Fund-Raiser Takes Flight With ‘West Wing’s’ Help

Inside producer Lawrence Bender’s spacious living room, beyond the candles surrounding the guest list and the stash of gift bags, a crowd of young, energetic liberals mingled with Hollywood types. The Wednesday night gathering was part fund-raiser, part viewing party for the second episode of the Emmy-winning “The West Wing,” which aired on NBC at 9 p.m. Bender invited people to pay a minimum of $250 to watch it at his house. The casual affair in Bel-Air raised an estimated $100,000 for the nonprofit Rock the Vote, which works to build political awareness among young people and registers them to vote.

“The last time I was here, it was the [2000] Democratic convention,” noted Los Angeles City Council candidate Rob Vinson. “It was like ‘The West Wing’ meets the West Wing. Half the Clinton administration was here.”

On this night, the crowd was peppered with actors, including “The West Wing’s” Janel Moloney and Anna Deavere Smith, “Rock the Vote” staff, as well as the group’s founders and supporters. Before the show, the crew from “Extra!” interviewed guests from a brightly lighted spot on the lawn. Most guests crowded onto the back porch near the bar, where bartenders doled out the POTUS (for President of the United States), a drink with Dewar’s White Label Scotch whiskey and ginger ale.

The evening also celebrated the nonprofit’s inclusion in that night’s episode. In it, members of the cast, most prominently Allison Janney, were featured at a fictitious Rock the Vote concert at the House of Blues. The episode, which reached an estimated 20 million people, was a coup for the organization that operates nationally with a 10-member staff. “It’s a call to arms for the last 34 days of the election,” said Rock the Vote Executive Director Jehmu Greene of the party and the episode.

But for “West Wing” creator and executive producer Aaron Sorkin, watching about 150 people react to the show was near torture. During the hourlong episode, he stood in the back of the room with his head down, hand to his brow. At every commercial break, he rushed outside to smoke a cigarette.

When asked about watching people watch the show, he didn’t hesitate. “It’s like being naked,” he said, lighting another cigarette. “It’s like that dream you have when you find yourself in front of a bunch of people--totally naked. It’s like that every time.”

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Play It With Flowers

During a rare midweek lull, florist Mark Held, whose Sherman Oaks company, Mark’s Garden, is routinely booked for celebrity weddings (recently Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale) and high-profile Hollywood affairs, details his latest job: a cascade of roses and orchids that spills off the length of the stage for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s season premiere tonight.

“It has to be a little bigger than life,” Held said by phone Wednesday as he awaited shipments of roses from South America and orchids from Hawaii. “It adds to the excitement.”

Two thousand Virginia and Message roses in butter and ivory, and hundreds of white dendrobium orchids, attached to foam and heavy chicken wire, blanket the foot of the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in anticipation of this evening’s show. But for all the flowers’ drama, there won’t be a lofty aroma accompanying them. “It bothers the performers,” says Held. “Fragrance is something they want to stay away from.”

Nevertheless, the backdrop should invigorate the sonic experience of Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting Bartok’s “Miraculous Mandarin” and Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” as well as performances by vocal soloists Harolyn Blackwell, Stanford Olsen, Rodney Gilfry, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.

There’s also a bit of goodwill that comes with this job, says Held. The enormous floral arrangement, which cost thousands of dollars, is an annual gift from New York investment banker Bob White, who moved from Los Angeles years ago but sustains his generosity.

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Show’s Marketing

The cable network Showtime has launched a pioneering new merchandising program that sells a variety of items from its provocative gay-themed TV show, “Queer as Folk,” targeting gay and lesbian consumers. The show’s Web site queer.sho.com offers “Queer as Folk” Christmas cards, calendars and magnets, as well as irreverently captioned T-shirts (most of which cannot be printed here) and frosted tumblers prominently featuring the word “queer.”

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Sightings

Andy Dick taking in the performances of the Silversun Pickups and Verbena at Spaceland in Silver Lake on Wednesday night.... On Tuesday, “Six Feet Under’s” Mathew St. Patrick eating lunch at Mirabelle in West Hollywood.