Presidential Appeal Slips, Judging by Auction Results

Being President of the United States just doesn’t pay like it used to.

A mere five years ago, a set of plain white plaster of Paris Christmas ornaments bearing the signatures of the four living Presidents brought a whopping $10,000 at the “Having a Ball” gala, given at Neiman-Marcus as a benefit for the Children’s Home Society.

Saturday, a set of ornaments autographed by the same four men--Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter--failed to raise a single hand when auctioneer Bob Arnhym set an opening price of $5,000. The four ornaments, ultimately sold as individual items, brought a total of $1,750.

But the apparent deflation in the value of chief executive memorabilia did nothing to deflate the spirits of gala chairman Nancy Hester and the committee that put together the 1987 version of “Having a Ball.” Again given at Neiman-Marcus, the gala and auction raised about $60,000 for this year’s beneficiary, the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation of San Diego County.

Finicky Tastes

A total of 297 ornaments went on the block, mostly at silent auction, and the crowd of 400 proved finicky in its tastes. The ornament decorated by current television idol Bruce Willis sold for a mere $30, while a clown-faced decoration from comedian Red Skelton brought $1,100.

Gathering the ornaments from a globe-spanning list of notables sent Neiman-Marcus publicist Cheryl Ayers on a paper chase that lasted nine months and added much to the coffers of the U.S. Postal Service, since the plaster balls were mailed in double boxes that included postage-paid return containers.

Simply discovering addresses was an adventure, said Ayers, who despite her best efforts was unable to locate Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. She also mailed the ornament intended for Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, whence it never returned.

Still, Ayers said the return rate was nothing short of astonishing.

“Contributors from all around the world said they really lauded our goal of helping children,” she said, noting that while the government of Taiwan did not return an ornament, it did send a check for $200. But Philippines President Corazon Aquino, in the midst of coup attempts and general national unrest, managed to send back a ball decorated with a dove and the word “Peace”; it fetched $350.

Many Lent a Hand

Walter Cronkite sent one, as did such other busy folk as William F. Buckley Jr., Jerry Falwell, Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Martin and horror novelist Stephen King. (King’s bore the message that child abuse is more horrifying than any of the vampires or werewolves that populate his books.)

Among local contributors were a few sports stars, as well as authors Ted (Dr. Seuss) Geisel and Russell Forester. Forester covered his ornament with red tongue depressors and crowned it with a miniature white chair, which Forester said symbolized loneliness.

Besides gamboling among display cases filled with glittering ornaments, the guests kicked up their heels to Harvey and the 52nd Street Jive band and dug into buffets spread by caterer John Baylin. The fare included freshly carved roast turkey, in keeping with the holiday theme, as well as Christmas cookies and a very contemporary tourtiere-- a double-crusted savory pie filled with minced pork and veal.

Gala chairman Hester, who has presented several fund-raisers for child abuse prevention, said that the fact that nearly 300 well-known, busy people from around the world took the trouble to decorate and return the ornaments proved that “everybody believes in our cause.” She added that after looking at the ornaments for so many months, her husband, architect Henry Hester, warned her that if she stared at them any longer, she would wear them out.

Party co-chairman Barbara Christensen, founder of the St. Germaine Auxiliary to the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, said that she particularly liked the party’s draw.

“There are a lot of people here who have not been aware that there’s a problem with child abuse,” she said. “But the money they’re donating is going to do a lot to assist children who really do need help.”

The gala committee also included Carolyn Hooper, Carol Yorston, Lynn Kuerbis, Jeanne Larson, Jane Murphy, Maggie Coleman, Vicki Eddy, Mimi Groom, Mac Canty, Norma Hirsh, Berneice Copeland, Jacque Powell and Fran Golden.

Among the guests were Jack and Mary Goodall, popcorn potentate Orville Redenbacher, Griffith and Barbara Haynes, John and Laura Robbins, Larry and Junko Cushman, Manny and Joyce Funtall, Phyllis and Stephen Pfeiffer, Michael and Janice Batter, Frank and Linda Alessio, Melanie Cohrs, and Jeanne Jones with her son, David Beek. (Jeanne spent the day at Hollywood Park watching the various installments of the race track’s $10-million Breeders’ Cup. She suffered sharp pangs of disappointment when her namesake, Jeanne Jones, a 2-year-old filly entered by John and Betty Mabee, lost by a nose in a photo-finish.)

Celebrities of an entirely different character added a certain spice to “Hooray for Hollywood,” held Saturday in the Champagne Ballroom at the Sheraton Harbor Island. It is the annual fund-raiser given by the Women’s Auxiliary of the San Diego Hebrew Home.

Not content merely to be rubbing shoulders with Peggy Lee and Charles Bronson, Joan Collins waltzed up to a committee member and asked, “Will Liza Minnelli be here tonight?” When told that, alas, Minnelli had other plans for the evening, Collins said, “Oh, what a shame. She’s such a lovely person.”

It must be added immediately that Collins, along with Bronson and Lee, was a celebrity look-alike, and not the real star; the Minnelli about whom she inquired was likewise an impersonator, but all this goes to show that paid performers, just like the rest of us, always enjoy seeing a familiar face in the crowd.

