Going Overboard for a Surprise Party

John Wayne’s yacht really made waves in the harbor at San Pedro during the surprise party Dr. Chadwick Smith hosted to celebrate Corinna Smith’s big birthday. While 150 guests cruised for dinner and dancing, after boarding at the Wild Goose Dock: Berth 84, she blew out 50 candles on a spice cake containing a $20 gold piece.

The next morning, family and close friends gathered at brunch to present jewelry created exclusively for her. The same evening, the Smiths hosted a toga party at their home for the Rolling Hills crowd. That, Corinna had thought, was to be her birthday celebration.

For the boat party, black-tie of course, the hostess received the gown created for her by Michael Novarese, who dresses the wives of many in President Reagan’s cabinet. Onyx, ivory and ruby in color, its starburst overprint was embroidered in jet and silver bugle beads, paved in diamondettes--50,000 bugle beads, 5,000 diamondettes and 50 starbursts, we’re advised.

Smith daughters Laura, 22, and Stephanie, 7, also wore Novarese gowns.

Celebrating were the Claude Brinegars, the Richard Butlers, the Paul Conrads, the Jack Davidsons, Mrs. Elliott Field, Dr. and Mrs. James Femino, the Michael Gleasons, Fred Hartley, the William Kings, the Michael Learneds, the Donald Leavenworths, the Joseph Mendels, Dr. and Mrs. George Murrell, Michael Novarese, the Cosimo Occhipintis, the Walter Roses, the George Scharffenbergers, Chadwick F. Smith Jr., Michael L. Smith, Drs. and Mmes. Leroy V. Sutter Jr. and Leonard Swanson, the Mike Tolls, Mrs. John Tretheway, the Dennis Towles, the Don L. Tufflis, Lt. Col. and Mrs. Ben Tulley, the Thomas Wachtells, the Basilio Lims. Others included the David Gentrys, Zoltan Batyka, Dr. Donald W. Barber, the Anthony Barashes, the James G., the John D. and the Robert I. Carrs, the Charles Koethes, the Clark Leonards, Dr. and Mrs. Denny Lotwin and the William McCabes.

Thursday evening at the Jess Marlow home in Pasadena, the American Cancer Society’s Northeast unit gets a private preview of its upcoming Victory Ball. Society directors and the ball committee have invited honorary chairmen to see how the Sheraton Premiere ballroom in Universal City will be adorned for the big night Feb. 8.

Chairman Mrs. Kenneth Hanna has decided to conduct a “centerpiece competition,” though generally the ballroom will be festooned by Walter Hubert and Silver Birches. Edna O’Brien, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, Dr. Carol Soucek-King, editor of Designer West magazine, and Morri Molho, winner of the 1985 florist’s America’s Cup, will judge centerpieces that Victory Ball guests will view during cocktails.

The evening will honor Caltech and the scientists who receive American Cancer Society grants.

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 film, “The Mystery of Picasso,” photographed by Claude Renoir, won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 and was declared a national treasure by the French in 1984. It’s been out of distribution for more than 25 years.

A black-tie gala Feb. 12, a benefit for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Film Department, marks the Los Angeles premiere of the film. Museum officials join with the Samuel Goldwyn Co. to host a supper buffet after screening in the Bing Theater.

Memories linger for the 26 San Marino chapter of National Charity League debutantes presented at the ball chaired by Mrs. Hugh Mansfield Grant at the Beverly Wilshire. It was a special occasion to reward the young ladies for their six years of community service.

At least one deb, Rebecca Smith, wore the same chantilly lace and satin gown that her mother, Anne, had worn at her deb ball. And Stacey French, a third-generation National Charity League member, circled the ballroom on the arm of her father, John Harrison Baker French, who had escorted her mother when she made her debut.

Other debs: Michelle Susan Amestoy, Ann Beman, Sarahbeth Robin Berry, Christina Gretchen Booth, Rachel Elizabeth Bryant, Kimberly Burum, Carrie Cappai, Jamie Chapman, Kathleen Crimmins, Kimberly Crosby, Heather Cuccia, Kimberly Ebershoff, Sharon Ferguson, Catherine Haltom, Melina Kaplanis, Katherine McCutchan, Susan McMan, Tracy Mills, Julie Norquist, Thea Pagel, Jill Payonzeck, Leigh Rutkin, Shannon Thyne and Dana Valentino.

Clifton A. Moore, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Airports, receives the first USO Gen. James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle Award at a luncheon Jan. 24 in the Los Angeles Hilton.

Proceeds will support the USO’s services at the James H. Doolittle Lounge at LAX, a facility that Moore was instrumental in expanding.

Joseph Alibrandi, chairman and chief executive officer of Whittaker Corp., is luncheon chairman.

The Starlight Foundation is welcoming “Dynasty II: The Colbys” to California on Feb. 14 at a “Momentous Eve of Merriment,” a masqued Mardi gras at the Century Plaza.

Comedian David Steinberg will lead the merriment, and Tim Conway and Harvey Korman will be celebrity auctioneers.

But, first, the kick-off fete. That’s Friday at the Lawrence Ross Galleries. Artist Eva Makk’s first limited edition serigraph, “Realities of Joy,” will be given to the first 100 individuals who purchase a chance to win a 1986 Jaguar HJ6 Sedan, to be raffled during the party. Each chance? A mere $1,000.

The Starlight Foundation was founded four years ago by Emma Samms and Peter Samuelson. It exists to grant wishes to critically and terminally ill children.