Visit to a Different Magic Kingdom

Anthony Duquette, the multitalented artist, has taken his 150-acre ranch in the Malibu hills just above the Ventura County line and turned it into a magical kingdom. There are pergolas and cupolas, gazebos, even a Thai sailing vessel plus hidden trails, trellised walks and five houses set into the trees (all planted by Tony) and painted his particular shade of turquoise.

That fanciful setting is where Tony gave a birthday luncheon for his wife, Elizabeth, the artist who is called Beegle by all her chums, a Gemini like her husband. There have been earlier Gemini celebrations and there are bound to be many more for the Duquettes and their Gemini pals. But this one had its own special charm.

The pre-luncheon refreshments--Beegle’s pate, margaritas, taquitos, crudites, Tony’s favorite Red Eric Danish beer (the late Doris Stein introduced him to the beverage)--were served in a walkway covered by vines and flowers.

Lunch--a Mexican melange of chiles rellenos, enchiladas, rice and beans--was served on a nearby terrace. And by then the sun had emerged from the clouds.

Many of the guests arrived bearing gifts. Author Mary Anita Loos, who drove up with Jay Allen and Oscar-winning (for “Spartacus”) costume designer Bill Thomas, brought a straw hat decorated with dried flowers for Beegle and nut corn for Tony. (The guests devoured it after they’d eaten the chocolate birthday cake.) Cynthia Lindsay brought a framed photo she’d taken in Switzerland of a pink-nosed cow decorated with spring posies. Hutton and Ruth Wilkinson were there helping host the afternoon affair while their Highland terrier, Jipper, a red bandanna around his neck, behaved like a perfect gentleman.

After lunch, Tony took people on tours up and down the hilly terrain and into the guest houses. Admiring the decor (the faux wood and marble walls) and Tony’s store of treasures were actor Robert Patton, back from San Francisco where he did some Ralph Lauren commercials; banker Harry and Marjorie (Lord) Volk; Katy and Freeman Gates; Tony’s brother Lucien Duquette; theatrical producer David Knapp (his mother, Gladys Knapp, is another Gemini); Anne Chamberlain; Anne Mudd, who is now in the fashion business with her daughter, and Alden and Sheila Pearce.

When Cuisine a Roulettes, the organization that last year served 186,000 meals to needy homebound and forgotten seniors in the Central Los Angeles area, stages a fund-raising event, it’s done with plenty of pizazz. On June 15 it will be an Old West theme for a party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Kilroy, who recently annexed the former Atwater Kent estate to their own. Everyone’s being asked to don Western duds for the root-toot-tooting cocktail hour, the “El Grande” chuck-wagon dinner, for the active dancing and the entertainment. While the lights twinkle below, there will be some exploring to do around the once-buried gardens and the ruins which the Kilroys have excavated on the Atwater Kent property, scene in Hollywood’s golden years of some pretty exceptional parties. Roulettes, also known as SAM’s C.A.R.S., was founded by Nelly Llanos and Kathy Kilroy to help Sister Alice Marie Quinn’s St. Vincent Senior Citizen Nutrition Program. Sister Alice is known as Sister S.A.M., and therefore Roulettes is often referred to as Sam’s C.A.R.S.

The Social Scramble: Last month at its annual dinner meeting at the Riding and Polo Club in Burbank, the Junior League of Los Angeles introduced its new officers. Among them were Sue Patrick, the new president who succeeds Lea Ann King; Carolyn Milner, president-elect; Barbara Wright, vice president; Barbara Bundy, treasurer; Joan Tisdall, secretary, and Jill Walker, director of the Community Council.

Eugenia Chandris, author of the well-researched book on how the feminine figure adds weight (Doubleday’s “The Venus Syndrome”), has been moving around the country promoting her book and visiting with chums. In San Francisco, Mrs. Gordon Getty (flame-haired Ann) gave a party for Eugenia in her Pacific Heights home, and the guest of honor who is used to the best (she’s from a Greek shipping family) was impressed with Ann’s style of entertaining. Ann, having bought Grove Press recently with England’s Lord Weidenfeld, is now a publisher, and she and her partner have commissioned Eugenia to write a book for them on a subject she knows well--the Greek shipping clans.

