ARCS Will Honor Aerospace Pioneer

Aerospace pioneer J. Leland Atwood, who we’re told is responsible for the design of more flying machines than anyone (among his creations are the P-51 Mustang, the B-25 Mitchell bomber and the F-86 Sabrejet) will receive special kudos from the Los Angeles chapter of the ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation. It will happen Nov. 4 when the local ARCS celebrate another successful year of doing and fund raising with a luncheon in the Music Center’s Grand Hall.

That’s also when ARCS announces its scholarship awards to young scientists from universities--California Institute of Technology, USC School of Medicine, UCLA Brain Research Institute, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Seaver College of Pepperdine University among them--up and down the state. Mrs. William Schulte, chairman of this 27th Science Awards Luncheon, reports ARCS will be distributing $315,000 to 110 “outstanding college students.”

Dr. Joseph Platt, first president of Harvey Mudd College, will introduce Atwood. Chapter president Mrs. Chandler Harris and ARCS Auxiliary president Mrs. Hugh R. Brownson will present the checks and framed certificates to the presidents and deans of the winners’ schools. And Manny Harmon and his Continental Strings will provide the musical background. About 400 guests are expected at this uplifting luncheon.

Atwood, by the way, serves on the L.A. chapter’s Mens Advisory Committee along with John Bowles, Stuart Davis, Lee A. DuBridge, Arthur Linkletter, Allen E. Puckett, Henry E. Singleton, Glen McDaniel, Wayne M. Hoffman, Wallace Booth, Kennedy Galpin, George Mueller, Fred O’Green, John B. Kilroy and Lawrence O. Kitchen.

Halley’s Comet is coming. (The experts say it will be most visible here from Dec. 30 to Jan. 10 and again in late March and early April.) And the United Hostesses’ Charities is making the most of that cosmic occurrence well in advance.

“It’s going to be a celestial experience,” promises Mrs. Alfred Stern, party chairman, referring to her group’s Halley’s Comet dinner dance Saturday at the Beverly Hilton. To make it truly a heavenly evening, UHC has Tom Pearce Productions (the same team that created some of the special effects for the 1984 Olympic ceremonies) planning all sorts of razzle and dazzle.

Working hard on the space-oriented fund-raiser (proceeds go to the Cedars-Sinai Cardiac Catheterization Center and CSMC’s Harold J. Mirisch Fellowship) are UHC president Mrs. Barry Kaye, honorary vice president Mrs. Louis Factor and executive vice president Mrs. Harold Mirisch and also the entire board of directors. As well as co-chairs Mrs. Joseph Yousem and her committee Mrs. Stephen Heller, Mrs. Maynard Brittan, Mrs. Jerome Siegel, Mrs. Jerome Marks, Mrs. Robert Brachman, Mrs. James Nathan and Mrs. Stan Lederman. Let the force be with them.

Let’s hear it for the good life. A lot of people still care. And that’s why so many showed up for Lucy Zahran’s teas (espresso and petits fours) Monday and Tuesday afternoon at her table-top shop at the Beverly Center. Lucy’s guest of honor was Charlotte Bliss, who lives in Kansas City (they know a lot about the good life there--just ask Virginia Oppenheimer) and who represents Royal Copenhagen, the Danish porcelain firm.

Under the store’s large Baccarat crystal chandelier there were different settings of china, crystal and silver, illustrating the “proper way” to set a table in various countries. Settings for a picnic at the Hollywood Bowl, a ladies luncheon, breakfast by the seaside and a young bride’s first important dinner were on other tables. Even the Queen of Denmark’s setting for a formal dinner was on show.

Taking it all in during the two-day tea sessions were Geri Firks Brawerman, Lois Linkletter, Halla Linker, Chase Mishkin, Edie Waxenberg, Ronnie White, Christina Skouras (she marries Alden John Marin end of next month), Adrienne Underwood, Judi Davidson, Maggie Craig, Doris Mendenhall, Patricia Reardon and Mrs. John Zahoudani.

The Social Scramble: Della Koenig threw a pretty little surprise birthday luncheon for Lee Minnelli and her best chums at the Bistro Garden the other day. Everyone knew where to sit because their names were inscribed on the yellow ribbons that tied around small vases filled with faux jewels. Clever. Circling the table were Ginny Mancini, Marianne Rogers, Cyd Charisse, Nancy Vreeland, Frances Bergen, Beverly Morsey, Ginny Oppenheimer, Mary Jones and Jolene Schlatter. After lunch everyone moved on to have tea at home on the terrace with Vincente Minnelli and to watch Lee open her presents.

Ralph Martin, who is promoting a new book, “Charles & Diana” (about you know who), was in town doing some research on the subject of his next biography, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. But he did take a night off to dine at the Bistro Garden with his step-sister, Zena, and her husband Rusty Hoffman, Kati and Arpad Domyan and Chantal and Martin Stern. More BG diners--Bea and Sidney Korshak with Jayne and Henry Berger and Cyd (Charisse) and Tony Martin; Dolly Green with Alfredo de la Vega and Bradley Jones.

Jacques Camus gave a dinner party the other night in the Westwood Marquis’ Erte Room for Josephine Bruggemans, mother of Le St. Germain’s Paul Bruggemans. Paul was there, of course, along with such good friends as L’Orangerie’s Virginie and Gerard Ferry, Jimmy’s Jimmy and Anne Murphy, Patricia Gentry, Britt Kerkhoffs (wife of Le Dome’s Eddie K.), Philip Oates (he’s the decorator who has just finished doing James Galanos’ home) and Rayed Ghali.

Red Buttons, Jack Carter and Morey Amsterdam, in the audience at the Wilshire Theatre for the first preview of “Aren’t We All?” kept things lively between acts. Have you ever tried to keep that trio quiet? The preview was a benefit for the Friends of Reconstructive Surgery and after the play Bernice Gershon had planned a sweet surprise at the Bistro Garden--chocolate souffles and a fashion show (Rudy Vallee modeled one of the fur coats). The evening drew a good crowd, among them Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland, Barbara Eden with plastic surgeon Stanley Frileck, Ted Mann and Rhonda Fleming, Glen and Marilyn McDaniel, Marie Goman and her daughter Heather, Father Maurice Chase, Jacques Camus with Joyce MacRae, Stanley Kersten, Mrs. Omar Bradley, Dr. and Mrs. Harry Abramson and Hamburger Hamlet’s Marilyn and Harry Lewis. Nat Dumont and Maureen Womack skipped the theater, but made it to the dessert party.

Red Letter Days: Today, when I. Magnin opens its new store in the Desert Fashion Plaza in Palm Springs with much fanfare. Models will be flown in from San Francisco and Los Angeles for the fashion show, and general manager Leo S. Cohn will be on the welcoming committee.