Famous defaced NYC Banksy mural headed to auction

Providing a legal parking spot to a motorist who turned out to be the artist Banksy was a good deed that could be worth millions of dollars.

Banksy painted a massive mural “Battle to Survive a Broken Heart” on a warehouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in 2013.

The 6-by-9 foot, 7,500-pound  section of the wall — now on display at The Winter Garden at Brookfield Place —will be auctioned by Arlan Ettinger’s Guernsey’s on May 21.

Anastasios Georgiadis, whose father Vassilios gave Banksy a place to park his van, told me, “My father was outside smoking a cigarette. Banksy pulled up and parked. My dad knew it was illegal. He said, ‘Pull up over her. Park in my driveway.’”

Banksy, who remains anonymous because much of his graffiti art is illegal, was described as middle-aged with shaggy hair, glasses and a fisherman’s hat. He had a British accent.

The next day the artwork was on the warehouse wall. After another artist Omar NYC tagged it, Banksy came back and wrote under his name “is a jealous little girl.”

Vassilios hired security to protect the mural, then removed the brick wall. “We took it out to preserve it,” Anastasios said.

His father died of heart disease four years ago, and now Anastasios and his mother are selling the mural with 45 percent going to The American Heart Association.

“That’s a piece of my father we’re letting go. I think Banksy saw the pain in his eyes. Hopefully it helps save some lives,” Anastasios said.

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Carla Cooke will bring back the magic of her father, the legendary singer Sam Cooke, when she debuts at 54 Below on May 28.

Born in Harlem, Carla Cooke found her voice singing gospel music just like her father, the son of a Baptist minister.

Carla was only 4 months old when her dad was shot dead in Los Angeles in 1964. Sam Cooke was only 33.

He left behind recordings like “Chain Gang,” “Summertime,” “Wonderful World,” “Sentimental Reasons,” and perhaps his most influential song, written from Cooke’s personal experience with racism, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which became an anthem of the Civil Rights movement.

“I am determined not to let the world ever forget Sam Cooke,” Carla said.

“There are many children of legendary artists who never got the chance to know their fathers. Singing my father’s songs is a way for me to keep him alive.”

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Mark Linn-Baker is known as a TV star in shows like “Perfect Strangers,” and a movie actor in films such as “My Favorite Year” alongside Peter O’Toole, but he’s been on Broadway for decades.

“I’ve been in New York since 1978,” Linn-Baker told me from his current home in Washington Heights.

The actor is rehearsing now to open June 2 at New World Stages as the lead in Moliere’s comedy “The Imaginary Invalid.”

“Molière is a master of social satire,” he said. “This play is an assault on the medical profession, a current topic as politicians contemplate cuts to Medicaid.”

Linn-Baker plays a notorious hypochondriac whose nonexistent illnesses blind him to the con men and women, including his new wife, who prey on his fears to fatten their purses. His plan: marry his daughter to a doctor so he’ll have free health care for the rest of his life.

Linn-Baker said he’s always loved performing live on stage, but “unless you are on Broadway, you can’t make a living.”

Since it costs $20 million to mount a Broadway show, risk-averse producers stick to revivals.

“I’m not a businessman and Broadway is a business, a risky business. There’s pressure to stick to the tried and true.”
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Tony nominee Darren Criss (formerly of “Glee” and now starring in “Maybe Happy Ending”) brought his wife Mia Swier and their one-year-old baby to Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Times Square for a “Mamma Mia” Mother’s Day brunch featuring ABBA’s greatest hits.

The “Stardusters” (singing waiters, many of whom are on Broadway) were in costume.

After posing for a photo with restaurateur Ellen Hart, Darren exclaimed, she is “f–king hot.”

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On a most recent episode of iHeart Radio’s “Real Talk” show with Dottie Herman,” socialite Joan Jedell was interviewed by Herman, vice-chair of Douglas Elliman.

Before founding Hampton Sheet magazine, Jedell cut her teeth in advertising working as the first “Mad Woman” on Madison Avenue. Jedell told Herman that she went from working as a Gal Friday to heading up the art and photography department, where she climbed the ladder pretty fast.

Quipped Jedell, “I must say hot pants and micro-minis didn’t hurt the climb.”

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Bradley Cooper and Bill Pullman led the parade of VIPs to hear Broadway star Sutton Foster perform at the New York Philharmonic’s Spring Gala.

Foster sang selections from her hit shows including “Till There Was You” from “The Music Man” and “Anything Goes” from the musical of the same name, enriched by heartfelt reflections on her career and motherhood.

The night, which raised $1.8 million, honored Marjorie and Gurnee Hart and celebrated Gurnee’s 50 years of service on the Phil’s board of directors.

The Gala co-chairs were James and Margo Nederlander and Kristen and Alexander Klabin. Guests included Phil co-chairs Oscar Tang and Peter May, architectural designer TC Chou, and plastic surgeon Dr. Bianca Molina.

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Even Ph.D.s hosting brainy game shows can be forgetful.

Former “Jeopardy” host Mayim Bialik, who has a doctorate in neuroscience, realized she forgot her passport en route to Paris for a photo shoot.

Bialik, who also starred in “The Big Bang Theory,” was due to shoot the cover of CBS’s magazine, “Watch,” but forgot her passport in L.A. Luckily, her ex-husband was able to break into her home in Hollywood and FedEx it to her in Atlanta, where she bought herself a new plane ticket. The quick-thinking strategy saved the shoot.

That’s just one of the fun tales in Jeremy Murphy’s “Too Good to Fact Check,” which has just been released as an audiobook narrated by Johnny Heller.

The tome, co-written with Sophia Paulmier, chronicles his 10 years as editor-in-chief of the magazine.

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The works of African American novelist and essayist John Edgar Wideman were read by WORDTheatre members Gary Dourdan, Chris Chalk and Ronald Guttman at the Players Club.

The event was sponsored by Jane Oster Sinisi, co-owner of Phiphen Studios in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., who started the evening off by reading a moving letter to the author from Colman Domingo.

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Out & About: Dule Hill, who co-starred in “The West Wing” with Martin Sheen and Allison Janney, celebrated his 50th birthday at Fushimi on West 43rd Street … Fine art photographer Adriane Stark, whose work celebrates nature, will open a show at Ashawagh Hall in East Hampton on June 27. Critics have compared her images to those of Georgia O’Keeffe and Robert Mapplethorpe … “Dancing with the Stars” draw Maksim Chmerkovskiy surprised fans by busting out a few smooth moves at Elsie Rooftop at 1412 Broadway. The sexy hoofer will return to the Midtown rooftop to host a salsa demonstration and classes for fans on June 6.