Meanwhile, Back at the Museum

Back in the saddle again--only this time, put on your “Classic Black Tie or Evening Western,” and, if you are important enough, just mosey over to the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum at its gala opening Nov. 21.

This is not the usual night around the corral. Nope, it’s former President Gerald and Betty Ford, Willie Nelson, Charlton and Lydia Heston, Jimmy and Gloria Stewart, Councilman John and Margaret Ferraro, Simon and Virginia Ramo, Kim and Glen Campbell and Ted and Rhonda Fleming Mann, all part of the opening night at Griffith Park’s Pine Meadow.

Jackie Autry, the president of the board of directors of the museum that bears her husband’s name, and Joanne Hale, the museum’s executive director, are ready for a little fancy dress.

When the Autrys started to talk about fulfilling his life-long dream of a Western museum several years back, Jackie Autry said, she finally said, “What the heck,” and started organizing it.

Jackie Autry and her friend Joanne Hale lugged memorabilia around in the back of the Autrys’ pickup truck, Jackie Autry recalled, “while Gene and Monte (Hale) followed us in their Mercedes.”

The evening, the two of them and their buddy Sally Stewart promise, will be special, with “no city lights,” a “romantic stroll” through the galleries, dinner, then a moonlit promenade to a festive tent for an hour of celebration (that’s right, a specified hour, 9 to 10 p.m.) with Les Brown playing. And perhaps, just perhaps, the wonderful Jimmy Stewart doing his “Rag-Time Cowboy Joe” on piano.” And Iron Eyes Cody doing an “official museum blessing.”

Although Autry has picked up the $11-million tab for the museum and it bears his name, very few items are “Gene Autryesque.” Instead, the seven galleries contain material that celebrate the West, and, Jackie Autry stressed, it will be a “family oriented museum.” The one major fund-raiser held for the museum, back in February 1987, netted $750,000.

But the opening party is not a fund-raiser. It is a thank-you.

Oh yes, in addition to the “real West” that will be portrayed, the museum also allows space and exhibits for the “West of romance and imagination.”

Now that--and a moonlight stroll . . .

SAVE THIS DATE--When “Torch Song Trilogy” premieres Dec. 7, an extraordinary alliance of Actors Equity, the American Guild of Variety Artists, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists will be working together for a very special fund-raiser. The organization has formed “Hollywood Hopes,” and the money raised will go to the Actors’ Fund to be used for the housing, care and expenses of people with AIDS. More details to follow.

HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGIE--In the window, right. The price is you having a wonderful home for a pet. And the windows are those of Gumps in Beverly Hills. You can take the kids by, and if a particular pet captures your fancy, you can have it for your own.

If you pass muster, that is, and prove to volunteers from the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that you have a good home.

Seems like a lot of organization work, and Penny von Kalinowski, who is coordinating the effort, with Shelton Ellis, Gumps’ executive director, got everything underway Tuesday at a tea at Greenacres, the home of Susie and Ted Field.

One important detail--volunteers are being trained to interview prospective adoptive families before they head off with their puppy or kitten. Last year, when Gumps in San Francisco did a similar service, more than 400 animals were placed.

Oh, yes, the windows will be unveiled Nov. 22.

UPCOMING--The United Hostesses’ Charities support group will put on their best masks Nov. 5 for a Villa D’Este Ball at the Beverly Hilton to benefit the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center. Marilyn Gilfenbain is president of this year’s ball, Carolynne Smith-Drori is the dinner co-chair and Jill Fink heads up the group.