Tricks of the Trade if You’re Out on the Town
Another charity affair? Another late night politicking?
Don’t worry, sweetums. There is a way of getting through--at least there are tricks to the partying trade practiced by some folks-around-town. There are two rules.
Rule 1. Try not to go. Send money. Send regrets. Send some associates from your law firm.
Rule 2. You have to go. Go late. Unless mandatory, avoid black tie.
Avoid the valet parking. Give the parker in the restaurant across the street or around the corner $5 and tell him you’ll be out soon. He’ll be thrilled. Trust me.
You’ve arrived one hour after the cocktail time on the invitation--so, since all dinners run late, you’ve got a few minutes to make your presence known. Stand at the door between the cocktail area and the ballroom. You can greet everyone as they go into dinner. You have worked the room before there was a room.
Use the next 15 minutes to make phone calls from a nearby pay phone. The Beverly Wilshire has great phones in the restrooms. The Beverly Hilton’s are around the corner from the reception desk. The Century Plaza has phones off the lobby area and off the cocktail area outside the ballroom.
Everyone is now seated and has eaten his first course. Go by your table. Refuse the wine. Say you are slightly under the weather. When the waiter brings the entree, refuse it. Say to your dinner partners that you have to see a few people. Either work the room some more--or it’s back to the phones.
Dessert is served. The speakers are lining up. Back to the table. Grab your program and announce that you’ll have to catch the rest of the evening from a table across the room.
Leave.
Get your car. Stop at Tommy’s or Chin Chin on the way home. Have a terrific evening.
GATHERING IN THE JEWELS--And furs. And designer clothes. Who would know better how to pick the top of the line? So, even though it’s just a gigantic mostly secondhand sale, the May 9th Colleagues Glamour Sale at the Santa Monica Civic promises to be swell. A full-length chinchilla and a full-length sable are among the goodies. And among the good volunteers putting it together, under the skillful guidance of Ann Petroni, are a team including Margie Miller, Billie Converse, Colleagues President Dorothy Clark, Midge Clark, Louise Good, Natalie Robinson, Jane Wormhoudt, Marion Jorgensen, Erlenne Sprague and new members Ruth Newbert and Patti Skouras. The sale will net more than $250,000 for the Children’s Institute that works with abused children.
SORRY, WRONG NUMBER--If any of her buddies in Nancy’s Inner Circle tried to get Betsy Bloomingdale Friday using her Blue Book number, they wound up talking to the Saks Fifth Avenue switchboard. No, not a new career. Just, according to Pacific Bell, twisted wires.
MORE KITCHEN CABINET HONORS AND KUDOS--When some people party for charity, the good time is had by the charity. Fran Kaplan, who is chairing the Feb. 28 benefit for the St. Vincent Medical Center Auxiliary, points out that the group has contributed just under $1 million in the past 10 years. Kudos. And have a great time on this 35th anniversary party at the Biltmore . . . Frank Sinatra gets honored by the NAACP with its Life Achievement Award at the Century Plaza Hotel April 1. Other honorees for the evening include Xerox Corp.; Cranston Securities President Danny Bakewell Jr.; Assemblywoman Maxine Waters; Vivian McDonald; attorney Joseph Duff; Maudine Clark and Alice Harris. More details to come . . . The Young Musicians Foundation holds its annual fund-raising luncheon and fashion show March 26 at the Beverly Hilton. Among the celebrity moms and kids already signed up are the triplet daughters of actor Richard and Alma Thomas, and Nat King Cole’s widow, Maria, along with her daughters Casey and Timolin. More names to follow . . . Para Los Ninos Recognition Dinner, set for Thursday at the Biltmore, will honor Councilman Richard Alatorre, the Herald Examiner’s John McCabe and the McDonald’s Operators of Southern California.