Rodeo Drive Gala Corrals the Talent

The ladies sipping tea--hot and cold--in the Beverly Wilshire’s El Padrino were all wearing Cheshire cat grins. And justifiably so. With still a week to go, their efforts on the Rodeo Drive Committee’s International Gala (Nov. 1 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel) are already well on the way to being the best of the best.

At the table eager to talk about guest lists, decor, entertainment, food, music were co-chairman Frances Klein, the Rodeo Drive antique jewelry dealer; Pamela Jenkinson Leavitt, representing the County Museum of Art, which will reap the proceeds from the gala; Nellie Llanos, chairman of the museum’s Costume Council and her daughter, Mrs. Michael Wallace, who’s on the museum’s small, but prestigious Director’s Roundtable (both groups will also benefit); Laura Segal who handles PR for the committee. Originally the committee (founded in 1977 to spread the word on Rodeo Drive) gave grand, elegant parties and honored such international celebrities as Dr. Aldo Gucci, retailing giant Cyril Magnin and fashion doyenne Diana Vreeland. No charities were involved. And then the committee saw the light and last year’s proceeds (that gala honored James Galanos) and this year’s (honoring Parisian designer Vicomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes) are both charitable functions.

“It’s going to be gorgeous,” Frances Klein said of the floral decor. She’s been spending a great deal of time with Flower Fashions’ Fred Gibbons on such details as baskets of flowers hanging from the ceiling of the Beverly Wilshire’s Grand Ballroom, box hedges, topiary trees and garlands. “Everything,” she added, “will be in the French colors--red, white and blue. The tablecloths will be royal blue and the centerpieces a brilliant red.” The 650 guests will dance to Les Brown’s orchestra and be serenaded by 30 of Murray Korda’s Strings during the cocktail hour and between courses. There won’t be a fashion show per se. But there will be a chance to see mini-vignettes of the vicomtesse’s latest collection.

Betsy Bloomingdale, Mrs. Llanos reported , is “honorary international hostess. She agreed because she likes what we’re doing at the Costume Council where we have 1,000 members and last year celebrated our 30th anniversary.” Mrs. Bloomingdale confirmed the statement. “I think they’re doing wonderful things.”

The rest chimed in with other details. Real estate developer Donald Tronstein is the committee chairman. Co-chairing the gala with Mrs. Klein are, among more, Tiffany’s Roberta Herbison, Vidal Sassoon’s Andrew Forbes, and the Beverly Wilshire’s George White plus for the museum Mrs. Llanos and Mrs. Jess Marlow.

You’ll be pleased at the number of familiar faces expected to show--Joan Collins who is a friend of Vicomtesse de Ribes and wears her clothes; David and Teddy Orgell; Henry and Stacey Winkler; Danny and Rose Marie Thomas; Sedge and Henry Plitt; Caroline Ahmanson; Barbara (Pauley) and Bill Pagen; Dona and Dwight Kendall; Katherine and Bob Ray Offenhauser; Joni and Clark Smith; Tim and Nancy Vreeland; Grace and Merrill Lowell; Max and Eleanor Baril; Dick and Judy Carroll; Fred Joailler’s Sergio Baril; Somper Furs’ Penny and Edd Jacobs; Mr. Guy’s Guy Greengard; Dar Mahboubia-Fardi and his wife Mahie; David Jones (he’s one of a group of male members of the Costume Council); Doris Fields Heller; Kathryn (Klinger) and Rudi Belton; Kathy Kilroy; Patricia Kennedy. You get the picture, don’t you?

Jayne and Henry Berger’s “Berger Bijou” (a private screening room on the Bel-Air Circuit) opened for the new season the other night and all the ingredients were happily the same. First came the buffet in the Copper Room, an array of hot dogs, chili, potato salad, chocolate mousse with some new additions like chicken hash and chocolate chip cookies. And then the Bergers’ guests settled down on comfortable upholstered sofas and chairs to munch on popcorn and watch the movie. Later there were drinks as the conversational threads were tied up neatly.

