Proposal Has Them Walking on Air
For romance, this takes the caviar. Let us tell you how Stephen Cornell Trewhitt III proposed to Jamie Elizabeth McMahan, who will wed Saturday at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Albert McMahan (he’s the owner of McMahan’s Furniture Co.).
She received a handwritten note one morning. “Wash your hair, do your nails and wait for the next message this afternoon.” Suspecting the instructions were from her true love, Jamie obliged. That afternoon, the second note arrived telling her to put on her prettiest dress, drive over to a Century City office building, park, go to the second floor, introduce herself to a particular guard. She did, and he escorted her to the rooftop helicopter pad. “I’m expecting you,” said the pilot. “Hop in.” She did, as the two and the co-pilot took off.
They flew out over Malibu, landed atop a mountain. Then the co-pilot turned around and presented himself in white tie and tails--it was her fiance--and instructed the helicopter to fly off.
A table with linen had been set. The champagne was chilled, the caviar ready. “Would you marry me?” Trewhitt asked.
After 20 minutes the pilot reappeared. Returning, they buzzed their parents’ homes (his are the junior Trewhitts), landed downtown, had dinner in a romantic corner of The Tower restaurant, and went shopping the next day for a diamond with sapphires.
Maybe it wasn’t perfect protocol, but Bert Banta was on hand in black-tie Sunday afternoon in San Marino when his mother, Mrs. Merle Banta, introduced her son’s fiancee, Miss Darrell Chulay, to all her lady friends. Twixt the tea, canapes and sweets, the engaged couple giggled romantically about their courtship and told a ring-giving story.
Before she received her pretty antique diamond, Bert led Darrell on a sort of scavenger hunt, with visits to her family, his family, even to the old family home where he grew up, out of sheer nostalgia. The last stop was San Marino Community Church, where they’ll wed Dec. 28. There the handsome Bert set his fiancee down on the stone bench, actually got down on his knees and proposed.
Honorary chairman Pebbles Wadsworth and co-chairs Judith Holden and Caryl Carothers have brainstormed an elaborate evening of sophisticated fun for 400 Oct. 13 on the Ahmanson Terrace of UCLA’s Royce Hall.
“San Francisco Experience” fetes Helgi Tomasson, newly appointed artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet and members of the ballet. It’s under the auspices of the UCLA Center for the Arts and Music Center Dance Presentations.
Post-performance at Royce Hall, the trio envisions a post-performance repast overlooking a Golden Gate Bridge, with a dining scenario of twinkling Westwood lights and dancing to the UCLA Jazz Combo while mingling (maybe dancing) with ballet dancers.
Just for the record, the Golden Gate will be scaled down to 30 feet, but the cable cars will look life-size. Benefit tickets are $125 for the festivities, the closing night of the ballet here.
The Masters’ Circle at Flintridge Preparatory School is comprised of recent donors of more than $1,000. And, it’s quite a group, according to Boyd Higgins, Prep trustee. Tuesday at Annandale Golf Club they and the school’s trustees honor Edor G. Anderson Jr., Prep headmaster, and his wife, Serena, in celebration of the headmaster’s tenth anniversary at the school.
Mrs. Thomas Stoever, chairman of the trustee development committee, and a raft of others including the Robert Bannings, Dr. and Mrs. Charles R. Battaglia, the Henry and the John Brauns, the John E. Brooks, the Stephen J. Cannells, Drs. Ann and Malcolm Coffee, the Michael D. Dalanys, Russell Decker, the John S. DeGroots, the James Dickasons, the William Drewrys III, the Ben Earls, the Earle M. Jorgensens, the Kingston McKees, the Norman Mitchells, the John F. Sheas and the Charles B. Thorntons Jr. have a soft place in their hearts for Flintridge.
Moving Ahead: Directors of the Academy of Performing and Visual Arts have invited friends to become charter patrons of a new foundation for the academy. Tony Bill and Ruth Bloom host breakfast Thursday at 72 Market Place restaurant in Venice. The Academy was founded in 1984 with an initial state grant which enabled UCLA Extension and a consortium of 15 county school districts to fund Saturday classes to enhance the arts and career counseling for high school students.
Genevieve McSweeney and Lilian Prusan, co-presidents of the John Douglas French Founding Associates for Alzheimer’s Disease, introduce their new board to Dorothy Kirsten French at tea Thursday at the Marquis West. Then, Oct. 16, they meet at the home of Olga Erteszek for the announcement of a major gala next March.