Operation California Now Mining the Largess of Texas
TEN-GALLON FUND-RAISING
Operation California is well on the way to establishing what may be the most lucrative branch office in fund-raising history.
OpCal--an international relief agency that has flown supplies to Asia, Central America and Africa--has always raised its money from California sources, especially from the entertainment industry. Now it’s mining the fund-raising possibilities of Texas.
OpCal supporter Julie Andrews and OpCal director Richard Walden last month met with brand-name politicians--such as San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros--and philanthropists across the state. No confirmations, but sources said there was even a dinner with several members of the billionaire Hunt family.
What developed was a plan to launch Operation Texas, which will, Walden said, raise money for medical supplies and other crucial equipment as well as “tap into the jet fuel donations” necessary for the flying relief missions.
OpTex will give as well as take, and will try to bring home what Walden described as “every major Texan star who made it in Hollywood” to a big black-tie event and concert in San Antonio--both to formally launch OpTex and to help celebrate the 140th anniversary of the state.
FLOWERS THAT BLOOM--Before you set the weekend holiday table, hold it. More is not better, at least not with posies. Ask David Jones, whose floral arrangements are almost a necessity for the Socially Secure. “All of my hostesses wouldn’t think of having a party without a certain amount of flowers connected with it,” said Jones, who last summer did the flowers for the wedding of Patti Davis, daughter of his longtime friends and clients, Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
“I’ve introduced the way of doing flowers with just a few assorted vases,” Jones explained. “I design a series of small glass vials. Most of my clients have lovely collections of porcelain or art objects, and it’s wonderful to scatter these little vials of flowers between the art objects.”
If there are no priceless porcelains around the house, not to worry. On a holiday table, “I love just a basket of brown eggs and a few flowers tucked into it. And, the eggs can be used again. Another thing, go to the local nursery and buy a basket of pansies and wrap some wonderful pastel tissue papers around it and tie it up with raffia.”
Don’t crowd. “I love the shapes of flowers. I have always to see individual flowers and their forms. Our arrangements start at $35 and go up to any price you want to spend. We have our own little trademark that we do, something very, very simple with one or two pretty flowers, and that’s it.”
For Easter? “Oh, I always have Easter lilies, it’s traditional. But the way we do them is so different--do them in moss pots and tie them with raffia, and things like that.”
There is floral etiquette. “If someone is having a party, we never send flowers to a hostess, unless she actually needs them. Absolutely horrible is when you are having a party and a huge bouquet arrives, a strange bouquet arrives and you don’t know where you will put it,” Jones said. In sending flowers to a friend, find out what she wants, not what you like.
On a recent day, Jones planned the spring flower gardens that would sprout out of display cases for a Robinson’s benefit, then stopped by a longtime client’s house to redo silver bowls she keeps on her coffee tables.
His success? “Most of my clients know that I really care about them. I wake up in the middle of the night and think of something and write it down. I am very fussy about detail, and I like things as perfect as humanly possible.”
When a client comes and wants to spend a lot of money, that doesn’t always mean the same thing. “Even if you were spending $200, in some houses I would do a wonderful bouquet that maybe could go on the console in the entry hall. In another, a lovely planting of amaryllis bulbs and underneath, a field of lilies of the valley.”
For weddings or big events, don’t plan down to the last detail. Jones tells clients: “It is much better for us to wait and see what is in the market that is the best for your situation. . . . When we are doing the wedding, something that I see in the market, I want to add.”
WOOING AWAY--Following the city election early next week, Ron Smith (campaign manager for John Ferraro and Murray Kane) will fly off to Washington for a closer look at some out-of-state races. Encouraging him to go national is political guru Stu Spencer. Insiders believe that Smith will be in the Bay Area in ’87 for the John Molinari campaign for mayor.