Irving Wallace, Herbert Hutner, Cyd Charisse and Connie Towers came solo. Irving’s wife Sylvia was recouping from a European holiday at the Golden Door. Herb’s wife Juli was visiting her family in Missouri. Cyd’s husband Tony Martin was singing in Pennsylvania. And Connie’s husband, ambassador to Mexico John Gavin, was at his post in Mexico City. Pretty Angie Dickinson, smiling happily, was with an old beau, director Richard Brooks; Richard Gully was with Claudia Mirkin; Ed Michelove was with Nancy Hempel. And Jerry and Virginia Oppenheimer, who’ve been married more years than they like to count, always look like newlyweds.

The former Beverly Hills estate of that great collector, William Randolph Hearst, and actress Marion Davies (now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Ross) will be the glamorous setting for the Prime Minister’s Club of Israel Bonds dinner-dance on Oct. 29. Among the hilltop estate’s major attractions are a 60-foot-ballroom. Madcap Marion is said to have rowed a boat along the series of connecting waterfalls and pools.

In the midst of that splendid ‘20s setting will be the hosts, Club President Carl Rheuban and his wife Debbie, plus Jerry and Jane Weintraub, Sandra Moss, Bill and Barbara Belzberg, Merv Adelson, Marvin and Esther Cohen, Barry and Carol Kaye.

While David Wolper, the genius behind the opening and closing extravaganzas of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, was in New York, he accepted a casual invitation from some TV Guide executives to lunch. What editorial director Merrill Panitt failed to tell him was that it was going to be an awards luncheon and that TV Guide was presenting Wolper with the fifth annual Life Achievement Award. (Previous awards went to Edward R. Murrow, Sylvester L. (Pat) Weaver Jr., Lucille Ball and William S. Paley.) Wolper’s citation was for his more than 600 productions, among them “Roots” and “The Thorn Birds” and for his contribution to the Olympic Games. Wolper showed his usual aplomb. And what’s he doing now? Well, among other projects, he’s preparing for the opening ceremonies of the new and totally refurbished Statue of Liberty next year.

The Social Scramble: Princess Ira von Furstenberg, the dark-haired beauty who is causing such a commotion over her friendship with Monaco’s Prince Rainier, is now gainfully employed as the international representative of Tzigany Fine Arts of Geneva. Ira will be working out of the firm’s new London quarters on Dover Street in Mayfair where Antoine Cheneviere hosted a party last week to celebrate the expansion.

This evening, the Stella Polaris Gallery hosts a reception for Elizabeth Keck and her latest works. “‘My last exhibit was 15 years ago (her style was Impressionist then),” she told us over lunch a few days ago. “And since then I haven’t had much time to paint. But I’m trying hard to be an artist and four years ago I went abstract (her abstracts are large, light and joyful).” She protests she’s “scared stiff” about this new show, which will run at the gallery through Nov. 16. But also “thrilled about the whole thing.”

Red Letter Days: Tonight, when British Consul General and Mrs. Donald Ballentyne host a reception at their residence for the Earl of Lichfield at their residence. And later, J. C. Penney Vice President Ken Ogg takes the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Patrick Lichfield off to the Chaya Brasserie for a very small and private dinner party. You do know that the duke and duchess (he’s Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousin) and Patrick Lichfield (he’s the queen’s cousin, too) are in town helping J. C. Penney with its British promotion.

Tonight, when the board of directors of the Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Artists in the Entertainment Industry host the Fifth Annual AGLA Media Awards at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. Among the special guests--Ed Asner, Lou Gossett Jr., Mamie Van Doren, Barbara Eden, Gene Barry and some surprises.

Oct. 27, when the Goodwood Handicap at the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita will be run. The guest of honor in the Director’s Room will be the Earl of March, son and heir to the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and director of the Goodwood Cos., including the Goodwood Racecourse on the family’s Sussex, England, estate. Lord March and his daughter Louisa will be the guests of Clement and Lyn Hirsch with whom they are houseguesting in Newport.

Oct. 28, when Sylvie Vartan, the French singer, and her husband Tony Scotti host a cocktail reception at their home for Valerie-Anne Giscard, daughter of former French President Valerie Giscard d’Estaing and the author of “The World Almanac Book of INVENTIONS”.