D.C. Party Spirit Survives the Iran Crisis

With the Iran crisis looming like Scrooge, this town showcased the Kennedy Center Honors with a weekend social schedule stuffed like a Christmas stocking. It had everything--celebrities, politicians, socialites, the Kitchen Cabinet, formal dinners, a White House reception, a show that brought tears and cheers and a social shuffle of both coasts that made this ninth annual gathering one of the nation’s hottest tickets.

The honors--presented to Lucille Ball, Ray Charles, Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn, Yehudi Menuhin and choreographer Antony Tudor--saw L.A. transported to D.C. Dozens of Hollywood stars joined the tribute--produced by Nick Vanoff and L.A. expatriate George Stevens Jr. Bonita Granville Wrather chaired the gala dinner and spearheaded a contingent of the chicest L.A. social types.

Some ironies were apparent--especially in the host department. The State Department dinner was presided over by a beleaguered Secretary of State George Shultz; the Sunday brunch at his Jockey Club was hosted by John Coleman, whose Ritz-Carlton recently was reported in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the White House reception provided only a brief respite from Iran for the President and a hankie-clutching First Lady.

One personal touch--”Knots Landing’s” Michele Lee flashed the diamond engagement ring given her by long-time beau, CBS’ Fred Rappaport.

THE PRESENTATION--The honorees got their medals Saturday night at a select dinner at the State Department. Shultz hosted, but credit for the trustees dinner went to chair Liz Stevens, wife of the honors co-producer and herself a member of the prominent New York Guest family.

MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman--who probably knows more political and show biz people than anyone--and his wife, Edie, became an informal receiving line, receiving hugs from a steady stream of black-tie guests.

Invites were so tight that even former Ambassador Walter Annenberg and his wife, former Chief of Protocol Leonore Annenberg, were there only as the guests of Earle and Marion Jorgensen (a member of the Kennedy Center Board). Lee Annenberg insisted that New Year’s Eve in Palm Spring will be “exactly the same,” with the First Reagans and Kitchen Cabineteers gathering for their annual extravaganza. “I built this room,” Annenberg announced, and whipped across the elaborate reception room to a bronze plaque that indeed declared that he and his wife had redone the room in 1969--”the best looking room in Washington,” he added.

Walter Matthau greeted Shultz with a “I just came here to cheer you up” funny. Funnier when Matthau explained that he heard the line when he was in the hospital years ago, recovering from a heart attack. Phil Silvers, hospitalized with depression, showed up in Matthau’s room with the line: “I’m here to cheer you up.” The irrepressible Carol Matthau, in a strapless wine velvet trimmed with satin roses, announced that her first concern was “to see if the State Department cared about women over 20.” That would be demonstrated by the lighting at the dinner.

Herb Hutner (he chairs the President’s Advisory Council on the Arts) and wife Juli whipped through the crowd, the Republican Hutner pausing to point out that the Kennedy Center was first thought of in the Eisenhower days. The Kennedy Center was so named because it was being planned and built after the death of President Kennedy. In fact, Hutner said shaking his head in disbelief, several times in recent years “offers of substantial contributions” have been made--offers that large sums of money would be given if the name would be changed from Kennedy.

At dinner, Shultz proved diplomatic by opening with an “I always have a good time” line that defused the obvious tension.

Helen Hayes, an ’81 honoree, stood almost hidden by the podium to announce the winners --”I get very much smaller, don’t I?” Lucille Ball was “the reigning queen of the B-movies” who, with “I Love Lucy,” changed comedy. Ray Charles was “vividly present.” Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn were “great talent tempered by great love.” Antony Tudor--”through a movement, he conveyed emotion that could not be put into words.” And Yehudi Menuhin, who had played Beethoven at 8--”I started at 8,” Hayes said, “but I couldn’t play Beethoven.”

For the hearty--like Vanoff and his wife, Felisa, the Stevens, the Hutners and singer Joe Williams--there was a late-night gathering at the Jockey Club. There, the elegant Felisa Vanoff, who choreographed part of the show, related tales of the old “Steve Allen Show,” with its director, Dwight Hemion. She claimed he ended her career by shooting, in the wrong order, a dance involving three couples, showing all of them not dancing, but chewing their fingers and scratching parts of their anatomies.

