A FishbowlNY tipster tells us there were layoffs at The New Yorker yesterday, the same day the New York Observer featured a story hinting that the magazine would be spared from the Condé Nast cuts.

“Two well-placed sources said that Condé Nast’s chairman, Si Newhouse, reached out to [New Yorker editor David] Remnick shortly after the McKinsey announcement was made and told him not to worry about anything — the magazine would be just fine, and neither McKinsey nor company executives would be mucking with his editorial costs,” the Observer‘s John Koblin reported.

FBNY has reached out to New Yorker‘s publicists, and we’ll keep you posted.
UPDATE: A New Yorker publicist has confirmed to FBNY that three of the magazine’s staffers on the business side were let go yesterday.

After doing some more digging, we have heard that the cuts were not McKinsey related. People at the New Yorker are maintaining the party line that Koblin referred to in his article: the editorial budget for the New Yorker will most likely remain untouched throughout the McKinsey process.

However, Koblin may have gotten one thing wrong: we’ve heard that Graydon Carter frequently eats in the cafeteria at 4 Times Square, and has for years.

Heard anything? Send us an email, leave an anonymous tip or a comment if you have any information.

• Related: Mourning The Loss Of Condé Nast’s “Gilded Age”

The New York Observer‘s John Koblin has gone deep within the depths of 4 Times Square to examine the changes McKinsey & Co. hath wrought at Condé Nast.

After interviewing anonymous sources on the edit and business side of the company, as well as editors like Glamour‘s Cindi Leive and The New Yorker‘s David Remnick and CEO Chuck Townsend, Koblin has uncovered some disturbing examples that illustrate the recent cutbacks at the magazine giant that may hint at things to come. Most troubling to Condé staffers? Seeing Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter in the cafeteria and having their free Orangina replaced with Poland Spring, and then (gasp) tap water. Reports Koblin:

“When I started, there was this little refrigerator, and it was stocked with amazing drinks,” said one ad-sales source. “Pellegrino, Orangina, Red Bull. And like the water wasn’t Poland Spring, it was like Fiji. I remember when I started working here, I emailed everyone I know and I was like, ‘I have to tell you about the drinks!’”

But then in December, a few months after Condé Nast ordered publishers and editors to cut 5 percent from their budgets, the drink supply emptied out. That Fiji water turned into Poland Spring. Worse, instead of the fridge, the water bottles were stowed in a warm closet.

And then: “I just found out today that we are on our last batch of Poland Spring,” said the source. “We won’t have any more after this. We have to start drinking tap water.”

What’s more, the Monday morning flower deliveries are gone, expensed dinners at Nobu and mani-pedis are out and employees are thinking twice about taking company-provided towncars. Still, Townsend argues that the quirkiness of Condé, not the Orangina, will help the company stand out from its competitors.

“The Red Bulls and Oranginas are maybe no longer there, but what’s the difference?” he asked. “It’s still the quirkiest place on the face of the earth. A lot of that quirkiness makes us special. A lot of that quirkiness makes for interesting observations. But it has absolutely nothing to do with anything, so where’s the line drawn? I don’t want to lose the speciality or the quirkiness, but a lot of this stuff that has been part and parcel of it is just meaningless.”

Like us, Koblin wondered exactly what Townsend meant by that comment. You should read his story to find out.

The luxury culture at Conde Nast is slowly dying amidst the advertising decline. The latest news, as Keith Kelly breathlessly reports, is that editor-in-chiefs are taking the subway to work.

Among the crew are The New Yorker‘s David Remnick and Gourmet‘s Ruth Reichl, who says she’s “taken the subway for years.” Portfolio publisher William Li was also cited. (Insert your own joke about how poorly the business book is doing here.)

Honestly, it’s a nice gesture but let’s wait until they start taking the bus to be really impressed.

— DIANE CLEHANE

The streets may be eerily empty these days (at least you can always get a cab), but you can pretty much count on a full house on Wednesdays at Michael’s. Today the dining room was buzzing as media mavens and a fair share of fashionistas made the scene. Before things really got going, I checked in with ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong, who is keeping good thoughts for his pal Robin Williams as he undergoes heart surgery. It was Joe, you may recall, who first brought Robin to Michael’s all those years ago for a lunch with Bill Clinton, which made headlines far and wide and even wound up being discussed on David Letterman. Here’s hoping one of our favorite funnymen makes a full and quick recovery.

Today I was lunching with Dorian Benkoil, mediabistro.com’s former editorial director and the man who first asked me to do this column. Dorian has a very full plate these days helming his own company, Teeming Media. He’s hosting an online show, Naked Media, broadcast monthly on NakedMedia.org, and recently had Businessweek.com’s Jon Byrne and Howard Lindzon, co-founder of Stockwits and Wallstrip, as guests. At the moment, Dorian is hard at work producing a seminar entitled “Finance for Media Professionals” to be held on March 23. If you want to check out the details for this timely talk, go to TeemingMedia.com.

