Rita Hayworth Feted at Group Benefit

Those dazzling newlyweds, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan and Greek shipping heir Basil Embiricos, made their first public appearance as a married couple at the national benefit for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Assn. at New York’s Pierre Hotel, where the ballroom was abloom in pink roses.

The evening was a tribute to the princess’ mother, movie goddess Rita Hayworth, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and included on the program was a montage of Miss Hayworth’s most memorable film moments. Dapper Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was master of ceremonies and served on the honorary committee with his wife, Mary Lee. Palm Beach’s Pat Cook sang.

President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan were the benefit’s honorary patrons; Count and Countess Frederic Chandon were the evening’s benefactors. The count is vice chairman of Moet Hennessy, which underwrote the entire event (tickets were $1,000 per person, and all of the proceeds went to the Alzheimer’s association) and provided generous amounts of their Moet & Chandon Champagne, Simi wines and Hennessy cognac.

The star turnout was sparkling, too, including Robyn and Fred Astaire; Barbara and Frank Sinatra; Gene Kelly; young Tyrone Power, who looks very much like his late father; Hayworth’s co-star in “Gilda,” Glenn Ford; Mr. and Mrs. Jack Lemmon; Mr. and Mrs. Jason Robards, and Raquel Welch, who was the benefit’s honorary chairman. Her husband, Andre Weinfeld, was also there, as was Polly Bergen; Lynda Carter; Mrs. Ray Stark; Mrs. Joshua Logan; Jane and former Ambassador Guilford Dudley; Cartier President Ralph Destino with Houston’s glamorous Joan Schnitzer; Minnie and former Carnation chief Dwight Stuart; Elizabeth Arden President Joseph Ronchetti and wife, Dodi Fayed (the producer); Estee Lauder and, of course, Jerry Zipkin.

For you fashion buffs, Princess Yasmin, the evening’s general chairman (Mrs. George F. Berlinger was chairman), wore an intensely pink satin gown by Manfred Schneider of Munich, and Countess Chandon, the granddaughter of Somerset Maugham, wore a white Valentino.

The new technology is changing everything. Take the opening of the new Westside Pavilion at Pico and Westwood boulevards Thursday. Instead of scissors, a laser beam will be used to cut the ribbon, marking the opening of the pavilion, the latest of L.A.’s shopping malls. The opening night celebration will benefit both the John Wayne Cancer Clinic and the Cultural Commission.

Hosting the exotic affair, with its theme of “Gateway to Far Away Pavilions,” are Nancy and Carroll O’Connor, Millicent and Robert Wise and Larry and Maj Hagman. Invitations are in the form of mini-passports, and Julie and Michael Loshin’s Parties Plus is in charge of transforming the pavilion into an international marketplace. The winning combo that night will be foods, fashions, art and entertainment from around the world.

Co-chairing the benefit are Diane Feldman, Marlene Riceberg, Sherry Sexton and Millicent Wise. Expected to wander through the mall, anchored by the May Co. and Nordstrom, are Richard Green, president of Westfield Inc., which developed the mall (Frank and David Lowy, members of the Australian family that owns Westfield Holdings, are underwriting the affair); Jeff Hochberger, manager of the Westside Pavilion; Maureen Womack; Toni La Cava, Sherwin Mammel and hordes more.

Proceeds from the $75-per-person event will be divided by the Cultural Commission, which will use the money for its ongoing programs in visual and theater arts, music, dance and literature, and by the John Wayne Cancer Clinic for its ongoing research in new techniques for treatment of cancer.

The Social Scramble: French Consul General Francois Mouton, French Cultural Attache Claude Bouheret and Robert J. Fitzpatrick, director of the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival and the 1987 Los Angeles Festival, co-host the special screening of Ariane Mnouchkine’s film, “Moliere,” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday.

