Las Madrinas Debs Carry On Tradition
Tradition looked elegantly smashing the other afternoon with most of the just-announced Las Madrinas debutantes lined up in a row on the bridge to the home of Mrs. Fulton Haight in Santa Monica, wearing smiles, silks and crisp cottons and holding nosegays with long ribbon streamers.
They stood just behind president Mrs. Thomas Techentin, in polite protocol announcing their names and greeting several hundred tea guests. The affair is the official prelude to the 53rd annual Debutante Ball on Dec. 21 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton when the girls will be gowned in white and long gloves and be presented on the arms of their fathers to society.
Over the years Las Madrinas (the “godmothers”) members and debutante families have substantially supported Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and, traditionally, debutantes, chosen before they begin their freshman year of college, have volunteered summer hours--all in a quiet profile. Now, with ever-surging competition for the dollar and a desire to raise larger funds for Childrens Hospital, Las Madrinas’ board intends to leave no stones unturned.
Most board members attended the tea. Among them: Mrs. Stephen Ackerman, Mrs. Neil Martin, Mrs. Brian Crahan, Mrs. Peter Reich, Mrs. Richard Hotaling, Mrs. Robert Carpenter, Mrs. Willis Durst Jr., Mrs. Joseph Keon Jr. and Mrs. James Birdwell Jr.
Janice Carpenter is debutante chairman, and Penne Durst is ball chairman. Already debutantes have toured the hospital with fathers and grandfathers invited. The thought: once you see Childrens Hospital, you think benevolently.
Debutantes and their parents are Misses Sarah Boren, the Frank Dennis Borens; Gianna Bosko, the David Boskos; Thekla Brumder, the George Brumders; Kathleen Campbell, the William Campbells Jr.; Tawnia Cannell, the Stephen J. Cannells; Cecilia Cord, the Christopher Cords; Kathryn Eastman, the Peter Eastmans; Melinda Fountain, the Rex Fountains Jr.; Elizabeth Gibbs, the George Gibbses Jr.; Kathryn Gibson, the John Gibsons Jr.; Katherine Graham, the Francis Grahams II; Nancy Hatch, the Sinclair Hatches Jr.; Katherine Horton, the Rufus William Landon Hortons III; Samantha Howard, Mrs. Julie Fleming and the late Mr. William Howard; Helene Jones, the Nelson Joneses; Ashley LaShelle, Mrs. Noll LaShelle and Brett LaShelle; Karen Lemons, William Leo Lemons Jr. and the late Dorothy Therese Leavey Lemons; Elizabeth McDonald, the Stephen McDonalds.
More are Misses Melissa Sprague Mingst, the William Mingsts; JoAnne Schroeder, the Jon Schroeders; Annabel Schwedes, Mrs. Franklin Lane III and Charles Schwedes; Alison Shea, the John Francis Sheas; Sarah Shea, the Peter Sheas; Stefanie Smith, the W. Clark Smiths; Kristin Techentin, the Thomas Techentins; Lisa Thomas, the Wayne Thomases; Alyssa Walker, the William T. Walkers Jr.; Laura Westwater, the John C. Westwaters, and Kathryn Wollan, the Dennis Wollans.
ALFRESCO DINING: Shiny invitations are out for the Medici Awards Dinner on July 9 to honor 1987 award recipients who have generously contributed to the cultural development of Los Angeles. Directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the trustees, overseers and director of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens will be hosts for the 6:30 p.m. cocktails in the Shakespeare Garden and the alfresco dinner on the North Vista Garden.
Robert F. Maguire III is dinner chairman, and William M. Clossey vice chairman. Just a few on the large honorary dinner committee are Eli Broad, John Argue, Lloyd Cotsen, Armand Deutsch, Michael Eisner, Mrs. Freeman Gates, Nancy Adams Holliday, Winston V. Morrow, William D. Schulte, Debra Lynne Solis and Philip L. Williams.
SANTA BARBARA POLO: A luncheon crowd at the Regency Club was all revved up over the pageantry of international polo, the festivities and the alfresco luncheon surrounding the United States Polo Assn. America Cup Tournament at the Santa Barbara polo fields in Carpinteria. The opening game is July 12, the day of the Fourth Annual Golden Mallet Invitational Polo Tournament benefiting the Day Nursery of the Assistance League of Southern California. Directors of the Day Nursery Auxiliary and the Artisan Auxiliary host the benefit. Ladies will be wearing garden dresses and hats and gentlemen elegant sport looks from what the lunch bunch said, and that included Glen and Gloria Holden, Geannie Holden Sheller, Jackie Hill, Jonna Lear King, Beverly Thrall, Joanna Rice, Kay Johns, Maxine Duckworth, Eva Elkins, Anna Cox, accompanied by polo players Joe Henderson, Dorrie Forstmann, Julio Zavaleta and his wife Ginette from Argentina, and Ken Walker, who sponsors a Santa Barbara team and his player sons Dan and Henry.
DESERT POLO: World-class polo players, Hollywood celebrities and jet-setters mingle Oct. 18 for the Barbara Sinatra Polo Classic at the Eldorado Polo Club in Indio. Mrs. Frank Sinatra has enlisted the support of desert dynamos Jacque Coveny and Nelda Linsk to co-chair the fete for the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage. Tickets are $2,500 (for a table of 10) for afternoon lunch, entertainment and auction. A gourmet box lunch goes for $150 per ticket and a reserved seat for a $15 pittance. The committee includes Beverly Lewis and Hal Broderick, decorations, and Barbara Kaplan, Cal Vander Woude, Dorothy Tenney, Judy Gelfand, Mario Gardner, Michelle Byer, Pat Oygar, Mimi Albert and Lynn Mallotto.
