Barbara Bush Joins the Salvation Army

The vice president’s wife, Barbara Bush, is coming to town April 23 for the Salvation Army’s Wilshire-West Auxiliary benefit luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire. Jo Haldeman, like her mother-in-law before, is benefit chairman. Jean Smith, wife of former U.S. Atty. Gen. William French Smith and the 1984 luncheon speaker, will introduce Mrs. Bush.

The red-letter day has a blue-ribbon committee including Beth Hill; auxiliary president Beverly Metzler; Lt. Col. Giselle Gowans, director, women’s services for the Salvation Army; Marilyn Knight; Jane Stanton; Louise Brant; Lindalee Clifford; Amelia Collins; Arline Densmore; Paggy Dodge; Peggy Halvorson; Ida Herrmann; Alice Kendall; and Barbara Munzig.

Approaching its Los Angeles centennial, the Salvation Army has been providing “soup, soap and salvation” to those in need since 1887. It was founded seven years earlier.

Jo Haldeman says proceeds will benefit the Army’s Red Shield Youth Center, the day-care center, the Zahn Emergency Lodge for families, Camps Crags and Gilmore, family services, emergency and disaster relief. More than 500 are expected.

Sen. Pete Wilson and his wife, Gayle, are honorary dinner chairmen for the Big Sisters of Los Angeles gala dinner-dance May 1 at the Beverly Wilshire. The “Magic of Spring” event, emceed by Mary Hart, “Entertainment Tonight” hostess, salutes Los Angeles leaders and achievers who support Big Sisters.

Anchorman Jess Marlow and his wife, Phyliss, will be honored as “Couple of the Year.” Outstanding women of achievement kudos will go to Sherry Lansing, independent film producer; Lilly Lee, real estate investor; and Ann Shaw, first woman and first black appointed and reappointed to serve on the State Commission on Judicial Performance.

The night’s tickets are $250. With savoir-faire--and street smarts--the Big Sisters have appointed Bernard I. Forester, chief executive officer and chairman of Anthony Industries Inc., dinner-dance chairman. Dinner host is F. Scott Gross, chief executive officer for Hospital Group, National Medical Enterprises. Both have clout.

Bustling, bustling, bustling. No spring fever allowed for the olleagues. That hard-working, prestigious fund-raising support group for the Children’s Institute International has been squirreling away wonders--clothes, antiques, furs--all year for its sale May 10 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Last year, says Colleague president Noorna Eversole, the group netted more than $200,000. This year, chairman Laura-Lee Woods expects to duplicate that, or raise more.

Save the date for shopping. Details later. The Colleagues’ most illustrious member, you know, is Nancy Reagan.

Twenty-nine Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley young women are due to be honored by the Assistance League of Southern California on Friday at the league’s 29th annual Medallion Ball at the Beverly Hilton.

They’ll be announced by Robert L. Hemmings, husband of president Peggy Hemmings.

All are Junior Mannequins Assisteens and for four years have volunteered community service. To be presented are Marla Kay Bradley, Dina Lew, Christienne Gargaro, Stephanie Booth, Suzanne Edwards, Bradford Browning, Kathleen Ellis, Joanna Van Trees, Patricia Hayes, Elizabeth Shumway, Anita Hill, Nicola Bracamonte, Christine Kelly, Leslie Lines, Kristin Brown, Marilyn Marchello, Shannon McDonald, Eileen Sheedy, Tina Burdick, Angelle Casagrande, Stephanie Hayes, Melanie Wayne, Erika Johnson, Kristin Kuras, Joan Liautaud, Kathleen Liautaud, Kelli Naylor and Jennifer Somdal.

Cynthia Ardell and Sue VerBrugghen are ball co-chairmen.

Perino’s is back on Wilshire at 4101. Joining for “the delicate taste of Italian and Continental cuisine” Wednesday evening at the invitation of G. Billi, general manager, Charles Lange, maitre d’, and Frank Vince, banquet manager, were a lot of those society and Hollywood folk who used to gather there regularly: Lucy and Homer Toberman, Justice Mildred Lillie, Delbert Mann, Chuck Fries and Ava Ostern, William Oldknow, John Severino, Ruta Lee, William C. Bryant, Dudley Moore and Arthur Hanley.

