Donors Preview Wyeth’s ‘Helga’ Paintings--Minus 1

“It’s just like ‘Dallas.’ How is the wife handling this?” one tuxedoed gent asked another, passing through the galleries lined with Andrew Wyeth’s “Helga” paintings.

Surely the personal life of Wyeth and the subject of the paintings, his secret model for 14 years, was the buzz at the massive black-tie opening of “Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures” at the County Museum of Art Wednesday night.

Leonard E. B. Andrews, owner of the Helga paintings, chatted it up with Gil and Diane Glazier, pointing out that he had purchased 240 paintings, drawings and sketches of Helga Testorf after examining them several years ago in Wyeth’s mill/studio in Pennsylvania. But, Andrews quickly added, one important work was missing--Dr. Armand Hammer had already purchased Wyeth’s “Daydreamer” from a Paris dealer, and he had no success in getting the doctor to sell the painting.

“I’ll work on him for you,” the gregarious Gil Glazier promised, adding that Andrews is “devoted to having the world view the collection.” Andrews agreed, then pointed out that he was working out the details for the collection to go to Japan in 1990.

At the opening, Peggy Goldwyn came with Martin Manulis, explaining that her husband, Sam Goldwyn Jr., was at the Motion Picture Academy, having the first post-mortem on Oscar night, which he produced. “They are probably talking about the traffic,” Peggy Goldwyn said.

Not so mundane was George Gradow’s chatting about the upcoming birth of his second child with his pretty wife, Barbi Benton.

IF YOU DON’T LOOK GOOD--Vidal Sassoon is indeed a loyal Democrat. So it’s no wonder that aspiring first lady Kitty Dukakis (via her staffer Marilyn Chase) called Sassoon to make sure that his salon did her blow-dry while she is here preceding the June Democratic primary. Let’s keep it all in the political family.

PRETTY FAUX PAS--No names, please. But imagine the embarrassment. The beautiful custom invitation to a shower came from Beverly Hills’ slick specialty store, Lehr-Black, in shiny pink, with pink ribbon, elephants and Spencerian lettering.

For some of those receiving the invite, though, it seemed a mystery. Who was the guest of honor? It was cleared up with the next day’s mail, when a lovely but smaller pink card carried the correct last name of the guest of honor. Guess on any parade there’s got to be a little rain.

EXCITING EVENTS--Like the Concern II party at the Charlie Chaplin Sound Stage at A&M; Records Saturday night. It was the site of the group’s first fund-raiser in 1982, and this time honors Derek Alpert, who has served as president for four years. Concern II is an all-volunteer group, members aged between 18 to 35, which raises money for children’s cancer research. And they have done a great job, raising more than $810,000 in Concern II’s seven years of existence. . . .

Sunday, Jack Lemmon will be cited by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, receiving the award for his role in the 1988 miniseries, “The Murder of Mary Phagan.” The subject of the film, the Leo Frank case, which led to the lynching of Frank, a Jew wrongly convicted of murder in Georgia, gave rise to the ADL in 1913. Lemmon will get the award from his great friend, Walter Matthau. . . .

National Public Radio’s legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg will be at the home of Dena and Irv Schechter, at a special fund-raiser for NPR on Tuesday. The co-chairs at the Schechters, Aileen Adams and Geoff Cowan (who are best buddies with NPR’s Cokie Roberts and her New York Timesman spouse, Steve) and Bruce Corwin. . . .

Catholic Big Brothers holds its third annual gala benefit May 7, this time at the Pasadena Showcase House of Design on Orlando Road. . . .The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation holds its fifth annual celebrity fashion show and luncheon May 7 at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City. . . .

Actor Ted Danson and his wife, Casey, will be honored May 7 by the Westside Women’s Health Center at its fourth annual Mother’s Day Tea. Also up for honors at the event--Anita DeFrantz (the president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of L.A.) and Dorothy S. Huebel, executive director of the Los Angeles Section, National Council of Jewish Women.