin Diary Semitism” in which Adolf Hitler was ment. In 1998 she won her first local an FN candidate who was exposed By A.J.P. Taylor (1961) By William Shirer (1941) referred to as Tonton (Uncle) Dol- election as a regional councilor for as an escort after winning two Probably the most controver- Among the most vivid English- phi. Later, when Marine was a law the party fief of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, rounds of a regional election. Yet sial book ever written on the roots language accounts of the final days student at the Sorbonne, her mother and in 2004 she was voted into the she rails against France’s “destruc- of World War II. A.J.P. Taylor of European peace and the begin- posed topless for Playboy magazine European Parliament. tive” 1968-inspired libertines and (1909-90) deliberately set out to ning of war is journalist William in a French maid costume. Her aim? The FN has always been a broad their individualistic ideology, which challenge the idea that Hitler was Shirer’s diary, first published in To get back at her ex-husband for church. It incorporates Vichy France she says has “shaken up the founda- a monster bent on war at all costs. 1941. As a reporter based in Europe saying that she should clean houses nostalgics, assorted anti-Semites, tions of our society.” Taylor saw Hitler as yet another in the 1930s, Shirer was a close ob- if she lacked money. royalists, religious fundamentalists, That is why Mses. Fourest and German imperialist like Bismarck. server of conditions in the Third These would be traumatic experi- pagan fascists and skinheads as well Venner characterize the FN’s trans- Like many of his generation, Tay- Reich and a strong critic of Nazism. MESUREET DÉMESURE ences for anyone, politician or other- as the lumpenproletariat of alien- formation as opportunistic more lor blamed the German army, with A few days before the German inva- wise. But what can it mean that Ms. ated French. The faithful are fueled than truly modernizing. The FN un- its roots in Prussian militarism, sion of Poland, he went to Danzig to Le Pen has duplicated so much of her by long-standing anti-Americanism der Ms. Le Pen has shown itself to be for the crises of both world wars; meet Poles there and found them father’s tactics and style in her own and residual anger over France’s capable of breathtaking reversals on he did not understand radical na- determined to fight at all costs. political career—and to such suc- bloody departure from its former policy. The key shift was the aban- tionalism. He never grasped the Shirer was back in Berlin when the cess? Since becoming FN president colonies such as Algeria. Newer fol- donment, after the financial crisis in terrible imperatives of modern invasion began. The outbreak of this January, Ms. Le Pen has seen the lowers are outraged at Muslim im- 2008, of the party’s long-held com- ideology and had no place in his World War I had been marked by party’s fortunes rise precipitously. As migrants and their offspring, and si- mitment to economic freedom and argument for the fate of the Jews. excited, war-fever euphoria, but next year’s general elections ap- multaneously blame the “elites” for smaller government. Today’s credo For all these misjudgments, there now Germans knew what a Euro- proach, the FN’s success in opinion the nation’s woes. consists of populist, anti-globalist is one significant and enduring pean conflict might entail. Shirer polls has goaded President Nicolas Yet in her own political rise, Ms. rhetoric and a protectionist agenda merit to Taylor’s book: He was the walked in Berlin’s autumn sun and Sarkozy’s center-right Union for a Le Pen has come to adopt a political proudly pilfered from the left. Under first postwar historian to acknowl- found “on the faces of the people Popular Movement party into at- strategy known as “dediabolisa- this new spin, Ms. Le Pen suggests edge that it was Britain and astonishment, depression.” His di- times hysterical attempts to keep its tion”—or, literally, de-demonization. that her party is now a friend of Is- France who declared war, and to ary is a reminder that it is politi- extreme flank from defecting. That means dragging the FN out of rael, a defender of secular values, ask why—stimulating a search for cians, not the people, who make As Caroline Fourest and Fiam- the fringes and into the modern and even a post-feminist supporter British and French motives that war. metta Venner suggest in their unau- mainstream of French politics. The of women and gay rights. has resulted in a more complete thorized biography, titled simply bywords of the repackaged FN are But the fundamentals haven’t understanding of that terrible The Triumph of the Dark “Marine Le Pen,” winning political secularism and “reasoned protec- changed. This is still a party that time. By Zara Steiner (2010) acceptance is more than a matter of tionism,” a brand of economic na- backs the worst kind of dictator- Every now and again, a book electoral ambition for Ms. Le Pen. Le tionalism typically associated with ships in the Middle East and Africa, comes along that merits being Pen fille also wants to avenge de- factions of the French left. Tradi- lionizes Vladimir Putin’s Russia and called “definitive.” Zara Steiner’s cades of perceived slights and humil- tional FN opposition to the euro re- keeps avowed anti-Semites in its “The Triumph of the Dark” is the iations, and to restore honor to the mains, though attacks on “Islamiza- fold. Ms. Le Pen does not have the most thorough, wide-ranging and sullied family name. In Mses. Fourest tion” have replaced Le Pen père’s same opinion as her father on the carefully argued narrative available and Venner’s telling, Marine Le Pen anti-Semitic drumbeat. gas chambers, Mses. Fourest and on the tumultuous decade that is a woman on a very personal quest. Mses. Fourest and Venner’s biog- Venner concede. “She is from an- ended in world war. Every historian iii raphy was published in French in other era, her era. But is that of the period will stand in Steiner’s Born in 1968 and raised in a June and has already attracted a def- enough to pull the Front National debt. Not everyone will agree with sprawling villa in the wealthy west- amation suit from Ms. Le Pen. The out of the extreme right...this some of her arguments. Steiner is TONDA 1950 ern suburbs of Paris, Ms. Le Pen ap- book is filled with exclusive inter- term that Marine Le Pen would like particularly tough on Neville Cham- Rose gold peared in photo shoots, interviews views, dissection of party literature to reserve for skinheads?” berlain, taking him to task for being Ultra-thin automatic movement and political marches alongside her and a thorough review of existing The FN of Ms. Le Pen, like that of so blinded by anticommunism that Alligator Hermès strap father starting in her infancy. Mr. scholarship on the Le Pen machine. It her father, adheres to an expedient he failed to appreciate how a Brit- Le Pen employed his young family features an alarming exchange be- double-sided political discourse: ish-French-Soviet alliance in the Made in Switzerland as a campaigning tool, a tactic tween Ms. Fourest and Jean-Marie “secular and republican on one side, 1930s might have stopped Hitler’s www.parmigiani.ch made famous by John F. Kennedy Le Pen over his “truther” claims but nationalist and xenophobic on military expansion. That was but unheard of at the time in about the Sept. 11 attacks and the the other.” Ms. Le Pen “holds out her Churchill’s view too, so she is in French politics. killing of Osama bin Laden. stigmata of the discriminated child good company. Whether Stalin The clan manor in snooty Saint- And yet the book’s most pene- to...provokeoutrage and appear a would have signed up, of course, Cloud was the scene of wild soirees trating insights don’t have to do martyr,” Mses. Fourest and Venner remains open to question. But read- in the early 1980s, attracting celeb- with the party itself, or with “LePe- write. “But at the end of the day the ing Steiner on the subject at least rities like actor Alain Delon. Ms. Le nism,” but rather with Ms. Le Pen’s France she dreams of is the opposite provides the comforts of contem- Pen was dubbed a tomboy by her psychology. For a politician who ap- of what she promises. Not greater, plating an alternative storyline, one sisters, but as a student she emu- peals to France’s family-values stronger and stable. But fearful, di- in which the dark does not triumph. CANNES FERRET | DÜSSELDORF HESTERMANN & SOHN | LONDON ASPREY lated her father’s bon-vivant style, crowd, Mses. Fourest and Venner vided, isolated and in danger.” —Mr. Overy is the author of MILANO PISA OROLOGERIA | MONTREUX ZBINDEN | MOSCOW LOUVRE frequenting chic Parisian nightclubs. note, Ms. Le Pen leads a lifestyle un- —Ms. Symons is a writer based in Getty Images “1939: Countdown to War,” now In politics as in life, her father’s in- apologetically characteristic of Bangkok and Paris. BEFORE THE WAR Neville Chamberlain. out in paperback. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W13 FILM ‘Moneyball’: Stars, Stats and Perfect Pitch With Pitt, Hill and Hoffman on Base, Miller-Zaillian-Sorkin Crew Hits the Story Out of the Park

