50th Anniversary for March of Dimes

If someone hasn’t knocked on your door for the 1988 Mothers March on Birth Defects for the March of Dimes, chances are she or he will. This is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the March of Dimes and the 37th year for the Mothers March (which began in Phoenix).

Recognizing these significant anniversaries, last month celebrities Jane Wyatt, Mary Ann Mobley and Sarah Purcell lunched at Chinois on Main at a major kickoff party, which brought Mary Owen Greenwood (vice chairman of the national board of trustees) from Houston and Marcia C. Stein, director of media relations, from national headquarters in White Plains, N.Y.

In support, they’ve taped interviews and public service announcements. It’s from the heart: Jane Wyatt was national Mothers March chair for seven years. Mobley and Purcell co-hosted the national telethons from 1983 through 1986. Morgan Brittany, who couldn’t attend the luncheon, was national promotions ambassador in 1984.

Originally, the March of Dimes was all about polio. Jane Wyatt entranced her audience recalling the New Year’s Eve weekends at Hyde Park and the care with which President Roosevelt’s sons moved him from room to room in his wheelchair. (Her husband was a classmate of James Roosevelt.)

Today, as Anthony F. Giacalone, market area director for the Los Angeles County Chapter noted, the March of Dimes works for “a healthy birth for every baby.” Last year nearly 400,000 volunteers raised $9 million marching on 5.5 million homes.

INAUGURAL: John C. Argue chairs the Centennial Inaugural Ball for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 22 at the Century Plaza ballroom. Sheldon I. Ausman is vice chair.

Together, they’ve decided on the musical magic of Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager for entertainment. The ball will honor 1988 chairman Charles D. Miller and will salute the “Big 8” accounting firms: Arthur Andersen & Co., Arthur Young & Co., Coopers & Lybrand, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Ernst & Whinney, Peat Marwick Main & Co., Price Waterhouse and Touche Ross & Co.

PLAN AHEAD: If you’ve felt discombobulated, if you double-planted yourself at holiday parties, if you canceled out because of overzealous planning that brought on the fall-aparts, then what you need is L.A. Master Planner, organized by Liz Familian and Jackie Applebaum, to make your 1988 social schedule simply impeccable. It’s available at Neiman-Marcus, Beverly Hills. No seriously socially active Angeleno should be without it. William Kieschnick, chairman of MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), has one.

PAST PERFECT: Guy and Aileen Henry’s friendly buffet. . . .

Kappa Kappa Gamma’s coffee at the home of Nancy Kerckhoff in San Marino. . . .

Maurene Bell and Kay Wright planning for San Marino League’s “Little Christmas Dinner Dance” at the Valley Hunt Club. . . .

California Music Theater’s “Firstnighters” party with ornaments for the oncology unit at Huntington Memorial Hospital a requirement for admittance. . . .

Delta Delta Delta’s Sleighbell Luncheon.

PREVIEW: R. E. (Ted) Turner, president and chairman of the board, and executives of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., hosted the television preview Thursday of “Black History 88” in the Versailles Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton.

JANUARY DASH: Not counting Twelfth Night parties, there’s a nifty hiatus of 10 days or so in the social calendar. Breathe deeply, because you’ll need the accumulated energy for the last half of the month. For instance:

Fraternity of Friends of the Music Center and their guests cheer on the Los Angeles Clippers against the Seattle Supersonics Saturday at the Sports Arena. Fraternity member Alan Rothenberg, president of the Clippers, has arranged for team members to join the group at a margarita and buffet reception prior to the tip-off. Planning to attend: Leon Alschules, Philip Caprice, Fred Hameetman, Harold Held, Joseph Marx, George Moss, George Shaw, Sheldon Sloan. . . .

Scott Sanders, James McManus and Mark Felton host the Radio City Music Hall Productions fifth annual party saluting the American Music Awards on Jan. 25 at Chasens. . . .

Sally Conn is firming up details for the Mission Doctor’s Auxiliary dinner dance on Friday in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel benefiting the Mission Doctor’s Assn. of Los Angeles. At present the group supports two doctors and their families in missions in New Guinea and Cameroon. . . .

Judith and Scott Hanson entertain at a private reception and preview of a major exhibition of works by Peter Max Thursday at their Hanson Galleries on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The exhibition is entitled “Ladies of the ‘80s.”

MORE JANUARY: Tony Duquette and Hutton Wilkinson give an illustrated talk on “Elsie de Wolfe: Legendary First Lady of American Interior Design” on Thursday at 11 a.m. in the auditorium of the Design Center South in Laguna Niguel. It’s a benefit for the Libros y Artes decorative arts museum and student center being planned for San Juan Capistrano. . . .

Vic Damone and Diahann Carroll will be among entertainers at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Ball Jan. 18 at the Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert. The 1987 Classic produced more than $1 million for Eisenhower Medical Center. The 29th annual Classic, featuring the nation’s top money-winning golfers and celebrities, will be played Jan. 20-24 at Bermuda Dunes, La Quinta and Indian Wells country clubs and the Palmer Course at PGA West. Indian Wells is host club. . . .

Jack Shine, president of First Financial Group, will be honored by the Anti-Defamation League on Jan. 20 at a dinner dance at the Registry Hotel. . . .

Tommy Too, a poodle, hosted the second afternoon garden party and doggie photo session for pet and people pals at the home of his co-host, Allan Keller. They’ll be having their photos taken for the program for the annual Youth Center Ball on Feb. 9 at the new Wyndham Hotel in Palm Springs.

RARE BIRDS: With more women working for pay, women who volunteer could become an extinct species, or at least rare birds. The Assn. of Junior Leagues Inc., an organization of 173,000 women, is holding a regional seminar through today to explore the phenomenon of the employed-for-pay volunteer. More than 100 delegates at Stouffers Concourse Hotel are examining the pros and cons of using paid staff in volunteer organizations.

APOLOGIES: In our Las Madrinas Debutante Ball story, we named Lisa Thomas as being the daughter of Wayne and Marilyn McLarnan. She’s the eldest daughter of Wayne and Marilyn Thomas; her grandmother is Virginia McLarnan.

VISITING: Carl and Joan Terzian are anticipating the visit this week of their good friends Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Richard G. Lugar (R.-Ind.).

KUDOS: The Arthritis Foundation research grant awarded to a USC researcher has been funded in the name of Victoria Principal, according to Gary A. Weiss, chairman of the Southern California Chapter of the foundation. The $100,000 project headed by Dr. William Stohl is funded from proceeds of the recent Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award Dinner honoring Principal.