The people who launched the Los Angeles Children’s Museum from a dream to one of the best-known institutions of its kind in the country will be honored at the first donor recognition dinner April 25 at the new Wilshire Finance Building, 1100 Wilshire Blvd.

“We’re planning a first-class event for the people who have helped make the museum so successful,” says Jack Armstrong, museum director. Those founders include Anne Bancroft, chairman of the founding board; Bruce Corwin, president; Lynda Palevsky; the

late Shirley Garber; Nikki Wagle; Yvonne Brathwaite

Burke; Jacquelyn Dubey; William Dubey; Jane Eisner; Rina Etkes; Elisabeth Familian; Peggy Goldwyn; the late Terry Lemons; Andrea Van de Kamp; Paul Selwyn; Dee Sherwood; Vicki Simms; Dr. Arthur Parmelee; Richard Myers; Ellen Levitt; Kathy Moore Moret; Maggie Gordon; Michael Gordon; Fred Heim and Albert Kallis.

Today culminates the weekend of activities celebrating Immaculate Heart High School’s 80th birthday. As principal Ruth Anne Murray commented: “Anything 80 years old has a right to celebrate”--6,485 graduates later.

This afternoon faculty, students and parents dine on cake and ice cream. They’ll also be attending the “Alumnae Follies” production directed by Judy Conway Greening, a ’56 alumna. The follies involves more than 100 alumnae in song, dance and “live history.” The show was the hit Saturday night. Friday morning Archbishop Roger Mahony celebrated a mass of Thanksgiving and broke ground for a chapel to be built this summer, La Capilla de Maria. Lunch followed in the Jo Anne Cotsen Student Union Building.

The school will benefit from proceeds of the print Corita Kent created to commemorate the event.

Upcoming Very Special:

Footlighters stage their 47th annual Cabaret Ball, “Footlite Follies,” May 3 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. Dinner follows showtime. . . .

International fashion designer Diane Freis and interior designer Phyllis Morris team up for a fashion gala Tuesday in the Phyllis Morris Showroom, 8772 Beverly Blvd., to raise funds for the Westside Center for Independent Living. Beverly Sassoon is co-host. WCIL models include Betty Deutsch, Candice Gould and Barbro Taper in the grand finale. . . .

Harriet Weaver tells us the commanding officer of the USS Vandegrift and the Greater Los Angeles Womens Council, Navy League of the United States, are hosting the adoption ceremony of the USS Vandegrift on Wednesday on board near the Long Beach Naval Station. Luncheon, too. . . .

Coterie members will be in walking shoes Thursday when they meet at the UCLA Sculpture Garden for a tour, then wine and lunch at the UCLA Faculty Club, according to Elin Vanderlip. Members will tour the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, Il Macciaioli and the Library of Vinciana. . . .

Bonnie Rogenes heads the Junior Auxiliary of Assistance League of Fullerton “Taste of the Town” benefit at the Fullerton Ebell today, hoping to raise $6,000 for the public school dental program. . . .

Kidspace Museum in Pasadena celebrates “A Day in the Life of a 6-Year-Old” at its Kidspace Birthday Party on April 29. Balloons, of course.

The popular Rosamond Bernier, whose lectures are vividly infused with her personal association with many of the major artists of the School of Paris (Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Joan Miro), will be the star at the Leo S. Bing Theater at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Tuesday, Thursday, next Sunday and April 22. She’ll fuse the visual arts with a dialogue about books, the garden, the dance and the jewel.

Past Tense:

More than 800 Pepperdine Associates (those who donate more than $1,000) socialized at the Century Plaza for their annual affair headed by former Ambassador Leonard Firestone. In the midst (until 1990) of its $100 million Wave of Excellence fund drive, Dr. David Davenport, president, announced the university has hit the $60.8 million mark. Margaret Martin Brock and Leonard H. Straus presented crystal waves to recognize four major donors--the late Lucile Lamb, the late Merritt Adamson, and Wilma Day Mallmann and Ross McCollum. . . .

