BettSECTIONerF BRIDGE 9 l SHOPPING 2 l THEATER 3 l WINE 4 Living Wed. 04.14.10 ‘Ugly Betty’ made facing controversy a fashion statement

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

During its four-year run, ABC’s “Ugly Betty” skew- ered the New York fashion world, nabbing celebrity cameos from the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Shakira and Isaac Mizrahi. It turned America Ferrera, who played the plucky- but-style-challenged Betty Suarez, into a household name. And it landed a prestigious Peabody Award. As the credits roll on the wacky dramedy’s last episode tonight, Latinos, gay rights groups and fans are UGLY lamenting more than the loss of Betty’s cringe-inducing outfits and the melodra- BETTY ma of the Meade family — owners of the 10 tonight, show’s fictional fashion magazine Mode. ABC The hourlong show was also among the rare network programs to tackle such controver- sial issues as gay teens, body image and illegal immigration. The show contrasted Betty’s See UGLY BETTY Page F-5

America Ferrera’s STAFF PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH LARA final turn as plucky “Ugly Betty.” Ramsey designer transforms grounds into fire-and-water fantasylands

By SACHI FUJIMORI STAFF WRITER

Man is naturally drawn to fire and wa- THE ter. These are not the words of an evolu- tionary biologist but of Chris Cipriano, a Ramsey-based high-end landscape design- er, who turns his clients’ back yards into suburban utopias. We’re not just talking patio grills and lap pools here. WHOLE No, these homeowners want to swing open their back doors to flaming volcanoes, “Sur- vivor”-style fire pits and whooshing waterfalls. COURTESY LIBERTY SCIENCE CENTER Cipriano’s projects Exercise equipment is just part of the interac- range from $25,000 tive fun at “Diabetes: A Deeper Look.” NINE outdoor kitchens to multimillion-dollar reno- vations that transform properties into something like Diabetes exhibit a Mediterranean resort. “Every client requests some type of fire and water feature,” Cipriano gives inside look, YA RDS says. “There’s something relaxing and captivating about it.” And while these outdoor projects are de- has hands-on feel signed for the entire family to enjoy, Cipri- ano notices a certain trend: “In 80 percent By JENNA MOONJIAN of my projects the husband is the driving STAFF WRITER force,” he says. “They want areas that are just for themselves.” There are red, flashing lights – a loud, pulsing heart- Strides made in the gender equality beat. And no, you’re not getting pulled over. This is the in- movement aside, certain immutable truths side of “Diabetes: A Deeper Look,” on display at Liberty still hold: The back yard, generally speak- Science Center in Jersey City. ing, remains the man’s domain. Give him Walking into the 2,500-square-foot replicated blood a fired-up grill, a pair of tongs and some vessel is like taking a step right juicy steaks, and you have one happy hus- WHAT: “Diabetes: onto the Magic School Bus. The band, father, bachelor — or all of the above. A Deeper Look.” walls are lined with diabetes facts One Mahwah homeowner, a Wall Street WHEN: Through – how to prevent and manage the executive, had a vision for a natural-look- May 16. disease, information about sugar ing backyard pool, waterfall and spa like WHERE: Liberty and insulin — as well as a match-up the ones he saw while traveling. “The pool Science Center, 222 wheel for kids and adults to find we had was very ordinary,” he says. “In the Jersey City Blvd., their BMI. back of our property, we have a wildlife Jersey City; 201- Also part of the interactive expe- preserve; I wanted it to look like an exten- 200-1000 or lsc.org. rience are exercise equipment; sion of that.” HOW MUCH: puzzles demonstrating how med- While planning the project with Cipri- $15.75, seniors and ications get approved by the FDA; ano, this father of two teenagers had to ne- children $11.50. an arcade-style game in which you gotiate with his wife to get his grown-up use insulin to knock out glucose; playground. “She did think I was going an injection simulator; a walkway with rotating step pads over the top,” he says. “But I didn’t care. It’s representing the importance of staying balanced; and … Top, Chris Cipriano built a clock tower with a fireplace at its base for an Allendale better for us to enjoy it.” See DIABETES Page F-6 client; above, a refreshment bar done for a Saddle River homeowner. See LANDSCAPER Page F-3 FREE Screeningfor Oral,Head&NeckCancer Earlydetection is your best protection. Wednesday, April14, 4pm-7pm AN AFFILIATE OF MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Englewood Hospital Clinic,350 EngleStreet, Englewood, NJ englewoodhospital.com Free Parking. Registrationrequired. Call 866.980.EHMC WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2010 BETTER LIVING THE RECORD F-3 FAMILY A man with deep pockets is both wealthy and wise

