Bartlet4America News Archive

A Troubled Genius

By OLIVER JONES
US Weekly

THE SEVEN DAYS LEADING UP to Sunday, April 15, were an intense, demanding and very typical week in the life of Aaron Sorkin, the Emmy Award-winning creator of The West Wing. The 39-year-old Sorkin, who is deeply involved in every aspect of the NBC series and has been known to put in 17-hour days, had been feverishly working on the last two episodes of the season at his office in Burbank California. When Sunday arrived, Sorkin had finished writing the script for the season finale, and he was more than ready for some R& R and so he made the short drive that morning from his home in the San Femando Valley, where he lives with his wife and infant daughter, to Burbank Airport to catch a 45-minute flight to Las Vegas for an overnight stay.

"There was nothing surprising about Aaron going to Vegas to play some blackjack," says Thomas Schlamme, who, as the executive producer and director of The West Wing is Sorkin's closest collaborator. "He is not a big gambler. He goes for 24 hours the way I go to a Lakers game: to unwind. The only thing surprising was getting a phone call that night and him telling me he was arrested."

Sorkin had been stopped by airport security when they could not identify the contents of a small container in his carry-on bag - which turned out to be hallucinogenic mushrooms, rock cocaine and marijuana. He was arrested, booked at Burbank police headquarters and released on $10,000 bail. On May 2, the man who was just beginning to be recognized as a genius of prime-time television was charged with two counts of felony drug possession and one misdemeanor.

A week later, Sorkin stood on the dais at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel and accepted an award from the International Radio and Television Society. "When you feel stupid and embarrassed," he said, "facing a ballroom full of distinguished people in your industry is just what the doctor ordered."

Sorkin, who was honored with a Phoenix Rising Award in February for his work against substance abuse, had been viewed as a hero among Hollywood's recovering addicts. As well as maintaining a highly successful career, he had found personal fulfillment He and his wife, Julia Bingham, an attorney, have been married five years and had their first child, a daughter, last November. Now,"he's mortified," says Warren Beatty, a close friend of Sorkin's since hiring the writer to work on his 1998 movie Bulworth. "I know how appalled he is that he might be thought irresponsible to his work or, more important to him, his family".

Beatty, like many of Sorkin's friends, is convinced that the writer's slip was an isolated incident, not evidence of a complete relapse. "I think this was a momentary blip," says Beatty.

If Sorkin has been on edge recently, say coworkers, it was only evidence of an artist's temperament.

"Aaron is a phenomenally hard worker and an incredibly creative human being" says Schlamme. "There is an element of his personality that is difficult. When he is writing and taking risks, he is a little more difficult to approach. The last four episodes, he was taking bigger risks, and that creates a lot of anxiety. But that is just because of how deeply he cares."

On the set of The West Wing, the chainsmoking Sorkin spends hours at a stretch in a small den-like office filled with leather furniture and dusty shelves of books. "This is the most massive work commitment imaginable, and this guy has never missed a deadline," says Bradley Whitford, who plays Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the show.

The man who can't stop writing once never imagined he would start. Sorkin was raised in the wealthy New York suburb of Scarsdale, the son of a lawyer father and a teacher mother. He majored in musical theater at Syracuse University, but "I never thought about writing," he said last year. "Writing for me was just a chore to get through in English class." Sorkin knew, though, that he had a good ear dialogue and tried his hand at plays. In his twenties, he wrote A Few Good Men, which was inspired by the experiences of his sister, Deborah, a navy lawyer. The show became a hit on Broadway and the 1992 movie, which Sorkin also wrote, was nominated for a best picture Oscar.

While writing the script for The American President, the 1995 Michael Douglas movie that was the basis for The West Wing, Sorkin became addicted to cocaine. After he started missing his deadlines and his addiction became evident, Rob Reiner, the director of both A Few Good Men and The American President, urged Bingham, a lawyer at his production company and Sorkin's girlfriend at the time, to get the writer into rehab.

He soon entered the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. Five months later, he and Bingham married. Sorkin stayed clean and focused on creating The West Wing, which has been a runaway success. Still, the writer's friends dismiss the idea that the stress of it or more episodes each season contributed to his recent arrest "`The only thing that has changed Aaron or his approach to the show was the birth of his daughter," says Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., a West Wing writer, who notes that Sorkin often goes home before midnight now.