[ Film Review ]

JOE MORGENSTERN

One of the best sports movies ever, “Bull Durham” has one of the best opening lines ever: “I believe,” Susan Sarandon’s ardent groupie de- clares, “in the church of baseball.” The church is desanctified in “Moneyball,” whose context is run- away commerce, and whose sub- text is statistics—i.e., a scientific approach to the major-league ver- sion of the game that seeks to sweep away nostalgic notions and dry the moist eyes of the faithful. Never before, though, have statis- tics added up to such electrifying entertainment. After the mostly minor-league productions of recent months, this movie, which was di- rected by Bennett Miller, renews your belief in the power of movies. Brad Pitt plays—to perfection— Billy Beane, the current Oakland Athletics general manager who, in 2002, guided his small-market, un- derfunded team to an unprece- dented 20 consecutive wins. (He was the subject of the Michael Lewis book from which the script, an inventive work of fiction based on fact, has been adapted by Ste- ven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.) In that year, as the film has it, Billy finds salvation from the A’s relative

poverty—relative most painfully to Columbia Pictures the filthy-rich Yankees—by putting Brad Pitt as the Oakland Athletics’ Billy Beane in ‘Moneyball’. into practice the theories of Bill James, who’d been preaching the gun-rapid succession of phone calls played by Kerris Dorsey, a young “Moneyball” was inspired, as of a traditional hero in a fresh gospel of so-called sabermetrics. in which Billy negotiates with actress, in her feature debut, who’s the familiar phrase goes, by a true guise—a flawed guy with little to Instead of paying lavish sala- other teams for players he wants the essence of sweet simplicity in a story. In fact, Peter Brand is a dra- show for his 40-odd years; a smart ries to superstars who sometimes to buy. (The calls come too fast to couple of crucial scenes. One of matic invention, and a very good guy who finds a way to make his fail to produce needed wins, the follow in detail, but they’re hugely them is set in a music shop where one. In fact, Billy Beane was not smarts matter. “Moneyball” is a cash-strapped GM—himself an ex- enjoyable all the same.) Or Billy’s Casey, to her father’s boundless de- the first general manager to bring new manifestation of the old Yan- player who didn’t deliver on his first encounter with Pete during a light, works out chords on a guitar a statistical approach to the Oak- kee spirit, though hardly in the shining promise—depends on in- negotiating session with the top and sings ever so tentatively. All land A’s; he continued the work Steinbrenner sense—a deeply tricately detailed computer analy- management of the Cleveland Indi- you need know about the other, begun by Sandy Alderson, who American film about a uniquely ses of individual performance. By ans. A relentlessly acute observer, with Casey behind the wheel of a gets credit in the book but doesn’t American sport in which a princi- doing so, he’s able to buy specific Billy senses that Pete, an extremely car, is that it serves, to the film’s figure in the film. One might also pled guy takes on the moneyed ti- talents embodied by players who junior member of the Indians staff, debate, as my sportswriter col- tans because he can’t stand the un- might otherwise be unwanted or is playing an almost silent but ex- league Allen Barra did in a sepa- fairness of what they’re doing to ignored. His brainiac aide in this tremely important role. Confront- Just about every scene in rate Journal piece Thursday, the the game he still loves. abstruse enterprise is his assistant ing him later in a hallway, Billy factual accuracy of the book, general manager Peter Brand (Jo- asks, “Who are you? What hap- the film crackles with which may—or may not—have ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ nah Hill). A young, Yale-educated pened in that room?” intelligence, brittle humor overstated the sabermetric case. Sometimes the phrase “based economist with a picture of Plato From top to bottom the casting As a work of fiction, the film on a true story” signals a failure on his bedroom wall, Pete knows is inspired. Mr. Pitt couples a star and edgy conflict. suffers from an energy sag toward of imagination. That’s the case in little about baseball but lots about presence—there’s a singular there the end by remaining admirably “Machine Gun Preacher,” a would- teasing the meaning out of equa- there whenever the A’s general faithful to the odd nature of its be inspirational account of Sam tions and algorithms. “Using stats manager is in camera range—to a immense benefit, as her exquisite, source material. Because the Oak- Childers, a drug-dealing biker the way we read them,” he tells beautifully measured ensemble per- loving postscript to the complex land A’s didn’t get a World Series thug who, transformed by reli- Billy, “we’ll find value players that formance that makes Billy a mini- subject of her dad. win in 2002, and because Billy gious faith, became a lay preacher no one else can see.” malist ironist, tossing off funny re- The force that binds all of this Beane’s life has never been in