A Goodly Gathering for Goodman

Lots of well-known and powerful women crowded the terrace of Wallis Annenberg’s Beverly Hills home Wednesday as she hosted columnist Ellen Goodman at lunch.

The serious side--Goodman speaking on the women’s movement, “from Supermom to Superwoman to Superdrudge.” In response to questions, Goodman said she wasn’t sure if there was the energy “or the anger” for the next generation of women to carry on the next level of the movement.

Certainly the guests represented a top level of success in a lot of fields--Caroline Ahmanson; author Judith Krantz; actresses Mary Ann Mobley and Catherine Oxenberg; film producers Lili Zanuck (“Cocoon”) and Sarah Pillsbury, whose “River’s Edge” is out soon; columnist Mary Ann Dolan; Universal exec Barbara Romen.

Writer Wanda McDaniel Ruddy, with a new baby at home, said she was busy with baby showers--for Christina Ferrare Thomopoulous and Judy Ovitz. Busy with her new “baby”--Joan Rivers, who told Morgan Fairchild that her new talk show, done live nightly, was “wonderful . . . everybody’s always smiling.”

Easy to smile, Fairchild managed to finish almost all her lunch of fish and veggies and still have her pink lipstick in perfect shape. Her secret? Well, it all was in her beauty book (“Superlooks”), she said. But then relented and revealed to the women at the table that she had trained herself to eat without the fork or the food ever touching her lips. She demonstrated. But what about drinking? By gosh, she had indeed taught herself to drink from a glass letting it touch only her teeth.

More tips--the ultra-fashionable Annenberg, the philanthropist and TV Guide editor, spends a lot of time having her picture taken by various trendy publications. How does she look relaxed and unposed in photos? Her secret is to look at the others in the picture and tell the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” According to Annenberg, it provides for a lot of various facial expressions.

One can learn a lot at lunch.

UPCOMING--Word is out that Councilman Joel Wachs’ opposition in his new Valley district will be former Councilman Bob Ronka, who was last on the political circuit when he ran for city attorney against Ira Reiner in 1981.

FONDA, PRO OR CON?--A hot topic with Democrats around town this week is the effect actress-and-activist Jane Fonda can have on a political campaign--even if she doesn’t get directly involved. Two talked-about controversies--the heat generated by her check written to the campaign of Missouri Senate candidate Harriet Woods and the current ad campaign attempting to link Fonda with South Dakota candidate Thomas A. Daschle (whose campaign she has not contributed to). The assumption is apparently that connecting Fonda to a campaign is a big negative. But wait a minute. Fonda keeps turning up high on the lists of “most-respected Americans,” as she did twice last year. One poll by the Roper Organization for U.S. News and World Report in April ’85 credits Fonda with being a “No. 1 heroine” of Americans, ages 18 to 24. If that’s surprising, Fonda ranked No. 4 on the Ladies Home Journal November ’85 list of America’s most-admired women. Again, by national survey, Fonda beat out the fifth-place Nancy Reagan and eighth-place former First Lady Betty Ford. So what does it all mean?

FORMER JUNIOR UPDATE--Seems these days as though the only former Gov. Edmund G. Brown California has is the senior one--and he’s certainly spending a good amount on the political circuit as he raises money for the Independent Citizens Committee to Keep Politics Out of the Courts. But what about the junior? According to a close friend, Jerry Brown is still in Japan--with occasional visits from his former Director of Administration Jacques Barzaghi--and trying hard to finish his book. One Brown intimate said that the former governor was in a serious, introspective period--trying to decide what to pursue as a career.

IN-OUT-AND AROUND--Making tracks through town this week was former Sen. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), addressing the Golden Circle of the Republican State Party on Monday night in Studio City. That’s the group of about 200 members who pay $1,000 annual dues to pay for get-out-the-vote. Baker, whose parents were both members of the House of Representatives, said that several years ago he had celebrated the 100th birthday of his grandmother, a former sheriff. She’d asked him if he was serious about running for President, and when he said yes, she replied: “Good, I’ll support you. But if you really want to be close to power, run for sheriff.” . . . In town to promote their new book, “One Woman Lost,” two political wives, Abigail McCarthy and Jane Muskie, got hosted at a Jimmy’s book party by their old friends, Abigail Van Buren and Morton Phillips.