Broadway Benefit Times Two

Vista Del Mar Associates want only the best of Broadway. They’re offering their supporters not one but two hit shows as fund-raisers--”Broadway Bound” and “Les Miserables”--with all proceeds for Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services.

The Associates have managed the only benefit preview performance of Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound” on April 14 at the Ahmanson Theater. It’s the playwright’s 22nd play. Margot Bamberger, chairman, plans cocktails and a New York-style dinner. She’s getting help from Suzanne Sidy and Janice Nick.

When that’s over, the Associates stage a preview of Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” at the Shubert Theater May 21. The prices are such that many benefit supporters will opt for both nights. Who could resist?

PAST PERFECT: Carol Henry kept husband Warner totally in the dark for his 50th surprise birthday at the Beach Club. Partying into the night were Terry and Joann Gloege, part of the surprise plotting; the Henry offspring--Will and Katie, Stanford students, and Michael from Cate School; Cynnie and Z. Wayne Griffin, Tom and Elayne Techentin, Byron and Patty Capps, Don and Suzy Crowell, Mary and Phil Hawley, John and Dee Maechling, Joan and Frank Thompson, Val and Bob Brookes. Also there were Warner’s goddaughter, Alison Beaumont, and her father, Geoff, and Carol’s goddaughter, Allison Wilder . . .

It was round-up time at Rancho Mission Viejo for the annual branding and barbecue with all the various O’Neills and descendants celebrating--Alice O’Neill Avery, Dick and Donna O’Neill, Tony and Melinda Moiso, Jerome and Mary Moiso, Douglas and Diane Avery, and the younger generation, including Trina Moiso.

PERFECT, TOO: La Coterie members (The Friends of French Art) listened to Gillian Wilson’s talk at the Westwood Marquis and then welcomed Fortune magazine Editor Marilyn Wellemeyer at a country picnic at Elin Vanderlip’s Villa Narcissa in Portuguese Bend to celebrate the editor’s new book, “On Your Own Time,” about executives and their leisure habits . . .

The Americana Ball VII in Palm Springs feted Mary Martin . . .

The friend-raising at Huntington Memorial Hospital featured TV’s Wendy Gordon and panels, fashions, luncheon . . .

The Natural History Museum opening of “Art From the Navajo Loom: The William Randolph Hearst Collection” Wednesday evening (it runs through July 31) . . .

Pasadena Smith Club’s symposium on the Constitution planned by Ginny Paige, Phoebe Wood and Susan Garrett . . .

USC’s Trojan League of Orange County celebration headed by Virginia Ochsner and featuring coach John McKay . . .

KUSC Associates American premiere of the complete cycle of Shostakovich string quartets at the Ambassador Auditorium with the Borodin String Quartet.

TURNING TABLES: Every Christmas for 18 years, members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences have arrived by the busload at Rancho Los Amigos Foundation to brighten the day for children and adults with severe physical disabilities resulting from birth defects, injuries and illnesses.

The tables turn May 8. Rancho Los Amigos Foundation will honor the academy at an awards dinner dance at the Beverly Hilton. Betty White of “The Golden Girls” will chair the fund-raising evening and present the Amistad (Friendship) Award to Doug Duitsman, academy president and a vice president at Warner Bros. Television.

KUDOS: To Dale Rosenbloom, son of Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, who was married to Kathleen Melville in the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church. A Milton Williams-catered reception for 500 with Bob Gail’s 16-piece orchestra followed . . .

To Ed Lara, who received the Community Service Award at the Latino Unity Banquet hosted by USC’s El Centro Chicano and USC Latino students.

NAME CHANGE: The Associates for Troubled Children (more than 14 years members have raised $3 million) has changed its name to the National Associates for Youth. The first event under the new banner was a luncheon and fashion show by ModaSport at Mason’s, the elegant new Brentwood restaurant. Judie Cotton was luncheon chairman.

‘TIS SPRING: We hear the Banning Residence Museum lavender wisteria vine is blooming again, for perhaps the 100th time or more . . .

Descanso Gardens Guild members experienced “Splendor of Spring” this week and a sneak preview of the guild’s spring flower show, which is open to the public through next Sunday. Trustee members Dorothy Blair, Betty Grant, Barbara Jameson and William E. Hooker were celebrating with champagne and tea . . .

