Cabaret Rolls a Winner for Center

Hottest ticket in town Saturday night? Undoubtedly Casino Cabaret ‘85, attended by some 1,500 partygoers at the South Coast Plaza Jewel Court in Costa Mesa.

A ’34 Ford Cabriolet, a Mexican cruise and a golf and hot-air balloon weekend were among auction items and door prizes helping the Cabaret Chapter raise nearly $60,000 for the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Suggested attire at the event--which featured gaming tables (baccarat, roulette, blackjack) and rock ‘n’ roll by the Authentics--was “black and white”; looking about, underwriting chairman Terry Goldfarb wondered aloud whether there could be a black or white dress left in the county.

Many Turned Away

Seventy-five extra tickets were printed in a last-minute effort to accommodate those hoping to attend the sold-out affair but, according to Cabaret Chapter president Dean Rathbun, more than 700 were still turned away.

Edie Goodwin of Newport Beach was but one of hundreds of guests who waited as long as an hour and a half to sample a pasta/antipasto buffet catered by Rothschild-Fassero’s. For the most part, however, those hundreds seemed unfazed: Enterprising souls found waiting in line a splendid way to make new friends.

“Of the 48 chapters (in the Center guild network), we are the only one that is primarily coed,” explained Rathbun. “We’re mostly young, single professionals.

“Out of over 250 members, there are only three or four married couples, including myself and Cindy. (Rathbun’s wife, Cindy Wemyss, is a past Cabaret president.) But we’re really kind of an oddity. And we met through the group.”

The Cabaret group is unusual in other ways, too: Although most chapters in the guild system are regionalized, Rathbun said that along with Cabaret’s Newport Beach-area members, “we have a mix from Fullerton, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Marina del Rey and Beverly Hills. In fact, we had a member who lived in London for two years.”

Meetings at Yacht Club

Cabaret Chapter meetings, which are held once a month at the Shark Island Yacht Club on Balboa Island, are attended by more than 200; they include a social hour, a structured meeting where events are planned and an additional social hour at a nearby restaurant.

Cindy Rathbun explained that while chapters are required to have one major fund-raiser and raise $3,000 per season, the Cabaret chapter will have four; the next is its Cinco de Mayo celebration.

“We’ll probably turn in $75,000 for the year,” she said.

“No, we’ll probably exceed $90,000,” predicted her husband.

Among those at a special pre-party were event chairman Michael Dixon, master of ceremonies Jim Villers, Rams players Rich Saul (who won the cruise) and Jack Youngblood, guilds chairman Carol Wilken and guilds chairman-elect Carolyn de Wald.

Also there were committee chairs Caryl Scanlan, Cy Rathbun, Donna Fenske, Victoria Mills, Fred Primo, Ron Agins, Pauline Tomas, Stephanie Casenza, Judy Brower, Ileana Zwerling, Mary Miller, Judy Chapel, Gail Roy, George La Verne and Frank Barcelona.

Grazie, grazie.

A few miles north at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers Saturday night, the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee held its Grand Marshall Ball to say “thank you and bravissimo” to all those involved in the Christmas “Cruise of Lights,” which raised $65,000 for the Orange County Philharmonic Society.

In keeping with the theme, “an Evening at the Opera,” 1984 Grand Marshal Carl Agliozzo’s favorite Luciano Pavarotti tape greeted just under 500 arriving guests, mostly Harbour residents who contributed time and effort to operating the cruises and award-winners whose decorated boats and homes helped make the event a success.

An elegant six-course dinner (overture salad, crescendo sole, veal allegro, etc.) was served, after which the name of the 1985 grand marshal--which till then had been kept secret--was announced. The new marshal will be Pat Kelley, last year’s boat parade captain.

Decorations Unveiled

Also kept under wraps till the last moment were ball chairman Earla Snow’s decorations: twinkling ficus benjaminas, a fountain with colored lights and four-foot Lucite centerpieces--vertical squares of varying heights containing a dozen votive candles and pink, white and burgundy tulips and tiger lilies.

Snow kept herself well decorated, too--with a necklace featuring a 40-carat amethyst surrounded by diamonds, and a ring and earrings to match--as did guest Isabel Greenwald, who, in a burst of creativity, replaced the earrings she originally wore with the luminescent green “fire rings” from under the salad plates.

Among the guests was the first grand marshal, Bayard Dod, whose wife, Jane, founded the Harbour Committee in 1963.

“In the very first boat parade, we had 12 boats entered,” recalled Dod. “We charged each boat 50 cents. We didn’t have any expenses, so we sent $6 to the Philharmonic--50 cents for 12 boats.

