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The independent Manhattan movie house Film Forum has decided to pull its advertising from the Village Voice, citing concerns about Backpage.com, the classifieds site owned by Voice parent company Village Voice Media.

Longtime Film Forum director Karen Cooper told Off the Record that Nicholas Kristof’s Friday op-ed in The New York Times prompted her decision.

“It really held Backpage.com accountable for underage prostitution,” she said.

In it Mr. Kristof described a 13-year-old Brooklyn runaway coerced into prostitution and sold over Backpage.com, whom he called "Babyface," and called for Backpage.com to close its Adult section, as Craigslist did in 2010.

Given Film Forum’s eagerness to show the shows films that depict the tragedies of human trafficking, Ms. Cooper explained,  “it would be a hypocrisy to continue advertising.”

The nonprofit cinema has advertised in the Village Voice since at least 1971.

In July, Ashton Kutcher used Twitter to publicly pressure other Voice advertisers, including American Airlines, Domino's Pizza and Disney, to withdraw from the alt-weekly. In one of a series of editorial articles defending Backpage.com, the Voice had written that statistics distributed by Mr. Kutcher’s sex trafficking awareness group, Real Men Don’t Buy Girls, were incorrect. Mr. Kutcher later announced that American Airlines had pulled its advertising, though the company never confirmed it.

A group of attorneys general has also sent letters to Village Voice Media calling for Backpage.com’s adult serivces to be shut down. Others, including clergy members and Village Voice co-founder Norman Mailer’s son, John Buffalo Mailer, have spoken out against the website through Groundswell, a social justice organization backed by the Presbyterian Auburn Theological Seminary.

The Voice did not immediately respond to request for comment. In a public response to the attorneys general, however, Village Voice Media has said that censorship is not the solution to human trafficking, and that the company effectively monitors the escort listings.

On an unrelated note, Ms. Cooper added that she was disappointed that longtime Voice film critic Jim Hoberman was laid off earlier this month.

“Seventy, it’s an odd age,” Mr. Pfeiffer told The Observer, staring at the younger version of himself, a decoration for his birthday party last Friday night. “But looking at that, it makes it better.”

During his seven decades, Mr. Pfeiffer has donned the hats of West Point running back, gun-wielding soldier, prized beau of big-screen starlets, gruff ad man, inquisitor general for Interview magazine, cocaine rhino on a never-ending Studio 54 bender, liquor-bar owner, liquor-bar fixture, must-cast movie extra (“Needed: actor who exudes panache and loose cash”), amateur twang-guitar troubadour, the face of Winston cigarettes, Charlie Sheen wingman, husband, son.

Yes, Elaine Kaufman’s presence lingered in the clutter of movie posters and between the spokes of mismatched rickety chairs, but the celebration was far from dour.

“The old guys who haven’t been back to Elaine’s since she died are here,” said Bartle Bull, novelist and former publisher of The Village Voice.

“Jackie Kennedy was in the restaurant, and there was a cameraman trying to take her picture,” Mr. Bull said. “Elaine was pissed because she knew Jackie wouldn’t come back if they took her photograph. Elaine went outside, took the lid off a metal trash can and hit the guy’s face, broke his nose and his camera. I used to be a lawyer so I said, ‘Elaine, if you need a witness, I’ll say he attacked you on the street.’ A lot of fun.”

With that, the Elaine stories ended. There were Chuck stories to tell.

“Bad things, with Chuck?” Jay McInerney told The Observer. “Oh man. Just a whole lot of sordid behavior.”

“Hey, Jay, it’s been a while,” the bartender said to the novelist, who was ordering a martini.

“Moved downtown …”

The Observer sat next to Katrina Eugenia, the Playboy playmate who is dating Norman Mailer’s son, John Buffalo Mailer. She’s a recent graduate of the Pratt Institute and her nude pictures appeared in the December 2010 issue.

