Running Shoes on Tap for ‘Race for Life’

Instead of patent loafers or lace-up leather, running shoes will be perfect for the “first “ Lou Gehrig Race for Life “Black Tie and Running Shoes” gala Monday at Kasteel Kamphuyzen, the Dutch castle atop Beverly Hills.

The occasion is a send-off for the National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis 1985 Lou Gehrig Race for Life. Marvin Skagerberg, 47, of New York, and Malcolm Campbell, 50, of Grantham, Eng., both Masters Category athletes in multi-day ultra-running, will run 92 days across 3,499 miles with only six days of rest.

The competition begins Tuesday from Anaheim Stadium, proceeds through Salt Lake City, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, with other stops, before ending in New York City on July 10.

All those cities host major fund-raisers chaired by prominent locals. But, Los Angeles is first. At each, Cartier favors will be presented to sponsors who pledge $5,000 or more. Peter O’Malley heads the executive committee here. Richard Thomas will be master of ceremonies. Reggie Jackson is dinner chairman as well as national ALS chairman. William E. Simon, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee and former U.S. Treasury secretary, is race chairman, and former Sen. Jacob K. Javits (also an ALS patient) is honorary race chairman.

Coca-Cola USA is among corporate sponsors. Ford Motor Co. is providing support vehicles for the race.

Lou Gehrig, the late Yankee first baseman who still holds the record for most consecutive games played, suffered from ALS, often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He happened to be a Phi Delta Theta, and many of the 170 chapters of his fraternity are organizing their own fund-raising 10-kilometer races to coincide with the main event.

Jamie Niven, son of the late David Niven, who died of the disease, is a sponsor. The Rouse Company of Baltimore, Md., a major developer of shopping malls, will support the run, providing dinner locations.

The effort is expected to gross $2 million for ALS, the nonprofit agency in New York devoted to furthering research and to providing care at clinics in New York, Miami, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Six hundred Braille Institute volunteers will arrive from all over Southern California next Wednesday to be honored at an awards ceremony and tea at the Hollywood Palladium. The Braille Institute Auxiliary is sponsoring the biennial affair.

Mrs. James Uhler heads arrangements with assist from Mmes. Max Kolliner, Samuel Bowlby, Kennedy Butt, William Poindexter, G. G. Baumen, Patterson Thee, Richard Johns, S. Ernest Ach, W. D. Milliken, Warren Driver, Cecil Dobson, Victor Kuenkel and Jane O’Connor, director of volunteer services.

Forty-three young ladies will be honored by the Assistance League of Southern California on April 19 at the 28th annual Medallion Ball in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton.

They’re members of the Junior Mannequin Assisteens and the Valley Deb Assisteens and will be feted for their volunteer community service at the league’s Girls’ Club, day nursery, thrift shop and Playhouse.

Mrs. John G. Bonelli of Bel-Air is ball chairman. Among those assisting are Mmes. Kenneth Reaume, Robert E. Christensen, Woodrow Wilson Meier, Michael Liataud, Max Kolliner, Richard D. Aldrich, William J. Rea, Gordon L. Polimer, David B. Ardell, Susan C. Van Trees, Victor VerBrugghen, Laird Facey, Robert Ellis and John Kelterer.

Robert L. Hemmings, husband of Peggy Hemmings, ALSC president, will announce the girls. Each receives a gold medallion.

Clark Keen’s Orchestra is signed for dancing.

Oriental hors d’oeuvres, mini-lectures on jade and classical dance accompany the late-afternoon benefit April 14 for Pacific Asia Museum’s Jade Preview Festival. The museum’s newest exhibition of nearly 200 antique jade carvings opens to the public April 17.

Guest curator of the exhibition Suzanne Haney Foster and Richard Strassberg, the museum’s adjunct curator for Chinese art and UCLA associate professor of Chinese, will present the lectures. Dancer Alice Lo will perform with the musician/musicologist Elisabeth Waldo and the Waldo Pan-Asian Ensemble.

To commemorate the opening of the Hall of Economics and Finance Exhibit at the California Museum of Science and Industry, museum directors join with trustees of the California Museum Foundation April 18 for a reception hosted by California Federal.

Bandleader Les Brown is frequently center stage for balls and parties, and he and his band have worked with the biggest names in entertainment for decades.

He’ll do a double-take April 16 when Retinitis Pigmentosa International honors him at “A Salute to the Sight and Sound of the Band of Renown,” a dinner dance benefit at the Racquet Club of Palm Springs.

Co-chairmen of the black-tie affair are Thomas C. Ranck, club manager, and Allan Keller. They’re calling the night “The 400 at the 21” (alluding to the Club 21 of New York). It’s the first time in the club’s 50-year history that it has sponsored such a benefit.

Guest star Patty Andrews will perform with the band.

Helen Harris, president of RP, says that victims see their world in patches and that daytime shadows and dimly lit indoor settings change an RP person from sighted to non-sighted.

Special Views:

Palos Verdes Community Arts Assn. raised $22,410 at its tea previewing the new Nordstrom in South Bay . . . funds from the 747 who sipped will reduce the center’s construction loan . . .

Popular Le Mondrian entertainer Michael Feinstein donated his talents to the Dance Gallery Guild’s membership luncheon last week honoring Shirley MacLaine. Co-chairmen were Fran Sanders and Linda Pastel . . .

Dyan Beven heads the Pasadena Day Nursery Guild as president. She welcomed 20 new members at the guild’s 19th annual luncheon at the Valley Hunt Club. Her board includes Christy Penney, vice president, and Patti Harrison, Dici LoopLudie Driscoll, Kathy Campbell and Kandi Wopschall . . .

Capt. Richard D. Milligan, commanding officer of the battleship New Jersey, conducted the traditional ceremony when Mrs. A. Burgess Ralston (Edna) was installed president of the Navy League’s Navy Belles luncheon at the Riviera Country Club . . .

It’s very much like Bingo, but they called it Zingo, and the Whittier Committee of the Spastic Children’s League had a rousing time at its luncheon at Industry Hills and Sheraton Resort. The event raised more than $12,000, according to Kerry Hacker . . .

The administrative staff for Memorial Hospital of Glendale, including Christopher P. Bryant, development vice president, hosted the guild’s general meeting. Mrs. James V. Dooley presided . . .

President Mrs. Jack Chertok shone in the spotlight at the Friday Morning Club’s 94th birthday party luncheon at the Sportsman’s Lodge . . .

The Junior Charity League hosted its annual membership tea at the Woodland Hills home of Mr. and Mrs. Gene Biedebach . . .

Awards for outstanding achievement in acting and design will be presented to students at the USC Division of Drama’s first James and Nony Doolittle Drama Awards Luncheon at noon April 19 at Town and Gown on campus.