Spinsters Ball Receives the Top Grade
The Spinsters Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball was receiving rave A-pluses from its 600 guests. That was early in the evening during the pre-cocktail parties in private suites at the Biltmore Hotel and during the exotic cocktail party in the renovated Rendezvous Court, the Biltmore’s old lobby. The mood held until 2:30 a.m. That’s when Jim Fox and His Orchestra collapsed and the exuberant yuppies went home.
If there was a flaw, it was the heat--sort of a tropical heat wave. In the Rendezvous Court, transformed into a French Quarter, the temperatures soared while the jesters and man on stilts entertained and the bartenders in Mardi Gras masks poured on the wine, mint juleps and gin and tonics. But it was tropical splendor, and the overheated could escape to the sidewalk for a fresh breath.
Ball chairman Pamela Ann Kerns (escorted by Les Rose) was elated with the results. So were her assistants, Teresa Ann Hoffman of San Marino and Melina Lucy Eversole of La Canada. Designer Debbie Karrenbrock of Los Angeles Party Designs brought in wrought-iron benches and street signs for the decor. Then trumpets on the court stairs announced the transition into the elegant Crystal Room for dinner beneath the Biltmore’s glorious ceiling and on gold lame tablecloths. “Just one of our best parties,” said president Nancy Suzanne Townsend, an insurance executive who had just received her MBA from Claremont Graduate School. “I am really impressed,” said Elizabeth Nutt, who’s attended several balls. “Sort of a trio con brio, don’t you think?” said Nancy Hoffman, mother of the assistant chairman.
Founded in 1926
The Spinsters was founded in 1926 by Betty Bettinger (the late Mrs. Leonard E. Harbach) and 17 charter members who believed that by banding together to entertain their friends, they could sponsor a more elaborate party than by entertaining individually.
The group was founded as a sister organization to the Bachelors. Because the Bachelors traditionally set their ball the weekend before Lent, the Spinsters chose the Saturday after Lent for their gala. Several years ago the Spinsters Ball was moved to May to accommodate the increasing number of members vacationing during the Easter season.
The Spinsters and their escorts and their young married friends were a handsome lot, camouflaged in feathers, veils, masks and makeup.
Membership chairman Nancy Baxter, escorted by Victor Feathers, arrived in a green taffeta ball gown wearing a mask she had made. Teresa Hoffman was masked in pearls and sequins to match her sequined dress. Date Steve Hansen looked sharp in his multifloral cummerbund and matching tie. Nancy Townsend’s date, Ron Orr, assistant athletic director at USC, was a lot of good humor behind his Groucho Marx nose and eyebrows.
New Orleans Masks
Jim and Peggy Normandin (she was ball chairman three years ago) and Mimi Harrison (chairman last year, and attending with her fiance Kim Josephson), were complimentary. So were Spinsters Susan Lynch with Richard May and Diane Little with Kirk Bean. More in the crowd were Mike and Cathy Wilkenson, Catherine and Chuck Nelson, and Kim and Margaret Defenderfer, who wore pheasant and peacock masks from New Orleans.
Treasurer Melanie Burton Lester was accompanied by Solteros (another bachelor group) member Michael Sleight. Gigi and Johnnie Stage brought their entire table in “Gone With the Wind” attire. “And are we uncomfortable, with all these petticoats and pantaloons,” she said, her ringlets twirling.
Others attending were Victoria Durkin (with John Mendelsohn of Hawaii), Tricia Dinsmore and Conrad Baker, Kristi Williamson and Jeff Rhodes, Gillian and James Servais, Harry and Mary Eversole, Helena Eversole (in town from Ethiopia), Melinda Graves and Chuck Uhlmann, Gregory and Callan Irvin, Lisa Harnett and Michael Roder, Elita Hotaling with Tom Cies, Susie and David Schock, Spinster Grace Bruns with a crowd of USC pals, Mike and Nancy McGowan, Spinster Talli Brockmiller with Briant Wells, Spinster Mallory Ketchum with Boyd Smith and Jane Irwin with Cas Stimson.
It was an occasion to show off all: Nancy Baxter’s parents, Clare and Ralph Townsend, came up from San Diego for the affair; Melina Eversole and Teresa Hoffman also invited their parents, Henry and Noora Eversole and Chuck and Nancy Hoffman. Pamela Kerns’ parents, the Ralph C. Townsends, also attended. All were patrons.
