A West Coast Visit for Algerian Leader

At the invitation of President Reagan, Algeria’s President Chadli Bendjedid and his wife will be making their first visit to Washington next week. It’s also the first time an Algerian president has been in Washington on a state visit. President Bendjedid will meet with President Reagan to discuss some pressing issues and then, with his wife, will attend a State dinner in their honor at the White House.

After that, the Algerian couple will head west, arriving in Los Angeles on April 19. Mayor and Mrs. Tom Bradley will be at the airport to greet them and later in the day, with the City Council, will host a reception at the mayor’s residence, Getty House. It’s a social event, bien sur , but at the gathering President Bendjedid will have a chance to shake hands and perhaps chat with some of the city’s leading business leaders.

And the Good News: Georgette Barrie, former wife of L.A.’s Robert Muir and New York’s George (Faberge) Barrie, has wed Texas oil man Robert Adam Mosbacher in Houston. The newlyweds are currently redecorating their new home in River Oaks, Houston’s best area, and plan to move in June 1. Sometime in May, they’ll be in California so that Bob can huddle with Vice President George Bush and help get the Bush presidential campaign rolling. The honeymoon will have to wait until June when they’ll cruise the Greek Islands. Late in July, Georgette will be in Paris checking out the couture collections.

The Social Scramble: Prince Albert of Monaco, spending the Easter weekend in Palm Springs, caused a large-scale flurry when he arrived at Bonwit Teller in Palm Desert for Gant Gaither’s vernissage (Gant is a close friend of the prince and his family) of his new porcelains, his animal sculptures and his paintings. It was a stellar crowd; about 150 moseyed along socializing and viewing. Among them--Mary Martin who bought a Brazilian hummingbird, Marion Lederer, Kay Obergfel, the John Birdsalls, Paul Gregory, Hal Broderick, Gene Washburn and Gary Smith. Barbara Sinatra didn’t make it. She was at home playing host to a houseful of guests like Barbara and Cary Grant and the Roger Moores.

The Big Coups: “A Chorus Line,” the movie, makes its debut Dec. 11 as the premiere benefit for the Women’s Guild of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The place is the Plitt Century Plaza Theatre and it is guild president Pat Mendel who’s spreading the word.

And on May 23 the premiere of Albert (Cubby) Broccoli’s new James Bond thriller, “A View to Kill,” starring Roger Moore one more time as Agent 007, will benefit the Westside Center for Independent Living, Inc.

If you’ve always wanted to live in an 18th-Century French chateau, love comfort and find even the largest of American homes a little confining, we have just the place for you. It’s the Chateau de Menars, one of Europe’s most beautiful homes and the favorite of the Marquise de Pompadour, who acquired the chateau and the title in 1760. Madame de Pompadour was by then in search of peace and calm, a place to retire from the hectic activities of the French court. On the practical side, the chateau is one hour and forty-five minutes away from Paris, going south on Autoroute A 10. It has 47 bedrooms, all with adjoining baths. And surprisingly for a historic French chateau, it has heating. Edward Lee Cave of New York, who for many years headed Sotheby’s real estate arm, is the man who can make all your dreams come true.

French President Francois Mitterrand has nominated Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, chairman of the Executive Committee of Times Mirror Co., to the rank of Officier de l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur. France’s Consul General Francois Mouton will make the presentation Monday at a reception hosted by Otis Chandler, chairman of the board and editor-in-chief of Times Mirror, and Robert F. Erburu, Times Mirror president and chief executive officer.

Lunching last week at Joachim Splichal’s Max au Triangle, Architectural Digest’s Editor-in-Chief Paige Rense, a regular; Linda May; Nancy Keatinge( with architect Stanley Felderman who is responsible for the look of Max and also of Touch, the private club. And on recent evenings, the diners have included the Neil Diamonds with Burt Bacharach and his wife Carole Bayer Sager; Shakira and Michael Caine; Sally Field; the flamboyant Warner Le Roy, and Peter Falk.

Kathryn Sexton and her son Patrick, the real estate developer, invited all their friends--as they do each year--to Villa Monte Vista for an Easter Sunday brunch. A 6-foot-tall “bunny” passed out the Easter eggs. The rest of the celebration took on Mexican touches: The main course was 75 lobsters imported from Patrick Sexton’s Castillo del Mar, Baja California home and a Mexican guitarist strolled the gardens of the five-level Mediterranean-style home. Among the guests--Kathryn’s daughter and Patrick’s sister, Kay Brown with her best chum Webster Phillips; Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson; Peggy Lee, the singer; Alice Hartfield with Gregg Juarez and his mother, Inez, who came in from La Jolla for the festivities; Agnes Anderson; Rafael de Marchena; the Baron Herbert Hischemoeller; Mark Nixon along with a slew of other friends.

Creating a stir at Morton’s--Australian publishing tycoon and now half owner of 20th Century Fox--Rupert Murdoch with his wife and children; Cleveland Brown’s owner Art Modell and his wife; People magazine cover mates Jacqueline Bisset and Alexander Godunov; Barbara Walters with John Adelson, son of Merv Adelson, the man her friends say Barbara will soon wed; Kalef Alaton with Shirley and Simon Berira; Sherry Lansing with Dan Reisner.

And livening up the Bistro at lunch time--Lucy Doheny Battson with Mrs. William Doheny, Mrs. Tim Doheny, Mrs. John Lordan; June Grace Walker, executive director of the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange, with Mrs. Tom Jones and Mrs. Henry Singleton.