Pennsylvania and founded an There’s nothing abstruse about marks with an abandon that almost fine work is fine direction. blessed by the sort of conven- organization to rescue children the way “Moneyball” dramatizes conceals his deep anger, pain or Whether Mr. Miller is dealing with tional triumph that makes for from the ravages of internecine the enterprise. Thanks to the ele- self-doubt. “Good meeting,” he says the professional actors in his cast, great movie endings, the film’s warfare in East Africa. gant understatement of Mr. Hill’s brightly after a horrible meeting or with real-life baseball players narrative pauses, not once but The failure lies not with the portrayal, the unworldly Pete pro- with his stern-faced field manager, standing in for the players and twice, while others remind the film’s director, Marc Forster, nor vides a wonderful foil to Mr. Pitt’s Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoff- scouts of the Oakland A’s, his touch hero—and the audience—that he with its impressive star, Gerard eccentric, flamboyant Billy in just man), an implacable foe of any- is unerring and his narrative vision really did change major-league Butler, but with Jason Keller’s about every scene they share. But thing that smacks of sabermetrics: is clear. After only one documen- baseball, and that he really does dreadfully earnest script, which just about every scene in the film “Every time we talk I’m reinvigo- tary (“The Cruise”) and one feature deserve to think well of himself. charts the hero’s spiritual journey, crackles with intelligence, brittle rated by your love of the game.” (“Capote,” with Mr. Hoffman in the On the whole, though, the film and his Rambo-esque exploits, humor and edgy conflict; it’s not Art’s character is written rather title role), he now takes his place gets many important things exactly without offering a scintilla of ma- to minimize Mr. Zaillian’s gifts, or repetitively—he’s implacable, and in the first rank of American direc- right. It isn’t about numbers, be ture perspective on his state of those of the director, to say that implacable, and then implacable— tors. The cinematographer, Wally they player stats or the staggering mind. Is Sam a saint, or is he a the dialogue’s pace and density but Mr. Hoffman, as ever, gives his Pfister, has already demonstrated sums spent by top-tier franchises, zealot who ends up killing child evoke Mr. Sorkin’s screenplay for man a special, if ever-glowering, his mastery in a string of Christo- even though the story seems at soldiers on his own? Has he turned “The Social Network.” cachet. Robin Wright does a brief, pher Nolan films and won an Oscar first to be asking us to root for the his native intelligence from a life Movie moments don’t get much graceful turn in the role of Billy’s for “Inception”; this time he works gimlet-eyed statistician, rather of crime to a life of service, or has better than the staff meetings in estranged wife. Chris Pratt is af- stylishly but unobtrusively, and than the sharp-eyed pitcher or bat- he been driven mad by the suffer- which Billy takes on the panel of fecting as Scott Hatteberg, the that includes what may amount to ter; for data, rather than intuition; ing he finds after a casual first supposedly wise old executives and washed-up catcher recycled by an accidental sight gag, when for the cool satisfactions of sci- visit to embattled Sudan? No rea- scouts who pick players for the A’s Billy, according to sabermetric pre- someone almost blocks the camera ence, rather than the fevered ro- son that it can’t be any or all of to hire (every one of them is wit- cepts, into a valuable first-base- in the process of whispering in mance of sport. What it’s really the above, but the film’s dramatic tily delineated), or the machine- man. Billy’s daughter, Casey, is someone else’s ear. about is the old-fashioned heroism opacity can be maddening, too. W14 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 ART AUCTIONS Paris Photo Fair Breathes At the Grand Palais

to the newest generation of the [ Collecting ] continent’s photographers from Bamako to Cape Town. They will BY MARGARET STUDER include vital images by Nyaba Oue- draogo of Burkina Faso and works Photography is on by Zanele Muholi of South Africa, the move in Paris. noted for her penetrating por- Celebrating its traits. “We will illustrate the vital- 15th anniversary, ity of Africa,” Mr. Frydman says. Paris Photo will Concurrently with Paris Photo, take place Nov. auction houses in Paris will hold 10-13 at the Grand Palais for the photography sales. On Nov. 11, first time, granting the premier Christie’s Paris will auction 100 photography fair more space to photographs by Henri Cartier- showcase 117 international galler- Bresson that cover the French ies and 18 specialist publishers photographer’s travels, scenes of and booksellers. everyday life and portraits. “Stands will be bigger and we Cartier-Bresson had a “great will have a number of shows and ability to catch the moment,” says talks. We are re-energizing,” Paris Christie’s photography specialist Photo’s new director Julien Fryd- Matthieu Humery. One of the most man says of the move from the iconic examples is “Derrière la gare

