Oscar front-runner Jessica Chastain, dug from under the pounds of mascara she wore to play Tammy Faye Bakker: “I remember the ’80s homophobia and fear. For Tammy to spotlight an openly gay minister with AIDS and tell her audience, ‘We need to put our arms around him and tell him we care,’ was a radical act of goodness. I wanted to tell that story. She was about unconditional love and loving without judgment.

“Beyond my perception of what society thought she was, I had to understand the soul of the woman. She was quick to cry but she also loved ‘camp.’ ”

Me, I long and well knew this ex-lover of sprung from the can evangelist Jim Bakker. When her Day-Glo lip gloss nearly blinded me, she said: “Freak is chic.” In ’92, her approval rating lower than O.J.’s, she told me: “Michael Jackson wears more makeup than I do . . . Listen, I’m sick of apologizing. I’m now looking for a press agent.”

In those early days, before Jessica Chastain became so special, she wanted Sally Field to play her.

Internist Dr. Eugene Holuka, “raised in the Lower East Side’s Ukrainian ghetto,” tutored me on how — other than to just commiserate over the news — we could help.

Required immediately is military front-line medical and surgical equipment like bandages, catheters, soft cast leg boots, braces, splints, chest tubes, quick clot material. Addressing this desperate need instantly was Northwell CEO Michael Dowling. Irish, he p.d.q. shipped crates of the necessaries.

Dr. Holuka: “The world is responding. All Europe is helping. Germany, England, Poland, even Japan and Taiwan are shipping medical equipment and ­antibiotics.

“Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jewish grandmother is from Odessa. He contributed $10 million. Ashton Kutcher’s wife Mila who’s from the Ukraine sent $3 million.”

Yes but we can’t just fold that into an envelope and put it in the mail. How do we get it there? And to whom does it go?

“Connected communities are everywhere. A ‘Little Russia’ is on Long Island. The Lower East Side has assorted clubs and organizations, New York has a Ukrainian credit union. There’s National Bank of Ukraine. You type in Bank.gov.ua, help Ukrainian army, it responds asking credit card information.

“Sunday morning — when everything started — the country’s foreign minister and their military attaché called me. They said send food, formulas, specific medical equipment. We shipped out 150 boxes with 28 crates of specific medical equipment immediately.

“Ukraine also needs Level 4 body armor and bulletproof shrapnel jackets. You can buy it in the USA, but minus official approval you cannot ship this out without the special appropriate licenses. Agencies can secure that for you or it’s illegal.

“But everyone — do something. Help.” 

Meanwhile, here locally, we had 18-wheelers chug from LA to DC — burn over 400 gallons of diesel fuel — to protest supply chain dilemma, plus fuel shortage, plus the mask mandate, which already disappeared. They were opposed to “elites who boss them around” and financed by “working classes.” In the meantime, my cranky letter writers said they grabbed less attention than a mosquito in Florida and their $10 mil raised should have gone to Ukraine.

So many employment problems these days.

This handsome young house painter attracted the lady homeowner. She suggested he maybe come brush her. He complied. Next day, high noon, the same. But this time he was more interested in his tuna fish sandwich. When she beckoned him, he said: “Not now. I’m on my lunch break.”

Only in New York, kids, only in New York.