A Galaxy of Stars to Attend Shirley Temple Black Fete
Get ready for a run on flashbulbs. Shirley Temple Black will be in Newport Beach on Nov. 20 (know it seems like star-years away, but invitations are being readied as we speak) to celebrate the release of her autobiography, “Child Star.” Black will be the special guest at a celebrity-packed “Thanksgiving Gala” at the Newporter Resort.
On the guest list? Hold your nostalgia-loving breath. Some of the child-star’s most glittering co-stars: Buddy Ebsen, who appeared with her in “Captain January,” George Murphy, “Little Miss Broadway,” Joel McCrea, “Our Little Girl,” Jane Withers, “Bright Eyes,” and Guy Madison, “Since He Went Away.”
Not to mention Milton Berle, who will emcee the dinner-auction, Joseph Cotten, Patricia Medina, Glenn Ford, June Allyson, Donald O’Connor, Margaret O’Brien, Penny Singleton, Cyd Charisse, Tony Martin, Paul Henreid, Dick Van Dyke, Roddy McDowall, Ruby Keeler, Cesar Romero, Jane Greer, Frances Dee, Rory Calhoun and Ruth Warwick.
“About 80 stars in all,” said David Gest, president of the American Cinema Awards Foundation, beneficiary of the bash. Besides theater arts scholarships and a traveling museum of movie memorabilia, the foundation supports the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills.
Newport’s Donna and John Crean--CEO of Fleetwood Enterprises--are honorary chairmen of the event, which will feature Thanksgiving dinner.
The names of event co-hosts, printed on benefit letterhead, read like a list of OC’s society superstars. A sampling: Judie and George Argyros; Renee and Henry Segerstrom; Diane and Harry Rinker; Paul and Virginia Knott Bender; Willa Dean and William Lyon; Lois and Buzz Aldrin; Jolene and Tom Fuentes; Carl and Margaret Karcher, and Nancy and John Lusk.
American Airlines is sponsoring the gala.
Calling all gala gowns: news,17p3 The store you have been waiting for--a nonprofit, upscale clothing boutique that will help abused children while it helps your wardrobe--will open soon in Corona del Mar. It will be called Orangewood Boutique and proceeds will go to the Orangewood Home. The store will be similar, clothing-wise, to The Place and Co. in Los Angeles, a boutique specializing in the resale of celebrity wardrobes.
Meanwhile, Kathryn Thompson, vicechairwoman of the Orangewood board, is the first to toss one of her glamour gowns onto the fund-raising pile. She has committed to handing over the $2,000 gown by Gildas of Newport Beach that she wore to the 1987 Orangewood Ball. It will sell at the boutique for around $400. “Five hundred dollars at the most,” said Thompson, a developer.
Also committed to donating their gowns (along with better sportswear and party dresses): Judie Argyros, Willa Dean Lyon and Elizabeth Tierney, who said she will donate the gold silk gown she wore to the opening of the Performing Arts Center.
Skoal: Princess Christina of Sweden will be feted at a champagne reception at Orrefors Crystal Gallery at South Coast Plaza on Oct. 2. The princess, youngest sis of Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, will visit Crystal Court with her husband, Tord Magnuson. The royal visit is part of the same goodwill tour--New Sweden ‘88--that brought Christina’s brother and his wife, Queen Silvia,to Disneyland and the Performing Arts Center earlier this year. About 150 guests, including OC’s own royal couple, Renee and Henry Segerstrom, will be on hand to toast the princess. That night, the Segerstroms will join other locals to pay homage to Christina at the Royal Ball in her honor at the Century Plaza Hotel. Locals on the committee include Renee Segerstrom and Gayle Anderson, wife of Robert Anderson of Orange.
Postscript: The Irish eyes that were supposed to be smilin’ in Bev Thompson’s home two days ago are somewhere in New Jersey. The orbs of Merv Griffin (who, along with other celebs, planned to visit Newport Beach to stir up interest in the American Ireland Fund) couldn’t make it to the affair, so it was postponed. “Merv was scheduled to be there,” said Jimmy Murphy, owner of Jimmy’s restaurant in Beverly Hills. (Murphy is chairman of “The American Dream,” the Nov. 11 benefit sponsored by the fund that will salute Griffin at the Beverly Hilton.) “And he was the main attraction. We’re trying to find a date in early or mid-October. We’re still heading for Newport.” We’ll be waiting.