At the moment, Sorkin is lying low as he waits for his June 4 hearing. While he could face three years in prison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles district attorney's office said that the D.A. will probably recommend that Sorkin, who has no criminal record, be given drug treatment in lieu of a prison sentence.

In the meantime, he has to live with himself.

When The West Wing was shooting in Washington, D.C., in the weeks following his arrest, the cast and crew were treated like visiting dignitaries and given a tour of the White House. Sorkin was noticeably absent from what could have been one of his finest hours. Says Schlamme: "He just didn't feel entitled to be enjoying his life right now."

‘West Wing’ Ends Season Powerfully

By LYNN ELBER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In Wednesday's powerful season finale of “The West Wing,” beleaguered President Josiah Bartlet lashed out at God — in two languages.

First in English and then Latin, Bartlet lamented life's cruel twists, including the death of his longtime secretary in a drunken-driving accident, and reproached God.

The monologue took place in the National Cathedral, just after Dolores Landingham's funeral and before the president appeared on TV to admit he has hidden a disease, multiple sclerosis, from the public.

His nerves raw and his faith tested — he has been shown as a devout Catholic in the NBC drama — Bartlet sat impassively through the funeral service, then asked for time alone.

The president, played by Martin Sheen, then proceeded to fill the vast cathedral with his anger.

“She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What? That's supposed to be funny?” Bartlet asked, then added bitterly: “Have I displeased you, you feckless thug?”

He wasn't through. The next 20 seconds of his tirade were delivered in Latin, once the traditional language of the Catholic Church. His anger was clear, even if only Latin scholars could parse the specifics.

Here's the translation included with “The West Wing” shooting script:

“Am I really to believe that these are that acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God?” Bartlet exclaims. “To hell with your punishments. I was your servant here on Earth. And I spread your word and I did your work. To hell with your punishments. To hell with you.”

The scene ended with Bartlet, in a gesture of contempt, crushing a cigarette butt on the cathedral floor.

“You get Hoynes,” he tells God, apparently signaling his decision not to seek re-election and to clear the way for Vice President John Hoynes (Tim Matheson) to head the Democratic ticket.

But the rest of the episode left doubt about Bartlet's intentions. There was a wrenching scene in which he imagines Landingham had reappeared, scolding him for self-pity.

“There are people way worse off than you,” she said. ”... If you don't want to run again, I respect that. But if you don't run because you think it's gonna be too hard or you think you're gonna lose — well, God, Jed, I don't even want to know you.”

Questioned at a news conference about his plans, the president adopts a look of resolve but doesn't respond before the hour ends — another TV cliffhanger for viewers to ponder this summer.

The show won a record nine Emmys during its first season last year, including the coveted best-drama award. One of NBC's highest-rated programs, it has also been a consistent favorite of critics.

Last season also ended with a dramatic flourish, a shootout in which the president and one of his chief aides was wounded.

Bartlet’s Presidency in Jeopardy on The West Wing

Soap Opera Weekly

As loyal to the show as her character is to the president, Kathryn Joosten (Mrs Landingham) won't divulge any of The West Wing's state secrets, but does preview newly declassified info on the show's season cliff-hanger.An unraveling foreign crisis, coupled with the malestrom sparked by the public relevation of the president's multiple sclerosis, makes for some nail-biting moments in the Oval Office--and for those watching at home. "I think you're going to find the last episode to be quite shocking," Joosten teases.

Overseas, the Haitian army besieges the American embassy in Haiti, prompting a presidential response. "The situation in Haiti forces the president to make a decision regarding his own future, as well", Joosten says. Instability in Haiti is rivaled by the Sturm & Drang in Bartlet's own back yard. The fallout from his disclosure of his illness to those still in the dark, including the public, sends shockwaves throughout the White House, his marriage and family, and beyond, starting with his own secretary, when he must finally bring Mrs. Landingham into the fateful loop. "You'll get to see that play out, and you'll finally get to see why the president & Mrs. Landingham are so close."

Toby, who was one of the first to be told and, perhaps had the hardest time dealing with the revelation, gets a surprising job offer, which "may be connected to the president's actions," Joosten says. Trying to prevent the revelation from becoming a full blown scandal is the White House lead council, Oliver Babish (played by Oliver Platt). "Its very interesting to see the way they're approaching who knew what, when & where--even in terms of the minutiae of the language," Joosten says. "That might sound silly, until you think back to Bill Clinton's 'What does "is" mean?' And the animosities that many of them show to be questioned by someone who is on their side."

