GOP Readies the Red Carpet for August Visit by President

Politicos will be rolling out the red carpet and rallying around the flag on Aug. 23 when President Reagan comes to Orange County for a $500 per-person fund-raiser for Sen. Pete Wilson at the Irvine Hilton & Towers.

“The event marks probably the final time Reagan will appear in the county as President of the United States,” said Gus Owen, president of the Lincoln Club, which promotes Republicans for political office. “I think the visit is exciting due to the fact that the President began his gubernatorial race here.” (Owen staged Reagan’s first Orange County political rally at Santa Ana Stadium in 1966, he said. He was executive director of the county’s Republican Central Committee at the time.) “Everybody who is anybody in the local political arena will be there,” Owen said. “I can’t imagine anybody wanting to miss a dinner with the President.” George Argyros, president of Arnel Development Co. in Costa Mesa, is event chairman.

Me and My Girl: Tim Curry did it on stage. Judy Morr did it backstage. Tom Kendrick’s father used to do it all of the time. Almost everybody was doin’ the “Lambeth Walk” after seeing the opening night performance of “Me and My Girl” at the Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night.

“The ‘Lambeth Walk’ was Tom’s father’s favorite piece of music,” said Judy Morr of her husband, president of the Center board. So, during intermission, Morr--Center manager--took some instructions backstage and gave the classic dance a try. “I guess if the cast needs me in the next few days (the snappy musical runs through Sunday) I’ll be ready!” she said.

The secret to executing the catchy dance step? “A cocky attitude,” said “Me and My Girl” star Tim Curry, sipping wine during the cast party at Birraporetti’s.

When the musical played at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, Curry got a huge laugh when his Cockney character, Bill Snibson, told the audience that his great-great-great grandfather, a 17th-Century explorer, discovered Orange County. Angelenos roared. “In New York, I told them he discovered New Jersey.” New Yorkers roared. “In San Diego I told them he discovered Tijuana.” San Diegans roared. In Orange County, he told them he discovered Orange County. Orange Countians roared.

While the production went off without a hitch, one cast member, Susan Cella, had a heck of a time getting to the cast party. When her arrival became way overdue, fellow cast members began to fret. Close to midnight, Cella finally swept into the Costa Mesa restaurant with an eyelash curler in her hand. The beauty tool was the reason the star was late. It had become stuck to her eyelashes while she was in her dressing room, she said. A fellow cast member had driven her to an emergency clinic where it took three medics to remove the jammed curler. “You should have seen me!” she wailed to a friend. “I was walking around having to hold this in my hand while it was stuck to my eyelashes!” Did it hurt? “Not really,” she said. “But going over the bumps in the van (on the way to the clinic) was not pretty.”

Morsels: When Dear Abby, Abigail Van Buren, appeared at the Balboa Bay Club on behalf of the American Foundation for AIDS Research last Friday, she bumped into a woman who gushed “Hi Popo!” Annette Hurwitz of Newport Beach told pals she had known Popo and Eppie (the nickname of Ann Landers, Abby’s twin sis) since they were girls in Sioux City. “Abby’s name was Pauline Esther and Ann’s was Esther Pauline,” Annette said. “They were darling girls, the cutest girls you ever saw.” The friends hadn’t seen each other in 25 years. . . .

Roy Carver III, president of Carver Development of Newport Beach, is building an 18,000-square-foot mansion on the Harbor Island property that once belonged to mega-philanthropist Howard Ahmanson. The subdivided Newport Beach promontory--all of which once belonged to Ahmanson (and Jascha Heifetz before him)--commands probably the most breathtaking view of Newport bay. At a recent bash in the commodious Hausman home (next door to Carver’s) a guest, who also resides on the island, said: “My, the homes are getting huge around here. I like a smaller house--one I can clean in a crisis.’. . .

The swelling is down now, said heiress Joan Irvine Smith of the knee she whacked when she fell at her Oaks ranch property in San Juan Capistrano a few weeks ago. Her remedy? “Horse liniment,” she said. . . .

Lois and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin Jr. are out of town for a couple of weeks so the former astronaut can begin to pen a book on the Apollo space program. . . .

Maurice Allard, former musical conductor of the Master Chorale, is writing a Performing Arts column for Orange County Magazine. . . .

Corona del Mar’s Floss Schumacher, chairman of the Opera Pacific board, is off to England to see Joan Sutherland perform at Covent Garden and talk to the diva about doing some partying with Opera Pacific during her “Norma” run at the Center in February.