Old Guard Meets Hollywood at Gala

Jimmy and Gloria Stewart--handsome, tall, straight--were in the klieg lights, the spotlights, the limelight, brushing against the frosting on a luscious 100-layer cake with 15 million calories (baked by the Biltmore Executive Pastry Chef Albert Cruz) at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

It was all part of the gala pizazz (and a lot of it) to launch the 75th year of the museum and “Hollywood: Legend and Reality,” the grand finale of Hollywood’s 100th birthday celebration.

It also was a night for museum director Craig Black, chairman Bob Attiyeh, and new president Stephen Onderdonk to think big, and they did: black-tie guests arriving on red carpet walked into a huge Technique Mirage image of Jimmy Stewart from “The Stratton Story” and other ever-changing Hollywood images.

The Stewarts wanted to be photographed with their good friends (Northrop chairman) Tom and Ruth Jones; everyone else wanted to be photographed with the Stewarts, and practically everyone was, with John Strauss’ persuasion. The cake survived.

It was a night for the Old Guard to shake hands with Hollywood. Dr. Richard and Nancy Call and Mary and Arthur Crowe, all museum devotees, were there before going on to the Huntington Library’s Christmas party (more about that Sunday). Jane Withers, with her husband, Tom, Lee Minnelli, Stewart Granger, Drew Barrymore, Eddie Albert and George Hamilton were among the stars.

Turner Entertainment Co. president Roger Mayer was all smiles. And the conversation between Jane Withers and Mayer went like this.

Mayer: “The man to talk to is Barry Diller.” Withers: “I don’t know Barry Diller.” Mayer: “He would return your call.”

Onderdonk, with his wife, Kay, in black lace, was aglow about the museum’s goals: finishing the Great Bird Hall and the Indian Hall by 1989. Oscar-winning actor Stewart (Medal of Freedom winner 1985) has already taken the bird hall under his wing; he’s taped a museum artifact video tour, coaxed by wife Gloria, who has been a museum trustee since 1976.

Patricia House, president of Fellows of the Natural History Museum, awarded the Stewarts the first Distinguished Service Award given by the Fellows. It’s a Shona carving from Zimbabwe titled “Loving giraffes portray the spirit of devotion and gentleness.”

Throughout the evening, musicians at white baby grand pianos played Hollywood show tunes and guests moved from Somerset Caterers’ movie-inspired tables--escargot and pate de campagne for “American in Paris,” chilled mussels for “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” cherries jubilee for “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

But there was plenty of time for partygoers to tour the fabulous exhibits. Among them: William Mingst, Sylvia and James Thayer, Frances Bergen, Dr. Leonard Britton, Susan and Stephen Chandler, Dick and Tracy Hirrel, Shelton Ellis, Terence and Connie Lynch, Ray and Nancy McCullough, Tom and Betty Reddin, James and Brooke Young, Alfred Bilgrai, Fay and Michael Kanin. Some picked up movie postcards at the souvenir shop.

The exhibition is funded in part by Target Stores, Turner Entertainment, Northrop and the Mary Pickford Foundation.

HOLIDAY TEA: Twenty-three June debutantes of the Pasadena Guild of Childrens Hospital will be honored at a traditional Christmas Tea at the elegant home of Mrs. Henry August (Ginie) Braun Wednesday in San Marino. Mothers and grandmothers will join guild members.

Welcoming them all will be guild president Helen Whitehead, debutante chairman Joni Baker, tea chairman Harriet Plunkett and the hostess. Debutantes are Victoria Bohr, Lisa Bollinger, Thekla Brumder, Tawnia Cannell, Mary Ellen Doll, Ann-Marie Ferry, Kelsey Garrett, Katherine Gillespie, Melissa Goodell, Cynthia Hubbard, Helene Jones, Susan Lytle, Rebecca Mielke, Elizabeth McDonald, Andrea Nasser, Kerry Pejsa, Kimberly Popovich, Leslie Reeves, Joanne Schroeder, Julia Stubblefield, Kristin Techentin, Ellen Waller and Amanda Zimmerman. Miss Popovich and Miss Doll will be following in their mothers’ footsteps--they were presented at the first June Ball in 1962.