fair’s former location at the Car- Saint-Lazare, Paris, 1932,” an im- AFP/Getty Images rousel du Louvre. age of a man jumping over a pud- Courbet’s massive canvases are now shown to staggering effect in their dramatically illuminated new home. Michael Hoppen, of London’s dle, his figure shadowed in the wa- Michael Hoppen Gallery, calls the ter (estimate: €120,000-€180,000). new venue “a huge advance. Pho- On Nov. 12, Christie’s Paris will tography will be allowed to auction 52 photographs by Ameri- New Visions at the Orsay breathe.” Among the works on his can photographer Irving Penn. stand will be the dreamlike, erotic “There will be great fashion pho- creations of French fashion pho- tos, portraits, still-life and travel The Renovated and Refurbished Museum Reopens in Paris tographer Guy Bourdin, priced at images,” notes Mr. Humery. The £12,500, and pieces by Boris top lot will be “Harlequin Dress BY MARY TOMPKINS LEWIS unforgiving naturalism and impu- lambent sunlight. Savelev, a Russian aerospace en- (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), 1950,” an dent brushes with authority (and The Orsay’s new palette allows us gineer turned photographer, fa- image of his wife, a top model, wenty-five years after it also for erecting his own private ex- to appreciate, as its white walls mous for his realist, color con- posed in a superb black-and-white T opened along the left bank of hibitions), Courbet no longer duels never did, the depth and range of structions of everyday life, priced dress (estimate: €200,000- the Seine, just across from the here with his academic contempo- Impressionist color, and to ponder at £9,000-£12,000. €300,000). My favorite is “Poppy: Tuilleries Gardens and the further- raries as he did in the museum’s both newfound allegiances and pro- “Collectors are hungry for Glowing Embers, New York, 1968,” most reaches of the Louvre, the Mu- earlier installation, but instead in- found distinctions between its mas- great photos; and we are selling a brilliant, red flower captured in sée d’Orsay has opened again after vites us to ascend to its vaunted col- ters, their predecessors and contem- to a lot of people around the full bloom (estimate: €70,000- a period of expansion, refurbish- lection of Impressionist paintings by poraries, something also encouraged world who have never bought €100,000). Proceeds of the sale will ment and thoughtful rehanging of the vanguard artists who, like the by provocative, and often convinc- photos before,” Mr. Hoppen notes. go to Médecins Sans Frontières. its collection. The massive, cavern- Orsay’s new architects, saw in his ing, new groupings of familiar Paris Photo will inaugurate a Meanwhile, in a photography ous complex, designed by Victor La- work a foundation for their own. works. Auguste Rodin’s life-size number of new features this year. sale in London on Nov. 3, Phillips loux in 1900 as a central train sta- A tower of red walls and cascad- bronze sculpture of St. John the One will be the presentation of de Pury will include works do- tion for the city of Paris and flanked ing light that extends from the Baptist, for example, one of the most new acquisitions by cultural insti- nated by 14 international photog- by an opulent hotel, was boldly ground floor to the Impressionist powerful nude figures of its age, tutions. New York’s International raphers in aid of the Venice in transformed in the 1980s into a mu- galleries five floors up, the Pavillion looks across one of the subsequent Center of Photography will feature Peril Fund, an organization de- seum for late 19th- and early 20th- Amont also draws the visitor en galleries to a late painting of bathers an exhibition illustrating the rise voted to restoring Venice. The art- century art. At the time, its trove of route into three new levels of rooms by August Renoir, and suggests not of press photography between ists, who were invited by the fund early Modernist works enjoyed suf- devoted to late 19th-century decora- only the primacy of the nude in 1919 and 1930; London’s Tate to photograph the city, have pro- ficient exhibition space and offered tive arts, the Nabis paintings of Modernist art but the vast range of Modern will show a series of duced images that reflect not only a largely chronological art-historical Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and approaches it encompassed. works by Japan’s star photogra- Venice’s beauty but also its rav- narrative that no other Parisian edi- a handful of their French and foreign Despite the new square footage pher Daido Moriyama; and Lau- aged side. German photographer fice could afford. Since then, how- cohorts. In simulated private cham- added in the course of the Orsay’s sanne’s Musée de l’Elysée will Candida Höfer, known for her ever, the spectacular growth of both bers with violet walls and delicate, renovation, the fifth-floor paint- present images of Charlie Chaplin. grand interiors without people, the Orsay’s collection and viewing ambient lighting, the Nabis no longer ings, surprisingly, are densely in- Another new feature will has photographed the golden audience—with nearly 60 million stalled, and also hung low to cap- concentrate on a famous private rooms of the Teatro La Fenice, one visitors to date—as well as evolving ture the streaming, overhead light; collection. This year, it will be print of which is estimated at museographic approaches, have de- The Orsay’s new palette circulation issues may yet persist portraits juxtaposing the work £30,000-£40,000. And American manded a new vision. After several for museum-goers on its most pop- of German and African photogra- photographer Robert Walker’s con- years of planning and renovation, allows us to appreciate... ular floor. Some respite is provided, phers from German collector sumer image of a Bulgari poster during which time some of the the depth and range of however, by the contemporary Jap- Artur Walther. mounted on a palace overlooking building was shuttered and much of anese designer Tokujin Yoshioka’s A central theme throughout the the Venetian Lagoon, with tourists its collection sent on tour, that vi- Impressionist color. vitreous “Water Block” benches, fair will be African photography, streaming over a bridge, is ex- sion has now been realized. which seem to float in their lumi- with a special exhibition devoted pected to fetch £2,200-£2,800. Even in the decades it served as nous space, and by the chic Café de a train station, concerns about secu- appear, as they did before on the top l’Horloge, a Jules Verne-inspired rity and the flow of foot traffic floor, the poor stepchildren of late fantasy by the Brazilian Campana loomed large for Orsay architects. Impressionism but part of an inter- team that fills the floor’s foremost Today, after entering and passing national, cross-disciplinary move- clock tower. under the clock, visitors walk the ment that challenged contemporary The paintings of the Post- length of Orsay’s colossal coffered hierarchies on its own terms. Impressionists, including Vincent van nave with its central allée of sculp- The fifth floor opens with exqui- Gogh and Paul Gauguin, which for- ture and flanking galleries of Second site northern views from the merly hung in the claustrophobic, Empire decorations and mid-19th- tower’s windowed clock of the columned Bellechasse gallery, are century art. At the very end, on the Seine, the city’s rooftops and Mont- cosseted now one floor below in left, are the brilliant red walls of the martre, a momentary pause that re- small, elegant, midnight-blue galler- newly reconfigured Pavillion Amont. orients the viewer entirely within ies dedicated to the late scholar Formerly the station’s engine house, the milieu the Impressionists would Françoise Cachin, who served as the it was sorely underutilized in the make their own. Edouard Manet’s museum’s first director. Exhibited for earlier conversion but has been “Dejeuner sur l’herbe,” a Parisian the first time here under artificial thoroughly redesigned and incorpo- studio painting with potent plein-air lighting, in itself a departure from rated into the whole by the Atelier connotations that was long seques- the plein-air aesthetic of Impression- de l’Ile, one of four architectural tered on the first floor, assumes its ism, they hang in close and revealing

