Charity Ball Turns Into a Real Mickey Mouse Affair
There were an awful lot of yo-yos at Saturday’s Charity Ball. But then, what would you expect at such a Mickey Mouse party?
The Charity Ball, San Diego’s most established and longest-running society blowout (the first was given at the long-gone Robinson Hotel in 1909), has seemed for some time to be heading into the autumn of its days. It now appears, however, that age has propelled it in an entirely different direction--into a second childhood, you might say.
That, at least, is the diagnosis that would have to be made based on the doings in the Hotel del Coronado’s Grand Ballroom. Before the evening ended, some 1,000 representatives of the area’s most proper and traditional families collectively threw propriety to the winds, all in the name of raising a sizable chunk of cash for Children’s Hospital and Health Center.
Chairman Carol Alessio made it clear in the souvenir program that she named the ball “Forever Children” in honor of the thousands of youngsters who annually pass through the portals of Children’s Hospital. One suspects an ulterior motive, though, because the ball could as easily--and perhaps more appropriately, given how things turned out--have been named “Children Forever.” As in little kids who grow up to be big kids.
The Charity Ball, with its traditional format (it is the city’s only genuine ball in the classic sense), and its boxes bequeathed from generation to generation, has tended to be a bit stodgy at times. Alessio changed all that with a few simple tricks, first among them being the yo-yo party favors that had gowned and black-tied guests “walking the dog” and “going around the world.” These were no ordinary yo-yos; when they reached the ends of their strings, they activated battery-powered lights, so that the darkened ballroom appeared to have been invaded by several squadrons of low-flying fireflies.
And then there was the surprise entertainment that prefaced the ball (the party does not officially begin until the chairwoman and her husband have danced to “The Blue Danube,” even though the guests may have been on the premises for quite some time.) Just when the ballroom reached its capacity, and it seemed that something should happen, something did--eight caped trumpeters marched onto the dance floor, blew a long blast and announced the arrival of the Disneyland Band. The band promptly invited out the first of a long list of Disney characters including Goofy, Donald Duck, Snow White (escorted by just one of her seven dwarfs), and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Huey, Dewey and Louie were there, too.
Before it was all over, the alligators and hippos from Disney’s “Fantasia” had danced the “Condo Loggia,” and Mickey and Minnie themselves inaugurated “The Blue Danube.” Meanwhile, a parade of children belonging to committee members and Children’s Hospital officials marched around the dance floor, and bubble machines foamed from above the stage. (The scene caused a delighted Sue Raffee to murmur, “I feel sorry for anybody who has to grow up.”) The crowd loved every minute of it, and through it all, First Husband Mike Alessio dutifully kept his eye fixed to the viewfinder of the family video recorder.
The odd thing about all this was that the younger set, dancing to Soul Patrol at the ancillary “Downstairs Ball” in the International Room, were having a much more grown-up time than their elders. Word of the big kids’ doings, in fact, brought a youthful stampede hurtling up the stairway to the main event; a guest descending at that time heard one young guest shout to his date, “Hurry up, we’re missing all the fun!”
The staircase that descends to the hotel’s Grand Concourse was unusually busy that night, thanks to a watery duel half the world away off Fremantle, Australia. Just as the final strains of “The Blue Danube” died away, a solid phalanx of guests dashed to the downstairs bar to catch the televised action of the second America’s Cup race. At the group’s fore were several very interested parties, including hotelier Larry Lawrence, a major backer of the Star & Stripes effort who just returned from a month’s sojourn Down Under with his wife, Jeanne (they lived aboard the “Carmac VI,” the glamorous yacht used as a VIP boat by the Sail America Foundation). Also more or less glued to the wide-screen television were Ruth and Jim Robinson, whose daughter, Judy, is married to Stars & Stripes skipper Dennis Conner (asked if the home crew would carry the day, Ruth responded, “That’s a silly question!”), and Jane and Tom Fetter, whose son-in-law, Peter Isler, is the boat’s tactician. “It’s un-American not to watch this,” said Jane.
Once the initial formalities were concluded (these included a welcoming address by Children’s Hospital Board Chairman Bob Adelizzi, who earlier in the evening gave a reception for major patrons at the swanky “Mansion” on Ocean Boulevard, the Charity Ball picked up its traditional theme by devoting the rest of the night to dancing, this time to the Murray Korda Orchestra. Some guests amused themselves by reading through the lengthy but always-popular program, which this year included a Charity Ball trivia quiz that provided some interesting sidelights into the area’s social history.
One question, for example, asked which former ball chairman was a page at the 1928 ball. The correct answer was Elinor Oatman, who chaired the 1959 event and was also present in her usual box at “Forever Children.” What mother and daughter have both chaired Charity Balls? Emily Fenton Black and Tisha Hunte Swortwood, both present Saturday with their respective husbands, Dean and Don. And in case you didn’t know this, in 1915, guests were invited to amuse themselves by watching amateur movies (a precursor of this year’s live television broadcast?) and playing bridge.
The Golden family, long and intimately associated with Children’s Hospital, was represented by, among others, Morley R. Golden (the immediate past chairman of the hospital’s board), and Ken and Fran Golden. Among other long-standing Charity Ball supporters present were George and Alison Gildred, Anne Evans, Gordon and Karon Luce, Betty Hubbard, Anne and Michael Ibs Gonzalez, Walter and Freddie Deming, David and Kay Porter, Jack and Emma Lee Powell, Fiedler and Marge Lutes, Tom and Sara Jane Sayer, Robert and Marilen Sedlock, and Harold and B.J. Williams, and Children’s President Blair Sadler and his wife, Georgia.
The committee, headed by co-chairmen Jane Pentelei-Molnar and Alison Tibbitts, included no fewer than 50 members, among them Joanne Stevenson, Pam Palisoul, Linda Katz, Debbie Daley, Grace Cherashore, Tommi Adelizzi, Dorene Whitney, Patti Mix, Roxi Link, Sandra Pay, Virginia Monday, Diana Sievers, Ann Greenberg, Nora Newbern, Terri Spurgeon, Nancy Hester, Connie Golden and Pat Fink.
