Sheilah Graham, Once Again Striding Down Memory Lane

Tucked in the corner booth at Trumps on Saturday night was a piece of Hollywood and literary history, a legend in her own time. But, quick, before she could be consigned to the memory file, Sheilah Graham had a few things to say.

Her signature hat perched above a face still pretty after eight decades, the once-and-future author had spent the day in an “exhausting” visit to the Hayworth Avenue apartment where famed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald died. The memory-laden visit was for a documentary film being made by Robert Squier. The visit had been difficult, but lightened by the graciousness of the two young men who now share the apartment. Fresh flowers were everywhere, Graham said in her trademark never-a-pause chat, and there were a pile of her books sitting on a table--just coincidentally first editions.

“I’ve written the same book five times,” said the author of “Beloved Infidel,” the story of her time in the 1930s with Fitzgerald. She was off to New York the next day to sell her latest idea, “Scrapbook,” a collection of interesting items from her life.

Over calf’s liver with prunes and Southern Comfort Sauce, Graham chatted with Squier about her relationship with Scottie Fitzgerald, the only child of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Her death, in 1986, Graham said, meant the “end of that little family. Mother, father, child--now all gone.”

POLITICAL LAUGHS--The speakers kept telling the audience it was “No Laughing Matter” at the $100-per-person benefit at the intimate Improv Sunday night. Not true, though, since six comics did their best to top each other while laying waste to the Reagan Administration. Norman Lear’s People for the American Way got their benefit and their consciences scoured to boot. A notably casual yet tony crowd, including actresses Ally Sheedy and Demi Moore (sans Emilio Estevez), looked on as the comics--Taylor Negron, Barry Crimmons, Sandra Bernhard, Gilbert Gottfried, Paul Reiser and Bobcat Goldthwait--took their shots at the President, the Iran- contra affairistes, Ed Meese, televangelists and book burners. Some were more political than others--Crimmons announcing “I’ve got a surprise for Oral Roberts. My check is going to bounce.” Goldthwait announced “I am Jim Bakker’s love child,” then fired verbal buckshot not only at political figures but at the industry as well. Not surprisingly, most of the industry types in the audience laughed even harder. Whoopi Goldberg was supposed to close the show, but no-showed instead.

NEW COALITION--The invite to the May 14 benefit for the Committee for Justice announces not just the event at Scratch restaurant, but also a fairly unique coming together of L.A. political types. The committee was formed in response to the Immigration and Naturalization Service arrests of a group of Palestinians--and is aiming to oppose the “use of the McCarran-Walter Act by the INS to target and deport foreign nationals residing in America.” On the committee are representatives of the Arab and Jewish communities here, as well as significant names from the black community. Included are co-host Casey Kasem and Harriet Katz, along with Bishop H. H. Brookins, Rep. Ron Dellums and Mervyn Dymally, civil rights activist Julian Bond, attorneys William Kunstler, Ramsey Clark and Leonard Weinglass, UC Regent Stanley Sheinbaum and People for the American Way’s Ramona Ripston.

UPCOMING--The L.A. Children’s Museum benefit with Kenny Rogers in concert is truly set for May 29 at Universal Amphitheatre. . . . Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna are the Citizens of the Year at the Best of the Beverly Hills Ball on June 3 at the Beverly Hilton.

TOUGH LIFE--And it’s rough too, being a star involved in a charity event. Like Burt Lancaster, Hal Linden, Jackie Cooper, Richard Crenna and Barbara Eden, who will be hosting the May 20 five-day “Aku” Cup Golf and Tennis Tournament on Maui. Billed by its organizer, Danny Arnold, as the world’s largest such event, it is expected to earn $200,000 for the John Wayne Cancer Clinic at UCLA and the planned Maui Community Arts and Cultural Center. And, for such a good cause, the stars will trek out to Hawaii and spend several days in the sun, working hard on the links and courts.