Friars Club may be headed for rebirth after auction yields no bids

The Friars Club might be destined for a comeback.

The club at 57 East 55th St. closed after the building flooded and COVID scared members away.

When the landmarked townhouse that gave birth to the celebrity roast was up for auction last month, “Nobody bid. Not one person,” said the club’s Dean, lawyer Arthur Aidala. “We were jumping up and down for joy.”

Bidding started at $15 million, but the building is not zoned for residential. Retailers and restaurateurs looked at it and passed.

Now there are plans to reopen the club with new members. “There is a group actively raising money to buy the building and reopen the Friars,” Aidala told me.

The club, geared to show business types, has had as “abbot” such stars as Jerry Lewis, Alan King, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan and George M. Cohan.

Liza Minnelli was the first female member in 1988, followed by Lucille Ball, Barbra Streisand, Liz Taylor and Phyllis Diller.

Aidala wouldn’t confirm the identities of the club’s would-be saviors, saying only, “A lot of people are excited about the rebirth of the club.”

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Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy will never be forgotten.

His son Martin Luther King III has written a book, “What Is My Legacy?,” out just in time for the national holiday honoring the civil rights leader.

“My father’s dream is not just a speech he gave or an idyllic view of what could be,” said his namesake. “What my father was asking for all those years ago was to create a world where every person can realize their dreams. My father’s dream remains unfulfilled, but it is still very much alive.”

King wrote the book with his wife, Arndrea Waters King, plus brothers Marc and Craig Kielburger.

The book features never-been-told stories from the King family and contributions from the Dalai Lama, Jay Shetty, Julia Roberts, Yara Shahidi, Rev. Al Sharpton and Sanjay Gupta.

“We’re encouraging people to create a living legacy every day. To live a life of love,” King told me. “We are all linked together. We have so much more in common than what separates us.”

The message will get louder as MLK’s 100th birthday approaches in 2029.

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Matthew Mellon may have been murdered for his money, according to his friend, art curator Stacy Engman.

Engman, known for wearing tiaras she designs, is the author of “Art Royalty,” which chronicles her journey from earning a master’s at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London to becoming a powerful voice in the art world.

She was good friends with Mellon, who died in Mexico in 2018 en route to a rehab clinic. Mellon reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack after taking hallucinogenic ayahuasca.

But Engman says, “I suspect foul play.”

She claims Mellon had $4 billion in bitcoin when he died, and his body was cremated with no autopsy. His heirs received a small fraction of his fortune, she said.

Engman said Mellon gave her some bitcoin in 2013: “He was so ahead of everything. It was worth pennies when he gave it to me. It’s worth millions now.”

Engman is busy promoting The Art Index, which she calls “the NASDAQ or Bloomberg for the art world. It transforms valuations in the art market previously thought impossible.”

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TJ Ward and Bub Means of the New Orleans Saints and Mike Sherrard and Kenny Gant of the Dallas Cowboys have all confirmed they will kickstart Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans at the 2nd Annual Art of Whiskey Tasting Event at M.S. Rau on Feb. 6.

Guests will sip and smoke cigars while listening to live jazz at the gallery, surrounded by historic items including the Super Bowl XXXVI commemorative football signed by Tom Brady, Adam Vinatieri, Richard Seymour and 29 others, which can be yours for $38,850. During this historic game at the Superdome in 2002, the underdog Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams 20-17.

Other guests include Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers, hit music producer Yaz, Death Row Records’ co-founder Doc Curry and former Miss Universe Ella Markovsky.

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Colette Lumiere, who dated art world bad boy Jeff Koons and was a part of Andy Warhol’s Factory scene, is still making art.

Colette, who just opened an exhibition at Company Gallery on Elizabeth Street, is the subject of British filmmaker Nick Hampson’s new documentary “Colette: Beautiful Dreamer,” on the film festival circuit.

Colette was usually topless as the audience watched her sleeping in her satin jewel box installations.

The movie’s producer Jennifer Clement, president emeritus of PEN, devoted a chapter to the artist in her 2024 memoir “The Promised Party,” writing “Colette is a woman who turned her very self into art.”

The official trailer hit YouTube Friday.

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Out & About: The Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Hudson Valley chapter has enlisted artists to help raise money to make kids’ dreams come true. Designer Melissa Riebe put together a mystery gift box with art for sale by the likes of AD 100 designer TC Chou, Deb Ryan and necklaces by Ken DelRossi … Martina Navratilova and skin care mogul Peter Thomas Roth celebrated the hanging of one of her artworks in his Miami penthouse at the Surf Club. The tennis legend creates the works by hitting paint soaked tennis balls onto a canvas … Paul McCartney’s wife Nancy Shevell, “Sex and the City” author Candace Bushnell and attorney Jason Goldman sat at separate tables at private club Casa Tua.