Las Primeras Guild for the Childrens Hospital staged its old-fashioned Easter Egg Hunt at Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood under the leadership of Claudia Crivelli, guild president . . .

And the Green House, 696 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, which benefits Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, is filled with signs of spring--Easter bunnies, baskets, colorful eggs, garden statuary. It’s all the genius of Marla Carter, Janice Beggs and Mary Cabot.

SPRING CELEBRATION: Charlie Bergesch’s flowers were fresh from the garden for the luncheon at the Beach Club hosted by Pat Garver and Bitsy Hotaling this week. Though the beach was foggy during wine cocktails, it was sunny and tempting by dessert. Merrily partying were Nancy Munger, Penne Durst, Gretchen Schumacher, Eunice Goodan, Carol Henry, Sharon Shaw, Claire Stuart, Nancy Dahl, Maryly Maguire, Gretchen Gibbs, Virginia Mackey, Missy Stuart, Iris Craddock and Louise Reich.

Gigi Elder was among those who had a flower on the back of her place card indicating she should take home a Bergesch bouquet. “Perfect for my party for Steven Hinds and Amie Laugharn Friday,” she said.

CUISINE TRENDS: About 500 guests will revel in a gourmet feast today at the Four Seasons Hotel Newport Beach benefiting the Newport Harbor Art Museum.

At $250 per person, the affair features eight world-class chefs--Michel Pieton of the Four Seasons; Citrus’s Michel Richard; the Watergate’s Jean-Louis Palladin, Alain Ducasse of the Louis XV restaurant in the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Joachim Splichal of the Regency Club, Jimmy Schmidt of Denver’s The Rattlesnake Club, Gerhard Michler (opening his own pastry shop in San Francisco soon) and Andre Mandion of Biarritz, France, who created Relais Desserts, an association of fellow patisseurs from Europe.

INTERNATIONAL: Each year the Internatinal Committee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic honors a different country for its Internatinal Night Ball to salute the chefs de post of the Los Angeles consular corps whose wives are members of the Committee.

Ini von Strakosch, this year’s ball chairman, plans a German gala April 8 in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire with the folkloric dancing group Volkatanzgruppe Frommern. She’s also importing favors by Villeroy Bosch, the German manufacturers of fine porcelain, planning a round trip to Frankfurt on Lufthansa for the door prize, a round-trip ticket to Munich or Frankfurt on Condor Airlines, a limo and chauffeur for one week in Munich and opera tickets, courtesy of Audi.

Assisting are Getilda Conti, president; Maria Siefker, honorary patron; and Lelika Natale, Valerie Balfour-Lynn, Susan Berglas, Ann Byron, Audrey Gregory, Marina Guthrie, Sippin Pappas, Helena Schlemenson, Elizabeth Teasey, and Mirella Ventress.

UPDATE: Real wedding invitations from Francis-Orr Stationery in Beverly Hills come from the Larry Thompson Organization requesting “the honour of your presence” at the Royal Screening of “The Woman He Loved,” about the historical romance of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It’s Wednesday at 8 p.m. at 20th Century Fox Studios . . .

Trustees of the Craft and Folk Art Museum and the Italian Cultural Institute host a reception Tuesday evening for “Modern Jewelry New Design,” the Cleto Munari collection . . . Toni Grant is in the spotlight on her new book, “Being a Woman,” at the party Westwood One Companies plans April 6 at Jimmy’s Restaurant.

CATCH UP: “Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam” debuts on HBO at 9 tonight after a salute by the Southern California Cable Assn. and Home Box Office to two Vietnam veterans’ organizations--Vietnam Veterans of America, celebrating its 10th anniversary, and the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission, which needs $500,000 to complete its goal for a California memorial . . .

Mary Jane Cooper and Patty Fligsten co-chaired Las Donas’ friend-raising morning on the fine arts and luncheon at UCLA . . .

Westside Pavilion staged the West Coast premiere of “Scooter in Palm Beach” at Goldwyn Pavilion Cinemas, benefiting Overland Elementary School.