Bowl Patronesses Gear Up for ’87 Season

In key. On note. Gordon P. Getty (synonymous with millions) will speak at the spring luncheon meeting of the Hollywood Bowl Patroness Committee on May 7 at the home of Mrs. Clifford W. Lord in Beverly Hills. But not about money. About music. The classical American composer’s most prominent work, the complete opera “Plump Jack,” will be premiered by the BBC in July at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Getty happens to be a friend of Mrs. Stanley R. Johnson, the Patronesses’ president (and a classical pianist herself).

Patroness board members met a few days ago to finalize plans for their 35th annual cocktail dinner dance to launch the celebration of the 1987 Hollywood Bowl season, opening July 7. Among new board members attending were Mrs. Charles B. Witt Jr., Mrs. Clifford W. Lord, Mrs. Robert E. Long, Mrs. George M. Cox, Mrs. Thomas F. Jones, Mrs. Luigi Gentile, Mrs. Chandler Harris, Mrs. Robert Rand, Mrs. Ragnar Qvale, Mrs. Warren B. Williamson and Mrs. Wayne Dinsmore.

Mollie Qvale’s estate in Fremont Place is the party location chosen by chairman Collette Witt for the June 28 affair. Eminent composer/conductor Lucas Foss will be saluted. John Raitt will perform. Funds gathered traditionally go for refurbishing at the Bowl.

RIGHT MOVES: Last year the Founding Associates of the John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer’s Disease raised $425,000 at their benefit and they funneled it to research team physicians, who recently announced “a definitive first step” in finding the cause of Alzheimer’s by isolating genes. Some of those physicians will attend Sunday evening’s gala at the Century Plaza.

It will also be the night to announce that foundation chairman Dorothy Kirsten French, former Metropolitan opera diva and the wife of John Douglas French, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, has been appointed to the Congressional Advisory Panel for Alzheimer’s.

More than 800 are expected to attend the benefit planned by Catherine B. Chester. George Moody is dinner chairman. More on the committee include Eleanor Wasson, Judith Bedrosian, Joy Fein, Bonnie Green, Carolyn Green, Genevieve McSweeney, Mabel Pollak, Lilian Prusan, Elaine Smoots, Oliva Varga, Barbara Witkower and Shirlee Yarbrow. Bob Hope, Art Linkletter, Shirley Jones, Jerry Hadley and composer Sammy Cahn and Music director John Green will top the entertainment.

SMART OPERATORS: You have to give Operation: Children exceptional credit. In times when economics can be tough, they’re brainy. Once again they’ve negotiated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to leave the settings and decorations from its Monday night Academy Awards Dinner intact for Operation: Children’s “The Day Following” ninth annual luncheon Tuesday. It beats the cost of decorating. Masterminders--president Mrs. Stanley Zerne and chairmen Mrs. Edward Ward and Mrs. Marty Pasetta--expect a charitable crowd also for the morning boutique and auction of furs, jewels and clothing.

C. Notti of Beverly Hills will present spring fashions. Fay Kanin, past president of the academy, will be given an award for outstanding contributions and her interest in Operation: Children, which provides funds to find homes for youngsters.

BUSY TOWN: The never-failing UCLA “friend-raising” group, Las Donas, has engaged Dean Richard Weinstein of the graduate school of architecture and urban planning as its keynoter today. The group is celebrating its annual “Morning at UCLA.” Harriet Alders and Cynthia Ardell co-chair five mini-seminars themed “Blueprint for the Future” to stretch the mind. . . .

A greatly expanded spring flower show and a horticultural exhibition are resulting from the newly combined forces of Descanso Gardens Guild and the Pasadena Garden Club. Mrs. A. Kingston McKee of San Marino and Mrs. Earle James Wilson of Corona del Mar co-chair the garden club’s flower show, to be judged by 28 Garden Club of America judges in accordance with specific standards. As for the guild, chairman Georgie Van de Kamp has recruited more than 20 California nurserymen to plant the perimeters of the main Descanso lawn in custom designs. The camellia forest at the Gardens is abloom and the azaleas and lilacs are expected to dazzle for the nine-day event Saturday through April 5. . . .

Felicity Manners and Laughlin Koffin are fictitious names, but they definitely figure in the fun and intrigue Saturday when the Wellesley College Clubs of Southern California become involved in “Murder at Wellesley College” under the guise of a champagne reception and high tea at the home of Peggy Funkhouser.

Tickets from $35 to $250 guarantee that every guest will become suspect and sleuth.

PAST PERFECT: Irish lilts, dance, comedy, Gene Kelly, Pat Harrington and Lisa Donavan manufactured a lot of St. Patrick’s Day merriment at the Beverly Wilshire in tribute to actor Pat O’Brien. Honored were Eloise O’Brien and Dick Van Patten. . . .

Composer/conductor Pierre Boulez was honored when Friends of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute of th USC School of Music celebrated the institute’s 10th anniversary with an afternoon concert in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Japan America Theater. The crowd later buzzed over to the Biltmore Gold Room for dinner. . . .

And more: Rusty Chandler invited Dr. Alexandra Levine to speak on AIDS for the Auxiliary of the Hospital of the Good Samaritan spring general meeting and luncheon . . . India’s ambassador to Washington, Hon. P. K. Kaul and Mrs. Kaul, were feted at dinner at the Gaylord India restaurant in Beverly Hills . . . Barnard College alumnae Hilma Carter, Donna Salem and Felice Dresner staged fund-raising parties at Stages Theater in Hollywood . . . Ardath Priddy headed the Los Angeles Alumnae Panhellenic Assn. scholarship luncheon at Wilshire Country Club . . . Luis Monreal of the Getty Conservation Institute spoke at La Coterie’s Russian dinner last week . . . Marilyn and Harry Lewis were in Hawaii before opening their newest restaurant, Kate Mantilini, at the corner of Doheny and Wilshire with the AFI Film Fest crowd in a tribute to Hal Wallis . . . Mrs. Stephen Flaherty and Mrs. Lawrence W. Farmer presented the Junior Mannequin Assisteens fashion show at the Wilshire Country Club . . .