Special Reunion at Princess Grace Gala
Four of the bridesmaids at Princess Grace’s marriage to Prince Rainier back on April 19, 1956, will be holding a reunion when they attend the Princess Grace Foundation Gala on Nov. 4 at the Beverly Wilshire.
The foursome includes actress Rita Gam; Marie Rambo of Philadelphia, a childhood chum of the late Princess; Judy Balaban Quine, whose then-husband Jay Kanter was Grace Kelly’s agent, and Bettina Gray of Boston, who was a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts with the ambitious Miss Kelly. A few of them will be bringing their daughters. “They’re about the age we were then,” sighs Mrs. Quine, who recently wrote a beauty and health book with Stefanie Powers and who will bring them all together before the gala at a nostalgic luncheon at the Bistro Garden.
Also invited to the get-together is the late Princess Grace’s sister, Lizanne Levine, who was too pregnant at the time of the famous nuptials to be a member of the wedding party. Her child, born soon after, was named Grace, and she’ll be here with her mother, along with Mrs. Levine’s daughter-in-law, Vicky. The group will also include Rita Gam’s daughter, Kate Guinzberg; Judy Quine’s daughters--Amy Kanter Thiele, a singer, Victoria Kanter Colombetti and Nina Franciosa, whose father is actor Tony Franciosa--and Marie Rambo’s daughter Linda Farnum.
As for the gala itself, it’s been sold out for weeks. But the list of those flying long distances to attend grows longer daily. Add, for example, Mrs. Arpad Plesch, the big horse owner who is the gala’s European chairman. She’ll be arriving with Prince and Princess Alexander of Yugoslavia (they’ll be the guests of Audrey and Bob Six on gala night) and Earl and Countess Dudley. There’s a big delegation from Texas, too. Margaret (Hunt) and Al Hill of Dallas have bought a sponsor’s table and they’ll have with them their daughter and son-in-law, Alinda and James Wickert, and Margaret’s sister Caroline Hunt and her husband Buddy Schoellkopf. And with Houston’s Ed and Josephine Hudson, also sponsors, will be Jeanette and Chito Longoria of San Antonio and Mexico City. And the list goes on.
The Social Scramble: Monday night the board of trustees of the National History Museum and its director, Dr. Craig C. Black, honor George C. Page and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the George C. Page Museum. It’s black tie, cocktails at 7 p.m. and dinner at 8, all at the Page Museum. Tellement chic, bien sur.
The November issue of Vanity Fair devotes eight pages to the 10,000-acre spread in Sonoma County where Denise and retail tycoon Prentis Cobb Hale wind down on weekends. On the phone from their elegant apartment in San Francisco, party-giving Denise reports happily that “Prentis finally agreed to do it” (allow the magazine to photograph the ranch).
Denise is, of course, delighted with the way the feature turned out. It has dreamy photographs of oak trees and wild grasses and ends with a full-page photo of Denise and Prentis in his yellow Jeep. We understand why Denise says, “When we leave, I always feel like Margo in ‘Lost Horizon.’ ”
Some of America’s brightest tycoons, the ones who become presidents of their companies before they reach 40, are eligible to join the Young Presidents’ Organization. A group of those YPs were in Los Angeles last week on their way to a big meeting in San Diego. And quite of few opted for a weekend of good food and good company at what their leader, Martin Fenton, president of Christiana Cos., called the Hollywood Academy.
The weekend was filled with activity. And since the YPs travel in style (limos driven by young women in uniforms), they always made it on time. There was dinner one night at 72 Market St. in Venice, then a day at ABC where Brandon Stoddard, president of motion pictures, answered a lot of their questions. And finally they visited Gump’s for a look-see at the merchandise and dinner at Gump’s antique reproduction tables in the china and silver department.
Gump’s executive director J. Shelton Ellis Jr. was at the store’s back door to greet his guests and then guide some of the men through the jewelry department (eye-popping jade and pearls), the art gallery, around the Christmas trees and the little family of woolly sheep. Hovering about were Michael and Julie Loshin, whose Parties Plus organized the event. The PP crew did their cooking out in the alley--hors d’oeuvres, poached Dover sole, sliced loin of New Zealand lamb, apple tarts with vanilla ice cream.