on firms that have shaped the new Or- rightful place and appears here both proximity to Symbolist art. But in a ti a d say. A gallery of deep-purple walls more monumental and prescient. subsequent gallery, dedicated to oun f abuts the pavilion and houses four Throughout the Impressionist gal- moody “Nocturnals,” Manet is sum-

enn massive canvases by Gustave Cour- leries, the ceilings have been moned once more into the heady P

ng bet; two of the best-known, “A opened, cathedral style, to reveal mix, suggesting that the museum has i rv I Burial at Ornans” and “The Artist’s structural beams, a nod to the Or- abandoned not only the sterile e

Th Studio,” which were nearly impossi- say’s industrial aesthetic, and also white-box galleries of the past but its ‘Poppy: Glowing Embers, New York, 1968’ by Irving Penn ble to see in the sunlit glare of their to admit an ingenious blend of arti- teleological reading of art history. In is estimated at €70,000-€100,000. previous hang, are shown to stag- ficial and natural illumination that ways both subtle and monumental, gering effect in their dramatically il- beautifully captures on shimmering, the historic Orsay has become a vi- luminated new home. Known for his grayish-lavender walls the effect of brant expression of our age. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. W15 CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS

Bergen Paris Staging a Twitter Revolution FLEET FOXES ON TOUR SAMURAI WARRIORS Robin Pecknold, singer, producer and A high literacy rate and a dedication songwriter for the American folk band to calligraphy and poetry gave London Fleet Foxes, has been outspoken about Japanese Samurai warriors a rare ‘13’ AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE the positive effects of Internet file shar- quality in ancient warfare. They also There’s something splendid about ing, admitting that he discovered most valued what is known as “omote dogu,” the National Theatre’s rare failures, of the music that has influenced his the aesthetics of their appearance. namely its entirely commendable at- writing through services such as Nap- Intricately decorated Samurai armor titude to taking risks—very often ster. He may be the first of a digital gen- and weaponry have fascinated Swiss with bigger casts and more elabo- eration of musicians that pay no tribute art collector Gabriel Barbier-Mueller rate sets than West End producers to their parents’ dusty record collections, for years and a sample of his vast can afford. Mike Bartlett’s “13” isn’t but the Fleet Foxes sound conjures up collection will be on view at Musée a hopeless turkey in the class of this the glory days of vinyl. Vocal arrange- du Quai Branly. “Samurai: Armor of the month’s other NT world premiere, ments that evoke The Beach Boys and Warrior” showcases 140 objects, “The Veil.” It’s worth seeing, but Neil Young and lyrics that aspire to Bob including horse armor, helmets doesn’t work perfectly. Dylan’s depth can now be heard across and weapons dating from the 12th The “13” are John, a comely Europe as the band promote their sec- to the 19th century. young man who reappears after a ond album, “Helplessness Blues.” Musée du Quai Branly long absence, plus what the script Nov. 5, Grieghallen Nov. 8-Jan. 29 calls “The Twelve,” Londoners who Nov. 6, Sentrum Scene, Oslo www.quaibranly.fr follow closely his soapbox speeches Nov. 8, Annexet, Stockholm at Hyde Park Corner, sometimes Nov. 9, KB, Malmo not in person but via social-media Nov. 10, Falconer Theatre, links. As John, actor Trystan Grav- Copenhagen elle projects impressive charisma Nov. 11, Rolling Stone Weekender, and performs small miracles of di- Weissenhäuser Strand agnosis—we have little trouble More European dates at making the analogy. But we mustn’t fleetfoxes.com/tour take it too far, as the “disciple” Ste- phen (Danny Webb), a militant atheist guru modeled on Christo- Berlin pher Hitchens and Richard Dawk- JAZZ FESTIVAL ins, is hardly a Judas figure. An- Krzysztof Komeda’s 1965 jazz album other, Ruth (Geraldine James), “Astigmatic” is often cited as a turning happens to be prime minister, and point for European jazz, representing