When its time for the president to use a lifeline, he may have to phone a friend "who comes from a most unexpected corner," Joosten continues. "Many things are going to happen that are quite unexpected. You're going to be very surprised." The episode entitled "Two Cathedrals," airs Wednesday, May 16 on NBC. Check local listings

Shocking Plot Twists Keep ’em Guessing, and Watching

By ROB OWEN
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

People were dropping like flies on prime-time television this week. None of these deaths was more shocking than the end-of-episode demise of Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), secretary to President Bartlet on "The West Wing."

Landingham was the archetypal sweet little ol' lady, the only one in the White House who could gently sass the president by virtue of having worked with him for more than a decade.

In Wednesday's episode she was on her way back to the White House after purchasing her first new automobile — Bartlet wanted to see it so he could "kick the tires" — when her car was hit by a drunken driver.

It was a sad, upsetting out-of-left-field shocker.

So much so that according to The Associated Press a California assemblyman adjourned a session of the California Assembly Thursday in memory of the fictional character. The AP reported Assemblyman Kevin Shelley called Mrs. Landingham a "great American" whose "contributions to the nation were too numerous to count."

That's probably taking grief over a TV show character too far, but Mrs. Landingham's death wasn't the only unpleasant surprise for viewers this week. On Sunday, weasely Assistant District Attorney Richard Bay (Jason Kravits) got machine gunned to death in his car on "The Practice."

Some questions about the deceased linger. Foremost: Are they really dead?

At the end of "The Practice," a preview for tomorrow night's show (10 p.m., WTAE) featured Helen Gamble (Lara Flynn Boyle) referring to the person who "shot" Richard, not the person who "killed" him.

Could that be a clue that Richard lives? Maybe, but his body looked pretty bullet-riddled. Then ABC shot a hole in that theory by airing promotional spots of a funeral attended by a grief-stricken Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott).

On "The West Wing" it seemed pretty much a given that Mrs. Landingham was indeed a goner. Charlie (Dule Hill) got the phone call that she'd been killed in an accident at 18th and Potomac. Previews even showed a funeral scene filmed at the National Cathedral.

But an agent for Joosten, the actress who plays Landingham, refused to put her client on the phone until after next week's episode and sort of downplayed the permanence of Landingham's death.

What about the funeral scene? Is it possible the coffin, since it was draped with an American flag, didn't contain Mrs. L. but the body of an American soldier killed during political unrest in Haiti (another story line on this week's episode)?

Nah. That would be a cheat. It's more likely that she appears on "The West Wing" season finale in a flashback, since that device has been used repeatedly this season.

To know for sure, viewers have only one choice and it's one networks love: Stay tuned.

‘West Wing’ character's death stuns followers

By CHARLIE MCCOLLUM
San Jose Mercury News

If an obit was to be written about what took place on Wednesday night's "The West Wing," it would go something like this:

Dolores Landingham, longtime personal secretary to President Josiah Bartlet, died Wednesday. The cause of death was given as a car accident in Washington, D.C. But it is believed that Mrs. Landingham actually died of a plot twist by Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing." Memorial services are still pending.

Wednesday, Sorkin killed off Mrs. Landingham, a relatively obscure character who has been with the series since its first episode. The character, played by veteran television actress Kathryn Joosten, did not appear in every show and rarely had more than a few lines, but her passing — which came out of nowhere toward the end of Wednesday's episode — touched a nerve with "West Wing" fans.

"How can they kill off a sweet old lady like that?" said Joyce Genevais of Sunnyvale in one of two dozen e-mail messages sent to the Mercury News on Thursday. "She was wonderful."

"Why kill off a good character? She was the only one who could talk back to Bartlet when he became snotty," said William Templeton of San Jose in another message.

Mrs. Landingham — even the president never used her first name — had always been a favorite with the devoted followers of "The West Wing," a romance-fantasy about life in the White House which last year won the Emmy for best drama. In a series filled with high-powered politicians and driven bureaucrats, she was the one who reminded the president to take his medicine, to eat right and not to act uppity.

"She didn't have a lot of lines, but she had really good ones. And she was down-to-earth," said Lisa Marks of Palo Alto in her message.