The speeches were brief. So was Fenton’s gift--Jockey shorts which had been autographed by his group. Big laughs. Followed by a toast from Mary Ann Dolan, there with her husband Stoddard. After that the jewelry department stayed open and the big spenders did a little spending.
YPO was represented by Allen J. Bernstein of Syosset, N.Y., John Dimitrieff of Ontario, Canada, and Ross V. Turnbull of Sydney, Australia. And accompanied by their wives were Gerald L. Katell of Torrance, William J. Meder of Montreal, Franklin Radler of Vancouver, Canada, William T. Richardson Jr. of Oklahoma City, Irvin Richter of Willingboro, N.J., Jeffrey P. Ross of Stoughton, Mass., Steve Stolz of Conway, Ariz., Jack Teich of Brooklyn, N.Y., J. Charles Theisen of Phoenix, C. Angus Wurtele of Minneapolis and Leo Zuckerman of San Diego. YPOer Leslie Weil of Johannesburg, South Africa, couldn’t come, but he sent his wife. And among the friends of YPO were the David Doyles, Deirdre Paulino, Kate Shuck, Julie Griffith and Helena Jawor.
Red Letter Days: Tonight, when Mr. and Mrs. Frank Vodhanel host a dinner in their garden for the Friends of Cal on the eve of the Cal-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl.
Saturday, when the Harvard-Radcliffe Club of Southern California hosts a grand reunion dinner, a scholarship fund-raiser, at the Beverly Wilshire. Harvard success stories Jack Lemmon, John Lithgow and Dean Stolber will perform; Julie Andrews will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, and among those heeding co-chairmen Suzanne Marx and Anne Murphy’s come-hither charms will be Anna Bing Arnold, Linda Noe Laine, Loreen Arbus and Norm Chandler Fox, Blake Edwards, Michael Ovitz, Marvin Davis, Lew and Edie Wasserman, Robert Erburu, Dona and Dwight Kendall, the Henry Singletons, Stephen and Kitty Moses, Leonard Straus and Frank and Katherine Price.
Saturday night, when the Patrons for Cystic Fibrosis host their second annual benefit, a Halloween Masquerade Ball (“Come as you aren’t” is the password) at the Park Plaza Hotel. Burt Gelman and Tony Richman are co-chairing the whoop-de-doo and Parties Plus is designing and catering it. We hear talk from PP’s Toby Wilcox of sparkling black forests and a “living table” of hors d’oeuvres. What will they think of next?
Sunday night, when the American-Israel Cultural Foundation honors Belle and Seymour Owens for their “years of support and service to the organization.” Monty Hall will present the award at the home of Margaret and Paul Feder.
Monday in New York, when financier Alexander Papamarkou and CBS Broadcast Group President Gene Jankowski host the world premiere of Peter Yates’ film “Eleni” (based on Nicholas Gage’s book about his mother) as a benefit for St. Basil’s Academy (a residential child-care center and elementary school), St. Michael’s Home for the Aged and Society Lioton, a foundation which helps the village and villagers of Lia where Eleni lived. Serving on the committee with Jankowski and Papamarkou are Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, Dr. John Brademas, president of New York University, and the energetic Ann Getty of San Francisco. The party begins at Cinema I and moves on to dinner at the Hotel Pierre.
Tuesday, for the Auxiliary of the Hathaway Home for Children’s tour of United Way’s International Design House 1985. (Sidney and Bev Adair move back into their Tudor-style home when tours are over.)
Wednesday, when the Larchmont Boulevard Assn. kicks up its heels at a Family Fair (music, food, fun). And afterwards Paul Thompson, chairman of this year’s fair; Bob Landis, president of the Larchmont Blvd. Assn., and Dawne P. Goodwin head up the first-ever “After-Fair Party.” Dawne chairs that one.
