Unshakable Benefit Is Off and Running

Indomitable Jane Popovich didn’t blink--not once. When told that the Huntington Sheraton in Pasadena was closing, after being labeled an earthquake hazard, her one-stop benefit location fell through the cracks.

She got on the phone to Canvas Specialties, tracked down her contact in San Diego, dickered for a huge white tent. Next, she called Rococo Caterers. They said yes. She next redesigned invitations and re-sent, that’s right, re-sent, 52,000 announcements of various sizes and sorts.

So, once again, the Westridge School Christmas Carousel is off and running. Same four days: Nov. 7-10, but not at the Huntington, alas. Rather, on the Madeline and Orange campus.

And, that’s fine. She’s expecting to do better than ever with events and also the premiere night and auction Nov. 6 (a sit-down Christmas lamb feast) and with the following four days of festivities, specialty boutiques for holiday shopping, fashion shows, fabulous food and Christmas goodies.

Special events surrounding the boutiques include lunch Nov. 8 with Judy & Co. holiday fashions. On Nov. 10, there’s a repeat of the elegant buffet brunch and “fashions for the family” by Bullock’s Pasadena.

Carouselers include Mrs. Stephen Chandler, co-chairman, and Mmes. Reginald D. Barnes Jr., Christopher Bisgaard, James Boswell, William Boyer, James Clark, Michael Connell, John Edmundson, Robert Fitzgerald, Richard Matsuura, Mitchell Milias, Erika Oller, John Queen, John Robinson, Walter Schnee, Thomas Techentin, Ambrose Tsang, Donald Weber, Howard Wood and Don Yee.

Who pays for the expenses on all this change: Jane Popovich didn’t blink. Obviously, she’ll handle this matter with aplomb.

Spanish tapas with capitas of sherry, Middle Eastern and Oriental delicacies, creme brulee tarts and chocolate truffles are part of the “Elegant Evening” Mayfield Senior School friends are cooking up for next Sunday.

Mrs. Stanley Hayden and Mrs. John Maechling have been working closely with Sue Campoy of Julienne in San Marino on international foods for the party.

Setting will be the school, the former Eagle Estate Mediterranean mansion.

Guests will amble through the mahogany-paneled living room visited in earlier years by Albert Einstein and Robert Millikan.

Nearly 400 will dance to the music of Ray Moshay and go about their business of raising money in a suspenseful “reverse drawing” (of everyone present) to win the $10,000 grand prize. Second prize is passage on a deluxe Sitmar cruise to the Caribbean, Alaska, the Panama Canal or Mexico.

Decorator Edward Turrentine is designing the ambiance on a black, white and silver art deco theme. Jean Crabtree is taking reservations.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Alex Haley, on the board of the Parsons Foundation, spoke on the importance of education this week at a $700,000 campaign kickoff for Junipero Serra High School. J. Thomas McCarthy is chairman of the development board of directors. They’re raising funds for faculty, endowment, scholarships and physical science and athletics expansion at the private boys’ school. More attending were Joseph T. Nally, Ivan J. Houston and Gary Liebl.

Fun galore Halloween Night:

Members of the Junior Charity League will go in costume to the Bel-Air home of Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Busuttil for some partying . . . .

Ports O’Call Village in San Pedro promises 95 trick-or-treating spots for children. Disc jockey MG Kelley of KOST-FM and Tony Nassour of A & A Productions will emcee the night as a benefit for victims of retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative, hereditary disease that leads to blindness.

President Reagan has announced his intention to nominate Craig C. Black, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, as a member of the National Science Board.

The Shelter’s Right Hand, Auxiliary to the Women’s and Children’s Crisis Shelter in Whittier, hosted a buffet luncheon this week at the home of Mary Wellbaum in Whittier, according to president Bobbie Albanese.

Polytechnic School’s Alumni Assn., headed by Carl J. West, president, and F. Otis Booth III, Georgia E. McClay and Marita Barnum Walper, recently celebrated and recognized Arthur E. Raymond, Class of ‘12, as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, and welcomed Headmaster Emeritus Willis Stork as honorary alumnus.

Raymond, a pioneer in the aerospace industry, was a vice president of engineering at Douglas Aircraft for 26 years and supervised the design of the almost-legendary DC-3, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of its launch in December. He and his sister, Mildred Raymond McLaren, grew up at the the old Raymond Hotel, the resort spot owned by their father.

Prego restaurant in Beverly Hills transforms its parking lot into an Italian countryside today for the second annual “Sagra del Vino,” a traditional Italian harvest picnic. It’s a benefit for the UCLA Medical Center’s Child Development Program. For tantalizers, they’re planning pizza in an oak-burning oven and mesquite-grilled fresh fish.

Saturday evening the American Society of Interior Designers and the Sandpipers presented “ ‘Tis the Season to Be Dining” at the Pacific Design Center, displaying more than 40 showroom windows with holiday table settings and sitting celebrities.

The Winners Circle, an affiliate of South Coast Medical Center, booked Joe Moshay’s orchestra for its fourth annual Charity Ball on Friday in the Ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel.

Israel Today Media Group celebrated its 20th anniversary and the formation of the Joshua Foundation Thursday evening in the Beverly Wilshire Ballroom. Michael Goland was honored for community service. Proceeds are dedicated to the “rescue of Jewish lives in peril” and cancer care for Israeli children.