I was happy to see regulars Kira Semler and Vi Huse (‘the bar-ettes’) having their monthly champagne lunch at the bar. I only wish that Kira had told me about her letter to the New York Post (which they printed) bemoaning the paper’s decision to stop publishing Liz Smith‘s column. (She showed it to me when we were all on our way out the door.) I would have loved to have introduced Liz to such an ardent fan. Oh well, next time…

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. The New Yorker‘s David Remnick, publisher Lisa Hughes and Cartier’s Frederic de Narp with a few members of his incredibly chic staff.

2. My new Facebook friend Terry Allen Kramer with Broadway producers James Neiderlander and Rob Greenblatt

3. ‘Mayor’ Joe Armstrong and The Hallmark Channel’s honcho Henry Schleiff. I had to go over and tell Henry that I’m loving those Saturday night made-for-TV movies on his network (What can I say? I have a four-year-old and don’t get out much). Henry told me he’s particularly excited about this week’s offering, Relative Stranger, starring Eriq La Salle, Cicely Tyson and Michael Michele, about a football player who leaves his family and years later returns to make amends. It premieres Saturday night at 8 p.m. I’m in! And, for all you fans of I Love Lucy and The Golden Girls reruns (Come on, confess, I know you’re out there) Hallmark is now home to these television gems. You’re welcome…

4. Liz Smith and Frank Langella (who gallantly got up and offered to pull out Liz’s chair — chivalry is not dead! Liz and I chatted before Mr. Langella’s arrival (he’s just too imposing to call Frank) and she told me now that she’s made the move to the Internet writing for her Website wowOwow.com (check it out, it’s addictive), she’s “trying to pump up her sources.” Aren’t we all?

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— DIANE CLEHANE

As I’ve been reporting for weeks, it was SRO at Michael’s today as the movers and shakers, undeterred by the unsettling economic news, were out in full force plotting their next big move — or looking for a safe place to land. On the menu today: plenty of talk about President Barack Obama‘s speech last night and the Oscars. There was a strong consensus that one was a big winner, while the other got surprisingly mixed reviews. While everyone in the audience on Oscar night thought Hugh Jackman killed, plenty of folks here were less than impressed. “Movie people don’t like Broadway,” sniped one Hollywood insider. “And it was too Broadway.” Okay then…

Everyone I talked to about President Obama’s speech felt his oratory skills are nothing short of amazing and that he struck just the right tone where he basically told us its time to pay the piper and think of our children’s future. Personally, I was impressed at his unflappable ability to mix his formal and seemingly off-the-cuff remarks with ease — and he didn’t even blink when he forgot to follow protocol and let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduce him. She had to stop him mid-sentence, but he never faltered. Talk about cool under pressure. But here’s what wowed the women in the dining room — his affectionate introduction of the First Lady Michelle Obama and her mouthing, ‘I love you’ back to her smitten husband. “They’re marriage is obviously hot,” one divorcee told me. I’m telling you, no one wants to admit it, but that’s what people are really talking about.

As for the president’s remarks, “Inspirational but realistic,” is how one media summed things up. Others were scratching their heads asking why Wall Street wasn’t feeling the same way. More than one person said, “With everyone feeling a little bit hopeful, I don’t get why the market is down.” (It had dropped by more than 100 points by lunch). A question for the ages, no doubt.

On a much lighter note, I asked the always dapper Dr. Gerald Imber what he thought of the Botox-ed beauties on Oscar’s red carpet. But this plastic surgeon to the stars never cuts and tells — “I didn’t watch,” he confessed. He laughed when I asked him why he’d pass up the chance to admire his handiwork and did offer his assessment on why movie stars make better plastic surgery patients than mere mortals: “They come in with headshots saying, ‘I’ve changed a little here, I want to fix this here.’ They know what they want. There’s no whining.”