Finding familiar faces was not a difficulty for many of the party’s 500 guests, most of whom have been regulars at Hebrew Home fund-raisers for years. The theme was new, though, and done to a T; chairman Alecia Jacobs arranged for every bit of Hollywood glitz and glamour imaginable, and, if truth be told, probably more than can easily be found in the faded capital of moviedom.

Jacobs had a bit of help in locating the genuine film reels that centered the floral arrangements, and the theater lobby displays that set the overall scene. Both of her sons-in-law are in the biz, and one of them, production designer Lawrence Paull (whose credits include “Back to the Future” and “Blade Runner”), attended with his wife, movie publicist Marcy Paull.

“We come here to get away from Hollywood, and what do we get away to? ‘Hooray for Hollywood!’ ” she said.

In the course of raising more than $100,000 for the Hebrew Home, the guests danced to Columbus, dined on potato pancakes topped with caviar and filet mignon in sauce marchand de vin, and ended the evening playing casino games for a list of prizes that ran from a pearl and diamond necklace to a tropical cruise.

Mildred Ackerman co-chaired the event, and the committee included Melissa Bartell, Jo Arenson, Dotti Garfield, Anne Ratner, Rusti Weiss, Sylvia Geffen, Mignon Kaplan, Edith Locke, Gail Braverman, Isobel Leverant and Linda Savitch. Among the guests were Michael and Linda Ellentuck, Richard and Liz Bartell, Robert and Lil Breitbard, Stan and Pauline Foster, Bob and Bea Epsten, Fred and Wanda Kaufman, and Charles and Alberta Feurzeig.

The San Diego Historical Society formally inaugurated the holiday season with a gala preview of its sixth annual Celebrate the Holidays, given Friday in the Casa de Balboa (site of the Museum of San Diego History), on the Prado in Balboa Park.

As always, the gala gave sponsors and principals a lively first look at the collection of holiday scenes, designed by a long list of local decorators, that will be on display at Casa de Balboa through Dec. 13. (Closed Mondays and Thanksgiving Day, the exhibit, which benefits the museum, is open to the public. Admission is $5. For more information, call the San Diego Historical Society.)

The whole point of Celebrate is to create holiday scenes, or vignettes, that might reflect the manner in which vignette sponsors would spend the season if they had their druthers. Decorators did their best with a series of booths occupied by scenes that range from the traditional to the amusing to the futuristic, often incorporating items from sponsors’ homes.

Christmas trees also play a major role in the exhibit--the tree decorated by the Museum of Photographic Arts hangs upside down, while its ornaments stand upright.

The series of displays is so magnificent in its variety and imagination as to be overwhelming, which at times makes it hard to see the forest for the trees--one doesn’t know where to look first. Gala preview chairman Kay North said that what astonished her was the way the exhibit suddenly fell into place.

“Watching all this come together gave new meaning to the words ‘last minute,’ ” said North. “To see how lavish and gorgeous this place became in a few hours is amazing.”

Apparently, the work of sweeping up pine needles from the trees and debris left by the decorators was finished just before the guests began to arrive.

General event chairman Kay Porter said she found the results worth the effort.

“Celebrate the Holidays has reached a higher level than ever before,” she said. “Every year it grows. There’s so much elegance and originality in this room--the designers really knocked themselves out.”

It would be exhausting to attempt to list all the exhibits and attractions. “Cowboys and Indians” was designed for artist Olaf Wieghorst and his family by Deborah North and Summer Wylde. (The decorators invited Wieghorst and his wife, May, to occupy their vignette, but Wieghorst declined. “I’d be on display,” he said.)

“A 1920s Holiday” was designed by Laurel Neiswander-Rowe and Barbara Blair for Kim Devore, and “New Year’s Eve in Casablanca” was staged for Norma and Sam Assam by Marc Tarasuck. (This display included several tantalizing--but empty--bottles bearing the labels of magnificent French vintages from 1937, all of which were drunk recently on Norma’s birthday.)

In addition to inspecting the booths, the guests inspected JB Caterers’ cheese-and-grape canapes, Cornish pasties and Victorian dessert buffet, and found time to dance among the pine cones and candy canes. Most also browsed the holidy gift and decorations bazaar--stocked with a variety of handmade items--which along with a cafe featuring seasonal refreshments will be open for the run of the exhibit.

About 100 guests arrived early for a champagne reception at which autographed copies of Sally Thornton’s new book, “Daring to Dream: The Life of Hazel Wood Waterman,” were distributed. This study of the life of San Diegan Waterman, one of the first female architects in California, was published by the historical society. Thornton was represented by her husband, John, as a back ailment had relegated her to a hospital bed earlier in the week.

Among those at the gala were Donis and Mack Lovett, Tommi and Bob Adelizzi, Rosemary and William Logan, Sara Jane and Tom Sayer, Clarice and William Carls, Betty and Jack Davis, Margaret and Lawrence Maio, Marilyn and Kim Fletcher, Anne Evans, Mary Lou and John Shoemaker, Sue Raffee, Linda and John Eves, and Kathy Reynolds.