V.F. Diary

DEBORAH MITCHELL

Stone's fortress; Clintons have time with the Torah; Peter Jennings's brush with the Dead

For more than six years, Sharon Stone had been perfectly content with her little one-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot house nestled in the Hollywood Hills off Mulholland Drive. Trading up wasn't on her agenda, even after stardom struck. Then Stone was plagued by a stalker. The property was deemed insufficiently secure, so she's moved into temporary quarters while looking for a more fortress-like residence. Her beloved home is now for sale, though prospective buyers are not being informed of its celebrity provenance.

Also in the market: Jodie Foster. While she searches for her dream house, she's renting Bette Davis's old apartment in Hollywood. It's in one of the few doorman buildings in L.A., built in the 20s by bandleader Paul Whiteman for Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley. Foster's rental is supposed to be temporary, but she seems in no hurry to move. She is such a Bette Davis fan that she took the time to host a TNT documentary, All About Bette. The apartment comes with its own set of Davis devotees. Recalling a time when fame was less dangerous, the fans leave an offering on Davis's old doorstep every Christmas: a pack of cigarettes with a ribbon and a note that reads, KEEP ON SMOKING, BETTE.

NEWS FROM THE PEWS

A recent issue of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue's bulletin inquires why The New York Times neglected to report that Bill and Hillary Clinton attended Rosh Hashanah services at the non-denominational Old Whaling Church on Martha's Vineyard with lawyer Alan Dershowitz. (Afterward the president wished everyone L'shana tova, "Happy holidays" in Hebrew.) Congregants at the Orthodox Fifth Avenue temple are talking about an unlikely worshiper of their own. On Kol Nidre (the eve of Yom Kippur), Ron Perelman and girlfriend Patricia Duff arrived in separate limos— presumably so that Duff, who has not converted to Judaism, could leave when she chose. Seated upstairs in the women's section, she surprised everyone by staying for the entire threehour service. "She was kerplunked in the front row," says another worshiper, "which is a big deal in that synagogue."

AND...

. . . The almost divorced Peter Jennings may have accompanied Barbra Streisand to the White House, but when it comes to a hot date in his hometown, he brings along ABC producer Katherine Freed. Jennings and Freed, along with his 12-year-old son, Christopher, caught the first night of the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden.

. .. Paul Simon was in the audience when his 22-year-old son, Harper, and his five-man band performed at an opening at Manhattan's Gallery Lok for Simon's Montauk neighbor photographer Peter Beard. Harper, the son of his father's first wife, Peggy Harper, is embarking on a career as a professional musician; on top of singing lead and playing guitar, he writes all the as-yetunnamed band's songs.

. . . Tom Brokaw attended the Russian Tea Room celebration for his old friend Lauren Bacall's new book, Now. They met more than 20 years ago, at the L.A. home of the late financier Norton Simon and his wife, Jennifer Jones. " 'Betty' is what I quickly learned she likes to be called, and Betty was all that I hoped she would be," says Brokaw. "She's a legend who's earned the title but doesn't dwell on it."

... At East Hampton's Della Femina restaurant, each menu is decorated with a caricature of a popular local celebrity, such as co-owner adman Jerry Della Femina, Billy Joel, Peter Boyle, or Martha Stewart. But let's imagine that when you sit down to dine you are handed a bill of fare emblazoned with an unappetizing drawing of superflack Peggy Siegal. What to do? You might hand the menu back with a shudder, asking for another. "That's so funny," the maitre d' might tell you, as he did a friend of ours. "You're the sixth person tonight who's refused the Peggy Siegal cover."