Harry Jay Katz on the mend, breaks six ribs in series of falls

Katz, 68, a reformed playboy, is a big drinker, but swears that he had only one drink that day, a vodka and grapefruit juice at 11 a.m., and that he was sipping ice water at the steakhouse when he fell off the stool.

He says that he felt dizzy and had fallen at home while dressing to go out that night, and also felt dizzy at the bar.

Chops owner Alex Plotkin says that he offered to call an ambulance, but that Katz declined. After he fell again at home that night, Katz says that girlfriend Debra Renee Cruz took him to the Lankenau Hospital ER. He also hurt a finger during one of the falls.

Katz, whose doctors told him that he'll need a few weeks to recover, is upset that he will be forced to miss the funeral of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Katz, a longtime friend of Maria Shriver and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, last week attended the private funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver.