Clear Sailing For All Hands at Captain’s Ball

The Captain’s Ball sailed onto the scene in the wake of the America’s Cup races, but had nothing to do with either Dennis Conner and his Marlboro men, or with those kooky Kiwis from somewhere under the rainbow.

Au contraire, mes chers --The Captain’s Ball, far from racing under a billowing Pepsi spinnaker, flew the pennant of the Old Globe Theatre from its mainmast. Subtitled with the intriguing sobriquet of Soiree du Soleil (“Evening of the Sun,” which would be possible during high summer in far northern latitudes, but is hard to conceptualize here), the fifth annual Old Globe Gala gathered together 480 of the theater’s pals and prominent artists for a cheery fete champetre and dance fest given in the St. Tropez ballroom at Le Meridien.

Event chairman Don McVay said that Saturday’s party did owe its inspiration somewhat to the fact that it shared the calendar with the contest for the Cup, but was designed in the spirit of the theme parties given aboard cruise ships. Soiree du Soleil specifically charted a course through Caribbean waters, and McVay, as captain, wore a borrowed US Navy captain’s formal evening dress uniform, complete with a splashy assortment of medals, and four gold stripes on the sleeves. Giving his gold cummerbund a nautical hitch, McVay commented that the guests would be best advised to imagine themselves lazing from port to port among the islands in the stream.

But there were reefs and shoals in this plan, since the gala was a touch too high-powered for simple lazing or drifting. A trio of bands--the Bobby Noval Big Band, the Trinidad Steel Drum band and Formula One--were largely responsible for the mostly un-reposeful nature of the evening, since even those guests with feet largely inured to the Siren songs of typical dance music found it difficult to maintain pedal control under this triple assault. The dance fever reached its height when Formula One blasted out its unique, at least in these parts, blend of salsa and reggae.

The gala began either sedately or rather more resoundingly, depending on the grade of passage guests had booked. Those who signed aboard as top-ticket patrons attended a celebrity champagne reception in the ballroom foyer with such Old Globe artists as Jonathan McMurtry, Deborah May and George Deloy (Globe board member Evelyn Truitt snagged the big fish of the evening, Emmy Award-winner Larry Drake, as one of her table mates). Other guests first stopped by the hotel pool, where the steel drum band pounded merrily while costumed performers weaved through the contortions of the limbo and cheerfully “ate” fire. At the appointed hour, a performer who nonchalantly clamped the business end of a blazing torch between his teeth virtually chased stragglers up the grand staircase to the ballroom. “Sic transit propriety” is the general rule in such situations.

It wasn’t all that necessary to shoo guests into the ballroom, though, since the place looked rather like a particularly favored tropical isle whose entire indigenous population had taken advanced degrees at French hotel schools. This is to say that the appointments were both plush and lush, the places set with masses of silver and glassware but the tables centered by exotic arrangements of palm fronds, ornamental pineapples, birds of Paradise and tropical ferns. Other than soft blue spotlights, aimed at the ceiling to suggest a midnight Caribbean sky, the room was lit solely by votive candles.

After the variegated excitements of fire-eating and celebrity-watching, the guests enthusiastically fell upon a lengthy and complicated dinner. Le Meridien, continuing to steer the eccentric course

that sets it apart from the great majority of San Diego hotels, again failed to serve the shabby fare commonly associated with fund-raising banquets. The meal progressed nicely from cold lobster tail in red pepper sauce to veal medallions, salad with Stilton cheese and lemon tart.

Globe artistic director Jack O’Brien, who escorted actress Katherine McGrath, opened the brief formal program that followed the dinner. The word had circulated that famed playwright Neil Simon, whose newest work will premiere at the Globe on Sept. 22, would make a surprise appearance, but O’Brien quashed those rumors with the comment that “Neil Simon is on the payroll and we’re making him work tonight.”

O’Brien worked a bit, too, warming up the audience for the auction of luxury items that prefaced the return to more generalized revelry. Although charity auctions seem headed straight for the perigee of popularity at present, the dozen items by and large garnered impressive bids; among hotly contested items were a mink jacket contributed by actress Marion Ross and vacation packages in Paris and London.

The final blow of the auctioneer’s hammer allowed the guests to get back to the serious business of partying, which, when all is said and done, was why most of them attended. Armed with fistfuls of chips, many moved out to the gaming tables in the foyer, where those who beat the odds later registered for a special prize drawing. Others contented themselves with dancing endlessly to non-stop Caribbean rock and classic big band music.

Among gala patrons were Darlene Davies with Paul Marshall, Bob and Bea Epsten, Martha and George Gafford, Peggy Preuss, Aage and Veryl Mortenson Frederiksen, Dixie and Ken Unruh, Bobbie and Blaine Quick, Darlene and Don Shiley, Luba Johnston, Barbara Mandel and Hal Stephens, Elizabeth and Bill Zongker, Kathy and Allen Glick, Crystal and Det Merryman.