an evolution of a distinctive style that Mueller Museum: The Samurai collection photo Brad Flowers is, refreshingly, a thoroughly de- - cent, intelligent Conservative. Her moves away from the many American dead son was John’s soul mate. incarnations of the genre. Perhaps Designer Tom Scutt’s suspended, best known today for his soundtracks rotating black cube with which the to Roman Polanski’s early films, play opens represents the God-box including “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Knife Stephen tells his students most of in the Water,” Komeda will be

us are afraid to open, so instead Marc Brenner celebrated at Jazz Berlin 2011 through The Ann and Gabriel Barbier worship what we conjecture it con- Geraldine James as Ruth and Danny Webb as Stephen. tributes and interpretations by Leszek Samurai armor from Gabriel Barbier- tains—though it is, in reality, empty. Możdżer, Adam Pierończyk, the Oleś Mueller’s collection on display in Paris. In another house-sized black box, the U.S. and U.K. remain secret al- daughter. Mr. Bartlett merits high Brothers, Tomasz Stańko and many the 12 wake up, all having had the lies in case talks fail and it becomes praise for embracing the complexity other Polish jazz musicians. identical bad dream: an explosion, necessary to invade Iran to end its and diversity of the moral and polit- Various venues Porto insects and monsters. The same nuclear program. Sarah is a grim ex- ical issues that engage us today— Nov. 2-6 THOMAS STRUTH’S EAGLE EYE dream affected Sarah, an American ample of the dangers of religion, the but crams too many of them into berlinerfestspiele.de As a student of the first photography mother, at Heathrow with her pre- negation of John’s credo. too long an evening; and he never class taught by German art duo cocious daughter Ruby (a great per- Director Thea Sharrock moves really makes us believe that John’s Bernd and Hilla Becher at the formance by Jadie-Rose Hobson), as the large cast elegantly around the messianic mission is to make a revo- Bregenz Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Thomas she explains to another traveler— Olivier stage, with some fine perfor- lution by means of Twitter. VALIE EXPORT RETROSPECTIVE Struth developed an appreciation for John. Her husband Dennis is on an mances, including Helen Ryan’s as a —Paul Levy Austrian artist Valie Export has a symmetry and architecture in his “unofficial” diplomatic mission from switched-on granny and Lara Rossi Until Jan. 8 longstanding history of provocation compositions. Streets and cityscapes the American president, to see that as her part-time-prostitute grand- www.nationaltheatre.org.uk and interaction with her audience, dominated his work until the beginning with early performance photographer turned to portraits in works such as 1968’s “Tap and Touch the 1980s. This fresh focus honed Mr. Cinema” and 1969’s “Action Pants: Struth’s ability to capture Genital Panic.” In an attempt to contemporary culture, leading to Dutch Masters Delight in Paris expose the one-dimensional and arguably his most famous series, male-dominated perspective of film, “Museum Photographs,” which depicts media and art of the 1960s, she visitors and tourists admiring art in Paris often exposed her own body and many of the world’s greatest COLLECTORS OF A GOLDEN AGE challenged viewers to accept her museums. “Thomas Struth: “Ilone and George Kremer, Heirs of control of the interaction. In “Valerie Photography 1978-2010” provides a Holland’s Golden Age,” which opened Export: Archive,” Kunsthaus Bregenz detailed retrospective of Mr. Struth’s Wednesday at the Pinacothèque de explores the artist’s creative process varied impressions of the modern Paris offers 58 works by Dutch mas- alongside a selection of later world and the people that inhabit it. ters put together in just 16 years by installations, sculptures, video and Museu de Serralves the husband-and-wife team. The Kre- animation art in a retrospective   mers, the show’s introduction points covering three floors of the gallery.     out, are heirs to the tradition of the Kunsthaus Bregenz wealthy 17th-century Dutch merchant Until Jan. 22 class that replaced the aristocracy as www.kunsthaus-bregenz.at Salzburg patrons of art. The Kremers, too, are EMIL NOLDE’S EXPRESSIONISM Dutch, and made their fortune in in- Much like his idol, Vincent van Gogh, ternational commerce; they now live London Emil Nolde became a painter late in in the Netherlands, the U.S. and Spain. ‘REASONS TO BE PRETTY’ life. At 31 years old, he embarked on Good things come in small for- Neil LaBute’s provocative comedy a career as an independent artist and mats to start the show—a tiny oval “Reasons to Be Pretty” represents worked to become a key element in “Portrait of a Man” (circa 1627–30) the final work in a trilogy exploring the German Expressionist movement. by a follower of Franz Hals, a minia- the social values attached to physical His popularity and membership in the