NEVER SAYING YOU’RE SORRY--This year marks the 15th anniversary of “Love Story,” the $10-million best seller from Yale literature Prof. Erich Segal. Since then he’s penned “Oliver’s Story,” and “Man, Woman and Child”--both best sellers made into movies. He’ll be in town later this month and, in tow, is “The Class,” a big-book literary look at five members of the Harvard Class of ’58.
PACKING IT IN--Next weekend will be the first chance Californians get to see Sen. Ted Kennedy since he announced, sort of, for President last weekend. Sheldon Andelson is hosting a dinner at his Bel-Air home for the senator (thinning down to campaign weight), and another weekend dinner is set at the Malibu domicile of Max Palevsky. Andelson’s is a fund-raiser for E.M.K.’s political action committee, the Committee for a Democratic Majority. But only those who are full-fledged members of “Teddy’s Club,” i.e. having given their $5,000 this year to the PAC, are being invited to Palevsky’s. That includes local supporters and other $5,000 donors from across the country.
LOOK FOR:--A swarm of stories about Da Free John, a self-proclaimed god incarnate who allegedly lives with nine wives on the Fiji island formerly owned by Raymond Burr and also has a commune in Clearlake in Northern California. . . .
And, a most star-studded screening to be Wednesday night, when George Stevens Jr.’s “George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey” plays at the Academy. A history of his father, and a “history of America and the movies,” done by the junior Stevens, the film will be introduced by Warren Beatty. Among other hosts are Cary Grant, Frank Capra, John Huston and Joel McCrea--a rather historic crew themselves. Among the dozens of senior Stevens films are “Swingtime,” “Gunga Din” and “Giant.”
WELCOME TO NEW YORK--The Coro Foundation--the nonpartisan training program in public affairs for graduate students--became national with the opening of its N.Y.C. program. But L.A. emigres will certainly abound at its first Big Apple fund-raiser, set for May 2 at Tavern on the Green, featuring an interview by the Coro fellows with Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth. It will be moderated by Tom Brokaw, whose wife, Meredith, is one of the co-chairs, along with former school board member Kathleen Brown.
The supporters at L.A. Coro dinner Thursday will meet the four honorees in an unusual way. Dinner chair Dick Lippin “assigned” the CORO fellows to prepare two-minute video broadcasts on Gail Abarbanel, Edward Carter, George J. McKenna and Henry Winkler--all being cited for their outstanding contributions to public affairs.
ADIOS--To Joaquin G. Avila, who will leave as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education fund after more than a decade of service there.
ALL THIS, AND PROFITS TOO--For Sarah Pillsbury, one of the heirs to the flour fortune and a producer with Midge Sanford of “Desperately Seeking Susan,” the film is a success and a statement. “It’s a statement that women can be funny and they can make money too, which is something that the movie business ought to know.” And, having a hit--”It’s really fun, this money-making business.” On a non-entrepreneurial side, Pillsbury is a founder and board member of the Liberty Hill Foundation, “the progressive community foundation of Southern California.” Its annual dinner May 23 at the Beverly Hilton honors Ed Asner with the Upton Sinclair Award. Also honored will be Rodolfo Acuna, Davida Coady and Betty Sheinbaum.
SEEING SWEETS--Pat Phillips of See’s Candies tells us that Easter eaters will have purchased 1.5 million of those little chocolate eggs-in-the-foil from See’s this holiday season. Another 1.5 million eggs, counting up from marshmallow clear up to big eggs, will be sold by See’s, California’s largest candy manufacturer. And 400,000 chocolate bunnies will have hopped across the counter.
ONCE MORE, WITH LESS FEELING--The soon-to-be-released Henry Jaglom film, “Always,” about the breakup of his marriage, stars Jaglom and ex-wife, Patrice Townsend. The film centers on a weekend, “which never happened, a theatrical device,” but it is “emotionally truthful,” he said. “We are really examining why two people who do love each other can manage in the 1980s not to live with each other.” The film was even shot in the house the couple shared when they were married. Jaglom said that following a screening, Steve Martin told him “Your pain is hysterically funny.”
