An L.A. Smorgasbord, From Uncle Miltie to the Colleagues

While Los Angeles might be into nouvelle cuisine, the upcoming smorgasbord of events will leave any socially significant person stuffed.

Already being talked about is the Colleagues benefit. Neiman-Marcus is underwriting the Nov. 16 event at 20th Century Fox, where Valentino will bring his fall collection for a showing and dinner. With attendance limited to 500 people and tickets going for $500 a couple, this could be a tough-to-get-into party. (It has to be noted that just about all of Nancy Reagan’s best buddies are members of the Colleagues, which supports the Children’s International Institute.)

As summer opens, it does heat up. Operation California celebrates its ninth anniversary with a special exhibit and sale of “Premier Artists of the American West” on June 11. It’s an afternoon party at the Playboy Mansion.

Tuesday night, the Constitutional Rights Foundation hosts its spring dinner, this time honoring Nordstrom’s Betsy Sanders, and featuring U.S. Atty. Rudolph Giuliani, who was the prosecutor in the Ivan Boesky case.

Also on Tuesday night, philanthropist and anti-nuclear activist Joan Kroc receives the 1988 UCLA International Student Center’s Jacoby International Award. It happens at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Everybody loves Milton Berle, so when the 40th anniversary of the premiere of his “Texaco Star Theater” comes around on June 8, his good friends will be celebrating at the County Museum of Art. (LACMA, along with the Museum of Broadcasting and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, is sponsoring the event.) Berle’s buddies will be there, including Red Buttons, Jack Carter, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Arnold Stang.

A fabulous invitation designed by Marc Friedland really socks home the message that “Derby Day” Saturday is an all-afternoon-and-evening tribute to producer Sherry Lansing. It’s all to benefit the Neil Bogart Memorial Laboratories for Children’s Cancer and AIDS Research and will feature an afternoon tea, horse racing, a dinner and a concert with Peter Allen. (And don’t you love the dress designation--”Derby attire . . . hats optional.”)

Thursday, Laddie John Dill opens his studio for cocktails and dinner to showcase the announcement of the “unique means of raising funds for the new fine arts building” at Crossroads School. Ali MacGraw, producer Steven Bochco, Charles Weber and Warner Bros. chief Bob Daly are the co-chairs.

NORTH BY PUBLICITY--For those concerned that Iran-Contra figure Ollie North is only speaking to the likes of the Poultry Assn., please relax. North will appear Wednesday at a gala evening honoring Dana Rohrabacher, the Republican congressional candidate in the 42nd district, all at the Spruce Goose.

PUBLICITY, PUBLICITY--Good publicists are supposed to make news out of just about anything. Kudos this week, then, to Hope Boonshaft-Lewis and her partner, former City Hall maven Fran Savitch. “We couldn’t bear to be apart any longer,” reads the post card they sent out announcing, “the closing of their downtown office. Now these two great minds can be found at one great address” in Century City.

BREATHLESS WEEK--And that’s not all. Take a deep breath and look at this next week. It’s a star-studded turn-out Wednesday night at the Palace in Hollywood, when Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, Helen Reddy, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Mary Wilson perform for presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson. The hosts for the party include Martin Sheen, Eileen Brennan, Tony Franciosa, Margot Kidder and Cleavon Little. . . .

When the National Ballet of Canada opens Saturday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, it will be preceded by a lavish dinner party. And, it will attract dance aficionados such as Nick and Felisa Vanoff, Alexander Godunov and Juliet Prowse. . . .

The Masons--that’s John and Morgan--host the Fraternity of Friends of the Music Center’s annual meeting Sunday at, where else, Mason’s. The party is, of course, stag--and is either black tie or white dinner jacket. . . .

Swedish Consul General Margareta Hegardt hosts a party celebrating the Swedish National Day and “New Sweden ‘88: 350 years of Swedish Presence in North America” in Beverly Hills next Monday. . . .

Dr. Armand Hammer and Rep. Edward Roybal (D-Los Angeles) chair “A La Vida! A Toast to Life,” a dinner benefiting AIDS Education for Latinos Friday night at the Biltmore.