The outpouring of grief clearly caught NBC, Sorkin's office and Warner Bros., which produces the series, by surprise. About all that they would say about the death was that this was not a case of art imitating life and that actress Joosten was alive and well.

Other than that, questions about why Mrs. Landingham was killed off and how the death will shape next week's season finale went unanswered.

Calif. Assembly Mourns TV Character

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — "The West Wing" isn't exactly reality television, but it's real enough for Assemblyman Kevin Shelley.

The San Francisco Democrat adjourned the California Assembly session Thursday in memory of Mrs. Landingham, the fictional president's secretary on the Emmy-winning political drama.

The secretary, played by Kathryn Joosten, died in Wednesday night's episode when a drunken driver hit her car. Joosten, however, is alive and in good health, an NBC spokeswoman said.

Before adjourning the session, a straight-faced Shelley called Mrs. Landingham a "great American" whose "contributions to the nation were too numerous to count."

The announcement caught many legislators by surprise.

"Nobody could tell if she really died or fake died," said Terri Carbaugh, a Shelley aide.

The lawmaker, who lives in Sacramento during the week, calls his wife during commercial breaks to discuss plot twists, he said.

"It was tragic. She was crying, I was upset. It was terrible," Shelley said.

"At first everyone was stunned but then they were rolling in the aisles. Several said that they really appreciated that," he said.

Shelley has even told his aides that he wants his office to be more like the White House featured in the show, in which Martin Sheen plays the president.

"It was definitely for fun," said Carbaugh.

NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks said Kathryn Joosten, who played the president's secretary on the series, was in good health despite her character's demise.

"She's well. Her character is not so well," Marks said, adding that Wednesday's show had provoked lots of reaction among viewers.

"This episode has drawn a tremendous of amount of water cooler conversation," Marks said.

‘West Wing’ Director Getting His Due

By LYNN ELBER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — In moviemaking, it's the writers who get no respect. In television, the Rodney Dangerfield role is played by directors.Scribes like David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal," "The Practice") and Chris Carter ("The X-Files") are celebrated for their words and enjoy the cachet that in films is owned by a Francis Ford Coppola or Steven Spielberg.

TV directors, on the other hand, have been largely anonymous figures whose work is viewed as interchangeable. As the medium itself has evolved, however, it seems they are finally coming into their own.

Thomas Schlamme is convinced of that. He's also one of the reasons it's true.
"I feel so blessed right now to be a director on television," said Schlamme who, in creative partnership with writer Aaron Sorkin, brought the dazzling "Sports Night" and "The West Wing" to life.

Schlamme and other directors including Paris Barclay and Mark Tinker (both of "NYPD Blue"), and Kevin Hooks ("City of Angels") are creating a body of TV work that can be matched, frame for frame, with the best of feature films. They're building on the foundation of Gregory Hoblit ("Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law,"), Eric Laneuville ("St. Elsewhere," "Bull"), Mimi Leder ("ER") and others. Some now shift between TV and movie work.

"These directors on 'West Wing' or 'ER' or 'NYPD Blue' are gifted artists," said Gil Cates, founding dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and currently the director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

"The styles of those shows are directorial achievements; the rhythms and the performances are directorial achievements," Cates said.

Schlamme's collaboration with Sorkin on "The West Wing" has produced a series that, after only two seasons, is destined for the all-time best TV lists.

Before that, Schlamme helped put the wit and sizzle in programs including Tracey Ullman's "Tracey Takes On ..." and "The Larry Sanders Show," Garry Shandling's sitcom mold-breaker.

NBC's White House drama, starring Martin Sheen as a liberal president with an idealistic staff, collected a record nine Emmy Awards last year and a rare second consecutive Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence.

Schlamme and Sorkin (along with "ER's" John Wells) share executive producer credit on "The West Wing." As the director of the pilot and key episodes including the season finale (airing 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 16) Schlamme has shaped the series' look and tone.

He won Directors Guild of America honors this year for the holiday episode "Noel," which traced the lingering emotional scars from an attempted presidential assassination. It was his third consecutive DGA award.
"I got in this business to tell stories and communicate. I have to be honest and say 'Where is the material that offers me the most opportunity to do that?"'
The answer, he said, is television.

A bruising venture into films as director of 1993's box-office flop "So I Married An Axe Murderer" ("The worst experience of my career") moved Schlamme to an epiphany.

