A discerning eye, a diva's fervor

Some of the friends and artists who arrive were also present the night before at another singular Drutt production: her mother's 104th birthday party. That bash featured getting Blossom Williams to blow out her candles (talk about setting the bar high), a wildly overestimated champagne order for the assisted-living crowd, and an impossibly lovely moment in which her mom sang along to Irving Berlin's "Always."

Now Drutt is again belle of her ball. The guests date to her beginnings in the art world and paint a picture of a woman who wasn't afraid to grab you by the sleeve time and time again, who switches back and forth from demanding matron of the arts to endearingly sentimental and loyal friend, who opens herself to life's nuances.

"I'm greedy," she explains as she considers the unlikelihood of even having a living mom at her age, not to mention being a newlywed.

In her marriage to Stern, Drutt has established a new outlet for her multi-burner activity and hospitality. "She is the Storm Queen," Deirdre English says.

Drutt offers a story in a still-creative life that keeps generating them. "One time, I was sitting with [Staffel] in the gallery, cleaning his pots," she recalls. "I told Matthew, 'The history of art will never tell you about this part.' "

But perhaps, with a little of her signature nudging and exec producing, her official obituary already commissioned to a noted European writer, that history will include Helen Williams (Weiss) Drutt English (Stern) of (two homes on) Rittenhouse Street.

Contact staff writer Amy S. Rosenberg at 215-854-2681 or arosenberg@phillynews.com.