Artist to Be Honored at Orchid Ball

Pascal, the renowned artist-sculptor (Jimmy’s devotees pass her sculpture en route to their tables), has been named Distinguished Honoree for this year’s National Arts Assn. Orchid Ball. According to Marilyn Rudley and Alice Moore, she’s the only sculptor in the world known to work in glass with hammer and chisel.

The group’s 17th ball is May 8 at the Beverly Wilshire Grand Ballroom. Ball chairman Mrs. William Hollingsworth has arranged for Henry Mancini to conduct a 35-piece orchestra. And, again, the Malouf sisters--Marian and Florence, founders of the group--will cut cymbidiums from their greenhouses for centerpieces.

The association supports aspiring students in the fine and performing arts at Southern California schools.

BREATHE EASILY: Film director John Huston (“Prizzi’s Honor,” “The Maltese Falcon”) will be saluted for his “unselfish efforts” to support American Lung Assn. of Los Angeles County programs in emphysema at a dinner-dance April 22 at the Beverly Hilton.

Huston will receive the National Humanitarian Award, president Thomas W. Wheat said. Tickets at $300 will entitle black-tie guests to a dinner program featuring clips of Huston’s career spanning 40 films. The host committee is laden with Hollywood friends: the Steve Allens, Steve Broidy, John Foreman, Gary Lieberthal, Rich Little, A. Jerrold Perenchio, Ray Start, Thomas W. Wheat and Robert Wise.

Dancing to the Ross Jutsum Ensemble follows.

GOLDEN: Following on the entertainment heels of Gene Kelly, Liza Minnelli and Frank Sinatra, Pia Zadora will entertain at the upcoming Golden Key Foundation benefit for the Reiss-Davis Child Study Center May 1 in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire.

Party chairman Teresa Gross and Kathy Stolkin say Zadora will return from her national tour to be accompanied by Vincent Falcone’s 38-piece orchestra. They’re calling the black-tie affair “The Carrousel Gala.” Aiding are president Ronnie Kassan, Cheryl Adler, Insook Bretzfield, Ruth March, Tedde Rifkin, Barbara Schneider, Lois Rosen, Marilyn Gersten, Betty Deutsch, Candice Gould, Stella Stambler and Marilyn Wolf.

ADVENTURE: Mary-Robin Redd, bored with the mundane, jazzed life up for her friends a few days ago. Carla Kirkeby, Nancy Ellison and Lucy McBain were just a few who received handwritten scripts for a luncheon adventure.

Guests were ordered to arrive, not at the Bistro, but at 536 East 8th St., which turned out to be Gorky’s Russian Cafeteria, smack dab in the flower district. French champagne was served on the corner of 8th and Julian streets to silk-suited pals--Marcia Hobbs Wilson, Cynthia Maduro Ryan, Phyllis Grafton Riddell, Lyn Vandegrift. Everyone got a free lunch ticket for the cafeteria-style lunch.

Meanwhile Pearl Burnett, recently on the “David Letterman Show,” performed her paper-tearing act while singing soprano. Then, restaurateur Fred Powers bid the crowd goodby as J. P. O’Conner, Geraldine Gleason, and Donna Wolff picked up their table treasures--dehydrated worms, foaming sugar cubes, itching and sneezing powders, smoke bombs, wobbly pencils. They donned masks and boarded a double-decker, open-air bus that whisked them across town for a surprise ride aboard Wonder Bread’s bus--shaped like a giant loaf of Wonder Bread--that brought them safe but windblown to the front door of the Museum of Neon Art for dessert.

Adrianna Shaw, Lynn Childs, Marjorie Walker, Susan Warner and Victoria Billings sipped and nibbled on jasmine tea and carrot cupcakes, while Joan Spreckles, Sharon Compton and Debby Richards viewed the art. Then it was back on the bus to the flower district, with Narcissa Cox Vanderlip and Lisa Bell leading an excursion through Moskatel’s for Patte Barham Boyne, Rossana Norton, Tiffany’s Roberta Herbisen, Millicent Braverman, Marjorie Walker and a bunch more. Miss Redd had noticed April Fools’ Day coming up on her calendar, and couldn’t resist some fun.

REVVED UP: Group Effort VIII simply proves that four organizations--the Arthritis Foundation, Diabetes Unit for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Loyola Marymount University and the Leukemia Society of America--get along. Their wheels are spinning again for their “Andy 500” gala dinner auction May 2 at the Beverly Wilshire.

