A Blue Ribbon Look at L.A. Philharmonic

The Music Center’s Blue Ribbon, headed by Mrs. William Kieschnick, will get an “up close and personal look” April 1 at the behind-the-scenes luncheon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Members will attend the rehearsal conducted by maestro Andre Previn. A buffet luncheon with the orchestra, Previn and Ernest Fleischmann, executive director, follows in the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Blue Ribbon members contribute more than $1 million annually to the Music Center Unified Fund. The Blue Ribbon was founded in 1968 by Mrs. Norman Chandler.

SPRING FLING: The flowers are in masses at the home of Mrs. Henry A. Braun in Pasadena. And that’s just where Patron chairman Mrs. Paul A. Erskine, assistant Maggie Pexton Murray and Mrs. Grant Theis, Costume Council chairman, will be hosting “Luncheon With Nolan Miller” on April 1. The noted costume designer will speak and present a mini-showing of his award-winning gowns from “Love Boat,” “Hotel” and other productions for Patron members of the council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Basket lunches designed by Rococo will be served in Ginie Braun’s gardens. Miller’s wife is the daughter of the Harold Streams, and Mrs. Stream was a dedicated member of the Costume Council before leaving Pasadena for New Orleans. Mrs. Ross Barrett, Patron founder, and other Patrons, including Mrs. Sidney Brody, Mrs. Stephen Cannell, Mrs. Patrick Doheny and Mrs. William Doheny, Patricia Ketchum and Mrs. Harry Laughlin, are expected.

RED LETTER DATES: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will address the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on April 15 at the Beverly Hilton. . . . Hugh O’Brian will present the awards for the gala Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award presentation Tuesday at the Century Plaza. Carole and Lod Cook, Kay and Robert R. Dockson and Gloria and James Stewart are recipients. Proceeds will help fund the HOBY (Hugh O’Brian Youth) Foundation’s leadership seminars for high school sophomores to acquaint them with leading business executives.

PAST PERFECT: Chancellor Emeritus Dr. Norman Topping, USC’s seventh president, received the Presidential Medallion last week in the annual Academic Honors Convocation. It’s the university’s highest honor. . . . Ann Barrett, Tink Cheney, Joan Graves, Laurie Griff, Bonnie McClure, Susan Miller and Tally Mingst welcomed spring with fun fashions at their Beach Club luncheon to benefit Childrens Hospital. . . . Mrs. Homer D. Crotty received accolades at the first Homer D. Crotty Memorial Lecture at the Huntington Library. McGeorge Bundy, former assistant to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and now professor of history at New York University, spoke on “Too Bright to Look At? Truth or Myth in Nuclear History.” The Crotty Lecture Series, named for the late Mr. Crotty, Huntington chairman, will present a biennial distinguished speaker on American or European civilization. . . . An overflow crowd at Chasen’s for the Founders Circle of the Right to Life League watched Pat Boone receive the Circle’s Life Guardian Medallion, presented by Supervisor Michael Antonovich. Youthful Loretta Young was honorary chairman and Charlton Heston master of ceremonies for Mrs. Paul Griffin, chairman. . . . Loewe in Beverly Hills ushered in its first anniversary with a champagne breakfast and a safari-themed fashion show of suedes and leathers.

CROWN JEWELS: “Oh to be in England now that April’s there” is the wistful logic for the English country scene gracing invitations for the 35th annual International Night Ball on April 10. That’s the night the International Committee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. honors the Los Angeles consular corps. Rabab Kulay is ball chairman, assisted by Mirella Ventress, president. Elizabeth Ballentyne, wife of the British consul general, is honorary chairman. More involved are co-chairman Tamara Masloff Guink, Diane Deshong, Audrey Gregor, Ruth Gross, Sadie Lee, Lilika Natale, Linda Tremaine, Lillian Cohen and Cecilia A. Laris. The Welsh Choir, Scottish Dancers, the Los Angeles Police Pipe Band will be real, but the Beefeaters greeters and the crown jewels only replicas.

RUSSIAN MARDI GRAS: The vodka and caviar were plentiful when Anne and Vladimir Volokh feted their house guests, Prince and Princess George Galitzine, at a Russian Mardi Gras last week. The Galitzines were in Houston at the Ballet-Symphony Leningrad/Moscow Odyssey benefit for supporters who will trek to Russia after a sizable donation to the ballet and symphony. Earlier they were feted in Palm Beach. Oxford-educated and an authority on Russian art and history, the prince lately has addressed audiences at the Tate Gallery in London and the Queen’s Gallery (Buckingham Palace). His family supplied ambassadors, statesmen and generals to Russia before the revolution. Through his mother, he is descended from Catherine the Great.

KUDOS: Councilman Gilbert Lindsay was honored by several hundred at a fund-raising luncheon at the Bonaventure to establish the Lindsay Scholarship Endowment Fund at Southwestern University School of Law. . . . Jewelry designer Angela Cummings, formerly with Tiffany and Co., was the jewel in the crown for a private cocktail reception in Palm Springs. She’s presenting her collection at I. Magnin in Palm Springs.

SPRING AFFAIRS: Frank Sinatra stars at the Palm Springs Valley High School benefit at the Grand Champions Resort at Indian Wells on Saturday. The Hon. Walter H. Annenberg is chairman. Judy Gelfand and Danny Schwartz are dinner chairmen, raising funds for the college-preparatory high school. Ex-President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford are honorary chairmen, along with the Ernest Hahns, the Howard Marguleases, the Mitchell Simons and the John Sinns. Reservations are $1,250 (one person). . . .

Villa Narcissa, Elin Vanderlip’s residence at Palos Verdes Peninsula, is the setting next Sunday when Homer and Lucy Toberman of Los Angeles are honored by the Auxiliary of Toberman Settlement House. . . .

Los Angeles Raider Mike Haynes receives the 1987 Muscular Dystrophy Assn. (Los Angeles chapter) Sports Star award April 10 at the Century Plaza. He’s the liaison for Athletes for Kids, an organization that encourages professional athletes to visit children in hospitals. . . .

The Affiliates of the Webb Schools in Claremont are taking final inventory on auction items for their dinner auction April 4 at the Biltmore Hotel. According to Webb Schools President L. Craig Weber and Laurie Holder and Olga Guptill, they’re hoping to raise $85,000. . . .

Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art host a reception and preview of the Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies next Sunday. . . .

Sotheby’s is previewing its Magnificent Jewelry at the Beverly Hills salon Monday and Tuesday before the April sale in New York.