‘Superstar Spectacular’ at the Sports Club

Call it the grand opening, the first view, whatever. The $22-million Sports Club/LA launches its coming-out celebration March 28 with Jack Mack and the Heart Attack (L.A.’s hot rock ‘n’ roll/soul band) pulsating in the 5,000-square-foot basketball gym. It may be the only time the gym is transformed into an ‘80s disco with neon sculptures, pearlized balloons and a 30-foot sundae/dessert bar, but you gotta start somewhere.

The evening honors Marcus Allen. Donna Mills, Dennis Weaver, Jeff Bridges, John Ritter will be just a few of the celebs attending “Superstar Sports Spectacular.”

The night is owners Michael Talla and Nanette Pattee Francini’s invitation to see the sports and fitness complexes. There will be dinner, dancing, entertainment.

Showing up in slinky/black-tie will be the benefiting crowd: LIFE (Love Is Feeding Everyone) and the Rainbow Guild/Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children. Brazilian samba and Caribbean steel bands are only part of what Carol Connors, Jennifer Goddard, Janice Wallace, Estherly Reifman, Bill Grubman, Diana Beitler plan.

PINKS AND GOLD: Pastel ribbons on parchment have arrived from the Balletomanes, Jimmy Murphy and Nat Dumont for the cocktail reception Tuesday at Jimmy’s Restaurant in Beverly Hills. Raison d’etre? To introduce dancers, patrons and patronesses of the dance--Juliette Prowse, Leslie Browne and Cynthia Gregory--and to sneak a preview of the Balletomane Ball on May 15, which will honor Maria Tallchief, Valentina Koslava and Edward Villella.

The ball will be a salute to the Marguerite Amilita Hoffman Memorial Ballet Scholarship National Ballet Competition June 30-July 5. Ball co-chairmen Maureen Womack and Mrs. James Louis Owens have nothing else on their minds. Mrs. Bert Burgess Malouf and Mrs. Thomas Malouf will be honorary co-chairmen.

SUPER EVENING: Next to a strawberry ice cream festival or your own wedding, the Center Stage fashion show staged by the Pasadena Junior League has to be one of the friendlier party bashes. In a duo fashion fling at the Bonaventure over the weekend nearly 1,000 cheered the models at luncheon, another 700 at the repeat black-tie fun in the evening.

Analyzed Chairman Mrs. Stephen Chandler, “Everyone has worked so hard, and the end result is clearly more than the $100,000 which will be returned to the community through Junior League projects.”

It was an I. Magnin production, staged by Brent McDaneld, who’s masterminded shows for Giorgio Armani and Valentino. The models, all league members, husbands and offspring, adhered beautifully to San Francisco model Linda Lance’s instruction. They included the bright and beautiful actives--like Debbie Clemo, Theresa Hoffman, Kathy LeLoy, Bettye Hill, Jennifer Murphy, Kathleen Thalasinos. Sustainers, however, including Dulce Harris and Elsie Sadler, proved that a little age is no barrier to beauty and honest svelte.

Anyway, President Susan Schnee and her husband Walter were delighted. Stephen Chandler admitted his wife said she would miss the hundreds of arrangement telephone calls (but she’ll move right on to heading the Westridge School benefit next month).

The crowd danced to Gregg Elliott’s music, the rock getting harder as the night progressed. Among the many, the Anthony Cloughertys, the J. Robert Lisets, Denise and Ed McLaughlin, Debbe and Spike Booth, Lynn and Gary Conrad, Scott and Cathy Alexander, John and Susan Frost, Jerry and Susan Gilomen, James and Mary-Kaye Halferty, Christopher and Cathy Hall, Richard and Susan Harrison. More in the crowd--Sydney Wilson, Sharon Ramsey, Mary Pinola, Sharon Pelton and Martha Siefert (who were Sustaining advisers), the Craig Millers, the Frank Osens, the Warren Mattheis, the Warren Williamsons (she modeled, too), the Kingston McKees and the Alan Stanfords.