Pasadenans Preen at Passel of Parties
What makes a good party? One can never quite calculate, but inventiveness and spontaneity surely are factors. In retrospect, three fantastic back-to-back parties--all of them in Pasadena--exuded that charm: Mayfield Junior School’s “A Class Act,” Pasadena Mental Health Assn.’s “Southwest Style Celebration,” and Pasadena Art Alliance’s “Spring Spreeeee!”
Always inventive, Dee Maechling and Patty Turrentine dared to be different for their “Class Act.” They brought 487 guests onto Josephine Leslie’s Mediterranean estate (architect, Wallace Neff) for twilight cocktails and a chance to view Sol Laykin’s incredible jewels, including the $189,000 pearl necklace worn by Penny Bianchi. (Laykin said he spent 15 years collecting the pearls for it.) Then, the co-chairs had the crowd journey to the tennis court for dinner.
Fabric is expensive, as Dee Maechling explained. The co-chairs substituted 49-cent-a-yard bubble wrap for table cloths, taped single light bulbs for illumination under the tables, arranged Lucite centerpieces filled with baby orchids on top. The look was sensational.
Ray Henderson of Rococo choreographed the menu: salmon au aquavit and fresh dill, lamb cooked on mesquite, a salad of Belgian endive and kiwi and green apples, chocolate flowers filled with hot fudge and served with a pool of creme anglaise with stemmed berries.
The chairmen avoided the error of many well-intentioned chairmen: the too-long fashion show and the too-long auction. Instead they opted for brevity: I. Magnin’s Jack Miles was instructed to limit haute couture to 11 items, so there was only the best of Jacqueline De Ribes, Valentino, Scaasi, Fendi furs.
Similarly, the auction was limited to 20 items. With Mayfield parent Charles (“Falcon Crest”) and Susan Frank auctioning, and husbands such as John Maechling encouraging the bids, $40,000 was raked in within minutes. Sister Jeanne Marie of Mayfield was auctioned not once, but twice, for $900 for two weekends of baby-sitting; Marcia Hayden bid $4,200 for a six-course gourmet dinner for 12 by chefs Sue Campoy, Melinda Winston and Karen Girardi.
Of course, the crowd was impeccably dressed. John and Dorothy Shea, Pat and Thomas Ellison (president of the Parent’s Club, she wore a stunning black Michael Novarese outfit) and Julie and Art Pizzinat (his polka-dotted handkerchief and her polka-dotted hat matched) were among those dancing to Clark Keen and helping net nearly $100,000.
LOVING TOUCH: The night before, Eileen and Bill Zimmerman lit up the olive trees surrounding their Wallace Neff Mediterranean with twinkly lights for the Southwest soiree.
Those who came intending to eat 200 calories left with 1,200 tucked inside. Zimmerman and Tom Hollingsworth grilled Yucatan sausages over smoky charcoal fires until their eyes watered. Eileen, with the calculations of co-chairs Melinda Winston and Deborah Hudson, had cooked up 20 quarts of chili.
Other association members, including president Esme Gibson, chairman Winston, Marla Carter, Mae Powell and Kathy Ryan, had spent hours in the Zimmerman kitchen folding chimichangas to be deep-fried later. The margaritas flowed and the churisco cart was ravished (along with desserts donated by 10 area restaurants) while the salsa band played non-stop.
Cheryl Wegge won $1,000 in prize money. Staying late and enjoying: Joe and Susan Skenderian, Reginald and Susie Barnes, Mae and Roe Powell (who invited Southwestern galleries such as the Folk Tree and Many Horses Gallery in Beverly Hills to sell Indian pottery and sculpture on the patio in return for a cut for the Mental Health Assn.) The happy gross: $30,000, $8,000 more than last year.
ART SPREEEEE! The Pasadena Art Alliance is $80,000 richer--for art support--after getting a huge crowd to spring for art at its “Spring Spreeeee!” benefit at the Art Center College of Design. Under the aegis of Alliance chairman Ann Barrett, benefit chairman Ann Burke, and a group including Betty Duker, Cathie Partridge, Ann Paul, Nancy Farrand and Susan Caldwell, Alliance members persuaded artists from all over the United States, but primarily from Southern California, to create special pieces for the auction.
Sam Francis, Ralph Bacerra, Jay Willis and John Alexander were among the artists. Debby and Bill Appler came from Washington for the affair (and hosted a picnic the next day). Hancock Park collectors Gail and Tom Hatch were met by Peggy Phelps and Judy Morse, who collected $30,000 in patron money for the benefit.
Also in the crowd were Nancy and Bill Burrows, Joan Stewart and Jim Wyatt, Diane and Bill Bedford, Diana Collins, Carolyn Fox (who was leaving a few days later with Alliance members for a post-work jaunt to Santa Fe) and Danzy Moreno, Alyce Williamson (who bid on Bacerra’s “Bearded Iris”), Polly and Dan Foley and Estelle Schlueter (she wore a live potted African violet on her head in Spring Spree spirit) and Lou Dougherty (just back from a Lourdes pilgrimage with the Knights of Malta).
