A Milestone Gala With a ‘Glitch’

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH--The only glitch was that her friends thought the “milestone birthday” was her 75th. Heck, no. Elizabeth Snyder--for 40 years a tireless worker in the rehabilitation of alcoholic women--is only 74.

Maybe it’s hard to count birthdays, but it’s almost impossible to count the enormous number of people who consider themselves Liz’s friends. More than 100 of them showed up Sunday to help surprise her with the dedication of the Elizabeth and Nathan Snyder Building at the Alcoholism Center for Women near downtown. More than $50,000 had been raised by her friends, including those in the Trusteeship for Women and Women in Business.

Among those turning out were Rosalind Wyman (who spark-plugged the effort) and Trusteeship president Judy Miller, along with American Film Institute’s Jeanne Firstenberg, Maxine Ostrum, Maureen Reagan (who had worked with Snyder on the equal rights amendment), Julie Borstein, state Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk and the Snyders’ daughter and son-in-law Christina and Mark Seltzer.

Snyder was hailed as having “never quit on anything in her whole life--the most inspirational of women.”

The building, everyone agreed, had to carry the names of both the Snyders, since their marriage has truly been a partnership. After all, as one close friend pointed out, Nate Snyder has done hundreds of pro bono cases representing alcoholic women’s causes--all brought to him by his wife.

CELEBS CALLING--”Everything was underwritten,” Jonathan Michaels told us on the phone Tuesday morning after the Oscars. “So we made between $25,000 and $50,000.”

As Michaels tells it (describing himself as a 40-year-old retired New York real estate person), “I wanted to compete with Swifty Lazar,” the host of the legendary Oscar night party at Spago. So Michaels searched out a charity, came up with El Rescate, a project of the Southern California Ecumenical Council that aids Central American refugees.

Actor Esai (“La Bamba”) Morales was already involved in El Rescate and he became co-chair for the evening. Turning out, according to Michaels, were Rob Lowe, Mel Gibson, Daryl Hannah with Jackson Browne, Judd Nelson, Morgan Fairchild, Jacqueline Bissett and Alexander Godunov.

“I was one of the largest sublet people in New York and now I am donating all my time to charity for free,” Michaels said, adding, “I love the beautiful people.” He said he had bought Shirley Bassey’s house in Bel-Air and would lend it to charities for fund-raisers. But why then was the Oscar night party at Le Mondrian? “I needed more room and at my house I can only hold 400 people,” Michaels said.

TWO DIFFERENT COASTS--And two events just about as different as one could imagine. At the Century Plaza on Tuesday night, former Atty. Gen. William French Smith will be honored by the Los Angeles County Republican Party. A special keynote address will be given by defeated U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork.

Meanwhile, at a dinner at the Intercultural Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., former Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy will address a dinner commemorating the 20th anniversary of the McCarthy presidential campaign.