Glitzy, Glittery Gala for the Wassermans’ 50th

Lew and Edie Wasserman celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Saturday night--and had 700 of their closest friends over to a dazzler of a Hollywood event.

“The next time, they can’t just take over the studio. They’ll have to take over a country,” quipped their longtime buddy, Mickey Ziffren, to her husband, Paul.

The guest list was astronomical--as in stars. Pick a letter, a “J”, for instance--Lady Bird Johnson, civil rights activist Vernon Jordan, “Miami Vice’s” Don Johnson, the Kitchen Cabinet’s Marion and Earle Jorgensen.

Former Ambassadors Walter Annenberg, Robert Strauss and John Gavin lined up with Sens. Alan Cranston, Pete Wilson, Texas’ Lloyd Bentsen, Ohio’s Howard Metzenbaum, Maine’s George Mitchell and Connecticut’s Abraham Ribicoff. Important--yes, as were the millionaires and moguls like Marvin Davis, TRW’s Simon Ramo, entrepreneur Robert Tisch, Disney’s Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, Paramount’s Frank Mancuso, industrialist Norton Simon with wife Jennifer Jones, Warner Bros.’ Herb Siegel and Bob Daly, Lorimar’s Merv Adelson with wife Barbara Walters. Both Rupert Murdoch and David Murdock were there.

They all took back seats to some of the world’s most famous faces--Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Johnny Carson, Henry Winkler, Charlton Heston, Carol Burnett and the still-fabulous-looking Audrey Hepburn.

A party with more political hot-shots than a presidential convention, more show biz than the Academy Awards, the evening proved true the simple wisdom that in Los Angeles, MCA’s Wasserman and his wife, Edie, have no peers in power or position--or in friendship.

Longtime friends like Betty Furness, Pat Hitchcock O’Connell and Jean Stein were in from out-of-town--and, on videotape, there was the first client Wasserman signed when he arrived in Hollywood in the late 1930s. The former actor and current President Ronald Reagan--joined by First Lady Nancy--toasted the Wassermans: “Let’s plan to all get together on their 75th.”

Guests had been swept into movie magic from the moment of arrival on Universal’s back lot--knocked gaga, as they entered the “New York Street” set, timed for 1936 even to cars from that year parked along sidewalks with specially painted gold curbs.

Lining up for hello kisses from the ebullient Edie, Steven Spielberg and wife Amy Irving were told by MCA’s Herb Steinberg that the dinner itself would be held on the adjoining lot, the Main Street set used for “Back to the Future.” “Great, great,” Spielberg said. And indeed that was the word for the entire evening.

It was traditional--Tommy Gallagher of Chasen’s served up chili and beef and potatoes stuffed with Beluga caviar. David Jones’ golden bouquets sat on tables placed not on grass, but on green outdoor carpeting. (Edie Wasserman is a stickler for details.)

And at those tables, guests--between sharing the dance floor with Ginger Rogers--tried to make up lists of the 20 best-known or important people present--no easy job, considering that of the 700 guests at least 600 were famous. “If you asked him, Swifty Lazar will tell you Swifty Lazar,’ ” one studio exec quipped.

“Wouldn’t you hate to be at home, reading about this?” Mary Anne Mobley asked her husband, Gary Collins. “It’s an ‘above the title party’,” insisted publicist Warren Cowan.

It was a time to see old friends. Lady Bird Johnson had made the trip from Texas that afternoon, and stood chatting with The Times’ publisher Tom Johnson and his wife, Edwina (he worked for the late President in the White House), Lloyd and Ann Hand and Motion Picture Assn. President Jack Valenti and his wife, Mary Margaret. Near their mother were daughters Lynda Robb and Luci Turpin. The entire family has been having a wonderful time this summer with “hordes of grandchildren,” the elegant former First Lady said.

Difficult Instruction

In a pink-and-green floral gown, Mrs. Johnson managed to pull off what for some was a difficult instruction--”dress summer pretty” the invite said. That was interpreted to everything from a red strapless cocktail dress on Sherry Lansing to an apparent yachting outfit on Wendy Goldberg.

How could clothes matter? There were stars. Stacey Winkler might have one of America’s best-known faces at home (Henry, of course), but she and her buddy Nancy Daly were among the dozens of “fans” who got the chance to greet that champion charmer, Don Johnson. He took the opportunity to tell his longtime buddy, Center Theatre Group’s Bobby Fryer, that he would indeed appear at the Music Center sometime in late spring ’87.

Appearing on stage this night--the Wasserman’s longtime friends Rosemary Clooney and Sammy Cahn, who did special lyrics, like “for 50 years, through laughs and tears, they did it their way.” Even Cahn lyrically called the party “quite a posh affair. All the biggies will be there.”

As Clooney sang, Lew Wasserman moved over a table to sit with daughter Lynne and his pretty granddaughter, Carole. Grandson Casey, worn out from Little League, had made an early adios.

Around him, the square had been redone to mark the Wassermans’ lives--one building even modeled on the old Michigan Avenue MCA office in Chicago. At one point, more than 4,000 white balloons were released into a night sky lit by giant klieg lights. It was, by design, a party that ended before midnight. (After all, these industry people are familiar with early calls.)

British film giant Lew Grade asked Wasserman to come to his 45th wedding anniversary party next June in England. The Universal studio head agreed. The hundreds of famous folk wandered out past the billboards, one with F.D.R., another with R.R.--marking the real span of this marriage.

One thing was sure--no party like this will ever heat up Hollywood again.