CNN stars and industry types turned out to fête’s the network’s Chloe Melas, who just republished her grandfather’s World War II memoir, “Luck of the Draw: My History of the Air War In Europe.”
Personalities Kaitlan Collins, Sara Sidner, Erica Hill, Elie Honig and Andrew Kaczynski all dropped by the swanky bash at L’Avenue at Saks, as did their former colleague, erstwhile “Reliable Sources” anchor, Brian Stelter.
Also on the scene were p.r. powerhouses Cindi Berger and Matthew Hiltzik, celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch and tabloid legend Bonnie Fuller.
They were joined by members of the Eighth Air Force, the battalion known as the Mighty Eighth that Melas’ late grandfather, Frank Murphy, belonged to.
St. Martin’s Griffin just reissued the tome 18 years after it first hit shelves, this time with a foreword by entertainment correspondent Melas and her mom, Franks’s daughter Elizabeth Murphy.
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Frank will be a character in the epic Apple TV+ series “Masters of the Air,” produced by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks and slated to air later this year, which is a successor to their war spectaculars “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.”
Murphy, who passed away in 2007 aged 85, survived 18 months in a German prisoner of war camp after being shot down in 1943.
Melas has told People, “My grandfather and his service men displayed remarkable courage every time they climbed into those airplanes to take to the skies over Nazi occupied Europe. Now I feel it’s my mission to make sure we never forget these incredible examples of heroism and the will to live.”
“CNN This Morning” anchor Collins has been dragged into the headlines since co-host Don Lemon said on-air that presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is no longer “in her prime.” Co-anchor Poppy Harlow walked off set, and Lemon apologized.
