Photo Museum Benefit a Snappy, Lively Affair

It only takes two to tango, but since the Museum of Photographic Arts attracted some 200 patrons to Friday’s “Tango MoPA” fund-raising gala, the dance floor at times threatened to become a maelstrom of dangerously whirling couples.

The museum baited its invitation hook with rather more than the usual treats, which resulted in an especially finely feathered flock showing up for this fourth anniversary celebration. Among the lures was the party site: the new, massive and admittedly magnificent residence of fine arts patrons Liz and Mason Phelps.

Built rather like a museum itself, the house includes such interesting features as the “hostility room” (a bathroom decorated with epithet-bearing wallpaper), and light switches embedded in the floors, since Mason Phelps believes that they intrude upon walls. One guest described the residence as “larger than Liechtenstein.”

Other draws included the beneficiary--the Balboa Park museum is very popular with influential supporters of other fine arts institutions--and the party theme, which made much of the sultry tango mood first popularized in the 1920s. In keeping with the ‘20s nightclub atmosphere, cigarette girls snapped Polaroid pictures of the guests, some of whom posed against the palm trees (silhouettes picked out in tiny lights) that decorated the walls of the black tent used to shelter the dinner and dancing.

Event organizer Carol Randolph said she chose the tango theme “simply because it sounded like a good time.” And so it must have, since quite a number of guests accepted the challenge to dress in tango attire. In its more extreme moments, the South American mood erupted into such exuberances as one guest’s Carmen Miranda outfit, complete with life-sized banana earrings.

Many also accepted the challenge to tango, especially after several professional couples showed them just how it is done. A salsa band, called Storm, agreeably accommodated with other, more slowly paced Latin rhythms; all this activity helped guests to work off a lavish Spanish meal that included black, squid-ink pasta; empanadas ; a spicy beef stew and a dessert bar devoted to chocolate creations.

One guest who looked especially satisfied with the proceedings was MoPA director Arthur Ollman, who said he was gearing up for the museum’s next exhibit, “Supreme Instants,” which opens June 2 and is a collection of the photography of Edward Weston.

“This is probably the most impressive show we’ve ever staged,” said Ollman. “Edward Weston is the most influential of all California photographers and we’re opening the show. After us, it will go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and then the National Museum of American Art in Washington. I love scooping all these major institutions.”

Among the guests were museum President Scott Ferguson and his wife, Barbara; Murray and Elaine Galinson; Michael and Susan Channick; Jeanne Lawrence; Joe and Nancy Manno; Ted and Roz Odmark; Bob and Bea Epsten; Elizabeth Brafford and L.J. Cella; Heather and Jack Metcalf; Carol and Mike Alessio; Robert Dinnerman; Liz and Joe Yamada, and Judith Harris and Robert Singer.

SAN DIEGO--A somewhat surprised but also serene-looking puppy named Second Chance attended his first dinner-dance Saturday.

Given in the Grand Ballroom of the Sheraton Harbor Island, the gala, called “Celebrate,” attracted some 450 guests to toast the 60th anniversary of Episcopal Community Services. The evening included both silent and live auctions, which explained the presence of Second Chance.

“Our live auction puppy is named after the the spirit of the evening, since ECS gives the down-and-out a second chance,” explained party chairman Melesse Traylor. “He’s a pound puppy, and this auction is his second chance at finding a home.”

The pooch often was glimpsed in the vicinity of a canned goods-laden table near the entrance; by tradition, many guests brought cans of food for distribution to the needy. The guests also added to the party proceeds by snapping up the auction items, which included vacation packages, a key to the city of San Diego, and the purchaser’s very own wall at the organization’s new emergency assistance office downtown.

Funds raised by the gala will go to support a number of services, especially to the homeless. Episcopal Community Services Executive Director Glenn Allison said that among the services to be offered at the new site at 12th Avenue and Broadway will be an office to assist homeless veterans, whom Allison said constitute 40% of the homeless population.