Lunching inside at Ma Maison--Roger Vadim, the director who discovered Brigitte Bardot, and Orson Welles.

Skitch Henderson surprised Rosemary Clooney with a birthday party at Jim McMullen’s, the popular New York restaurant. And among the chums delighted to be in on the “Happy Birthdays” were Rosemary’s son Miguel, Josh and Nedda Logan, the Edward Tishmans, Philip Morris executives Guy Smith and Harrison Poole and the band that backs Rosemary up on her singing engagements.

Red Letter Days: June 17 when the Western Regional Office of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation reveals “exciting plans to save the Lady” and welcomes Nancy Sureck, national director of special and cultural events, at a cocktail party at the Regency Club hosted by Suzanne Marx.

June 11 when Martin and Anne Schaffer celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the Beverly Hilton’s L’Escoffier Room. Anne is the author of “Dear Deedee.”

Thursday for the artists’ reception at the Seventh Street Bistro for Eric Zimmerman, Tom Bianchi, John Garrett, Joe Fay, Lita Albuquerque, Kent Twitchell and Scott Grieger. Their latests works will be on view at the downtown restaurant through Sept. 6.

June 23 when the Windsor-Square-Hancock Park Historical Society tours the formal gardens and the children’s playhouse at Greenacres, the former home of Harold Lloyd and now occupied by Dona Powell. The wine reception will be hosted by Ma Maison’s Patrick Terrail.

June 21 when the Institute for Cancer and Blood Research hosts the star-studded benefit opening night of 20th Century Fox’s “Cocoon” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

June 30 for the Day Nursery Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Southern California-sponsored Golden Mallet Invitational Polo Tournament at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. Mrs. Edward Elkins, Eva Elkins, Mrs. Glen Holden, Mrs. H. Richard Stone Jr. and Mrs. Larry B. Thrall Sr. were some of those in attendance at the polo tournament’s kick-off luncheon last month at the Bistro Garden.

Oct. 20 when the Beverly Hills Charitable Foundation and B’nai B’rith Lodge make Aaron Spelling (television’s “Dynasty,” “Love Boat,” etc.) Man of the Year at a dinner-dance at the Beverly Hilton. Studio head Marvin Davis is honorary chairman for the celebration.

Dec. 5 when Baseball Commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth receives the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s 1985 Scopus Award. The awards gala, the university’s 16th, will be held at the Century Plaza Hotel, according to Chancellor Avraham Harman and William Weinberg, president of the Western States Region of the American Friends of the Hebrew University.

Past Tense: Mr. and Mrs. Jay Pritzker hosted a black-tie dinner in honor of the seventh winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Award, Austrian architect Hans Hollein. The perfect setting for the presentation of the Henry Moore sculpture that goes with the award (the $100,000 check was given to Hollein at ceremonies at the Museum of Modern Art) was the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. Huntington’s trustees, overseers and director joined the Pritzkers in co-hosting the party. In the festive crowd that evening were Mr. and Mrs. Norman Baker Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. Quincy Jones; Ray Eames; Christian De Groote, who was a classmate of Hollein’s at the Illinois Institute of Technology; gallery owner Gail Feingarten with Judge Matt Byrne; architect Frank Gehry and his wife, Bertha; Mr. and Mrs. Brendan Gill; the Robert Erburus; former Ambassador and Mrs. Thomas J. Watson Jr.; former Atty. Gen. and Mrs. William French Smith; collector Robert Gore Rifkind and his wife, Stephanie Barron, a curator at the County Museum of Art, and set designer (“Cotton Club”) Richard Sylbert with Sharmagne Leland-St. John.