Adrian Maher - Uninvited: Confessions of a Hollywood Party Crasher

T HE NAMES OF SOME INDIVIDUALS mentioned in this book have been changed and a few identifying characteristics altered to protect the socially opportunistic. All changed names are indicated by the use of SMALL CAPS on first appearance. Any similarity between fictionalized names and the names of real people is strictly coincidental.

I AM MOST GRATEFUL to the following for their generous assistance and for all favors large and small: Carolyn Jones, Duane Flanigan, Paul Perelman, Charles Rappleye, Mark Cromer, David Cogan, Damon Aper, Jeff Swimmer, Nur Nur Cummings, Michael Klubock, Denny Cline, and Elizabeth Johnson. Im especially thankful to my literary agent Andy Ross and my siblings Toody, Ashley, and Mike for their inestimable support. And I dedicate this book to Mary Moore and Avi Fisher, who provided endless encouragement, advice, and that most precious resource, their time.

W ITH A SLIGHTLY TREMULOUS HAND I picked up a bottle of Patrn Silver tequila and filled two neat shot glassesone for me and the other for Avi Fisher, my main party-crash partner. It was early evening in Avis spacious apartment in L.A.s Pico-Fairfax neighborhood, and we needed a little liquid spine, a booster shot to proceed with the nights daunting itinerary.

After several years of ginning up the courage and months of planning, wed decided to penetrate the grounds of the Beverly Hills Hotel for the Night Before party, a lush Hollywood affair for past Oscar winners and current nominees. It was the Everest of party-crash capers, a social gathering more prestigious than most movie premieres or even other awards shows in its opulence, exclusivity, and concentration of Tinseltown power. Many interlopers considered the gala impregnable, and wed never known another trespasser whod made it in. It was always held on the Saturday night preceding the Sunday evening Academy Awards ceremony.

Over the years Avi and I had both taken advantage of countless self-invitations to a variety of extravaganzas. We considered ourselves street pros, toughened and even coarsened by hundreds of side-door entries and backdoor escapades. Our backgrounds, mine as a former hard-charging reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Avis as an ex-member of the Israeli intelligence services, also provided us with the skills and chutzpah to pull off this epic stunt. But for one of the few times in our partnership, we needed a preliminary drink.

As Avi and I sat on his living room couch, resplendent in Hugo Boss and Giorgio Armani respectively, we clinked glasses a bit too aggressively.

Heres to making a few new friends... celebrity friends, I offered.

Hopefully, not new friends in the Big House, countered Avi as we simultaneously drained the jet fuel.

All crashers know that the most high-stakes festivities involve celebrities. Theres something about a concentrated gathering of the famous that sparks a steely zealotry in local sentries. Security at the star-studded Night Before party is particularly oppressive and ramps up to supermax prison levels, although theyre trying to keep you out instead of in.

The event attracts hordes of paparazzi, broadcast news trucks, helicopters, wire and newspaper reporters, foreign correspondents, and mobs of looky-loos. With the intense media coverage, any security mishap is guaranteed viewing for millions of eyeballs around the globe.

No manager of a venues security detail ever wants to be responsible for a breach like the November 24, 2009, gatecrash by Tareq and Michaele Salahi at a White House state dinner for the prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh. The Salahis were social strivers from Virginia horse country who arrived at the worlds most important official residence with camera crews in tow to film an episode of Bravos The Real Housewives of D.C. The camera crew never made it in, but the Salahis passed through two security checkpoints and entered the White House complex where they posed for photographs with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Their caper exploded across the Internet when they posted the photos on Michaeles Facebook page the next day. Their stealth exploits consumed the media for months and led to a presidential spanking of the Secret Service and subsequent investigations and legal inquiries.

While of a different landscape than the parade of political power at a White House function, the Night Before extravaganza has its own luster. The annual event is hosted by the Motion Picture & Television Fund and raises money for aging veterans of the entertainment industry to provide social and financial services. The combination of a good cause and spectacular venue, the Beverly Hills Hotel, a lodging world famous for its film luminaries, rock stars, and other celebrity guests, brings out