The Rev. Patricia Backman added that another new program, Julian’s Anchorage (named for patron saint Julian of Norwich, the English mystic who described God in feminine terms) will offer long-term shelter to homeless women and their children.

“We hope that by providing shelter for six months to a year, as well as supportive services, that we will be able to assist these women to become truly independent,” said Backman.

Since the party was called “Celebrate,” the guests chose to do just that. Following the lobster bisque and chicken piccata dinner, retired Bishop Robert M. Wolterstorff and Episcopal Community Services President James Ford led champagne toasts to the organization, after which birthday cake was served in honor of the charity’s 60 years of service. Entertainment by a group called the Clerical Ensemble (composed, as might be guessed, of members of the clergy) then led a musical tribute that traced the agency through its six decades. In between all these activities, the guests somehow found time to dance to the Wayne Foster Orchestra.

Bishop C. Brinkley Morton and his wife, Virginia, headed up a guest list that included Ollie and Jill Belzer; Brian and Penny Williams; Robert Traylor and daughter Kerry; Carol and Bob Tuggey; Jack and Barbara Stevenson; Ruth and John Kerman; John and Marvie Norris; Roger and Jeanne McNitt; Berneil and Don Cole; James and Elspeth Myer, and Linda Smith and Jack Wheeler.

SAN DIEGO--Plenty of cops--but not, apparently, any robbers--crowded into the casino set up at one end of the Sheraton Harbor Island’s Champagne Ballroom for the amusement of the 400 guests present at the recent “Il Carnevale di Venezia,” the fourth annual Gold and White Ball.

Chief among them was Police Chief Bill Kolender, whose wife, Lois, co-chaired the ball. Repeating a role she has played at previous Gold and White extravaganzas, given as the main yearly fund-raiser for the Crime Victims Fund, Lois shared the chairmanship duties with Karen Nugent and Pam Sullivan, both directors of the co-sponsoring San Diego County Bar Assn. Auxiliary.

The games of chance started early and continued late into the evening, attracting scores of lawyers, judges, politicians and others to the blackjack and roulette tables; those who ended in the chips could trade them for chances in a raffle of assorted prizes.

As competition to the lures of Lady Luck, the Benny Hollman Orchestra played through, and long after, the Italian-themed dinner of spinach tortellini, filetto di bue and amaretto tart. After the meal, auctioneer Bob Arnhym led the briefest auction in memory, offering just three select items, including a 1987 Buick. (The committee made it easy on prospective buyers by assuring the availability of 24-month financing at 3.9% interest.)

The main theme of the Gold and White Ball, naturally, is gold and white, which meant fanciful, carnival-inspired decor in those colors (every patron received a gilded Venetian mask as a party favor). To give the ballroom the air of a Venetian garden, the decor committee raided a major Hollywood prop house and returned with a truckload of fountains, columns and such, all used occasionally by movie studios. Most amusing was a miniature gondola complete with realistic gondolier and tourist. For the final touch, the committee dressed the waiters as gondoliers, which caused more than one double take when the meal was served.

Founded in 1982, the Crime Victims Fund makes grants of up to $500 to the victims of violent crime. The intention is to tide these people over through difficult times, and about 250 county residents have been assisted by the organization.

Speaking of the fund, Lois Kolender said: “It’s the only emergency support available specifically for victims. It’s a shame we don’t get support from the county or state governments, but maybe someday they’ll fit us in their budgets. It’s also a shame that we have to put on a ball to take care of victims in our town.”

Among the guests were Assemblyman Larry Stirling and his wife, Cheryl; Crime Victims Fund chairman Dr. Sidney Bolton; YMCA Executive Director Beverly Di Gregorio; Lynn Krepak and Brian Boswell; Betty and John Mabee; Debbie and Ed Malloy; actor Martin Milner and his wife, Judy; San Diego Padres President Ballard Smith; Kay and John Byrne; Shelley and Howard Clayton; Roger Young; Jan and Mike Madigan, and Mexican Consul General Javier Escobar.