The Motion Picture and Television Fund’s Award of Honor, the Silver Medallion, will be presented to Mrs. Lew Wasserman and producer Howard Koch on June 20 at a luncheon at Chasen’s. Times Arts Editor Charles Champlin will do the presenting.

Social satirist and wit Armistead Maupin, who kept social San Francisco on its tippy toes with his serialized “Tales of the City,” will liven things up considerably when he speaks at the Stonewall Democratic Club’s 10th annual celebration June 14 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Stonewall’s purpose is to “create social change and a safer environment not merely for lesbians and gay men, but for the physically challenged seniors, ethnic minorities and women.” Attorney Sheldon Andelson and actress-activist Jane Fonda are the honorary co-chairmen.

Dale Snodgrass gave a birthday luncheon for her pal, Jane Kramer, at the Regency Club the other afternoon, and among those wishing Jane a very happy birthday were Sachi Irwin, Father Maurice Chase, Sue Harwick, Suzanne Marx, Suzie Cross, Minnie Stuart, Victoria Bolker, Jean Stuart, Faith Porter and Ruth Gross. From her husband, Robert, Jane received a shopping spree in New York. She took off immediately.

Richard McKenzie’s recent paintings of Ireland are on view at Washington’s Mickelson Gallery through June 8. Dick and his wife, Ava, Fred Astaire’s daughter, spend part of each year at their seacoast farm in West Cork.

Past Tense: Esther Williams was just one of a legion of celebrities who showed up at Connie Stevens’ Holmby Hills home to meet Emmanuel, the current Latino singing sensation (no less than Julio Iglesias has praised him). The former matador is of Spanish and Peruvian heritage, and has already wowed the crowds at concerts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Good as Emmanuel is, our heart still belongs to Julio.

Lady Bird Johnson and Helen Hayes chaired “The Night of the Wildflowers,” a dinner-dance benefit at New York’s Seventh Regiment Armory for the National Wildflower Research Center. Co-chairing the party were Mr. and Mrs. Laurance S. Rockefeller, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel P. Reed and Mrs. Benno C. Schmidt. And drawn to the benefit committee were such popular Manhattanites as Happy Rockefeller, Bill Blass, Barbara Walters, Geraldine Stutz Gibbs, Jan Cowles and Oscar de la Renta.

Leon H. Charney, author of “Special Counsel,” a behind-the-scenes look at the negotiations that led to the Camp David peace treaty, caught up with some former cronies from the Carter White House--former White House Counsel Robert J. Lipshutz and former White House Adviser on Middle East Affairs Edward Sanders among them--at a reunion hosted by Roger Lewis and his wife, Hope Boonshaft-Lewis, who first met while they were working for the Carter Administration.

Dale Mattes staged his first non-Japanese art show at his Arts of Japan Gallery on La Brea, and on hand for the reception and the preview of “California Impressionists: 1890-1945” were Arnold Ashkenazy, the David Victors, Jack and Mel Lowrance, Max Eckert, Stephen and Ethel Longstreet, Dr. Joseph and Helene Pollock, novelist Victoria Wolff, Anne Kneedler and Billie Hayes.

Giorgio’s Fred Hayman was back home again in Zurich to introduce his Giorgio fragrance at Grieder, the world-class fashion and specialty store on Bahnhofstrasse, where the yellow daffodils were in full bloom, yellow-and-white confetti filled the air and Giorgio’s familiar yellow-and-white striped awnings took on an international flavor. On hand for the socializing and the couture show were Grieder’s owners, Jon-Jacques and Michel Brunschwig, Fred’s 89-year-old mother, Irma, and his sister and brother-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Jurg Barth.

To show that they’ve adapted nicely to Los Angeles’ cultural heritage, Rohit and Karen Gravett Joshi gave a Latin-flavored fiesta (Antonio’s furnished the mole, enchiladas, etc.) at their home for Dr. P. C. Luthar of Bombay, India. Dr. Luthar, a former diplomat and chairman of his government’s State Trading Corp., was on a good-will mission to the United States.