In addition to taking nifty pictures, biker chick with “Pray For Us Sinners” You name it, it’s in there. I separate the wallet and cash in case Needless to say, “European carryalls” that dandy little camera I bought myself tattooed on her forehead. Handbags have always scared me, some crook ever corners me in a dark never caught on. They were eventually in December really does (as advertised) So now what? though, ever since I was 8 years old and alley and says, “Give me your wallet!” replaced by gym bags (manly, but a little fit comfortably in my pocket. When women get an- saw Mary Poppins open hers and pull Do crooks even do that anymore? too bulky) and back packs, which we The bad news: I’m all out of pockets. gry, they often say they out a coat rack. If I were a crook, I’d just say “Give had to strap over our shoulders. (With a I suppose this is what I deserve after wish they were men. And any time I tried to peek inside me your pants!” back pack, I never felt as though I was whining last month about ice and snow “It’s a man’s world!” one of my mother’s handbags, I got Much as it pains me to say it, I still carrying a handbag. I just felt like I was and endless winter. one angry woman in par- screamed at like some character in a vividly recall the “All in the Family “ wearing a brassiere.) The temperature finally goes up and ticular is always telling horror movie. episode (almost 40 years ago) in which The Nineties gave us fanny packs, but my pockets disappear like dying movie me. “Guys can’t even “Don’t go in there!” she’d yelp, as if I Archie berated son-in-law Mike for car- they made you look nerdy. Or, dangerous, stars, two and three at a time. imagine all the problems, might inadvertently release the polter- rying a “man purse” over his arm. Mike since criminals often hid guns in them. No more winter coat! (Three pockets, BILL responsibilities and dis- geists she had imprisoned inside it. called it a “European carryall.” I have no guns, but for weeks, I’ve gone with the wind.) ERVOLINO mal, depressing junk that Last week, just for fun, I emptied the Handsome! Trendy! Practical! And had plenty of other junk to deal with No more hoodie! (Another two pock- we women carry around contents of my pants pockets onto my yet ... and no reasonable solutions. ets, out the window.) with us all day!” dining room table: camera; cellphone; Seeing him hold it (even in the “uni- Then, on Saturday, I ran into a friend No more long-sleeve “lumberjack” Perhaps. But at least women have identification badge for work; reading sex” era) was jarring, since most men who was wearing — shazam! — a pair of shirts. (And another two bite the dust.) something to carry all their dismal, de- glasses (in their case); $43 in change; al- have a natural aversion to carrying ANY khaki cargo pants. I’ve been praying for warm weather pressing junk in. lergy pills (for pollen); lactose intoler- bags. “Six pockets!” he told me, “and the since the first week of November. But, What do men have? ance pills (for milk products); diarrhea Have you ever been to some social two on your legs are really deep!” in the last three weeks, seven much- At this time of year, four pants pock- pills (in case I forget to take the lactose event where a woman has asked her He then proceeded to empty them, to needed pockets have up and left me. ets. intolerance pills); gum; lip balm; keys; date to take her handbag — even for a show me how much they could hold. This is how life is nowadays. The end. handkerchief; and my slender, falling- minute? The man immediately tenses up And I was really impressed. I call it Sandra Bullock Syndrome: Sit-coms always get an easy laugh any apart-at-the-seams phone book. and holds it away from his body, be- “Wow!” You get something you really, really time a woman has to empty the contents I also had my wallet crammed into the tween his thumb and his index finger, as Especially when he pulled out the want and then you lose something else of her handbag, which always seems to back right pocket, my cash stuffed into if he just changed a diaper and is waiting coat rack. — to the back of your closet, that musty be filled to the brim with brushes, tis- the left front pocket, and my Magic Eight for a garbage truck to pull up and take it old bureau in your basement or some sues, eyelash curlers ... Ball, neatly sunk in the corner pocket. off his hands. E-mail: [email protected] COVER STORY THEATER Landscaper Some of rock’s jukebox heroes From Page F-1 One concession he made, however, was to plan to leave room in the back yard for his 12-year-old daughter, a gymnast, to have a large trampoline. Leiber and Stoller songs provide energy, But as the project grew over eight months, his wife asked, “Where is the trampoline going to go?” but ‘Smokey Joe’s Café’ has history, too Cipriano mounted moss-covered boulders around the pool and two large waterfalls that re- By JIM BECKERMAN pens of Leiber and Stoller (they had a few leased 1,200 gallons of water per minute. Beside STAFF WRITER outside collaborators), it would have been the waterfalls he installed a volcanic fire pit by easy to do the cliché thing. Which is: malt feeding a gas line through a mound of red crushed A jukebox musical is a show that is all shops, saddle shoes, poodle skirts, leather glass. When the fire is song and no story. And “Smokey Joe’s Café” jackets and – bluntly – white teenagers, living “The outdoor lit at night, the glass il- is a jukebox musical. So much so that when in a “Happy Days” never-never land of hot luminates to resemble the curtain rises, it reveals ... a jukebox. rods and sock hops. That’s how this 1995 kitchen is an lava, creating a dra- But even a no-story show has a kind of show is sometimes staged. extension of the matic scene. story – if it’s only the sum of all its songs. But the Paper Mill production, which has And now that the What’s great about the a largely African-Ameri- house. It’s all of dad’s project is complet- Paper Mill Playhouse can cast, is coming from a ed (the trampoline end- production of “Smokey different place. the comforts of ed up on the side of the Joe’s Café” – apart from REVIEW When Maia Nkenge indoors, house), the whole