"Wow, I gave up television to do a movie because of some preconceived notion in my head that to be a filmmaker I had to make movies," he recalled thinking.
Schlamme, who's married to actress Christine Lahti, said he accepted that he could be a bone fide filmmaker by working in television, with movie detours if - and only if - "the script was as exciting as 'Larry Sanders' or 'West Wing' or 'Sports Night."'

The bias against TV directors had legitimate roots, with a number of the earliest directors hired more for their ability to handle the newfangled equipment than for creativity.

Although interesting directors ventured into live television, it developed into a medium in which speed generally was valued over artistry, Schlamme said.
"I think it took a long time to evolve past that ... 'How many pages can I make today' approach. There was no concern about point of view or vision or anything like that."

The image of TV directors suffered accordingly.

"If somebody said to me when I was in college 'I think you're going to be a successful television director,' I would have been insulted, ridiculously so," said Schlamme.

That's because by that time, the 1970s, directors like Hoblit were beginning to open the medium up beyond the long-dominantstatic approach.

A "film vocabulary" was coming into play, Schlamme said. Directors were using inventive camera angles, pacing and other elements to squeeze more drama and style into the small screen.

The result: increasing regard for TV directors and some of the best television ever.

And while movie power continues to tilt heavily toward directors - writer pique over widespread use of the "A film by" credit for directors forced the issue into writer-studio contract talks - TV is breaking new collaborative ground, Schlamme said.

He and Sorkin have a relationship like "a 1930s playwright-director relationship in New York: 'I'll direct your new play, you'll be there for rewrites while I'm staging it."'

(For now, the show is on summer hiatus. Sorkin also is dealing with drug possession charges following his arrest last month at a Los Angeles area airport. He has pleaded innocent.)

Schlamme recalled negotiating with Sorkin over the pilot episode. The writer wanted to end it with the door closing on the Oval Office as staff members walked out; the director wanted to focus on the president left alone in the office, a shot proclaiming "this is the arena we're going to be playing in from now on," Schlamme said.

"That is the biggest push and tug, how far visually can we go where Aaron feels it doesn't get in the way of what he's writing,"Schlamme said. "My reason isn't 'Isn't that a cool shot?' It's that I think we can tell the story even better this way."

‘West Wing’ Director Getting His Due

By LYNN ELBER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — In moviemaking, it's the writers who get no respect. In television, the Rodney Dangerfield role is played by directors.

Scribes like David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal," "The Practice") and Chris Carter ("The X-Files") are celebrated for their words and enjoy the cachet that in films is owned by a Francis Ford Coppola or Steven Spielberg.

TV directors, on the other hand, have been largely anonymous figures whose work is viewed as interchangeable. As the medium itself has evolved, however, it seems they are finally coming into their own.

Thomas Schlamme is convinced of that. He's also one of the reasons it's true.

"I feel so blessed right now to be a director on television," said Schlamme who, in creative partnership with writer Aaron Sorkin, brought the dazzling "Sports Night" and "The West Wing" to life.

Schlamme and other directors including Paris Barclay and Mark Tinker (both of "NYPD Blue"), and Kevin Hooks ("City of Angels") are creating a body of TV work that can be matched, frame for frame, with the best of feature films. They're building on the foundation of Gregory Hoblit ("Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law,"), Eric Laneuville ("St. Elsewhere," "Bull"), Mimi Leder ("ER") and others. Some now shift between TV and movie work.

"These directors on 'West Wing' or 'ER' or 'NYPD Blue' are gifted artists," said Gil Cates, founding dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and currently the director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

"The styles of those shows are directorial achievements; the rhythms and the performances are directorial achievements," Cates said.

Schlamme's collaboration with Sorkin on "The West Wing" has produced a series that, after only two seasons, is destined for the all-time best TV lists.

Before that, Schlamme helped put the wit and sizzle in programs including Tracey Ullman's "Tracey Takes On ..." and "The Larry Sanders Show," Garry Shandling's sitcom mold-breaker.

NBC's White House drama, starring Martin Sheen as a liberal president with an idealistic staff, collected a record nine Emmy Awards last year and a rare second consecutive Peabody Award for broadcasting excellence.

Schlamme and Sorkin (along with "ER's" John Wells) share executive producer credit on "The West Wing." As the director of the pilot and key episodes including the season finale (airing 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 16) Schlamme has shaped the series' look and tone.

