It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas
Red and green invitations are flocking in--’tis the season.
Christmas wreath sales and boutiques are in abundance. For instance, the John Haakes of San Marino are lending their home for the Christmas Idea House Boutique and Nut Sale on Saturday for the Guild of the Pasadena Day Nursery. Reservations are necessary until noon, plus a $15 donation. Associates preview it all Friday evening. The traditional tree skirt, designed by Dyan Bevin and needlepointed by guild members, has a holiday geese theme. Valued at $3,000, it heads the raffle prizes. . . . The Della Robbia Guild of Childrens Hospital hosts an invitational holiday fashion show and luncheon Friday in Hancock Park touting Laura Ashley (from the Beverly Center) fashions and home furnishings. . . . The Gift Shop of the Hospital of the Good Samaritan has opted for green for its annual Christmas Preview and Luncheon on Nov. 11 and 12, heralding the fact that the gift shop at 616 S. Witmer St. is almost ready for holiday sales. Luncheon, by reservation, (213) 977-2090, is a remarkable $7, according to Rusty Chandler, president of the auxiliary. . . . The Richstone Family Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse is selling cards, ornaments, soup recipes, goodie baskets, stuffed animals at its third annual holiday boutique Nov. 15 and 16 at 1220 Via Zumaya in Palos Verdes. . . . And Jane Baker and Jo Massimini will turn the St. Joseph Medical Center Auditorium into a Holiday Fair on Nov. 13 with the public invited to shop in their country store and Santa’s Pantry. That fair opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. Go for continental breakfast, lunch or even supper. Santa’s promised, too.
‘Tis the season, also, for the University of Judaism’s Eternal Light Dinner Dance honoring Milton Whitebook. That’s Nov. 16 in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Red Buttons will provide the humor. First, however, co-chairmen George Konheim and Harvey L. Silbert will host cocktails Monday evening at the Bistro to finalize party details for Whitebook, prominent in the building of the university.
Seldom, in Los Angeles, were there so many plaids--kilts, place cards, bows, ties, skirts, bags. No one came in plaid hair, but the total effort was definitely Scottish, leading Los Angeles’ wonderfully pleasant and friendly John Currie, the new music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, to quip: “I’m trying very hard to be a Californian, and they’re trying to make me more a Scot than I ever was!” He added: “I’ve been to two ball games--I love to go to ball games, and I’m getting into football.” He also added, of his new five-year commitment, that he’s planning to devote “105% of my time” to the chorale.
Nevertheless, “A Calling of the Pipes” was unabashedly Scottish, from the moment Currie and his wife, Anne, were piped in, accompanied by the British Consul Gen. and Mrs. Donald F. Ballentyne, all the way through to the menu--consomme of wild game, Stilton cheese, sherry trifle. Even the entertainment was a Scottish salute. Gerard and Sarah Jones played “Music for Clarsach” on antique instruments. Members of the chorale sang “Afton Water” (“Nice tune,” said Currie), and Betty Kehmeier read “For All That” with her Scottish lilt. Highland dancer Bruce Farrar performed with piper Harry Farrar.
When it was time to dance, Rob Maguire, with wife, Susie, was nearly first on the dance floor: He never left it in his black Prince Charlie jacket, kilt and white stockings and patent shoes, Susie bare-stockinged toward party’s end.
During the auction, it was absolutely nip and tuck between Barbara Schneider and Paul Erskine (said Georgie Erskine: “Paul’s wearing dress trousers from Scotland. He’s descended from the Lord Erskine, who was the Earl of Mar and was Mary Queen of Scots’ godfather and was with her when she was beheaded”) over who would get the week in the Nantucket cottage that Al and Harriet Koch had donated. Finally, Koch agreed to donate the cottage an additional week; now both couples can vacation at Nantucket.
Pleased about it all were Robert Willoughby Jones, executive director; Tania McKnight, president of the Master Chorale Associates; and Maureen Wright, Maryann McCaffery and Anna Mae Kass, co-chairmen. Also Marshall A. Rutter, chairman of the board of directors, and Abbot (president) and Linda Brown. At the party Bob Campion (retired chairman of Lear Sigler and the chairman of the board of St. John’s Hospital) and his wife, Wilma, were center front with the Browns and the Curries. Art and Bonnie McClure, Harry Hufford, the Charles R. Redmonds, the Joseph H. Coulombes, the Richard Ferrys, and the Thomas Wachtells were involved. And so were Ed and Charmay B. Allred, Dr. and Mrs. James McCaffery, Heide and Mackenzie Grant (he’s regional vice president for British Caledonian), Robert and Carol Edelstein, the Yutaka Hasegawas (he’s president of Mitsubishi Bank) and Peter Hemmings of the Los Angeles Opera. Among table hosts were the Stephen Harbisons, the Everett F. Meiners, the David N. Schultzes, the Harrison Prices, the John R. Queens Jr., the S. J. Stathatoses, and Nicholas S. Winslow and Lynn Becker. Ron and Barbara McMeekin were down from San Francisco for the affair.
