Madonna talks to Liz Smith about her Oscar after-Party

The Women of The Web

By Liz Smith

Madonna’s Oscar-night fete at the home of her manager, Guy Oseary, co-hosted with Demi Moore, was a big success. When I asked her for the ingredient that makes hosting duties fun, Madonna said, “We were trying to have a real dance party, not a corporate affair!” (Darlings, Madonna has never had a “corporate” affair. It’s always very personal.)

La Ciccone elaborated: “Great music is the secret — and an open bar! By the end of the night, most of the ladies in couture were dancing barefoot.” Well, I saw Madonna dance on a tabletop in four-inch heels the night she won her first Grammy. Barefoot carousing ain’t so much. When I reminded Madonna of this, she said, rather primly, “I was very happy that night, Liz.”

There were no cameras at M and Mrs. Kutcher’s Oscar party, no barricaded press walls, just Demi and her hubby, Ashton, “twittering.” I guess they were alerting fans — we’re here, and you’re not! Madonna doesn’t twitter her fans. She knows they know she thinks they should live their own lives, and not be so concerned with her. (Until she tours again.)

I’m glad Madonna had fun; she always does when she dances. But I’d like to have seen her onstage at the Kodak Theater Oscar night. Why not? She has had more successful movies than her legend of flops would suggest, and twice performed memorably on the telecast. (Many fans consider her 1990 Oscar-night rendition of Sondheim’s “Sooner or Later” to be her best live television performance and her peak moment of glamour.



Madonna made more money in concert last year than anybody else, male or female. She’s a star. Once upon a time — about 25 years ago — I questioned this. I came to see the error of my skepticism. Oscar could have used a shot of Ciccone.