JUNIOR LEAGUE: “By coming here, you have demonstrated a commitment to our city,” said Los Angeles Junior League president Peggy Jo Clark, praising the antiques dealers who had arrived from all over the country for the Los Angeles Antiques Show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. In a way, she said, it’s a show of support “for our volunteers going out spending a lot of time and effort to make Los Angeles a better city by (the year) 2000.”

More than 450 had come to the preview gala. Three 18th-Century Chinese export plates--$1,600--were spotted one moment, were sold the next. Show chairman Carol Mancino, in a blue gown, was delighted. Serious antiques collectors were having a hard time deciding whether to look longer, or move to the white tent where chairman Andi Anderson (escorted by Charles O’Leary) and her committee--including Joan Ploetz, Jane Cody, Patricia Brown, Gwen Hatten Baker, Michele Maslow, Claudia De Koven, Jean Sullivan, Cathy Enderwood, Gail Enderwood and Vicki McLoon--had booked the Stepp Sisters for the dance floor.

Spotted in the crowd--Ava and Ken Kercheval (he was honorary show chairman), Patsy Cappel, Clyde and Howard Lockie, Ted and Pauline Naftzger (looking for Christmas gifts), Carol and Richard Econn, Nancy Townsend, Pam Kerns (Spinsters president), Carolyn and Maury DeWald, Tom and Maxine Ridgway and Maxine’s look-alike daughter Kee Flynn and her husband, Paul.

Transfer chairman (membership) Carol Gascow stood in the line for shrimp, discussing the league’s problem in membership turnover. Nearby were Ed and Susie Carter, Michael (he with his arm in a sling from a ski fall) and Phyllis Hennigan (relaxed after chairing the March of Dimes dinner), Bonnie and Arthur McClure. Blue Ribbon Committee members out in force included Suzanne Marx, Vanya Foster and Nancy Weakley. Patron Committee members relaxing after bringing in the dollars included Mollie Qvale, Susan Miller and Robin Nenninger.

THE SEASON: Gary Essert and American Cinematheque in association with Peter Morton and The Hard Rock Cafe host a reception Dec. 31 at the Wiltern Theatre before the kickoff of “Rock on Film,” a 12-hour Elvis Presley movie marathon. . . . Saturday Walter P. Scharfe, owner of the Brown Derby, opens the restaurant doors to 80 Catholic Big Brothers and their little brothers. Sparkling will be the Derby’s crystal Christmas tree of Austrian beads designed by Irina Maleeva. Daytime soap opera stars will be there.

LA POSADA: Only 100 seats are available this year for Los Amigos Del Pueblo’s Sunday La Posada celebration on Olvera Street. Virginia Richardson of Sherman Oaks is chairman.

HIGHLIGHTS: The membership committee of the Neil Bogart Memorial Laboratories held a holiday party on the Charlie Chaplin Sound Stage at A&M; Records. . . . Loyola School hosted its Christmas dinner dance with warmth and Tom and Celeste Von der Ahe, Dick and Mary Vanis, Sally and Bob Pernecky, Richard and Kathy Kern, Cheryl and Bob Baker and Richard and Bonnie Fisher in the crowd. . . . More than 250 members of American Film Institute’s Second Decade Council including Richard Taylor, president of Rogers and Cowan, met at the Louis Newman Galleries in Beverly Hills for a preview of “The Golden Age: Batiste Madalena’s Paintings for the Movies.” What they saw were paintings for films of the 1920s originally commissioned by George Eastman for his Pantheon Movie Palace in Rochester, N.Y. Among admirers: Wallis Annenberg, Catherine Hearst, AFI director Jean Firstenberg, Judith and Steve Katten, Chuck and Ava Fries, Richard Dysart. . . . Friends of the Joffrey Ballet sipped holiday cheer at the home of Valerie Miller. . . . Laurent Quinioux opened his Seventh Street Bistro for a benefit art exhibition party for the Exceptional Children’s Foundation.

YULE: Jeanne Found poured Christmas cheer at her home to say thanks to all who are raising funds for the new Dance Gallery downtown--among them Helen and Peter Mark Richman, Shirley and Saul Turtletaub, Barbara Bain, Bella Lewitsky, Marcy and Edgar Gross, Loreen Arbus and Norman Fox, Roberta and David Haft.