Oh, yes: Currie was wearing the Clanranald Currie tartan (“Actually McDonald”) in the ancient (herbal) dyes, with a Prince Charlie jacket (originated in the 18th Century), and a belt with a Celtic design. And he, like Rob Maguire, has cute knees.
Forty-six new members of the Blue Ribbon of the Music Center were welcomed at a tea at the home of Caroline Singleton this week. Harriet Deutsch, special events chairman, headed the party for the Ribbon. Its goal for the 1987 campaign for the Music Center Unified Fund is $1.5 million. The newest include Nadine Carson, Rhonda Fleming Mann, Marjory Miller, Inge Miscoll, Kitty Moses, Carol Henry, Jane Popovich, Lucia Rodriguez, Noelle Siart, Patti Skouras, Jane Arnault, Ann Albert, Marjorie Alden, Joyce Black, Eileen Bradley, Tisha Brent, Kathy Stolkin, Karen Todman, Marcia Weiss, Helen Whitehead, Misty Widelitz, Elaine Winters, Dayle Zukor, Susan Franklin, Diane Friedman, Dorothy LaDue, Lynette Kurtzman, Beverly Kay, Sue Kaplan, Susan Greenfield, Emese Tardy-Green, Doreen Glick, Elizabeth Gans, Diane Friedman, Gilda Marx, Joan Nicholas, Ann Ramer, Debby Rheuban, Joan Riach, Mitzi Robbins, Tanya Rosenberg, Charlotte Rosenberg, Addie Ross, Judy Ruderman, Kelly Schiffer, Marcia Schulman and Margaret Sherr.
Polytechnic School’s chapter of the American Field Service is dining around the world again. The Edward McCarthys will host a Roman Holiday and the Thomas F. Jones are cooking up a Maharajah’s Banquet at separate parties this weekend. Then, Nov. 15, the John C. Cushmans III will host The Best of Britain for elegant dining, and the David M. Davises will go with the newest cuisine, “A Santa Fe Sampling.” Mrs. John Poer is AFS Committee president; Mrs. James J. Femino is heading the benefit.
Monday evening at Annandale Golf Club, Flintridge Preparatory School trustees honor Dr. Irving Melbo, their own trustee and the retired dean of the USC School of Education. Last year trustees saluted Headmaster Edor G. Anderson Jr. and his wife, Serena.
Here’s the second Annual Wine Offering of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn.--a 1984 Chardonnay and a 1983 Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines will be sold by the case or in a limited edition signature wood chest, says Donna La Bonte, chairman of the Philharmonic Vintage Selection Committee. The chest suggests holiday giving. Orders must be received by Nov. 15, and will be delivered the first week in December. The case of 12 is $105; the half-case chest, $65. Call (213) 972-7643. The label is musically nifty.
“The Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson will be the center attraction when the governors and trustees of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles host a gala to show off about 600 of his originals Nov. 13 at Exposition Park. The show opens to the public Wednesday.
Norman Corwin will emcee and awards will go to political reporter David S. Broder and ABC anchor and senior editor Peter Jennings when the USC Journalism Alumni Assn. lauds top journalistic achievers Nov. 19 at the Sheraton Premiere. Kudos also will go to “CBS News Sunday Morning” for breaking new ground in broadcast journalism. Robert (Shad) Northshield, who created the show, will accept the award. Garry Short and Cecilia Wilkinson are co-chairmen.
The Raoul Wallenberg Award presented by the Swedish Council of America goes to Sir Michael Wood, founder and secretary general of the African Medical and Research Foundation, at a luncheon Nov. 14 at the Biltmore. Sir Michael is known as the “flying doctor of Africa” for his delivery of medical and surgical care to people in the bush areas of Kenya and Tanzania. He’ll receive the Orrefors crystal bowl and a cash award of $5,000. Siri Eliason, president of Scandiline Industries of Compton (and also honorary Swedish Consul General for San Francisco), and Rodney Rood, vice president emeritus of Arco, are arranging the event.
