Dancing and ‘Getting Sentimental’ Again

There is life after the holidays. Save Jan. 15 for a chance to star in a 90-minute TV production to be broadcast coast-to-coast on Public Televison.

When KCET Women’s Council presents “Getting Sentimental” at the Palladium, it will mark the night about 47 years earlier when Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra opened that ballroom. The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra will be back--with performers like Mel Torme, Jack Jones, Maureen McGovern and Buddy Rich. Wrapped around the slick red invites to the $200-per-dancer benefit are reprints of The Times page carrying the ad for the Palladium opening.

Here’s the dance drill--cocktails, a lavish dinner from Rococo, and, late in the evening, “touch dancing.”

Among those involved in the planning--chairwoman Joan Thompson, Sally Stewart, Ruth Koch, Shirley Familian, Carol Henry, Jill Smith, Lucille Lewine, Sandra Ausman, Nancy Peterson, Renne Hanson, Vera O’Leary and Majorie Fasmann. Dance on.

HONORED--Brandon Tartikoff, the president of NBC Entertainment, gets the Jewish National Fund “Tree of Life” award Dec. 11. Expected at the $300-per-person black-tie tribute dinner at the Sheraton Premiere are Johnny Carson, Ted Danson, Charlotte Rae, Estelle Getty, Betty White, Daniel J. Travanti and Veronica Hamel. Chairing the evening--Donald Grant, Buddy Salzberg, Lawrence A. Lyttle and Jerry Katzman.

REFUGEE MINORS--The Detained Refugee Minors Project holds its first benefit Dec. 11 at Lawry’s California Center. Deputy Mayor Grace Montanez Davis and “Falcon Crest’s” Robert Foxworth are chairing the $35-a-head party that will raise funds to help children who are in custody with their illegal alien parents. . .

FLIP-BUT-NO-FLOP--Mayor Tom Bradley will be joined by Annie and Gary Gilbar, Paula Savett, Elizabeth Pollon and other Friends of the Muni at a “pancake breakfast” Dec. 14 at the Municipal Art Gallery. Mayor Bradley is chairman of the honorary committee for the Barnsdall park facility--and the entire City Council is the committee itself. Great for the kids (as Barnsdall always is) with songs and puppets and performance artists. Putting it together--Deborah Leeb, Jodi Zorensky and Laurie Albert.

CHANGE OF PACE--The first week in December is just packed--the opening parties for the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Organization for Women anniversary gala, and the Cedars-Sinai Women’s Guild premiere. But here’s a great party for those who still have Wednesday night free. J. W. Robinson’s celebrates its “Grand Renaissance” by opening its renovated first floor at its downtown store--and giving a hand to the L.A. Central Library’s “Save the Books” campaign. Co-hosted by the department store and American Express, the evening promises lots of music, food by Rococo and a general “GQ”-style evening. The cost--a meager $25 per person. But reservations are filling up fast.

KUDOS-- . .To the Bob Hope Cultural Center’s co-chairs Erna Schulhofer and Sue Rose for raising more than $200,000 in last weekend’s event at Hope’s home. . . . To Rep. Edward Roybal, who received the Distinguished Service Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund . . . . .To ventriloquist Shari Lewis, who gets the Torah Award from the Women’s League of Temple Beth Am on Wednesdy. . . . To Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper and Fritz Coleman who linked up with students of Loyola Marymount University and Sigma Pi Fraternity for an all-day Food Drive this week. Thanks to LIFE (Love Is Feeding Everyone).

LET GEORGE DO IT--Speaking of cash and big numbers--save-the-date of Jan. 24 to celebrate George Burns’ 91st birthday and kick off Phase II of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s $90-million Endowment Fund.