ture half-length self-portrait by Ger- The Kremer Collection/Fondation Aetas Aurea attractiveness, following “The Shape Nazi party, however, didn’t prevent rit Dou (circa 1645). There are sev- Isack van Ostade’s ‘Winter Landscape Near an Inn’ (1643). of Things” and “Fat Pig.” The play, his work from being condemned as eral playing-card-size copper plates which first opened in 2009, was Mr. “degenerate” art by the regime and etched by Rembrandt, but the Rem- There are several “school of” and Hooch’s “Man Reading a Letter to a LaBute’s first Broadway production Nolde was ordered to stop painting. brandt to remember is slightly “formerly attributed to” designations Woman” (circa 1670–74) is a classic and received three Tony nominations. In private and after the war, Nolde larger, a chiaroscuro “Bust of an Old here—hardly surprising given the Dutch interior, with the woman in a Actress Billie Piper, a former teen pop continued his work, but the Man with a Turban” (circa 1627–28), scarcity of Old Masters on the mar- lipstick-red dress. Gerrit van sensation now known for her roles on Expressionist movement had run softly lit from the side, his eyes lost ket—but plenty of highlights: a big Honthorst’s large “The Repentance of popular TV shows such as “Dr. Who,” its course. “Emil Nolde: Man-Nature- in thought. When the Kremers Hals “Portrait of a Man” with Saint Peter” (circa 1618–20) portrays will star alongside Kieran Myth” has divided his oeuvre into bought it in 1995, it was attributed to chubby, bright rosy cheeks; a pensive the white-haired, bearded saint with Bew, Siân Brooke and Tom Burke three sections, encompassing more Jacques des Rousseaux, although de- Michael Sweerts “Young Maid Ser- reddened eyes of regret, his face up- in a production directed by the than 100 works in an examination of cades earlier it had been credited to vant” (circa 1660); and a delightful turned to a mystic light, his garment Almeida Theatre’s artistic director, his prints, watercolors and paintings. Rembrandt and later Jan Lievens. big “Winter Landscape Near an Inn” an exceptional vivid turquoise. Michael Attenborough. Museum der Moderne But after extensive testing by the (1643) by Isack van Ostade, with —Judy Fayard Almeida Theatre Until Feb. 5 Rembrandt Research Project, in 1997 skaters, fishermen and a horse- Until March 25 Nov. 10-Jan. 14 www.museumdermoderne.at it was authenticated as a Rembrandt. drawn sleigh on the ice. Pieter de www.pinacotheque.com   —Thorsten Gritschke W16 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday - Sunday, October 28 - 30, 2011 FRIDAY NIGHT, SATURDAY MORNING Actor Rafe Spall Stars in a New Role as Dad The English actor talks to The where else like the Electric Are there any changes to Wall Street Journal Europe about House, which is a [members-only] your routine with the baby? how he starts his weekend. club on Portobello Road. We go Those really lazy Saturdays may there, meet some friends and get be gone because the baby de- In his latest role, Rafe Spall plays back before midnight to relieve serves constant stimulation and William Shakespeare in director the baby sitter. attention, and we love that. In Roland Emmerich’s drama, “Anon- the past, we would come back ymous,” which was released in What’s your Saturday routine like? from Portobello Road and lie on cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland We wake up with the baby in bed the sofa and watch a movie. It Friday and will open throughout with us. I go down and make the isn’t as easy now. She sleeps a Europe in the coming months. The morning coffee. I bring that to my lot but it’s definitively changed film backs the theory that Edward wife in bed. We sit there and play our weekends. In the past, Fri- de Vere, Earl of Oxford, penned with the baby and drink our cof- day night would have easily Shakespeare’s plays. fee and get some newspapers. I turned into Saturday morning The 28-year-old actor is also then come back and read the Sat- because we would be out. The starring in Ridley Scott’s urday newspapers in bed. enjoyment of one-too-many “Prometheus,” which comes out I have a sort of addiction to cur- cocktails on a Friday night is next year. He recently appeared in rent affairs, so I can happily read somewhat diminished by the Lone Scherfig’s “One Day” and fin- the paper cover to cover. I am try- fact that you have to wake up at ished filming the second series of ing to cut down because I waste 5:30 a.m. with the baby. It Channel 4’s TV comedy “Pete Ver- too much of my life reading news- makes you take it easier a bit sus Life,” a story that tracks a papers. [Lena] just lies there with more on a Friday night. journalist’s troubles through the us in the bed. She is quite happy eyes of two sports commentators. to lie on my stomach while I am What would you do if Off screen, he is playing a new reading the paper just as long as you had more free time? role at home in London as dad to there are colorful pictures in it. My ideal long weekend would be his 5-month-old daughter. “[My At about 10 a.m., we take a walk five days of cricket nonstop. wife and I] have a brand-new down to Portobello Road. On the Apart from my family and act- baby, so our weekends have been way there from where our house ing, my third-biggest passion in altered massively,” he says. is, there is a great street called life is cricket. If there was a Golborne Road. It’s one of the best Test match on, I would quite How does your weekend start? antique-furniture streets in Lon- happily spend eight hours in Our weekend starts when I get don. We walk down there and look front of the television watching back from work on a Friday at a piece of furniture that we cricket all day.... I would buy ev- night. Ideally, we would get a sit- have been deliberating to buy ery single broadsheet newspaper ter for our beautiful baby Lena. over three or four months, then and read all of their coverage of My wife Elize and I will go for invariably buy it. one day’s cricket. I can read five dinner somewhere like E&O, different journalists’ coverage of which is a restaurant just off Por- Is there a place you like one day’s cricket. This is what I tobello Road, where I live in Lon- going to for ? mean wasting my life reading don. It does sushi, pan-Asian kind There’s a great place called Lowry newspapers. I would also like to of food. They do fantastic maki & Baker, which does brilliant spend more time with my wife rolls and the black cod there is brunches and sandwiches.... They and my child because that’s the one of the best things I have ever allow our dog in as well. We have happiest and most comfortable I eaten. And they do great cock- a Yorkshire Terrier called Lucy. ever am. tails there as well. Then we will It’s me and the girls—my wife, my —Mr. Spall was speaking

go on for another drink some- daughter and our dog. with Javier Espinoza. Getty Images

