Crystal Ball Foretells Drug Video for Schools

You didn’t need a crystal ball to see why the Ray of Light Award was bestowed on restaurateur Hans Prager and wife Charlene by the Search Foundation. The magnetic couple, proprietors of the chic and clubby Ritz restaurant in Fashion Island, regularly open their door to charity.

But a Crystal Ball--right down to its Crystal Ballroom setting and the crystals sewn on committee member Ann Stern’s $3,000 gown--is what 360 Search supporters got when they arrived at the Registry Hotel in Irvine Saturday night.

Explained Search founder Beverly Thompson Coil: “We chose a Crystal Ball theme because we wanted to symbolize looking into the future and seeing a drug-free world for our children.” Coil founded the Irvine organization in 1986 to raise funds for the development of an anti-drug video that could be shown in elementary schools throughout the nation. The video script was recently completed, Coil said. The organization has raised $181,554, including Crystal Ball proceeds estimated by Coil at $32,838. She estimated that $250,000 more was needed to actually produce and distribute the video.

Appropriately, searchlights probed Irvine’s dusky horizon to beckon guests to the $125-per-person affair. Once inside, the dressed-to-kill crowd was greeted by Coil, slinky in a rhinestone-accented white Oscar de la Renta; cuisine chairman Pam Goldstein, curvy in a white Jennifer Blue of Laguna, and the Pragers--Charlene in a rhinestone-struck peach creation she said made her feel like a “fairy princess.”

Scanning the guest-decorated lobby, Beverly’s husband, Ho Coil, said the glittering assemblage looked like “a dress rehearsal for Dynasty.” Indeed. In every corner, a sparkle gown. In every nook, a blur of fur. And not only on the women. Mark Stine, the so-handsome-it-hurts escort of committee member Bari Tulving, wore a ranch mink jacket over his tux shirt and slacks. Tulving eschewed a coat for the occasion. Instead, she had flung a fox-fling over her silk-covered shoulders.

During a pre-dinner repast that had even the sophisticated Prager gushing--caviar, lobster medallions, Stolichnaya on ice, etc.--the restaurateur cited his reasons for charity involvement: “Initially, I got involved for totally selfish reasons. I thought it was the fastest way to let people know where we are and what we do. Today, it’s a way for me to put something back in the community where I live. When the ladies want to have a fund-raiser, I want to be the one who does it.”

After the couple received their crystal award, an obelisk on a black base, Prager announced: “I will remember tonight for a long, long time. This is what I’ve always wanted to do. My search is over. I live where I want to live. Love doing what I do. And any little bit you think I’ve contributed is but one little piece of what you have done.”

Claire Rosenberg and Lea Peterson head Search’s corporate committee. Among those serving on the ball committee were Toni Armistead, Barbara Cockrell, Lee Burstein, Yana Bridle, Susan McFadden, Bunny Pero, Barbara Yanchar and Kathy Bryant.

Ouch. Soprano Florence Henderson’s words to the audience assembled on Sunday afternoon at the Back Bay home of Tom and Elizabeth Tierney hurt. At first.

“My friends asked me,” said the aquamarine-eyed singer, ‘What in the world are you doing going to Orange County?’ And I said: ‘Well, that’s a good question!’

“But I had an easy answer. A few months ago, I came down to Orange County to give a concert with the Orange County Master Chorale. And I fell in love with a lot of people.”

Whew. Henderson, of Broadway musical and “Brady Bunch” fame, had offered her talent for an “Afternoon of Song” to help generate items for the chorale’s ‘S Wonderful II auction on May 31. Admission to the event was $85 or an auction item of equal value.

Taking the stage in the Tierneys’ tile-paved living room, Henderson charmed nearly 200 guests with selections such as “Memory,” “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Wind Beneath My Wings,” a tribute to those, Henderson said, “who give their time and talent and are never recognized.”

Preceding Henderson on the program was chorale director Maurice Allard, singing solo in public for the first time in 10 years. Allard’s selections included a medley of French folk songs.

A finale featured Allard and Henderson in a duet. They performed “All the Things You Are” and “Almost Like Being in Love.” John Pohl’s Bistro donated hors d’oeuvres and wines. Carole Follman chaired the event. She was assisted by Bobbi Bent, Jo Rivela, Terry Johnson and Erin Wagner. Paul Bent is director of the chorale’s board of directors.