Honorary chairman Andy Granatelli will be at the wheel as he and Bob Abell auction off the 42-foot cabin cruiser that once belonged to Bing Crosby, plus trips to Egypt, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Alaska, Australia and a lot more.

Roaring their engines, too, will be co-hosts and celebrity chairmen Ken Minyard and Bob Arthur of KABC radio.

Last year, under the leadership of honorary chairmen John and Donna Crean, more than 725 attended, raising $425,000. Group Effort board president Lynn Klinenberg, and John Bland, Mitch Blumenfeld, Marie Borofsky, Janet Brown, Mary David Collins, Richard N. Ellis, Eva Fendel, Paul Gilbert, Mark Hicks, Earle Ike, Charles E. Horvorka, Gary Koerner, James and Jean McMillan, Paula Meehan, James H. Myers, Lisa Greer Quateman, Christi Sulzbach, Celia Torres, Raz Vadakan and Marla Williams will be among those trying for fund-raising one-upmanship.

BLACK-TIE: Beverly Hills collectors Nathan and Marion Smooke will be honored Wednesday evening at a black-tie buffet dinner and preview of “Degas to Picasso: Modern Masters From the Smooke Collection” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition of 91 works is the first exhibition of their collection as a whole. The collection opens to the public Thursday, continuing through June 28. Smooke is an industrial real estate investor.

ALL THAT JAZZ: Ria Parody says the focus is on “le jazz hot” for the “Jazz at the Gindi” University of Judaism benefit May 3--singer Mel Torme and pianist Peter Nero star. Chairmen Marjorie Platt, Sheldon Appel and Sheldon Kadish are fund-raising to benefit the university arts program. Dinner will follow the black-tie concert. A few involved: Carol and Sheldon Appel, Barbara and Alan Gindi, Eli Gindi, Rae and Jack Gindi, Tina and Joseph Gindi, Sadie and Norman Lee, Susan Morse, Sondra and Marvin Smalley, and Ruth and Allen Ziegler.

BIG DATES: Friends of Child Advocates plan a fiesta at El Paseo de Los Angeles on Olvera Street on April 25. Mrs. Peter Brown Dolan heads Friends, who help young victims of abuse through the Superior Court. Mrs. Daniel Wallace Walker is benefit chairman, and auxiliary helpers include Nancy Weakley, Mrs. Bruce Anderson, Mrs. Jack Butler, Mrs. William Goodwin, Mrs. Frank E. McGinity, Mrs. Vernon O. Underwood Jr., Mrs. Paul A. Vert, Jane West and Melinda Winston. . . .

Mort Sahl shares wit and wisdom with the medical profession April 27 at the United Jewish Fund dinner at the Century Plaza Tower. Physicians, dentists and psychologists will be in abundance. Dr. Albert M. Katz is chairman, assisted by Dr. Herbert I. Stein, Dr. Eugene W. Worton, Dr. Ari Rosenblatt, Dr. Harold Pessin, Beverly Morse and Toby Marantz. . . .

Mount St. Mary’s College brings the spirit of Monte Carlo to the Doheny Mansion on May 15 with Casino Royale ’87.

AND MORE: “Mums of Alums” at Harvard School are having their first annual tea April 22 at the Seeley Mudd Library on the Harvard campus. Chris Newman is chairman, and lending a hand are Barbara Bell, Carolyn Minchin, Nelle Niles, Ricki O’Leary, Georgina Rothenberg, Mary Ann Sickle and Nancy Weakley. Tea hostesses will include Janice Carpenter, Grace Fritzinger, Patty Maloney, Tally Mingst, Martha Mitchell, Joanne Singleton and Liz Taylor. . . .

Pete and Susie Ellis host the kickoff cocktail party for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Celebrity Sports Classic at their Beverly Hills home April 22.

GLAMOUR LUNCHEONS: Pasadena Alumnae of Kappa Kappa Gamma will support Sycamores Children’s Center in Altadena with proceeds from their benefit at the Shakespeare Club. . . .

Arrangements for the Screen Smart Set (an auxiliary of the Motion Picture and Television Fund) luncheon at Jimmy’s were made by Lillian McEdwards (mother of Blake Edwards) from her hospital bed. Mary Blakeley assisted. As usual, it was a sellout, with fashions from the Elizabeth Arden Salon on Rodeo Drive. . . .

Sue Schaar chaired the Trojan League of Orange County’s 25th annual benefit when it honored the USC School of Law. Scott Bice, law school dean, addressed the group.

David L. Wolper and Jean Firstenberg co-chaired the League of Women Voters luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire ballroom, naming Julie Harris and Patty Duke “Women of Honor.”