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“It was an old and ugly crowd,” one of my snitches said upon leaving the party. Yes, the spy was speaking figuratively. But, no, not talking about Bryan Lourd’s CAA bash or Ari Emanuel’s WME fete or their usual Triple-A crowd on Friday night. Rather, this was about Barry Diller’s Saturday afternoon lawn luncheon. Ostensibly, it’s in honor of Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter. In years past, Diller’s Beverly Hills estate was the ultimate mogul meet’n'greet. But today half of the guests who gathered under a tent because of the cold and threatening rain were has-beens, and the other half were bonafide power players scattered inbetween. My snitches spotted Ron Howard, BreTt Ratner, Les Moonves, Tom Freston, David Geffen, Sandy Gallin, Bert Fields, Michael Eisner, Rupert Murdoch, Jane Fonda, Brad Grey, Larry Gordon, Ron Meyer, Ben Silverman, Jeff Berg,  Jerry Weintraub, Irving Azoff, Howard Rosenman, Jason Binn, Shirley MacLaine, Victoria Beckham, Jonathan Dolgen, Russell Simmons, Quincy Jones, Larry Mark, Bob Daly, Bill Condon, Terry Semel, Jim Berkus, Kevin McCormack, Jon Hamm, Dan Aykroyd, Lee Daniels, Penny Marshall, Edward Norton, Joan Collins. Anderson Cooper offered his arm to Nancy Reagan and stayed attentive to her as did Betsy Bloomingdale. (“It was very, very sweet,” one of my spies reported back.) The only other coupling of interest was Murdoch and Eisner huddled in deep conversation. ”The feeling was one of relief that we’re still here,” one partygoer told me. Yes, but some survived better than others…

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