Notables:
Mary Davis remains as president of the national executive board of ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) after the annual meeting in Dallas last week. . . . Gay Goerz becomes president of the Los Angeles chapter. . .
Mary Goethals takes over as president of the Social Service Auxiliary, with Gerry Nigg, Evelyn Brady, Kay Caballero, Helen Webster, Mary Soldate, Barbara McAndrews, Jeanette Dickens and Anne Porteous on her team. . .
Mrs. Terrence Richard White of Bel-Air becomes director of the 1986 Coronet Debutante Ball (National Charity League). It’s the Saturday following Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, at the Beverly Hilton. The debutante announcement luncheon is Aug. 9 at the Bel-Air Country Club. . .
Maggie Hardy is the new executive director of the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation. . .
Los Angeles chapter of Hadassah honors its new president, Bess Karniol, at the donor luncheon next Sunday and June 2 at the Beverly Hilton. Among other officers are Elaine Schenirer, Elaine Rabitz, Gloria Miller, Anne Cane, Henrietta Stern, Rena Bucholtz, Eleanor LaBay, Beatrice Nafshun, Sylvia Sayewitz, Dorothy Stone. . .
Doris A. Smith, administrator of the Disney Foundation and vice president and secretary of the Walt Disney Co., has been elected to the board of the Permanent Charities Committee of the Entertainment Industries, according to president Paul C. Masterson. . .
At the annual CARES (Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center Auxiliary) luncheon at the Music Center, CARES was honored for its 17 years of philanthropic service, $2,323,175 in contributions and 646,000 hours of volunteer service . . .
Bobbie Burgess will serve another year as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Freedoms Foundation. The board also includes LaVonna Corzine, Betty Cordoba, Barbara Harris, Norma Bordelon, Bette Noneman, Ruth Lockwood, Joann Koll, Glenda Patton, Gwen Pruter and Richard Shellenberger. . .
Dr. Michael Kaback, the pediatrician/geneticist who pioneered the effort to eliminate Tay Sachs disease, was honored by the Southern California Tay Sachs & Allied Disease Assn. at Le Bel Age Hotel. . .
Secretary of State March Fong Eu was among honored guests at a reception to honor SheRock, the American group invited to record and tour in the People’s Republic of China next August. . .
Berg Eldred succeeds Nelen Nefkens as president of the UCLA Faculty Women’s Club. . .
Glenna Gill of Calabasas succeeds Gail Slate as president of Law Affiliates of Los Angeles.
Red Letter Days:
Sande Fineman and Roberta Novick of the Women’s Auxiliary John Wayne Cancer Clinic head the educational evening June 3 featuring Drs. Donald L. Morton, Sidney H. Gollub and Kenneth P. Ramming. . .
Comedienne Joan Rivers, national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, hosts the first Joan Rivers Celebrity Tennis-Auction Classic on Saturday and next Sunday at the Century Plaza and Bel-Air’s Mountaingate Country Club. The auction ball at the Century Plaza kicks off the event, and comedy and music will abound as Rivers performs her Las Vegas revue with Gary Shandling as a sidekick. The Tonight Show Orchestra will play for dancing. . .
Country singer Barbara Mandrell, Olympian Willie Banks and Assemblyman Robert Frazee are just some members of the Oceanside High School class of 1936 who have attained fame. Mae Powell in Pasadena is organizing a family picnic, dinner-dance and school tour for the class’s 50th reunion June 7-8. . .
Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith will address the 70th annual meeting of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross, June 18 at the Sheraton Grande. He’s also the emcee for the Los Angeles Children’s Museum’s first annual donor recognition dinner Friday at the new Wilshire Finance Building. . .
James Reynolds will receive a humanitarian award from the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine when it honors Southern California volunteers June 7 at a Beverly Wilshire luncheon. . .
Past Perfect: Juanita Kamm and Karen McGovern welcomed patronesses of the National Charity League, Los Angeles chapter, at a luncheon at the Beach Club. . . . Los Angeles Advertising Women saluted their members with a presentation moderated by Lydia Reeve, Charlotte De Armond, Glad Hall Gray, Mildred Heredeen, Rose Rashmir and Fran Tuchman. . . .