Museum Benefit of the Autumn Moon

The Pacific Asia Museum may be small, but it’s classy. Gold Japanese ginkgo leaves decorate invitations to the museum’s Festival of the Autumn Moon benefit on Oct. 1, the collective artistry of chairman Gisele Beugelmans and her committee and invitations co-chairs Georgianna Erskine and Eleanor McLain.

They’re planning an evening of moon watching, festive dining and a fabulous auction of 100 Asian treasures, collectibles and luxury trips, including two round-trip tickets to Kuala Lumpur, donated by Malaysian Airlines, and a balloon tour of Burgundy, France, offered by Buddy Bombard’s Great Balloon Adventures.

Patrons will be treated to a party Aug. 31 at the New Otani Hotel. The consulates of Korea, Japan, Malaysia, China, the Philippines and Thailand will be represented. Over lunch at the Parkway Grill the other day, Gisele Beugelmans and Clair Segal were showing photos of the giant Imari bowl from the late Edo period, the T’ang dynasty (circa AD 750) 24-karat gold brooch, and the exquisite prints and pastels that will be auctioned by Dr. Richard Byrne.

Guests will have the option of Oriental dress or black tie. And at $175 per person, tickets will include admission to the Sept. 25 open house and silent auction where hundreds of items valued from $20 and up will be available to $25-ticket buyers. With Kaiser Permanente Foundation underwriting the Rococo-catered dinner, proceeds will be ample.

DEDICATION: The devotion of volunteers is amazing. Frani Ridder and Mary Klingensmith, co-chairmen of La Dolce Vita, the Long Beach Cancer League’s 14th annual auction benefit Oct. 8, say the event is the largest single one-night fund-raiser in the United States benefitting the American Cancer Society.

To date, the league has provided more than $4 million for cancer research, education and services, including Long Beach’s Camp Summer Sault for children with cancer. Dr. Richard Bell and William Wallace will head the Men’s Committee.

Dan and Frani Ridder again will host the event at their home and gardens. The number of guests will be limited to 650; the goal is to raise $500,000.

Italian Consul General Alberto Boniver and his wife, Susan, have been invited to be honorary chairmen. Among the 1,000 items to be auctioned: a 1968 Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce, a Hyundai Excel, a Toyota, a 1966 restored Cadillac, vacations in Hong Kong, Beijing, Hawaii, Switzerland, Jamaica, Brazil and Portugal, a QE2 jaunt to England and parties on yachts and gondolas.

THE 38TH: Lots of Southern Californians will be at the 38th Annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance at the Lodge at Pebble Beach next Sunday. This year’s featured auto is the Hispano Suiza J-12, also the center of artist Ken Ebert’s official Concours poster, which will be auctioned off to benefit the United Way. The poster features the familiar Lodge in the background with foreground figures dressed in stylish 1930s fashions, when the Hispano Suiza was new.

CORONETS: Coronet Debutantes were introduced at an announcement luncheon at the Bel-Air Country Club. They are Victoria Amick, Jennifer Aubert, Caroline Creamer, Kristen Denny, Heather DeWeese, Suzanne Everson, Nicole Farmer, Kimberly Hill, Jacqueline Kahn, Lisa Kern, Alden King, Lesli Legg, Lynn Lennartz, Charla Ludwig, Kelly Molloy, Dominique Odekerken, Dania Romano, Christina Segrist, Cristina Seidel, Tracy Taylor, Allyson Tevrizian, Heather Thompson, Corinne Varni and Wendy Wilcox.

LIMITED: Monty Hall emcees and Norm Crosby entertains for the Fellows “Celebrity Sweepstakes” on Aug. 30 at the Friars Club. The fund-raiser benefits Reiss-Davis Child Study Center. Richard Gross chairman says guests will be limited to 200. Tickets are $1,000.

KEEPING UP: Junior League Race Day chairman Happy Scanlon greeted 500 at the league’s 40th day at Del Mar Race Track this week. . . . Tenita Christensen is new president of the Braille Institute Auxiliary. . . . Margot Bamberger is new prexy of Vista Del Mar Associates. . . . Sally Rutter says the Dolls just awarded 21 college scholarships. . . . A special screening of Columbia Pictures’ “The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking” at Burbank AMC Theatres benefited the Kojo Kamali Tolbert Memorial Foundation of the Heart Fund. . . . Proceeds from sales of 100 artworks at Hanson Gallery on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills went to Very Special Arts California and the participating artists.

CIRCLE IN RED: Tamayo restaurant, Sept. 26, when entertainers Rita Moreno, Ricardo Montalban and Vikki Carr join in the March of Dimes 50th Anniversary celebration. Exquisite Mexican cuisine is promised, as well as a birthday cake and a commemorative Tamayo poster. Tickets will be $50 and $25. . . .

Oct. 21, when Marvin Hamlisch dazzles the Northridge Hospital Development Assn. at a dinner in the new Beverly Hilton International Ballroom. . . .

Sept. 22, when the San Marino Area Auxiliary of Five Acres hosts a “second century celebration” benefit for the Boys and Girls Aid Society in Altadena with a Bullocks designer show and luncheon in the Los Angeles Sheraton Grande Hotel. . . .

Sept. 24, for the Kidspace Museum “summer games” party at Lawry’s California Center. Marilyn Roberts is board president and Jan Handtmann will chair. . . .

It’s just August, but the Inner Circle for Los Angeles Childrens Museum (where kids touch the world) is already planning its fifth annual Halloween Carnival and Fashion Show at the Century Plaza. Saks Fifth Avenue will show the latest in children’s styles, and Kids in Costume on Melrose will supply the season’s “hot” costumes. M. G. Kelly will be emcee, say Jeanne Reynolds, Inner Circle president, and Carol Walker, co-chairman.