Patroness Party Gears Up for the Bowl

Back from Ascot, back from London, back from Ann and Gordon Getty’s party in San Francisco to send off his opera, “Plump Jack,” which premiered at Davies Hall--everyone was back in Los Angeles for the festivities surrounding the upcoming opening Tuesday of the Hollywood Bowl.

Or so it seemed at the Hollywood Bowl Patroness 35th annual party the other twilight at Ragnar and Mollie Qvale’s estate in Fremont Place. Designer Hal Maguire was euphoric about the fun at Ascot and the antics in the Royal Enclosure surrounding the races. (“They just sit in the rain and continue with their picnics.”) Patroness president Jeanne Johnson and her affable husband, Stanley, were euphoric about the Gettys’ party for 500 friends at their home after the premiere--”mounds of caviar, chocolate swans, three orchestras until 3 a.m.”

But the Bowl was the thing. Composer/conductor/pianist Lukas Foss was the honoree. He was sleepy-eyed. He had just stepped off the plane from London and it was 4 a.m. “his” time as he arrived a tad late. He warmed up on hot coffee, drew up Jeanne Johnson’s shawl like a muffler and broke into laughter looking at the lions that grace the entrance to the Qvales’ white house. “They remind me of an opera I wrote, ‘Griffelkin,” when I was 35. A young devil gets 24 hours on Earth, falls in love, commits a good deed, and is expelled from hell. He gets the option of raising a little hell on Earth, so he sprinkles the lions with . . . (he flounced his hands in the sky, pantomiming something like sprinkling magic dust) and they roar outrageously.”

Friday Night at Bowl

Everyone, including Jack and Mary Ann Heidt, thought “Griffelkin” would make a wonderful Christmas season TV children’s opera. Right now, though, Foss (recently at the Ojai Festival, professor of composition for 10 years at UCLA and a frequent guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) is working with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute at UCLA and its young musicians. Foss will conduct the combined Philharmonic and institute orchestras Friday at the Bowl, and he and Andre Previn will perform Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos in E Flat on Aug. 16 with the institute orchestra.

Of course, the opening of the 66th season of Hollywood Bowl Summer Festival will be officially launched Tuesday evening at the opening night all-Beethoven program conducted by Gunther Herbig and with pianist Alfred Brendel. It will be the first opening with candelabra outlawed; votive candles in containers will be OK.

For the alfresco Patroness party, there were candles. Mrs. Charles B. Witt had arranged cocktails on the lawns and terraces amid the tall palms and pines of Fremont Place and the Qvales’ tall hedges of hibiscus. Jack and Helene Drown were up from Rolling Hills. The Warren Williamsons of Pasadena and the Bradford Halls of San Marino, after the Gold Cup race at Hollywood Park, joined the Robert Krogers and the Henry Elders of Los Angeles. Ginger (she in a short pouf) and David Ludwick and Bev and Sid Adair were among those extending greetings up the long driveway: to the Willis Dursts, the Warner Henrys, the Chandler Harrises, the Russell Keelys, the Woodward Taylors, John H. Welborne with Victoria Brant and the Romus Souceks.

200th Debutante Ball

The music-intensive group--the Robert Brants, the George Brauns, the Timothy Dohenys, the John Shumways, Mrs. Thomas Malouf (in a pretty turquoise and black short suit), the Richard Schuurs, the Rodney Williamses, the Glen Mitchels--danced to Joe Moshay’s Orchestra, Joe announcing he was reaching his 200th debutante ball this year.

John Raitt sang musical comedy after dinner, his wife, Rosemary (her ancestors, the land-grant Yorba clan, once owned the Irvine Ranch), sitting with the Johnsons.

The committee, including Virginia Lord, Nancy Long, Mary Frances Cox, Louise Jones, Lorna Gentile, Helen Rand and Nancy Dinsmore, were elated with Rococo’s cuisine--smoked salmon with hearts of palm, rack of lamb with a bouquet of vegetables, a crisp cinnamon pastry seashell filled with vanilla ice cream, topped with berries and chocolate fudge.

BOWLED OVER: That charter group for the new Friends of the Hollywood Bowl is getting a lot of credence: Stacey and Henry Winkler, Nancy and Sid Peterson, Otis and Bettina Chandler and Jo and Harry Usher are all involved.

BOWLED, TOO: The Los Angeles Men’s ORT hosted a gala “Evening Under the Stars” fund-raiser at the preseason Bowl Philharmonic concert Wednesday evening. Stanley Black, president, and Howard Matlow and Ted Greene had gathered earlier at the Hillcrest Country Club to reserve 500 seats with tickets at $100 for dinner and wine. ORT, founded in 1880, is an international network of schools and colleges providing vocational training in more than 22 countries.

FOURTH FUN: Les Dames of Los Angeles International Hostesses and their Young Californians group team up July Fourth for a Western party at the William Ahmanson Ranch saluting the Southern California consular corps families. Roundup bosses Sheila Riddell and Margaret Larkin have sent “wanted” posters advising diplomats to check in at the cattle guard for chuck wagon barbecue, swimming and pony rides.

PLAUDITS: To the Cedars-Sinai/Drexel Burnham Lambert Sports Spectacular dinner at the Century Plaza. It raised more than $650,000 for the Medical Genetics and Birth Defects Center, and Henry Wilf, senior vice president of Drexel’s high yield and convertible bond department, and Albert (Bud) Spound, president of Spound & Co., were awarded trophies. . .

To Lee Walcott, newly appointed managing director and vice president of the Ahmanson Foundation (he was head of Marlborough’s Upper School 16 years) . . .

To writer Ray Bradbury, who will be awarded the Kenneth T. Norris Jr. Heritage of Freedom Award at the Palos Verdes Independence Day Celebration at Malaga Cove School on Saturday. . .

To Dulce Parker Harris, given a special commendation from the Pasadena mayor and city directors for her leadership, civic spirit and contributions, humor and compassion. Bravo!