The Marianne Frostig Service Award was presented to Harvey Korman on Saturday evening at “In the Pink: An Evening of Elegance, Picnic, Polo and Prizes.” The Frostig Center Auxiliary, in cooperation with the International Foundation for Learning Disabilities, cocktailed and watched professional polo between the L.A. Colts and the Hawaii Islanders. . . . When she was a year old, Judy Lasher’s picture was in The Times with an Easter duck at the Lakeside Club. That photo was on the pink bids to her birthday celebration Friday evening at the Westwood Marquis Hotel. Hosting friends were her husband, Al Walraven, and their daughters, Valerie and Vickie. . . .

UCLA Chancellor Charles and Sue Young joined with Ginny and Henry Mancini to host a little party at the Youngs’ campus home to thank the major donors to the Royce Two-Seventy.

Red-Letter Dates:

The Associates, USC’s premiere support group, will dine in academy elegance in the Biltmore’s re-gilded Italian Renaissance Crystal Room on Wednesday. Last year they contributed $1.7 million. Associates president J. Kristoffer Popovich is expecting 600 guests to dine on Bernard Jacoupy’s culinary adventures. USC’s best and brightest will be feted, including professors David Eggenschwiler, Harrison M. Kurtz, Gerald J. Bender, Petter J. Manning, Christopher Reed, James N. Rosenau, Caleb E. Finch and George A. Olah. Randolph Stockwell is dinner chairman. . . .

It’s always sold out. Mary Blakeley is making final arrangements for the annual Screen Smart Set luncheon meeting and fashion show Tuesday at Jimmy’s. Rodeo Drive Elizabeth Arden Salon fashions are set. Among those modeling will be Anne Jeffreys, Frances Bergen, Jean Peters and Lee Merriwether. . . .

The USC Division of Drama marks its 40th anniversary today with a benefit tribute to two senior faculty members--professors John Blankenchip and William C. White. A drama scholarship will be perpetuated in their names. John Ritter, ‘70, will be master of ceremonies for the affair at the home of Roger and Michele Engemann. The occasion is also the kickoff for the founding of the Friends of Drama, a new support group. Heading its steering committee are Michele Engemann, Meredith Duncan, Alan Duncan and Sheri Mann. . . .

The American Red Magen David for Israel pays tribute next Sunday in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton to Dr. Lillian Paula Seitsive. She’ll receive the Vera Weizmann Humanitarian Award to celebrate her 80th birthday and 55 years of practicing medicine. . . .

The Hospital of the Good Samaritan gift shop celebrates Spring Preview from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at 616 S. Witmer St. . . .

Judith Krantz is in the spotlight Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Bistro Garden when Crown Publishers promotes her new book, “I’ll Take Manhattan.” . . .

Herbert and Edith Toor get top billing from Friends of the McCallum-James Palm Springs Youth Center “April in Palm Springs” ball Saturday at the Palm Springs Racquet Club. We hear that Toor is called by his pals “the Lee Iacocca of the furniture business.” . . .

John D. Abernathy, chief executive partner of Seidman & Seidman/BDO in New York City, will be honored by the City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute on Thursday at the Beverly Hilton. . . .

Wonderful news:

The Academy of Performing and Visual Arts fund-raiser presenting Jean Stapleton netted $40,000 . . . Centinela Hospital Medical Center’s Auxiliary’s fashion show raised $17,000 . . . and, the best for the last, are you ready for this? The Alzheimer’s benefit with Dorothy Kirsten French netted $435,000. . . .

More:

Barnard College Alumnae Club of Los Angeles continues with its fund-raising. Supporters plan a theater party today, attending the matinee of “The Greeks, Part II” at the Back Alley Theater in Van Nuys. The Alley is the home base of Barnard graduate, Producer Laura Zucker, and her husband, actor-director-producer Allen Miller. . . .

Wilhelmenia Fernandez, star of the movie “Diva,” and now a diva on the international opera stages, was at Stepps on the Court, Crocker Center, with L.A. Pops Conductor Carlo Spiga, amidst a crowd of Hollywood celebrities and opera buffs. . . .

More than 500 honored developer Robert Voit, who has spearheaded the development of Warner Center, at the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. affair at the Sheraton Premiere. . . .

Mrs. Dwight Lindholm and her daughter Kathleen entertained Ticktockers of the National Charity League at a mother-daughter tea.