THE JOURNAL CROSSWORD / Edited by Mike Shenk 64 Some are FDIC-insured Down 55 Droop 95 They make potables 65 Growth area 1 Capital of Ghana 56 St. Peter’s Basilica portable sculpture 96 It’s left of Q 23 Black bird with 30 Meadow mama 47 See 42-Down 67 Chicken tenders 2 It’s headquartered inside Across 57 Monotonous practices 98 “The Morning Watch” bald patches 68 Letters in a return address? Cheyenne Mountain 1 Some beef 31 Citrus quaffs 51 Putting all the writer where its fine 69 DDE’s command 3 Treasure guardian 58 Contacts online, cattle 32 Butcher who Harry Potter books for short 99 Untamable mass feathers should into crates? 70 Starts up like a really 4 Ill-advised 8 Shop doesn’t sell his of hair be? old computer? 5 Peruvian coins 62 Composer of the patronized ? 56 First, to Francisco opera “Rusalka” 100 Restroom sights 25 Layout choices 73 Co. captain 6 In-flight guesstimate by Nuyoricans 38 Go by 59 Oscar nominee as 65 Botanist’s concern 101 Scathing insults 26 “Caddyshack” 74 Loser to Franklin 7 Wall St. overseer 14 “Oh, I see” 40 Day divider 124-Across 66 Prefix with peptic 102 Words to the maestro director Harold 75 Reading feature 8 Railroad between Illinois 19 Suggests 41 Flicked bit 60 Density symbol 70 Trap fill 103 Pale blue gas 27 Baseball Hall of 76 Jazz legend who performed and Atlantic Avenues 21 Ferdinand’s Famer Roush 42 Bruiser 61 Malleable metal 9 Assn. 71 Market optimist 104 Shoes, in hip-hop slang with his “Arkestra” ___ kingdom 28 Elizabethan 45 Really exist 63 Abbr. on many 10 Catch participant, perhaps 72 “The Love” 105 California city that 77 Support (R.E.M. hit) 22 Bowl collar 46 Hierarchical level cheques 11 It may need stroking hosts an annual 79 Calf call 73 Magnate Icahn Date Festival 12 Backfire 80 Still in a sealed envelope, say 74 Magazine contents 107 “Revenge is ___ best Fly-by-Night / by Maryanne Lemot 13 Vacate 83 “Glee” co-star ___ Michele 75 Starter’s need served cold” 1234567 89101112131415161718 14 Embarrassing errors 84 Sister of Venus 77 Network-to-affiliate 108 Suspiciously left, 15 Conquistador’s prize 19 20 21 22 85 Innermost of Saturn’s transmissions in the 1950s 16 Principle five major moons 78 Borrowing concern 109 “Try to ___ my way...” 23 24 25 87 Football headgear that looks 17 Bisected 81 Find execrable 113 Police jacket letters 18 Perp subduer 26 27 28 29 30 as if it’s made of ribbon? 82 “He that ___ good 115 Wyo. hours 90 Scott Turow’s first book 20 Distorts is of God”: 3 John 117 Swift-running bird 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 91 Where the Beatles opened 24 Without purpose 84 Starts 118 Brake part their 1965 American tour 29 L. Okeechobee setting 86 What there oughta be 38 39 40 41 119 Peyton’s younger 92 Support 32 Hold stuff 88 Salt shaker? brother 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 93 Regard 33 Abbr. with a zero 89 Toward the dawn 120 Self-indulgent sort 94 Toward the tail 34 Cross inscription 91 Look down on 121 Be somewhat shy 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 97 Child’s punishment, often 35 Some are proper 59 60 61 62 63 98 Gauge 36 River that forms the Livingstone Falls Last Week’s Solution 101 Make a chart indicating how 37 Lab course DE I GN TG I F BUR MATEY 64 65 66 67 68 tall Kobe’s teammates are? 39 Makes a touchdown ORFEO RUNLOOSE CAPONE 69 70 71 72 73 106 Base notes 42 With 47-Across, Israel’s first CASTSOUTDEMONS OHRATS 110 Tina’s “30 Rock” role TED YENS TONE HOI 74 75 76 77 78 ambassador to the U.N. 111 Rosemary Murphy’s love 43 Casserole material ANT I EPA C I TYOFDREAMS in a 1920s play 79 80 81 82 83 84 44 Bus rider’s requirement H AWN S E D G E I N F O V I B E 112 Role for Reeves AGOG SOLE CUP ENDORSE 48 “Seriously...” 85 86 87 88 89 113 Hawkins of Dogpatch CLEANINGONESDESK 49 Founding owner of the 114 Molecular makeup FOOL BERNESE TEMPO 90 91 92 93 Pittsburgh Steelers SLUSHED RID LAY RAP 116 Flapjack at the fancy 50 Actions at auctions CERT I F I CATESOFDEPOS I T 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 French cafeteria? 52 Digging, so to speak ASS SPY NAP SP I RALS 122 Capital of Belarus 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 53 Maryland pro THEOC AS I AT I C TANS 123 Fashion’s Norma 54 “That was close!” CHANNELSONDEMAND 110 111 112 113 124 Stanley who married LETTERO WET ERLE GMAC For an interactive Stella Dubois t ATRA MDSE TROLL I AGO 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 125 Marks for retention, version of The Wall CH I LLOUTDUDE MAO SNOB perhaps Street Journal 122 123 124 TAD URSA N I CK NAH 126 Drawing room? Crossword, WSJ.com ONEDGE CATCHONESDR I FT 125 126 127 127 Begins a winning subscribers can go to SENDER KRAT I ONS ZENDA streak WSJ.com/Puzzles ESTER SAG EKES EDGAR