The Scene: A reception and private preview...

The Scene: A reception and private preview of 94 works of art from director/screenwriter/producer Billy Wilder’s collection, which go on the auction block Nov. 13 at Christie’s New York. The Beverly Hills Hotel’s Crystal Ballroom was jammed with paintings, people and paparazzi. Picasso’s “Head of a Woman,” which previously hung over the fireplace in Billy and Audrey Wilder’s apartment, drew intense scrutiny, as it carries the sale’s top estimate of $5 million to $7 million. Not to be missed were paintings by Miro, Balthus, Braque and Klee. Wilder was the epitome of cool; he drank a Heineken and mingled.

The Buzz: Art-that-got-away war stories. The Giacometti that could have been had for $3,500, but of course that was 30 years ago. Balthuses went for a song in the ‘60s and now look at them. Also, talk about the Wilder estimates. They were insane. They were fair. The name alone made people come running.

Who Was There: A little bit Hollywood, a little bit Hancock Park. From Christie’s Christopher Burge and Terry Stanfill; also, Robert and Vivian Rowan, Cesar Romero and Lee Minnelli, Ann Miller, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, designers David Hayes, Luis Estevez and Gus Tassell, David Begelman, Walter Matthau, Jerry and Lois Magnin, Shirley and Isadore Familian, Michael Chow, Father Maurice Chase, Norman and Lyn Lear, Marcia Weisman, Tina Sinatra, Nathan and Marion Smooke, Wendy Goldberg, Jerry Moss, Joanna Poitier, Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Sammy Cahn, Armand and Harriet Deutsch, Jackie Collins, Maurice Tuchman, Henry and Jayne Berger, Marvin and Barbara Davis, Stephanie Barron and Robert Rifkind, Ginny and Henry Mancini, Fred and Janet de Cordova, Karen Gould, Susan and Peter Strauss.

Dress Mode: Proverbial cocktail attire, i.e. pearls and pinstripes. David Hockney, as usual, made his own fashion statement in chinos, dirty bucks, work shirt, blazer and red polka dota bow tie, untied.

The Food: Proverbial hors d’oevres passed on trays, i.e. mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat, cold shrimp and cocktail sauce, steak tartare. Open bar.

Quoted: “I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now I’d buy everything back,” Billy Wilder announced.

Overheard: “The joy of collecting is when you see something you like the heart goes boom, boom, boom.”

Security Guard Count: 10.