The man who knows everyone

Loosely Speaking by Nancy Gaines

Lest anyone think the best-connected person in Boston is some ubiquitous publicist or power broker, the truth has come out. As those in the know have long known, the small-world trail in these parts will always lead to a modest man in Harvard Square, Charlie Davidson, now officially anointed by the New Yorker as "the man who knows everyone." Davidson, owner of the Andover Shop, was cited in Malcolm Gladwell's recent piece on six degrees of separation, which focused on Chicagoan Lois Weisberg. Talking earlier this week about connections on Chris Lydon's radio program, The Connection, Gladwell explained how he concocted a test to quantify how many people any given person might know. He picked 250 unusual surnames from the Manhattan phone book and ran the list past hundreds of people he'd been referred to in numerous cities. The object was to identify as many surnames as possible of people you really knew, as in "Winterbottom, oh yeah, I know a Joe Winterbottom in Akron." "The average score was about 40," said Gladwell, "and Charlie got 125. Totally off the charts." Davidson's social ties, constructed over 50 years as tailor and confidant to generations of Bostonians, extend way beyond Harvard Square, to the jazz, literature, and fashion circles of New York and Europe. Said Lydon, who, as might be expected, numbers Davidson among his best friends, "The best thing about Charlie is that he really doesn't care. He isn't trying to cultivate anyone. He's just Charlie." As for Davidson, all he has to say is, "This is so absurd."

Good-bye, glimmer twins In case you didn't notice, the city lost a touch of glitz in recent weeks with the departure of two of the town's glamour gals. Songstress Juliana Hatfield moved to Los Angeles to advance her career, and rocker Blake Hazard (of Star Hustler, but perhaps better known as F. Scott Fitzgerald's great-granddaughter) is back in New York, where she attends Vassar. Hazard, who was at Harvard on an exchange program, says she wants to return to Boston; Hatfield doesn't.

Eat those words

David Mamet won't be on the roster, but restaurateur Fiona Hamersley launches her dinner and book club February 23 with author George Packer (Central Square), to be followed in March and April by Arnold Steinhardt (Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony), Sue Miller (While I Was Gone), and Peter Guralnick (Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley). As we mentioned last month, Hamersley plans a series of cozy conversations with the writers, plus dinner, for a limited membership, at a cost of $235 for the package. Mamet, an original invitee, said he couldn't commit because he's got a brand-new baby at home in Newton, but that he would do it next time. Guess he's lined up a sitter.

Playing to a tough audience

Andy Rooney thinks Jimmy Tingle is funny and refreshing, says daughter Emily Rooney of Channel 2's Greater Boston, who also applauds the "adorable" Cambridge comic in his new ersatz-Andy role on 60 Minutes II. "People think my father takes a jaundiced approach to everything," says Rooney, "but he genuinely wishes people success. He wants people to be good. Now, they may not meet his expectations, and he'll let them know, but he doesn't want to see anyone fail."

Wearing the badge of red face award

A year later, the clothing industry continues to twitter over the ousting of Ermenegildo Zegna's line by Louis last winter. So much so that MR, the respected menswear retailing magazine, cited the incident as number 51 in its annual ranking of the year's top 100 events. BOLDEST MOVE: LOUIS BOSTON DUMPING ZEGNA, trumpeted the article, awarding a "Red Badge of Courage" to Louis president Debi Greenberg for "singlehandedly . . . bidding adieu" to Zegna when she got word the designer was about to open his own boutique on Newbury Street. Alas, that's not what happened. As Loosely reported at the time, Louis ousted a number of labels, including Prada, Gucci, and Calvin Klein, to which the exclusive store no longer had exclusive rights. Subsequently, for that and other business reasons, Zegna decided to open its Boston store, which it did in September with great fanfare.

Native intelligence

Come spring, the Top of the Hub will be one of the few places in town where you can order a meal as late as 1 a.m. and hear live music to boot. . . . Those in hope of a feisty contretemps when author Susan Cheever comes to Waterstone's to speak next week will be sad to hear that Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam isn't planning on attending. Beam said, with some regret, that he hasn't heard from Cheever (with whom he once worked at Newsweek) since he eviscerated her Note Found in a Bottle: My Life as a Drinker, but has received calls from "many of her former acquaintances. This woman does not have a vast fan club." So why not tell her in person? "Oddly," said Beam, "I think I'm washing my hair that night."