“The next year, we decided we’d have parties, and the hostesses gave us 50 cents for each guest. That year we got $350. No expenses.

“That was an improvement, but we decided that really wasn’t the way to go about this, either. So the next year we tried expanding the boat parade. . . . Today we’re running about 2,000 people a night through and clearing $60,000. With expenses.”

Esquire Music for Dreaming and Dancing provided just that.

According to event assistant chairman Joanna Chase, the Cypress College-based band is made up of high school and college students who donate their time in order to get experience playing in a big band.

“These kids aren’t paid to come here and play,” explained Chase. “The band leader is paid, and the band as a whole is paid--and the price is great--but the money goes toward purchase of the instruments, music, finding places to play, travel expenses. . . .

“When you think about all the Philharmonic youth programs, they’re perfect for us. I’m jazzed.”

Guests included Harbour Philharmonic Committee chairman Sandy Clouse and husband Robert, members Nancy and Tom Kasabali, Shirley and Mike Stitzinger, Bobbitt and Bill Williams, Joyce and Mark Weiss, Jerry and Chuck Railey, Jodie and Jim Miller and Marky and John Paugh.

Also Saturday: Mardi Gras.

Down the block at the Grand Hotel, the Orange County Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta attracted 300 to its seventh annual Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball.

The $25 admission helped raise funds for scholarships for the county’s minority students and for community service projects such as voter registration, blood pressure readings, Scholastic Aptitude Test preparation and career awareness classes.

According to chapter president Janice Macon, Delta Sigma Theta is the largest nonprofit black sorority in the United States. The group has 668 chapters worldwide and a total of more than 100,000 members--they call each other “sorors”--including Lena Horne, Shirley Chisolm and Barbara Jordan.

Mardi Gras co-chairs were Mattie Jordan and Margaret Davis; committee members included Shern Bonner, Cynthia Dean, Cheryl Smith-Vincent, Jackie Thompson, Sylvia Norflis and Jennie Green.

Fore! Oops. Make that seventy-fore.

More than 200 participants in the 11th annual Crosby Southern Pro-Am Golf Tournament last weekend, including the paired 74 professional and 74 amateur golfers, got a chance to meet and mingle at a cocktail party Friday night at the Irvine Coast Country Club.

Tournament chairman Jake Rohrer said he expected the 552 Club-sponsored event to net more than $75,000 for Hoag Hospital.

Guests included former Los Angeles County Sheriff Peter Pitchess and wife Athena, incoming 552 Club president Ken Steelman and Cathy Mockett, 1984 U.S. girls junior golf champion.

Some folks just couldn’t wait.

Getting a jump on Valentine’s Day were 160 patrons, members and guests of the Con Brio Chapter of the Performing Arts Center, which celebrated with a “Valentine Dansant and Champagne Brunch” Sunday catered by the Turnip Rose at the Orange County Conference Center. The event raised $4,000.

Greeting arriving guests with a glass of champagne were chapter chairman Janet Schwartz and her husband, Martin, and Con Brio officers and husbands Dorothy and John Tyson, June and Robert Solow, Corynne and Oscar Stricklin, Joyce and Ronald Ressler and Kathleen and Duffern Helsing.

Frank Amoss and Co. provided music for dancing; entertainer Jerry Paul (formerly with the Lettermen) danced, clowned, did impressions and sang medleys as well as a touching rendition of “Granada.”

Among those enjoying the brunch--and winding down from Casino Cabaret--were Performing Arts Center guilds chairman Carol Wilken and guilds chairman-elect Carolyn de Wald.

If members of the Orange County Philharmonic Society Women’s Committees were happy to have Nancy Olson Livingston as their keynote speaker at the Committees’ Continuance Fund Membership Drive kick-off at the Westin South Coast Plaza last week, their excitement was palpable by the time she left.

“After reading the history of your group, I think your name should be changed to ‘The Fabulous OCPS Women’s Committees,’ ” said Livingston, executive president of the Amazing Blue Ribbon, a fund-raising auxiliary of the Los Angeles Music Center.

“We of the Amazing Blue Ribbon were delighted to have 24,000 fifth-graders at the Music Center’s recent Holiday Festival,” she said. “But you--you’re terrific! To be able to bring fine music to 270,000 Orange County young people each year certainly puts you in a class by yourself throughout the nation.”

Other speakers included OCPS president Louis Knobbe, executive director Erich Vollmer, Women’s Committees chairman Joyce Reaume and Continuance Fund chairman Ernestine Allerhand.

Following the morning meeting were a luncheon (featuring unusual centerpieces made of five big, sticky candy apples, mirrors and floating red heart balloons) and an informal showing of fashions by Jaeger International.