Naval Operations Chief to Be Honored on Friday

Adm. James D. Watkins, formerly of Alhambra and now the chief of naval operations, will be duly, and we do mean duly, honored Friday evening at a gala at the Century Plaza. He will receive Polytechnic Institute of New York’s Award for Creative Technology.

A who’s who, says John Charnay, of Los Angeles business and industry will attend the dinner headed by Roy Anderson of Lockheed. Prior recipients have been Joseph J. Jacobs, Dr. Allen E. Puckett and Fred W. O’Green.

According to Charnay, three of Litton Industries’ top vice presidents, three presidents of Lockheed Corp. subsidiaries and more than 100 key Hughes Aircraft and 50 key TRW employes all are among the stream of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who are graduates of this polytechnic located in downtown Brooklyn.

Supporting the dinner are Anderson of Lockheed, Jacobs of Jacobs Engineering Group, Puckett of Hughes Aircraft Co., Tom Johnson of the Los Angeles Times, Fred Hartley of Unocal, Tom Jones of Northrop, Earle M. Jorgensen of Jorgensen Steel, O’Green of Litton and John Teske of Garrett Corp.

The Museum of Science and Industry is gung-ho in its efforts to boast 5 million visitors at the museum for fiscal 1984-85. It’s already passed the 4 million mark and the upcoming benefit premiere of “Speed” at the Mitsubishi IMAX Theater at the museum on Friday and Saturday evenings will add impetus, with 300 each night.

For those who don’t know, IMAX (a permanent theater at the museum) is the form of cinema in which the viewer sees a picture about five stories high and 70 feet wide. It’s like 3-D without glasses.

“Speed,” a MacGillivray-Freeman Film spectacular, is an odyssey through time and imagination--from neolithic man’s primary understanding of speed to future transport at the speed of light. It uses “Albert Einstein,” who’s supposed to have said that “imagination is more important than knowledge,” as its navigator.

The $35 donation assures hors d’oeuvres and will double as a one-year membership to the museum. The foundation (with an annual budget of about $1 million) has 2,100 members.

“Speed” will join “To Fly” and “Living Planet” as films shown daily at the theater.

At the annual Builders of Scopus luncheon at the Beverly Hills home of William Weinberg, former First Lady Betty Ford bestowed the Golda Meir Fellowship Award on Jane Weintraub.

It’s for her devotion to humanitarian causes and her family.

The group is the women’s committee of the American Friends of the Hebrew University. The Golda Meir Fellowship Fund underwrites the Meir fellows for scholarship.

Additionally, the Hebrew University’s Torch of Learning Award was presented to Arline Susswein, Builders chairman three years.

Adding the light touch was Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno, currently appearing in “The Odd Couple” at the Ahmanson Theatre.

Supervisor Peter and Gerry Schabarum got things off to a nice start with a party at their home in Covina Hills honoring major sponsors and donors of the Michelob Light Celebrity Sports Classic. It’s Saturday and Sunday at the Claremont Tennis Club, with proceeds targeted for the San Gabriel Valley YWCA-WINGS Shelter for battered women and children.

Robert Wagner and Jill St. John are special celebrity guests joining 50 others who know a bit about tennis, like John Forsythe and Anne Jeffreys.

Ann Baker is chairman. On the steering committee are Bernadette Moreno, Sue Brook, Faye Carter, Sue Clark, Karen Eichron, Meredith Flanaghan, Gerry Schabarum, Jan Ward, Sue Reed, Sylvia Marshall, Betsy Kaplan, Marilyn Malcolm, Steven Heath and a bunch more.

The private sector needs to raise $250,000 toward the first year’s operating costs of the new Los Angeles County High School for the Arts to be housed on the Cal State L.A. campus.

That’s got Patty Duke of the Friends of Music of California State University in the celebrity spot seeking contributions from an honorary committee. It all adds up to a gala dinner and auction Saturday at the Beverly Hilton, hosted by the Friends and the Conservatory of Music.

Also at Cal State L.A., the Black Alliance for Scholarship and Education (BASE) hosts its second annual scholarship and awards banquet Saturday at the student union.

BASE will present $15,000 for college scholarships to ethnic minority students.

Achievement awards for educational leadership will go to Wallace Albertson, head of Cal State L.A.’s trustees; Dr. Herbert Carter, vice chancellor; Charlene Diggs, teacher at Whaley Junior High; Marla Gibbs, actress; Nathaniel Goldston and Sharon L. Graine, entrepreneurs; Dr. James Rosser, Cal State L.A. president, and Hal Williams, actor.

The Women’s Council of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center is bound to be educated on Eastern medical philosophy at its Oriental luncheon Monday at Hunan Taste restaurant.

Dr. Harry Lusk discusses acupuncture and acupressure. Mme. S. T. Ting Wong, cookbook author, talks on the nutritional value of Asian cooking. Fred Siciliano comments on the use of natural herbs to maintain good health.

Good News: Charter members of Crittenton Center for Young Women and Infants’ Community Council met for their inaugural gathering of the new group at a cocktail party coordinated by Suzanne Marx at the Regency Club.

Chairman Albert D. Shonk Jr. heads the Center. Board president Richard M. Gardner has set a goal of 20 members for the council, which includes Sybil Brand, Dr. Shirley L. Fannin, C. William Ford, Susan Forward, Valerie Harper, Anne Jeffreys, Howard Keel, Stuart J. Marylander, Rita Moreno and Esther Wachtell.

The Pasadena Guild of the California Institute for Cancer Research at UCLA meets May 23 at the home of Mrs. Harry Booth.

Mrs. Byrd Christian is incoming president, replacing Mrs. James S. Bruce. Others on the board will be Mmes. Robert Daily, Lindsay Macdonnell, Robert Snoddy, Phillip J. Buckler and Anthony Phillips.