When She Was "It"

In April, this magazine celebrates its anniversary (it’s our 55th) with a “Yesteryear” issue. This year’s looks back at a particular New York phenomenon, the “It” girl: who anointed them, what it was like to be them, and where they are now.

- By Matthew Schneier. Photograph byRoxanne Lowit

DIANNE BRILL at the Palladium in 1985.

On August 22, 1985, a woman with a She-Ra mane and a latex dress appeared on Late Night With David Letterman. Letterman, still spiky in his salad days at NBC, was charmed but befuddled as he interviewed her. Unlike many of his guests that season—Johnny Cash, Teri Garr, Eddie Murphy—Dianne Brill’s qualification for the spotlight was hard to describe. True, her photograph was on the cover of that morning’s New York Post; Letterman had a copy. But still, he seemed unsure who she was. Or, as he was compelled to ask her about her front-page placement, “Why are you there?”

Letterman acknowledged that Brill was “known in New York as ‘Queen of the Night’”—what had been called, and would be called again, many times, an “It” girl. New York mints these women: famous for being out, famous for being young, famous for being fun, famous for being famous. Letterman was still confused. “Uh, Dianne, tell me about the Queen of the Night,” he said. “How do you get to be? Is this an elected position, you were appointed by the mayor, or what happens?”