Spreading Special Spirit of Friendship

This must be some sort of milestone: The Spirit of Friendship Award Dinner for the California Special Olympics on Nov. 14 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton was sold out before the invitations were mailed.

That says a lot for the organizational abilities of the chairman Peter Mullin and the dinner committee including Stephen H. Ackerman, Barbara Allen, Celeste Anlauf, James Merrill, Sabrina Nucciarone, Barbara Jo Peterson, Jeffrey V. Peterson, Dave Robinson, Joseph Terrell, Jeanne Valvo and Judy Walchuk. It’s black-tie. Michael Landon will be honored.

UPBEAT: Santa Monica Hospital boasts The BirthPlace, a comprehensive unit for the hospital’s maternity and newborn intensive-care services (many infants are transferred from other facilities).

It takes the profits from the Santa Monica Hospital Foundation’s first “Gala” Saturday. Pia Zadora (she balances a recording career with motherhood) and her 28-piece orchestra will be on stage at the black-tie soiree in the newly opened Filmland Corporate Center in Culver City. Frank Jansen, Elizabeth Burns and Marilyn Terry are spearheading ticket sales at $175.

SALUTE: Each year the USC School of Social Work pays tribute to an individual or group of volunteers providing outstanding service to the community. The United Friends of the Children have been named this year for their distinctive contributions to the children of MacLaren Children’s Center and for their advocacy on behalf of all children. Two volunteer dynamos--Mary Ripley and Lucy Toberman--are co-chairs with a committee including Kay Bixby, Frances Feldman, Elizabeth McBroom, John Milner, Don Pitts, Eva Schindler-Rainman and Marge Schwartz. The event is Thursday at the USC Faculty Center.

QUARTET: Charles and Harriet McElroy Luckman and William and Barbara Pauley Pagen will share the honors Dec. 2 at the Beverly Wilshire when the Bel-Air Council of the Navy League hosts a formal dinner-concert with the Beverly Hills Pops Orchestra. John Green will guest conduct.

COINCIDENTAL: Patricia Grant, 1987 Vintage Wine Selection chairman for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Affiliates, has timed the third annual wine offering to the holiday gift-giving season. San Marino residents John C. and Jeanine Cushman III, Zaca Mesa Winery owners (at Los Olivos), are honorary chairmen, and the selections just happen to be a 1985 Reserve Chardonnay, a 1983 Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1985 Sauvignon Blanc, all produced and bottled by Zaca Mesa. The wines, with musical motifs on the labels for the Philharmonic, are offered by the case only and will be delivered prior to Dec. 15. Information: (213) 850-2165 or (818) 799-8610.

FOUNDING 100: San Marino’s first mayor, George S. Patton Sr., helped found the community as well as mold one of the century’s heroes, Gen. George S. Patton Jr. Their historic home, now owned by Earl and Anne Snodgrass, has been at the heart of San Marino since 1910. It’s the site Nov. 14 for a $250-per-person fund-raising benefit by the Founding 100 Members of the George S. Patton Museum.

Sen. Pete and Gayle Wilson and Rep. Al McCandless will attend. The group already has raised $500,000 of its $2.5-million goal for the museum at Chiriaco Summit, the site of Camp Young (28 miles east of Indio) where Gen. Patton trained troops for the invasion of Northern Africa. According to Margit Rusche, Patton aficionado, a dedicated group including Col. Roger Rothrock (chairman of the directors), Leslie Cone, David Henley and Dr. Ray Puffer plan to open the museum Nov. 11, 1988, the 103rd anniversary of Patton’s birth. Both former President Gerald R. Ford (he’s honorary chairman) and Bob Hope have promised to attend.

L’ESCOFFIER: Judges of the Western Regional Auditions of the Metropolitan Opera National Council--Carol Vaness, Betty Allen, Warren Jones and Lotfi Mansouri--will put in some intense and difficult hours choosing winners. But the Met Committee will reward them with a black-tie judges dinner Nov. 12 at L’Escoffier at the Beverly Hilton. Among planners are Joan A. Tyrrell, Molly Siefert, Lynn Day, Marie Fisher-Lemarr. Auditions finals are Nov. 14 at 7:45 p.m. at USC’s Bovard Auditorium.

ESCALATION: The Southern California Area Council of Alpha Delta Pi expects a record attendance Wednesday for luncheon at the Wilshire Country Club. Mary Duque, president of Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, is honorary chairman. Judy Greenwald, head of Interior and Environmental Design, UCLA Extension, will speak. . . . Malcolm Paterson of the Cross Cancer Institute, University of Edmonton, will address the A-T Medical Research Foundation on Nov. 11 at a luncheon at the Regency Club. Pam and George Smith founded the group to fund research for Ataxia-Telangiectasia, a rare genetic disease.

GIFTS: Mayor Tom Bradley gave Marilyn and Harry Lewis, owners of the Hamburger Hamlets, and Kate Mantilini proclamations at the L.A. Mission, and then the Lewises presented the Rev. Mark Holsinger, mission director, with $10,000 for the dining facility in the mission’s new women’s center. Later 300 homeless people sat down for hamburger lunches. . . . AT&T; has announced a gift of $45,000 to Grand People Company of Los Angeles.

CELEB POLO: William Devane’s team played in the celebrity polo game at Los Angeles Equestrian & Polo Center Equidome, acing out Doug Sheehan’s Anglers Rest team. In the crowd were Reynolds Young, chairman of the 1988 International Washington Horse Show, J. Albert Garcia, president of the Professional Polo Assn., and Patrick Wayne.

KUDOS: Adri Butler hosted a celebration to open the new location of her Pacific Bookstore at 11755 Wilshire Blvd. . . . Sue Tucker accepted the Junior League of Los Angeles award from the California Women’s Commission on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency for the league’s Woman to Woman Program. . . . Vista Del Mar Child-Care Service honored George Konheim on his 20th consecutive term as president. . . . Madame Sylvia Wu celebrates the 27th anniversary of her garden restaurant in Santa Monica through Friday with a series of Peking Duck dinner feasts. Among hosts have been Dale Snodgrass (who took over the VIP Room for 30). Christian Falcucci, former managing director of the George V in Paris, was a guest.