family the energy, sass and raise- SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ Wilson brings the first act enjoys it. “It’s a place for the-roof voices – is that it Songs by Jerry Leiber and to a barn-burning climax outdoors.” relaxation with our kids tells the right story. Mike Stoller, choreographed by with “Saved,” belting out CHRIS CIPRIANO, and friends,” says the After that obligatory Denis Jones, directed by Mark the lyrics and banging on LANDSCAPE DESIGNER owner, who asks to not jukebox is disposed of, we S. Hoebee. At the Paper Mill the tambourines of each of be identified. meet the band – excellent Playhouse, Brookside Drive, the backup singers in turn, An Allendale client, musicians and a welcome Millburn, through May 2. she’s burlesquing gospel, a real estate broker, pined for a clock tower in his sight on stage, rather than all right – but she’s doing it back yard, modeled after one he saw on a golf hidden in the pit. And With Felicia Finley, Bernard with true gospel fervor. course in Ireland. Working from the client’s de- then the show gets real. Dotson, Jackie Burns, E. Clay- And when Summers scription, Cipriano constructed one with a fireplace A brick wall backdrop ton Cornelious, Carly Hughes, adds layers of impas- at its base. At night, low-voltage lighting illuminates comes down, to remind Andrew Rannells, Eric LaJuan sioned riffing and vocaliz- its copper roof, stone detailing and mantel. Sitting us that this music belongs Summers, Dennis Stowe and ing to his powerful rendi- by the fireplace, the owner lights a bunch of can- to a downscale, urban Maia Nkenge Wilson. tion of “I (Who Have dles on the mantel and leans back into his lawn world. Four excellent har- 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 1:30 Nothing),” he might have chair. “It’s his spot to come out and relax,” Cipri- mony singers (Eric La- and 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. stepped off the stage of ano says. Juan Summers, E. Clay- Friday; 1:30 and 8 p.m. Satur- the Apollo Theatre on a The client’s cabana had some work done on it, ton Cornelious, Bernard day; 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. good night. too. Cipriano covered it in stones to match the out- Dotson and Dennis Tickets: $25 to $92. Hoebee’s staging, along door fireplace and installed a full kitchen and a 70- Stowe) – the show’s 973 376-4343 or papermill.org. with the often inventive inch waterproof flat-screen TV, good for watching stand-ins for The Coast- choreography by Denis sports from poolside. ers, the black R&B cutups Jones, rarely descends into Cipriano found a huge boulder in a Pennsylva- for whom Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote Dick Clark-dom. It is never at odds with the nia quarry that was perfect to create the pool’s wa- some of their best songs – are at a train sta- sometimes gritty reality of the lyrics — even terfall. “It was still sitting in the mountain; it had tion, suitcases in hand. “Keep on Rollin’,” they during the comedy numbers like “D.W. Wash- not fallen out. I asked them to cut it out and give sing. Also that they’re “Searchin’.” burn.” Many of Leiber and Stoller’s songs are it to me,” he says. A 150-foot crane was required to OK, it’s not – literally – a depiction of the about loneliness and humiliation: “On Broad- get the massive rock installed. All the effort paid off, birth of rock-and roll. It’s not literally the sto- way,” “Stand by Me,” “Shoppin’ For Clothes” PHOTOS BY T CHARLES ERICKSON though. Not only does the waterfall spray 400 gal- ry of the black musicians who migrated to the (in which the punch line is that the would-be The Paper Mill Playhouse staging of “Smokey Joe’s lons a minute; when it’s switched off, the owner’s big cities during and after World War II, cre- Beau Brummell is denied credit), “I (Who Café” dumps the malt shop cliché in favor of a look at the teenage daughter likes to use the rock as a sun- ating sounds so irresistible that all the white Have Nothing.)” Whatever neighborhood African-American influence on 1950s rock-and-roll. bathing platform with her friends. kids – including two precocious teens named we’re in here, it’s not Richie Cunningham’s. A Saddle River client, a father and husband, Leiber and Stoller — began imitating them. There are a few mistakes, mostly minor. wanted a poolside refreshment station for when But it does suggest that story, in an impres- It’s too bad that “There Goes My Baby” had friends come over. The outdoor covered bar sionistic way. And throughout the produc- to be turned into a joke; worse that the joke area has a bluestone countertop, along with a tion, director Mark S. Hoebee keeps up a isn’t funny. And a couple of the songs, includ- refrigerator, ice maker, bottle storage, two sinks similar realistic undertone. The suburban kids ing “Young Blood” and “Ruby Baby,” are and a spot for cutting and serving food. The who took up this music in the 1950s some- done at the wrong speed – a peppy Broadway backsplash behind the bar is grape-coin tile. times did it well – as Andrew Rannells, chan- 65 mph, rather than R&B’s more relaxed 45 Four speakers pipe in music. neling Elvis, demonstrates in his slam-bang to 50. The homeowner is also big on barbecuing. second-act rendition of “Jailhouse Rock.” But on the whole, this is a joyous rock-and- Cipriano renovated his 12-foot-long barbecue, ex- But this is mostly wrong-side-of-the-tracks roll show — the more so for capturing some of tending the counter space and adding burners. music – and this production doesn’t let us the pain beneath the party. That means the owner can boil corn on the cob forget it. without having to run back inside the kitchen. In doing a revue of some of the most beau- See Sunday’s Better Living section for Jim “The outdoor kitchen is an extension of the tifully crafted songs of 1950s rock-and-roll, Beckerman’s interview with Jerry Leiber and house,” Cipriano says. “It’s all of the comforts of in- including “On Broadway,” “Love Potion No. Mike Stoller. doors, outdoors.” 9,” “Treat Me Nice,” “Fools Fall in Love,” and “Stand By Me,” all more or less from the E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

