Thomases Keep the Music Playing

Toward the end of the evening at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital soiree at the Century Plaza, Danny Thomas, cigar in hand, pulled it all together: “We all pray that God in his own infinite wisdom will thank you in his own way.”

There was much to be thankful for after the event, for which 1,638 benefit-goers collectively contributed $1.6 million to the cause in Memphis, Tenn. That’s a net of $1.3 million.

Said Rose Marie Thomas, his wife: “You are all good Samaritans. . . . How do you keep the research going and how do you make it last, and how do you (keep) the children’s lives from fading too fast?

“We have a new neighbor--the child with AIDS--so we must keep the music playing.”

Earlier, she had been introduced in song by daughter Terre. It was cause for an emotional, teary outburst from Rose Marie. Danny deftly took over the microphone: “We have a very close family, you understand,” he explained. “My wife cries at basketball games.”

Then son Tony Thomas introduced his father: “I personally thank you for giving (through the years); if you hadn’t, he might never have come home for dinner.”

Responded Danny: “That’s my son, the producer--’Golden Girls,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ I do not have to work for a living.”

The evening before, the Thomases had entertained at an “intimate” party at their home nearly 400 guests, some of the more generous supporters of St. Jude’s, where children receive free health care. Among the guests were Vikki Carr and her husband, Mike Nilsson. There also were those especially honored by St. Jude this year: Orange County’s Roger Miller, Man of the Year, and Rose Marie Chagoury, Woman of the Year. In loving memory, the late Ben Bross received the founder’s award, accepted by his wife, Lubie.

Apex of the evening was Tony Bennett, perpetually smiling, singing favorites of the audience--”Just in Time,” “Because of You.” His performance thoroughly entertained the table of good Thomas friends--Jean Assad, her daughter Paula, her son Victor (he’s the model with the pigtail who displays Valentino in GQ) and his stunning girlfriend, Michelle Indehar. The singing also obviously pleased Larry and Sandy Selditz, Bill and Mary Margaret Wilcox and Marie Scipione.

Elsewhere were: Sol and Alice Laykin with a raft of well-jeweled pals--Alice Avery (with Curtis Kent), Margaret and Carl Karcher, Emily Peck (in Bill Blass white and black rosettes) with Robert Jesberg.

Friends of the Millers’ from Orange County were in abundance: former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and wife Lois (off to the the Farnborough Air Show and the Deauville Film Festival); Robert and Bobbie Grant; Deann and Al Baldwin; and John and Donna Crean.

At the cocktail party, Casey and Jean Kasem stole the show when she appeared in an outrageous cobra costume with a rhinestone in her navel. Said Jayne Meadows Allen (she’s played everyone from Cleopatra to Florence Nightingale), “Well, here we are--Cleopatra and the asp.” It brought giggles from Marvena Jones, who overheard two priests say, “We’re not supposed to look at that.”

FRIENDLY HOST: Your friend Pat Boone has the honor of serving as host for the 1988 Boy Scouts of America My Fair Lady Crystal Award gala dinner honoring Andrea Van de Kamp, wife of the California attorney general. It all calls for a black-tie optional affair Oct. 18 in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton.