Guild Party Guests Flaunt Eclectic Garb

Amelia Earhart was there with a torn map in her boot.

A chic Jackie Kennedy greeted guests at the door.

And Zorro loomed in a corner, his black cape trailing behind.

So it went at Sunday night’s Decades Party given by the Cabaret chapter of the Orange County Performing Arts Center Guilds.

Flappers boogied with bobby-soxers, gangsters twisted with prom queens and eclecticism ruled as about 120 chapter members and guests gathered at the Newporter Resort to dance to the Greg Topper Band.

Chapter president Julie Polhemus, an ersatz Jackie in a burgundy ensemble, pillbox hat and strand of pearls, said proceeds from the $15-per-person event would not be tallied until the end of the week.

“Our fiscal year ends (today),” Polhemus said. “We don’t have final figures yet, but it’s fair to say that from our three fund-raisers this year, the chapter will have contributed in excess of $60,000 to help offset the Center’s operating costs.”

Among the guests was Carla Mitroff, an account executive at Penske Leasing in Downey, who came as a Roaring ‘20s vision in white.

“I live a very sheltered life,” said Mitroff, who won an award for her ‘20s styled outfit--a dropped-back, beaded-silk dress with boa and jeweled headdress. “I’m usually a wallflower, but when I go out, I like to do it right. Tonight, I’m looking for a man to spend the rest of my life with. . . . “

As noted by Phil O’Brien, who co-chaired the event with Frank Barcelona and Tor Eckert, the Cabaret chapter “is 95% singles. We’re the fun chapter.”

How, then, did O’Brien explain his oh-so-conservative charcoal gray suit?

“This,” said a grinning O’Brien, “is what I wore in the ‘60s!”

Board members Linda Lewis and Toni Noyes donned their own ‘60s gear: Lewis in a crocheted shawl and jeans skirt (with a “Make Love Not War” placard in her hand) and Noyes in overalls, sweat shirt and prisoner of war bracelet.

“I used to be a hippie,” said Noyes. “And, to be perfectly honest, I still wear these clothes. Never mind dress-for-success. I dress for comfort.”

Nancy Tallman, aka Amelia Earhart, accented her tan jump suit with a compass on her hip and a pair of Speedo goggles nestled in her curls. Pulling a scrap of map from her boot, Tallman said: “I can’t figure out where I am. I got this map here, but it ends at California. You know, when I woke up I heard this funny noise, and I could have sworn I was in Japan. . . .”

Actually, it was Newport Beach and that funny noise was rock ‘n’ roll, as played for Guild members.