Storybook Party for HBO Film

The Scene: Tuesday night’s screening of “Women & Men: Stories of Seduction,” a new HBO adaptation of three short stories from Mary McCarthy, Dorothy Parker and Ernest Hemingway. Guests gathered at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood for a screening and reception. (The big screen would never attempt these projects, of course. Hemingway never tackled the topic of extraterrestrials, and there’s not one single car chase in all of Dorothy Parker.)

The Buzz: Weren’t the stories fabulous? Isn’t this weather awful? Can you believe how much gas prices have gone up? Have you tried the garlic cheese bread? Oh, and by the way, is the United States going to war tomorrow morning?

Who Was There: “Women & Men” stars Molly Ringwald and Peter Weller, Pat Ast, Lloyd Bridges, Cathy Lee Crosby, Patti D’Arbanville, Anne Francis, Buck Henry, Fay Kanin, Ricki Lake, Laraine Newman, Mimi Rogers, Jonathan Silverman and Charlene Tilton.

Dress Code: Business clothes for everyone who came after work. Others dressed to beat humidity.

Chow: Beef sandwiches, Caesar salad, arugula salad, baked eggplant, chicken shish kebab, cheesecake and tarts, all good. Guests raved about the aforementioned garlic cheese bread.

Quoted: “I’m a Dorothy Parker fan,” explained Ringwald, “and the idea of doing a period piece appealed to me. Also, it was a chance to do something literary.” (What, “Betsy’s Wedding” wasn’t literary?)

Triumphs: By starting the show at 7 and the party at 8:30, the HBO party planners managed to get a good turnout. (Because boasting about how early one gets into the office every morning is a venerable Hollywood tradition, industry types can’t afford to be seen hanging around parties too late.)

Glitches: From the Misplaced Status Symbol Department: One party-goer was spotted talking on a portable phone. At 9:30 p.m., what was possibly so important?

Fun Fact: “Women & Men” producer David Brown, the husband of Cosmopolitan magazine publisher Helen Gurley Brown, told a guest he had been writing the magazine’s cover blurbs “for 25 years now.” Our favorite this month was “Batter Up! Baseball’s Most Gorgeous Hunks.”