ADVICE Live-in boyfriend uses daughter as excuse to avoid marriage

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend and I have have told her many times that our rela- neral of someone close. It was a sad time you shouldn’t do it. We live in an age thoughtless and insensitive and didn’t been together for a number of years, and tionship doesn’t mean Daddy loves her for me, but it sparked an idea that may when video and YouTube are a part of take my feelings into consideration. She were close friends before dating. We any less. bring comfort to my family and friends our everyday lives. I’m sure your me- says I am narrow-minded because I have lived together for Something in me is beginning to think when it’s my time to go. mento will be treasured by the loved don’t see it from her perspective. What 10 months now and he’s just making excuses and he won’t Abby, would it be out of line to make ones you leave behind. do you think? pretty much act like a “buy the cow” as long as he’s getting the a goodbye video of myself? It would in- DEAR ABBY: For Valentine’s Day, I — Grinched in Iowa married couple. I feel I milk for free. I feel like I am ... clude fond memories that would put a bought a dozen red roses and had them DEAR GRINCHED: I can see how, hav- am ready to become — Floating in Limbo in Delaware smile on someone’s face and allow my delivered to my girlfriend’s workplace. ing spent as much as you did for the ros- engaged. DEAR IN LIMBO: You and your family and friends to remember me as I On her way home that evening, she es, you could be upset. I can also see He, on the other boyfriend need to have a frank talk, be- was alive, not as I lay in a coffin. Instead made a stop at the grocery store and en- how your kindhearted girlfriend might hand, feels we should cause it appears you thought moving in of a plastic bookmark, I could leave a countered a distraught young man near have had pity on the guy and acted on wait until his 16-year- with him would bring you a firm com- DVD of my final goodbyes. tears because he couldn’t afford to buy impulse. While the roses were hers, she old daughter, “Lacy,” DEAR mitment and he appears to be happy I have a health problem and don’t flowers for his girlfriend. She offered could have accomplished the same thing moves out — either ABBY with the status quo. If you haven’t al- know how long I have, so I’d like to him money but he refused, so she gave by giving him one or two of the roses to back with her mother ready done so, tell him exactly what you know what you and your readers think him the roses I bought for her. (Abby, give to his girlfriend. However, if you or on her own. He doesn’t feel it’s have told me, because what you have about my idea. I trust your advice, Abby, they had cost me more than $82!) care about this relationship, you’ll stop “right” for us to marry before then. written makes perfect sense. And if he’s so please let me know. The whole episode still has me upset. brooding and drop the matter. We are both adults, and while I don’t unwilling to budge, then it’s time for you — Final Farewell, Upstate New York I know the roses were a gift and she had want to disregard Lacy’s feelings, I think to “moo-ve” out. DEAR FAREWELL: As long as your every right to do with them as she Write Dear Abby at dearabby.com or PO this is something WE should decide. We DEAR ABBY: I recently attended a fu- video is done tastefully, I see no reason wished. But I think what she did was Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.