On the Town: Supporters go on the prowl at the Beastly Ball
Burbank residents, businesses and media companies, including The Walt Disney Co., joined more than 700 supporters of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. for the organization’s 43rd annual Beastly Ball last week.
Widely acknowledged as one of the best — and wildest — parties of the year, this year’s ball saw actress and zoo advocate Pauley Perrette receive the Tom Mankiewicz Leadership Award, which honors individuals for outstanding leadership in wildlife and environmental conservation and for efforts to promote civic pride and harmony in the multicultural community.
Attendees, many clad in safari-themed attire, enjoyed a twilight stroll through the zoo observing its inhabitants, watching feedings, chatting with handlers and taking part in up-close-and-personal encounters with various animals.
For those who augmented their $1,000-per-person donation with an additional $500, an invitation to attend the “Bash Before the Ball” gave them the opportunity to meet Perrette and mingle with zoo association president Connie Morgan and co-chairwoman Betty White, former L.A. Mayor James Hahn, L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge, L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel and Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn and his wife, Cindy.
As the sun set, locals including Jane Neely, James Geary, Max Andrews, Jonathan Stine and Mario, Amanda and Maxine Zermeno enjoyed the star-canopied evening of entertainment, dancing and dining on fare provided by local restaurants and bakeries including Burbank’s Yummy Cupcakes represented by executive chef Tiffini Soforenko and her team of Kendra Vaughan and Vanessa Salazar.
This year’s ball, which raised close to $1 million, celebrated the zoo’s forthcoming “Rainforest of the Americas” habitat that will open later this year and present a mixed species of mammals, reptiles, birds and insects.
As a part of the evening’s main event, Morgan presented Perrette with the Mankiewicz Award that was established in 2011 in honor of the late film and television writer and director Tom Mankiewicz, who championed the cause of saving and protecting wildlife and the environment through education, and promoted the L.A. Zoo to diverse communities.
“Pauley exemplifies the vision of this honor, as she is an ardent social and civil activist who is involved in many charitable organizations that work on behalf of animal rescue and adoption, the homeless, disaster relief and AIDS,” Morgan said.
Perrette, best-known for her role as Abby Sciuto, the brilliant and offbeat forensic scientist on CBS’s “NCIS,” can be seen by zoo visitors in the video “Meet the Keepers,” which plays at the zoo’s “Elephants of Asia” exhibit.
She succeeds past Mankiewicz Award honorees actress Sarah Michelle Gellar and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash.
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DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.
