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Women in Show Business Benefit Due

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Times Staff Writer

Fashion entrepreneur Joanna Carson and Johnny Grant, vice president of public affairs and special projects for Golden West Television, head the honorary dinner committee for the Women in Show Business Silver Anniversary Celebrity Benefit Ball on Oct. 19 at the Century Plaza.

In fact, the entire evening is star-studded. Charlton Heston is honorary chairman. Gregory Peck will receive the Angel of the Year Award.

Peck has assiduously supported Women in Show Business in its efforts to provide reconstructive and restorative surgery for needy children.

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Says president Sherry Tischler, “We have been overwhelmed by Mr. Peck’s generous moral and financial support on our behalf, and he justly deserves this recognition and grateful thank you from women in show business everywhere.”

Linda Desiante and Scherr Lillico will co-chair the dinner event followed by a Las Vegas-type show featuring prominent entertainers and dancers. A top evening.

The Southern California Assn. of Directors of Volunteer Services started small but with big goals. Now it’s a sophisticated network of highly professional people. Past and present members will celebrate the association’s 25th anniversary Sept. 13 at the California Yacht Club.

Many of the first executive committee and founding members, now retired, will attend. They include Eleanor Wasson, UCLA; Mary Scales, Cedars of Lebanon; Helena Hult, Santa Monica Hospital; Margaret Heck, Whittier Presbyterian Inter-Community Hospital; Billie Peoples, St. John’s Hospital; Cora Darfler Wilson, Orthopedic; Marian Jeffries, Resthaven; Jane Kimball, Huntington Memorial; Mary Helms, Childrens; Blanche Mydland, California. Founders Virginia Devore, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, and Ellen Baker, Memorial of Long Beach, also will be there.

Elsie Sadler, director of community development at Huntington Memorial, notes that volunteer groups were relatively common after World War II, but in California they traditionally operated under the aegis of a women’s auxiliary. In 1952, they met in Los Angeles to explore ways to maximize their voluntary action in regional hospitals.

According to Mrs. Sadler, the Los Angeles Volunteer Bureau and the Welfare Planning Council strongly influenced volunteer services, under the direction of Evelyn K. Davies, were the creative forces in the movement.

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During the ‘60s, volunteers flocked to offer their time and service to community hospitals, she said. Then hospitals began hiring individuals to organize volunteer programs, merging them with the administrative teams.

As hospitals change, she said, volunteer directors are still working to ensure the human touch balances high-tech developments.

It “doesn’t make any sense to art lovers and artists,” said Ricki de Kramer of the Pasadena Art Alliance. Regardless, the Baxter Art Gallery on the Caltech campus will close Sept. 2 after an “irreversible” decision by Caltech president Marvin Goldberger.

Fiscal reasons and a lack of effectiveness in enhancing student life have been cited as reasons for the closure. Goldberger is turning over a pledge of $7,500, which Caltech originally planned to spend for a feasibility study on the gallery, to director Jay Belloli, who hopes to continue a contemporary, nonprofit art gallery elsewhere in Pasadena.

Members of the Baxter Art Gallery and the Pasadena Art Alliance will join Sept. 5 for an “Over the Rainbow” party to celebrate the gallery’s 15 years. Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and dancing are planned. Marcy Fowler is party chairman, assisted by Ricki de Kramer, Mary Gerke and Pat Grisinger.

The closing exhibit, “25 Years of Space Photography, JPL, Caltech,” which has had an attendance of more than 7,000, travels on to the IBM Gallery of Science and Art in New York City for a Nov. 5 opening.

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We told you earlier about the Libros y Artes de San Juan Capistrano “At Home in an English Country House” benefit in November. But first, on Sept. 7, the library and cultural center--designed by world-famous architect Michael Graves--celebrates its second anniversary with a gala and exhibition of Piranesi works from the London Collection of B. Weinreb Ltd., London.

Those busy Navy Belles of the Navy League, who just gave a luncheon at the California Yacht Club honoring Comdr. Charles Rogers, USN Ret. (better known as Buddy Rogers), celebrate the Coast Guard’s 195th birthday with an old-fashioned Sunday afternoon party today at the Coast Guard Clubhouse, according to president Edna Ralston.

Louise Larsen, Margaret Haycraft and Ethel Fussel are assisting with arrangements.

The new Museum of Contemporary Art is nearing completion in California Plaza; construction of the Dance Gallery is next. In a futuristic mood, the Dance Gallery Guild plans a summer festivity of the arts this afternoon. California wines, conversation and specialties of the host, Chaya Brasserie, are on the agenda.

It’s a romantic day for Ida and Bernard Weinberger who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at a garden party hosted by Sandy and Norty Giffis and Marla Horn. Her brothers, Dave and Bill Papier, and their wives, Ruth and Rose, have flown in from Ohio for the fun.

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