“Could the help please be quiet!” said a puckish Greek man, stocky like a bowling pin. At the microphone was Taki Theodoracopulos, Mr. Pfeiffer’s perpetual sidekick. He’s been in the trenches with Mr. Pfeifer—well, the all-night coked-up Nell’s-to-Area trenches, if not the actual Green Beret trenches. Mr. Pfeiffer made it clear that his buddy was a war reporter, not a war hero like himself. It’s a profession Mr. Theodoracopulos continues today. He’s the proud proprietor of TakiMag.com.

“Unlike another fat Greek, Arianna,” Mr. Theodoracopulos explained, “we actually pay our writers.”

(Each guest walked out with a pair of TakiMag.com underwear.)    

“I once said that if I hadn’t met Chuck, I probably would have been a whore,” Mr. Theodoracopulos said at the end of a heartfelt roast. “And I think it was Norman Mailer who said in response, ‘Isn’t that a shame?’”

The Observer walked over to Gay Talese and his tablemate Hendrik Hertzberg, the pitcher for The New Yorker’s softball team.

“Have you met Katrina?” Mr. Talese asked. The Observer was mid-nod when he called the 23-year-old model from across the room.

“Gay!” Ms. Eugenia exclaimed, embracing him.

“What a beauty,” Mr. Talese said to The Observer. “Have you seen this body?”

Before he could answer, the 78-year-old writer had an idea.

“Hey, Nate, do you have an iPhone? You should really look at her pictures.”

“Her pictures in Playboy?” The Observer asked.

“Pull them up!” Ms. Eugenia said.

The Observer Googled her and found her pictures on the Playboy blog. She was naked apart from some splatters of red, yellow and blue paint. The three of them were leaning in over the screen. Ms. Eugenia giggled.

“Fantastic,” Mr. Talese said.

Soon Mr. Pfeiffer was back on the microphone.

“We’d chase the three Bs …”

“What are the three Bs?” the crowd roared.

“Broads, booze and blow!” Mr. Pfeiffer shouted.

Woooooo! the crowd roared.

“Along came the ’90s,” Mr. Pfeiffer continued, “and Chuck got sober.”

Boooooo! the crowd roared.

He calmed them with a pause and a flat, outstretched hand.

“I’d like to mention my father, who was good friends with Elaine,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. “They’re not here, but they’re here in spirit.”

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

“He’s a good-hearted day trader and ultimately trying to look out for his buddy and do the right thing,” said Mr. Mailer when the Transom bumped into him at the Pen Edmont holiday benefit, the volunteer organization that works with high-school students in underserved communities to encourage reading and writing, at Half King on Sunday, Dec. 13. Mr. Mailer, whose late father was the president of the PEN American Center between 1984 and 1986, was invited to join the committee by his friend, Edmont co-founder Stephanie LaCava, who works at Vogue.

To prepare for his role, Mr. Mailer underwent voice training for a Long Island accent and shadowed traders at several firms during the summer. “One of the more exciting places was Johns Thomas Financial,” he said. “Tommy Belesis [the CEO], who is also in the movie, is essentially a ringmaster and he fires up his 300 traders like you wouldn’t believe. I was shadowing from 9 in the morning to about 6, and when Tommy finished his morning speech, I was on my feet from then on, so I kind of understood the addiction to the adrenaline. It was amazing. The traders eat their lunch at their desk, take a few smoke breaks and pop an Adderall to keep it going.”

Mr. Mailer, who described himself as coming from a “liberal” perspective, said he was biased against Wall Street before spending time at the firm. “I always thought that you’re not actually making anything. You’re taking money from here and putting it there and taking a cut,” he said. “But there are some traders out there who are doing some very good things with the money that they’re moving around. What I discovered is that actually a lot of medical research is financed because of firms like this and education programs. The world would stop without Wall Street.”

The Mailer name, alas, did not impress his new financial-whiz friends. “I don’t think the Wall Street world is [my father’s] biggest fan base,” Mr. Mailer said.

Meanwhile, his screenplay for Norm’s The Naked and the Dead lies waiting. “I was unbelievably bummed that I couldn’t get that thing made while he was alive,” John Buffalo said. “It’s such a huge-budget film that we need the right packaging. But when the time is right for the next $100 million World War II movie, I think it’s in the running.”