He won Directors Guild of America honors this year for the holiday episode "Noel," which traced the lingering emotional scars from an attempted presidential assassination. It was his third consecutive DGA award.

"I got in this business to tell stories and communicate. I have to be honest and say 'Where is the material that offers me the most opportunity to do that?"'

The answer, he said, is television.

A bruising venture into films as director of 1993's box-office flop "So I Married An Axe Murderer" ("The worst experience of my career") moved Schlamme to an epiphany.

"Wow, I gave up television to do a movie because of some preconceived notion in my head that to be a filmmaker I had to make movies," he recalled thinking.

Schlamme, who's married to actress Christine Lahti, said he accepted that he could be a bone fide filmmaker by working in television, with movie detours if - and only if - "the script was as exciting as 'Larry Sanders' or 'West Wing' or 'Sports Night."'

The bias against TV directors had legitimate roots, with a number of the earliest directors hired more for their ability to handle the newfangled equipment than for creativity.

Although interesting directors ventured into live television, it developed into a medium in which speed generally was valued over artistry, Schlamme said.

"I think it took a long time to evolve past that ... 'How many pages can I make today' approach. There was no concern about point of view or vision or anything like that."

The image of TV directors suffered accordingly.

"If somebody said to me when I was in college 'I think you're going to be a successful television director,' I would have been insulted, ridiculously so," said Schlamme.

That's because by that time, the 1970s, directors like Hoblit were beginning to open the medium up beyond the long-dominantstatic approach.

A "film vocabulary" was coming into play, Schlamme said. Directors were using inventive camera angles, pacing and other elements to squeeze more drama and style into the small screen.

The result: increasing regard for TV directors and some of the best television ever.

And while movie power continues to tilt heavily toward directors - writer pique over widespread use of the "A film by" credit for directors forced the issue into writer-studio contract talks - TV is breaking new collaborative ground, Schlamme said.

He and Sorkin have a relationship like "a 1930s playwright-director relationship in New York: 'I'll direct your new play, you'll be there for rewrites while I'm staging it."'

(For now, the show is on summer hiatus. Sorkin also is dealing with drug possession charges following his arrest last month at a Los Angeles area airport. He has pleaded innocent.)

Schlamme recalled negotiating with Sorkin over the pilot episode. The writer wanted to end it with the door closing on the Oval Office as staff members walked out; the director wanted to focus on the president left alone in the office, a shot proclaiming "this is the arena we're going to be playing in from now on," Schlamme said.

"That is the biggest push and tug, how far visually can we go where Aaron feels it doesn't get in the way of what he's writing,"Schlamme said. "My reason isn't 'Isn't that a cool shot?' It's that I think we can tell the story even better this way."

Former President Dines With Fictional President

By LLOYD GROVE
Washington Post

A couple of days after fictional President Josiah Bartlet begged off from a VIP White House tour for "West Wing" cast members — after all, Martin Sheen, the actor who plays him, did call President Bush a "moron" recently — Sheen showed up with bells on for a dinner at Washington's Etrusco restaurant with former president Bill Clinton.

Sheen and Clinton were in a party that grew from 12 to 20 Monday night at the pricey Italian eatery, where "West Wing" producer Llewellyn Wells picked up the eye-popping tab and, turning in a respectable Celebrity Tip Challenge performance, left 20 percent extra. Also there to be regaled by Clinton with stories of his recent visits to Africa and India were actors Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff and Clinton loyalists Karen Tramontano, Joel Johnson, Julia Payne, Joe Lockhart, Steve Ricchetti, Capricia Marshall, and Jake Siewert. The former White House press secretary showed up wearing flip-flops. "He was the only person there wearing open-toed footwear," Payne told us this morning.

While Clinton tucked into stufato di salsiccia and sauteed salmon, washed down with Silician red wine, he led a discussion about "everything under the sun," Payne added. "The staffers were sitting at the far end of the table and Richard Schiff was commenting on our expertise in being able to hear what was being said while ordering from the menu and doing a lot of other things. And we told him, it's easy when you've heard the stories 10 times."

President Bartlet, apparently fully recovered from a bad cold that he was battling over the weekend, stayed after almost everyone else had left — past 11 p.m. — and picked up the restaurant's ringing phone with a crisp "Etrusco!" Former president Clinton, meanwhile, went home to sleep at the big Embassy Row house he shares with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).