CLUB 100: For six years Club 100 has been honoring distinguished artists who have worked at The Music Center. Presenters at the celebration luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel named nine classy honorees: Lee Hausner presented to musician Mel Torme; Genevieve McSweeney to visual artist June Wayne; Carol Mancino to musical actress Debbie Allen (expecting soon); Mary Zinser to critic Mark Swed; Bridget Martens to arts education expert Lauren Tewes; Joan Seidel to opera’s Carl Princi; Kim Johnson to costume designer Carol Brolaski; Lorraine Saunders to actress Jean Stapleton, and Eunice Forester to actor Charlton Heston. Olive Vargba and Wilhelmina Diener put the pretty luncheon together with Donna Woloff’s supervision. There were fond farewells and gifts to president Joyce Rosenblum, who revealed that the club generated $650,000 this year. Now Diane Morton takes over. She started with a joke about three sailors shipwrecked, two desperately searching for rescue, the third lolling and eating bananas. The two say irritatedly to the third, “Why don’t you help?” He replies, “Last year I gave $100,000 to the Music Center; it was $50,000 more than the year previously. They’ll find us! They’ll find us!”
SPOTLIGHT: Robert Kramer, founder of Kramer Motors, stars tonight at the dinner at the Beverly Wilshire hosted by the Anti-Defamation League’s Automotive Division. Expect some fun with the Kramer hometown connection with Dutch Reagan. That’s President Ronald, and Kramer not only listened to Reagan when he was Midwestern sports announcer, but his father, now deceased, ran the custom tailor shop and tailored the three suits that Reagan took to Hollywood for his first screenings. The President will be there on tape. Ted Chanock, Sam Goldman and Fred Miller chair the dinner.
RED LETTERS: Roger A. Kozberg, ex-president, Fraternity of Friends of the Music Center, and Jean-Claude Potier, president of Windstar Sail cruises, will be co-hosts Sunday evening to the Friends for a cruise of Long Beach harbor aboard Wind Song, supposedly the world’s longest (at 440 feet) sailing ship. Wind Song begins seven-day cruises through French Polynesia on July 24 . . . The Dance Gallery celebrates naming the Costume Design Studio for Rudi Gernreich at a cocktail reception Wednesday at the home of Shelby and Dan Kirsch in Beverly Hills . . . The Muses of the Museum of Science and Industry hosted a garden tea Wednesday at the Beverly Hills home of Mrs. William Pagen to honor founder and first chairman Harriet Luckman.
HEAPS OF PLAUDITS: Partners for Music Center Unified Fund have great cause for celebration Tuesday at their luncheon in the Blue Ribbon Room of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion: They’ve topped the goal of $1.7 million for the Music Center Unified Fund Campaign, according to Chairman Lorraine Saunders. Robert Guillaume of “Benson” will perform and a silver tray, silver wine cooler and the coveted silver punch bowl will be awarded to top committees. Partners For raise funds through letters and the telephone . . . Penelope von Kalinowski, president of Sonance, regrouped her committee of the recent Sonance fund-raiser, at a party at Regency Club to give Dr. John House and Dr. William House the net $115,000 for House Ear Institute. Then later she hosted tea to honor David Keith-Jones, speaking on the fun of African safaris . . . Peggy Cole and Jacqueline Marks, daughters of the late Emma Stern, presented a check for $250,000 to the Jewish Community Centers Assn. trustees, for a senior recreation facility . . . The American Heart Assn. Greater Los Angeles Affiliate is announcing a net of $140,000 on its third annual Union Bank Heart of the City 5K Run this month.
MAJOR MOVERS: A ship’s wheel to symbolize “taking over the helm” was presented to Lod Cook, chairman of Arco, incoming national chairman of Junior Achievement, at Lawry’s California Center. Tom Fuelling, president of Lawry’s Foods, Inc., is chairman of Junior Achievement for Los Angeles and Ventura counties . . . Arline Chambers has been named executive director of The Dance Gallery . . . Robert H. Burns, president of Regent International Hotels, has named Kurt Stielhack (from the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans) general manager of the Beverly Wilshire. He’ll live in Beverly Hills with his wife Renate and two children, Michael and Sandra . . . Mayor Tom Bradley and Dr. Ray R. Irani, president and chief operating officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp., hosted the luncheon Sunday to honor Dr. Raul Alfonsin, president of the Republic of Argentina, at the Century Plaza Towers.
CHANGING OF GUARD: David Crandell is new president of the Pasadena Arts Council . . . Maria Aguirre replaces Gerald D. Secundy as president of Girls Clubs of Pasadena, Inc. Other new officers include Brad Talt, Mrs. Paul Johnson, Ed Sales and Mrs. James Lee . . . Dr. Robert E. Fredricks, senior vice president of medical affairs at Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, was named chairman-elect of the Catholic Health Assn. of the United States this month at the annual assembly in Pittsburgh . . . Lucille Ball, Carol Channing, Bonnie Franklin, Albert Hague, Shirley Jones, Lawrence Kasha, Michelle Lee, Peter Matz and Rita Moreno have joined Musical Comedy/LA’s advisory board.