Williams, who been doing State Department tours for several decades, said “this is one thing people in other countries still want from America--our performing arts.”

THE BRUNCH. It was back to the Ritz-Carlton’s Jockey Club Sunday morning. It was packed with a couple of hundred fancy people--stuck in the seductive nooks and crannies of this ritzy hangout, somehow balancing plates of Eggs Florentine, lamb chops and smoked salmon between visits.

Dennis and Terry Stanfill did what she called “a strategic retreat,” balancing their plates on a counter and not even trying one of the tables.

Tales of luggage wars prevailed. Producer Ross Hunter told designer Laura Mako of arriving in D.C. without his bag. He said he got into an argument at the airport when he knew that his bag was on the runway and demanded that airport personnel go get it. When they said the bag wasn’t there, Hunter recounted, “I said, ‘Don’t tell me. I produced ‘Airport.’ ” (Hunter said he was right, the bag was on the runway. But it didn’t get delivered to him until the next day.) Valerie Harper’s luggage went to Hawaii and her constant, Joe Caciotti, had gone to the State Department dinner wearing shoes from a waiter at the Ritz-Carlton.

The Ahmanson’s Bobby Fryer--he’d nominated three of the winners--is an old friend of the Reagans. He echoed a comment heard from First Family buddies all weekend--that there was no way the President would have said “get off my back” to his wife, as was reported earlier in the week. “They are a real love match,” Fryer insisted.

THE WHITE HOUSE--It was heavy on the poinsettias and tinsel-laden trees. Heading past photographers and toward the Sunday afternoon reception were several hundred lucky guests, including Erlenne and Norman Sprague, Glenn Close, Ed and Victoria McMahon, Judi and Gordon Davidson (he opened the Kennedy Center 15 years ago), Bunny Wrather with her escort Martin Manulis, Agnes de Mille, Quincy Jones, Clarence Avant and Bob and Helen Strauss.

Strauss, probably the best-known Democrat in D.C., didn’t have quite the White House access he had in past years, though. Following a reception and a Reagan receiving line, Strauss attempted to enter the State Dining Room, where the President and Mrs. Reagan would present the honorees. He was stopped by a attendant, who asked, “Do you have a reserved seat? “ Strauss did not even hesitate: “I don’t have a thing,” he announced, adding he would be happy to go directly to the Kennedy Center for the performance, which he and his wife Helen did, stopping only for minute to chat with former Secretary of HEW, Joe Califano.

Lucille Ball was the center of attention, even among the other honorees. Her husband Gary Morton, usually irreverent, had obviously been touched by the occasion. The Reagans “were very nice to us,” he said, as Walter Annenberg came up to Lucy and announced “Haven’t we had a lot of fun in life?”

Reagan and the First Lady arrived to applause. Nancy Reagan looked her usually unruffled self in a draped gold gown--but, her hands were clutched tightly behind her back. And, in one hand, a handkerchief that she kept squeezing--a motion that seemed to betray her feelings.

Reading quickly through his remarks, Reagan--in referring to Menuhin’s early good reviews--brought laughter by commenting “I know from experience that good notices don’t come too easily.”

THE EVENT--Lucille Ball had begun crying at the White House, and Robert Stack’s performance certainly brought out her and the audience’s emotions. Stack, who starred in “The Untouchables,” talked about how Ball and her then-husband, Desi Arnaz, had produced the show at Desilu. Arnaz, who died last week, would have wanted to be there tonight, Stack said. Then he read a moving letter from Arnaz, ending with the line that brought gasps from the audience: “ P.S. ‘I Love Lucy’ was never just a title.”

Glenn Close proclaimed that Tandy and Cronyn were remarkable because “They have not only endured, but they have endured together.”

But nothing seemed to move the audience like Agnes de Mille, out of her wheelchair and helped by two men to walk to the podium, announced “I stand here for Antony Tudor with joy.”

Nothing, until Stevie Wonder took the stage, played a medley of Ray Charles’ hits--and was then followed by the chorus of the Florida School for the Blind and Deaf, who sang and signed “You Light Up My Life.” Tears flowed freely, especially when they did the final number, “America.”

All weekend, people kept saying that “This is the best--the best America has.” That final act could have just proved that point.