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. The ‘Imber Gang’: Dr. Gerald Imber, Jerry Della Femina and Andy Bergman. Here’s a fun fact: A little birdie told me that Andy wrote the screenplay for Blazing Saddles. Now you know…

2. Hallmark honcho Henry Schleiff with two other well-dressed fellows

3. No one puts a lunch together like ‘The Mayor’: Joe Armstrong, Glamour editrix Cindi Leive, George Stevens and Kerry Kennedy. I was thrilled to meet George (who was sporting a very patriotic red, white and blue shirt and tie ensemble). He’s the man behind the television broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors and the amazing broadcast of the concert on the Mall in celebration of President Obama’s inauguration. Kerry and I met once before at a lunch given by Henry Schleiff in this very dining room, where we talked about her then yet-to-published book, Being Catholic Now. I was so fascinated by her interviews with the likes of Bill Maher and Gabriel Byrne (who spoke about being abused by a priest) that I got through the terrific tome twice. Today the conversation was all about how stirring and inspirational the group found the president’s speech last night. “It made me proud to be an American,” Kerry told me. And we both totally melted over the young school girl who was seated next to the First Lady having written to the White House looking for aid for her school, which is in a serious state of disrepair. “I had tears in my eyes,” said Kerry. She wasn’t the only one…

4. An early-arriving Matt Blank who chatted with Joe and I before The New Yorker‘s David Remnick and Lisa Hughes joined Showtime’s head honcho for lunch. I was happy to reconnect with Lisa. Way back when, she was my sales rep at Self when I was the marketing honcho for a fashion company. I knew then that Lisa was destined for big things at Conde Nast, and she’s risen through the ranks like the pro she is. Well done and congrats!

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We mentioned the lack of ad pages in last week’s New Yorker and today David Carr follows up with news that many of the magazine’s reporters who traveled to Washington to cover the Inauguration drove themselves there and stayed in friend’s houses.

But when the current editor, David Remnick, ordered up a bunch of articles for the magazine’s formidable presidential inauguration issue, some of the reporters drove to Washington and stayed at friends’ houses. Mr. Remnick, who was among those who bunked with a friend in Washington, declined comment, beyond suggesting it was just common sense to preserve assets for other articles. “Steve Coll can’t stay at a friend’s house in Afghanistan,” he said.

One wonder’s how soon till this becomes the norm at all magazines — sort of gives an entirely new meaning to the phrase ‘citizen journalism.

Conde Nast: Always looking to the future! Agency Spy is saying that a spy has told them that Conde Nast has decided to put all its website launches on hold for the time being. Maybe not all that surprising considering not that long ago they decided to downsize Portfolio…in the middle of a financial crisis. But still. We all know everyone is tightening their belt at the moment, but is reducing your presence online really a smart move?

Maybe the point is they don’t actually care all that much. At today’s Newhouse panel at the Plaza the three titans of Conde Nast — David Remnick, Graydon Carter, and (apparently not going anywhere) Anna Wintour — didn’t seem all that fazed. The New York Observer reports that when asked about the current media crisis this is what they had to say:

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Here’s one of the things we love about The New Yorker: they are always looking ahead. To wit: their website was early out of the gate with content, they have a whole slew of their writers blogging, they even offer podcasts and video(!) (though we still think they should follow the Economist‘s lead and make available for download someone reading the entire issue), and a few years ago David Remnick to the gigantic step of making the magazine’s entire archive available on CD. The irony, of course, is that it is still one of the few magazines we read in print. This may change.

We are still waiting for further details from the New Yorker on this, but in the meantime PaidContent has picked up and then signed up for…a New Yorker digital edition! That’s right. Turns out if you are a subscriber to The New Yorker you can sign up and receive your copy in your inbox as well as your mailbox. Not only that it will give you full access to the complete New Yorker archives dating back to February 1925! Apparently the launch is still in Beta, but interested parties can go here to check it out and/or sign up for a four week trial. One imagines this is very much the way of print in the future.

Truth be told we barely glanced at the Sunday Times this weekend mostly because we finally and totally got sucked into the Olympic Games. However, we did make note of this excellent Week in Review piece by Times head honcho Bill Keller.

The Chinese have made their Olympics an exultant display of athletic prowess and global prestige without having to temper their impulse to suppress and control. From the dazzling locksteps of that opening ceremony, to the kowtowing international V.I.P.’s, to the carefully policed absence of protest, this was an Olympics largely free of democratic mess.

Keller knows whereof he speaks having covered the last years of the Soviet Union for the Times. However, had we read a little further we might have noticed, as the Observer did, that Keller also had a piece in the Book Review section on Nelson Mandela. We like to refer to it as the David Remnick syndrome. Later on that same day the NYO caught Keller on the telly talking about the inevitable transition from print to web: “I’m the house optimist on this question. I don’t think everybody will make that transition successfully, but I think The Times will. But, you know, I could not draw you a day-by-day road map to that destination.”

We already know what Barack Obama listens to on his iPod, now comes word of what attendees at the Democratic Convention in Denver this August will get to listen to. According to “The Sleuth” blog at washingtonpost.com supporters can expect to be entertained by the likes of Kayne West, Wyclef Jean and N.E.R.D. Meanwhile in the audience, you may find yourself rubbing shoulders with bold-faces such as Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Forrest Whitaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ed Norton Jr. One presumes, “tasteless” covers aside, David Remnick will also be allowed in.