Celebration Honors Center Founders

It was another opening--the Founder’s Celebration at the Performing Arts Center--but this time the show honored the people who began it all--those who plunked down hard cash during those it’s-just-a-dream years between 1974 and 1983, before the Center so much as broke ground.

The $100-per-person black-tie celebration Wednesday took place in three parts: the first, a reception at the Ambrosia restaurant in Costa Mesa, where the founders emeritus bestowed medallions on 300 other founders; the second, a concert at the Center (also open to the ticket-buying public) featuring soloist Leontyne Price and Kurt Sanderling conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and finally, a “Moulin Rouge” gala for 1,300 founders and donors at the Irvine Hilton.

Marilyn Bean, who chaired the Medallion Reception, called the founders “the forefathers of the Center.” Their contributions ranged from $1,000 to $10,000.

Joyce Basch, who signed on as a founder in 1974, timed her return from a two-month stay in Bali for the founder’s celebration. “I haven’t even opened my mail yet,” she said.

Maro Kentrose flew in from New York for the event. Two years ago, she closed up her Hubbub shops in Orange County and moved to the Big Apple, but promised herself this trip.

Ed Sebek hopped a plane from Singapore.

The founders had waited for their medallions a long time.

“The medallions were a promise made to each of our founders--that and a fabulous party,” said Maxine Gibson, who chaired the event. Presenting medallions with Gibson were Ruth Ding, Gordon Hodge, Thomas Moon, Benjamin Ramirez, Louis Knobbe, Stewart Case, George Mohr and Niles Gates.

Medallions to the Men

In the case of founding couples, medallions went to the men. “We thought they were so heavy and round that they would look better on a man,” said Bean, with Ding adding that “most of the men paid for them anyway.”

But in Barbara Glabman’s words: “We let the men have them because they have the power of the pen, although it is a contribution of community property.”

One man who used his pen-power often, Henry Segerstrom, expressed great pleasure at attending the reception. He said his best moment occurred, however, on Opening Night, when he welcomed the first theatergoers to the hall. “It was fabulous--the response, the standing ovation.”

Truly, the feeling was different Wednesday night. “More like home,” Randy Morrison said.

And so it seemed. For the Center’s second concert, attire ranged from jeans to sequined ball gowns. One concert-goer strolled through Segerstrom Hall in a jogging suit.

But those in black tie soon headed for the Founder’s Party, where the setting was 19th-Century Paris--to be specific, the Moulin Rouge--complete with costumed Frenchmen, posters by Lautrec, the nightclub’s trademark red windmill and a French supper menu of pates and charcuterie treats.

Turn-of-the-century appointments aside, the party glittered in 20th-Century Orange County fashion.