Actress Gretchen Mol at a dinner party for The Notorious Bettie Page during the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. (Darryl James/Getty Images)
Barbara Hershenhorn, a.k.a. Party Barb, is the belle of the ball at every Toronto International Film Festival party. The whiskey-voiced interior designer became an event planner in 1983, when a friend introduced her to Wayne Clarkson, then the festival’s director. Lacking experience, but long on charm and chutzpah (“I figure if you can do a permanent ambience for an office or a home, you can make anything look good for a four- or five-hour party,” she says), Hershenhorn has been the festival’s official party maven ever since.
By her estimate, she has planned and executed at least 400 festival events, from lavish galas with 4,000 attendees to small dinners with 15 guests. (The latter can be much more daunting, she says, “because the attention to detail is even more important.”) A typical year of festival parties requires a total of 127,000 glasses, 80,000 plates and 2,900 feet of red carpet.
This year, with her staff of three, “and every supplier in the city I can beg, borrow and steal from,” Hershenhorn is working on 14 parties and several dinners, all on a budget that she’ll only reveal to be “not-for-profit sized.” She explained to CBC Arts Online how she makes it all happen.
Barbara Hershenhorn, a.k.a. Party Barb. (Steve Carty/CBC)
Q: What are some of the big events you’re planning this year?
A: The opening-night party is for The Journals of Knud Rasmussen. [The film is] set in the Arctic, so the party will be white, cold and austere. The Red Carpet Crush, which is an annual fundraiser for the festival, is always a blast. It’s for the gala presentation of For Your Consideration and it’s by invitation only. And then there’s the closing-night party, for Amazing Grace, which is set in 1812 England. It’s about the British abolitionist William Wilberforce. There will be a British theme in the food.
Q: I guess that can become a tricky situation, when you throw a party for a film that deals with serious themes. How do you celebrate the movie without having the party seem a little tasteless?
A: Well, first of all, I avoid going with a theme that is either inappropriate for a party, or a theme that wasn’t strong enough to carry an entire party. There’s no way I would do that. Some issues don’t lend themselves to parties and some themes can’t be realized on the budget I have. For instance, for opening night, I can’t turn a 100,000-square-foot space into the Arctic, but I can suggest it in the small touches.
Q: What have been some of your favourite party moments?
A: There are two that stand out. The first was the party for David Cronenberg’s film M. Butterfly in 1992. It was out on a barge in Lake Ontario with fireworks going off to Malcolm McLaren’s adaptation of Madame Butterfly. It was spectacular.
The other great moment for me was when I met Jack Nicholson at the Warren Beatty tribute in 1984. All the women wanted to meet Beatty, but I thought Nicholson was wonderful.
A: Not awed, not really. But I did happen to meet L.L. Cool J last year and he was very nice.
Q: What’s your strategy for surviving 10 days of parties?
A: I shop for my wardrobe, accessories and shoes well in advance. I make sure I have three good pairs of shoes and boots. That’s a big one — you won’t last a night in cheap shoes. Lots of water, B12 shots and stress vitamins. Chanel makeup. Kiehl's moisturizer. And I keep the Advil close by.
A: I have a partially photographic memory. I don’t forget who anyone is.
Rachel Giese writes about the arts for CBC.ca.
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